esavvymom Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 I'm looking for some advice from those who may have gone down these roads before me. My boys are 10th grade. We just finished the Apologia "Exploring Creation General Science" book- which I know technically is what they consider Middle school science. I have the next book- