BJU Biology taking too long - please give me suggestions

[LadyR]

My 10th grade dd is using Bob Jones biology. She loves this program and is learning a lot. The problem is that it takes her so long to complete a chapter. (At this rate, she'll only be through 1/3 of the course by the end of the school year.) She spends 4 hours per week on it and has only finished two chapters in two months. She says she cannot read any faster because the information is so complex that she needs to read it all slowly and take time to understand it and assimilate it. (She naturally reads very slowly anyway.) She also writes down vocabulary words into a notebook and she feels she needs to continue to do this because it helps her learn and do well on the tests. I've told her that she doesn't need such a rigorous program since she is not intending a career in which she would need to delve this deeply into biology. But she loves to learn, to be challenged, and loves this program. But at this point, I feel like I need to step in (against her wishes) and make a change.

 

I thought about getting a DIVE cd for BJU Biology, but when I looked at their reading chart, they want the student to read a chapter a week. She would never be able to do that with this textbook.

 

Any suggestions for me? Should I completely switch her to a different biology course? Is the answer to increase her science time to 1.5 hours per day, 5 days a week? That seems like I lot for a kid who will not be in a medical field.

[Beth in SW WA]

My 10th grade dd is using Bob Jones biology. She loves this program and is learning a lot. The problem is that it takes her so long to complete a chapter. (At this rate, she'll only be through 1/3 of the course by the end of the school year.) She spends 4 hours per week on it and has only finished two chapters in two months.

 

You pose qreat questions.

 

What is wrong w/ slower/deeper? Is there a "rule" that says students must complete x amount of chapters to be considered valid?

 

I've been wondering this because ds is taking his time in Bio. He has completed 3 chapters -- w/ retention. Speeding it up would not be fruitful, in terms of knowledge gained & retained.

 

I'm curious to see other responses from veterans here. :)

[islandmama]

I'm thinking any biology course would be just as complex. I don't think switching would change things, and if she loves it, it wouldn't make sense to take it switch. My son is using BJU and does about a chapter a week. He spends about 6 hours a week reading and studying. Is she complaining about the amount of work? Is she willing to do 1.5 hrs a day? Is she willing to work through the summer? And how do you know she won't be in the medical field? She may change her mind since she loves biology. I would sit down with her and talk about how she will need to complete this course eventually in order to receive credit. (It sounds like you want her to finish it this school year) Then discuss the different ways to accomplish this--more hrs per wk, working through the summer, or possibly trying different approaches to studying. Write out a tentative plan to follow. (I think taking it slow and writing down vocab is a necessary study skill for college, BTW). If she is agreeable to trying a different study approach, may I suggest what I have my kids do?

 

1. Read through the section taking notes/outlining, drawing diagrams if needed or desired. The goal here isn't to "master" it, but get a general idea. Read just for an overview of content, take notes on concepts that she doesn't get with the idea of coming back to it. It's ok if she doesn't fully "get it"

2. Do review questions. This is where she will come back to concepts that are important to know and may have been complex.

3. Study notes and review questions for the test.

4. If she desires to learn more, allow her to spend more time if she wants to, with the idea of keeping her on schedule

 

And the DIVE cd's might help her understanding...

 

If it truly is too fast a pace, you will have to decide if you will give her credit if she "finishes" the book or at the end of the year. If your prepping her for college, I think credit should be given when she finishes the course, but that's just my opinion. I hope that helps some... :001_smile:

[HollyinNNV]

We are doing Biology this year. Dd is 14 and in 9th grade. She has a 2 hour lab period once a week. Additionally, I have scheduled Biology for 6 hours a week. Sometimes she does go over this amount of time. Also, she just finished a Chloroplast research paper that was a four week project. It was assigned in writing class, but it counted for science as well. It helped cement the unit on cells.

 

I'm not sure how our book compares to yours, but she is on Unit IV (of 10) (genetics),chapter 11 (of 40).

 

This is dd's second time working in a class that has quizzes, tests, lectures and lots of text book reading. It takes a lot of time to study after reading. Biology takes more time than any other subject dd is studying.

Holly

[Michelle in AL]

I think the amount of time High school biology requires is a lot. The information covered is significantly more than when I took college biology. I almost feel it should be changed to a 2 yr course, so students could take their time with it and assimilate the information more thoroughly. I don't know your state requirements, but mine will not give but one credit per course, so if you took Biology for 2yrs, you could still only get one credit, I don't know if this is a factor where you are, but it may be something to consider.

 

My dd is taking biology this yr, and she studies about 2hrs per day Mon-Thurs and about 5 hrs on Saturday for a test and completes about 2hrs lab work/week. I would say she's a slow reader too. She does enjoy it, and we hate that she has to spend so much time on it, it really interferes with our weekend, but I'm glad she's able to do this amount of work and is facing this challenge while still at home, so we're there to guide her, instead of not knowing how to manage a course like this when she gets to college.

[Lori D.]

We've been using Apologia Biology rather than BJU, BUT -- same experience here with it taking so long. I decided last year, when we were getting way behind, to just do what we could, and finish it this year. We got through 1- of the 16 chapters last year, and we will most likely finish those remaining 6 (plus the labs) in January, which will leave us almost a full semester to do a health unit and go more in depth in the human body than what is covered in the Apologia.

 

By the end of this year we will be done with Logic and the extra history and lit. we wanted to cover, so next year we will have more time for the science and should be able to finish Chemistry in one year. On the transcripts I will just put down "Biology = 1 credit"; no need to to explain how we scheduled it. :001_smile:

 

BEST of luck, whatever you decide to do! Warmly, Lori D.

[islandmama]

It's reassuring to hear that it takes others at least 6 or more hours a week! I think science in general at the high school level is very challenging. I hope your find answer soon. ;)

[MBH]

If your daughter is not going to take the AP or SAT II subject tests, then I would not worry about whether she finishes Biology in May or September.

 

However, in our case my daughter is preparing to take the AP Biology exam in May and we are working hard to finish the BJU text so that she can study for the AP exam.

 

We study Apologia (which is easier to undertand than BJU) when we run into something in BJU that we cannot understand. Actually each and everyday we have 3 books opended up to study Biology: 1) BJU Biology 2) Apologia Biology 3) AP Biology from Princeton Review. This way we are able to understand what BJU is saying. They seem to have too much crammed in one page and every page is like that. This makes it a very slow reading.

 

Apologia does an excellent job explaining difficult principles or terms. However, some people suggested that it would not prepare my daughter for the AP exam.

 

That's why I am using 3 different books just in case you are wondering why.

 

My daughter works on Biology between 3 to 4 hours per day! It is consuming her day. But I figured it's just one year and we will get through it by God's grace.

 

My friend's son studied BJU Biology along with Princeton Review AP Biology and scored very well on the AP exam.

 

I hope this helps. Be encouraged in the Lord. :grouphug:

 

Phillipians 1:6

 

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

[Denise in PA]

My 17-year old son finished BJU Biology last spring after studying it for two years. Yes, this course (two text books) is very comprehensive, but well worth it. He really enjoyed the course, but it does involve memorization and effort. The colorful pictures, well-written text, and thorough labs are the reasons this curriculum was chosen. Will my son pursue a medical degree in college? Probably not, some type of engineering field interests him. But, he took the time to comprehend God's amazing creation. For my son's transcript I listed Biology I for his freshmen year and Biology II for his sophmore year. My evaluator was fine with this. Many Christian schools teach from BJU and omit many chapters or sections of chapters to complete biology in one year. We took the time to study every chapter in two years. Generally, he finished a chapter every two weeks.

This is a wonderful course, but may need tweaking for your daughter. Homeschooling at its best!

God Bless!

[LadyR]

I so much appreciate all your posts. I'm glad to know that other students find they need to spend a lot of time studying biology and it's not just my dd. Adding more hours per week might be difficult since her plate is so full. I'll talk to her about the option of covering it in two years. Biology I and Biology II is a nice idea.

 

Thank you all so much for your encouragement.

[my4boysmom]

We've been using Apologia Biology rather than BJU, BUT -- same experience here with it taking so long. I decided last year, when we were getting way behind, to just do what we could, and finish it this year. We got through 1- of the 16 chapters last year, and we will most likely finish those remaining 6 (plus the labs) in January, which will leave us almost a full semester to do a health unit and go more in depth in the human body than what is covered in the Apologia.

 

By the end of this year we will be done with Logic and the extra history and lit. we wanted to cover, so next year we will have more time for the science and should be able to finish Chemistry in one year. On the transcripts I will just put down "Biology = 1 credit"; no need to to explain how we scheduled it. :001_smile:

 

BEST of luck, whatever you decide to do! Warmly, Lori D.

 

OT but what Logic are you using? I do agree who cares when it was finished or how just that it was finished. I have a science major so I'm a little more nervous now but it could happen to us and I'll prepare our sked for at least six hours.

[my4boysmom]

If your daughter is not going to take the AP or SAT II subject tests, then I would not worry about whether she finishes Biology in May or September.

 

However, in our case my daughter is preparing to take the AP Biology exam in May and we are working hard to finish the BJU text so that she can study for the AP exam.

 

We study Apologia (which is easier to undertand than BJU) when we run into something in BJU that we cannot understand. Actually each and everyday we have 3 books opended up to study Biology: 1) BJU Biology 2) Apologia Biology 3) AP Biology from Princeton Review. This way we are able to understand what BJU is saying. They seem to have too much crammed in one page and every page is like that. This makes it a very slow reading.

 

Apologia does an excellent job explaining difficult principles or terms. However, some people suggested that it would not prepare my daughter for the AP exam.

 

That's why I am using 3 different books just in case you are wondering why.

 

My daughter works on Biology between 3 to 4 hours per day! It is consuming her day. But I figured it's just one year and we will get through it by God's grace.

 

My friend's son studied BJU Biology along with Princeton Review AP Biology and scored very well on the AP exam.

 

I hope this helps. Be encouraged in the Lord. :grouphug:

 

Phillipians 1:6

 

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

 

I'm conflicted with this a little. We are thinking of doing Apologia or BJU and adding the a different College Biology book. Any reason why are doing all three and not just Apologia and Advanced or are you doing the BJU in place of the two Apologia classes? Sorry to go off topic but I'm wondering about all of this. It sounds like it will take us more time then I had set aside for.

[Lori D.]

DH is doing "Practical Logic" by Vincent Barry aloud/together with the boys. It was DH's old Trinity College textbook, copyright 1976. http://www.amazon.com/Practical-logic-Vincent-E-Barry/dp/B001IBD0LQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238357366&sr=8-1

[my4boysmom]

Is this what you would call AP? I'm new to all of this but just in the nick of time IMHO.

[LoriM]

I don't know if this helps, but I'm teaching Life Science to 6th graders this year. We are just dissecting frogs this week...and entering 4th quarter. I know I'll finish a general study of vertebrates this year, but I doubt we'll get "done" with human anatomy and systems. Even in a classroom (maybe especially in a classroom!), students don't necessarily go as fast as we should to finish the book in a year.

 

I would definitely consider doing "Biology II" with more Anatomy and Physiology next year with her, and not push to finish faster when she is going deeply and enjoying the material at the pace she's working. You are a better judge if she's being diligent or not. As long as she's moving diligently, then do all you can do until May, and then take a break. :) Start again after a rest.

[HiddenJewel]

I am thinking that more time is needed. Whether that means more time each day and week or that you take longer to finish the book. There is A LOT of information in the BJU science (and we are only on Earth and Space).

[Di3kids]

If you use Apologia Biology or BJU Biology, how does this count for AP? I thought I read somewhere that these were high school classes, not college and would therefore not be eligible for AP. Are you all talking about the second bio class offered by both publishers? Sorry to be such a dunce, but I just need to understand this myself, as I was leaning toward Apologia for 9th grade and I didn't know it was so time consuming. Thans!

[my4boysmom]

I think either is time consuming to get all of what is being taught from what I've read. You have to add a college Biology book with it to make it AP and then make sure you have the 12 labs completed also. Does that make sense? I'm learning myself. lol

[tex-mex]

I would sit down with her and talk about how she will need to complete this course eventually in order to receive credit. (It sounds like you want her to finish it this school year) Then discuss the different ways to accomplish this--more hrs per wk, working through the summer, or possibly trying different approaches to studying. Write out a tentative plan to follow. (I think taking it slow and writing down vocab is a necessary study skill for college, BTW).

 

And the DIVE cd's might help her understanding...

 

If it truly is too fast a pace, you will have to decide if you will give her credit if she "finishes" the book or at the end of the year. If your prepping her for college, I think credit should be given when she finishes the course, but that's just my opinion. I hope that helps some... :001_smile:

 

:iagree: Go ahead and try to finish it up... chalk up the experience... and for next year's science, finish up the latter half of the BJU Book as Biology II.

HTH,

Pat

Edited March 31, 2009 by tex-mex

[Nan in Mass]

I haven't seen BJU biology, so if this doesn't work, just ignore it, ok? If your biology book is like our Prentice Hall one, it has a number of chapters on how living things work and general biology, then some on the environment, and then at the end, a number on human anatomy. Perhaps you can separate out the human anatomy ones and do those next year as half a credit of human anatomy? If you don't want to do the book in two years and call it bio 1 and bio 2? Is the book meant for the classroom has it a teacher's guide? If so, you might be able to read the beginning of the teacher's guide and get an idea of how to schedule it. Our physics book, for example, said that we needed to cover something like sections 1-8, and then after that, we were to pick the sections that would be of most interest to us, and that nobody would cover the whole book. It may be that you aren't meant to cover it all in one go. My son was very slow at reading his bio book at the beginning, but then sped up towards the end when he got better at it. It takes a while to learn to learn from a textbook, but it is well worth struggling along and figuring it out.

-Nan

[Lori D.]

I haven't seen BJU biology, so if this doesn't work, just ignore it, ok? If your biology book is like our Prentice Hall one... Perhaps you can separate out the human anatomy ones and do those next year as half a credit of human anatomy?

 

 

Hi Nan,

This is exactly what we're doing with Biology, and I'll be counting it as either 1.5 credits of Biology, or more likely 1 credit Biology, .5 credit Anatomy. We took 1.5 years to do Apologia's Biology, and are using the rest of this year to do the Anatomy units from a Prentice Hall high school text.

 

I had no problem taking this long on Biology... I just hope we'll be able to figure out 2 other credits of high school science for older DS's lab science units that WON'T take more than 1 year each!! :001_smile:

 

Warmly, Lori D.

[MomsintheGarden]

A few years ago dh and I attended Inge Cannon's Transcript Boot Camp. Mrs. Cannon has extensive teaching experience at all levels - see her background here:

http://www.homeschooltranscripts.com/about.htm

 

She also worked at BJU (what she did, I can't remember though).

 

She said that if a student finishes at least 80% of a book, then it is ok to give 1 high school credit for it, if it is supposed to be a year-long course.

 

Just something to think about.

 

GardenMom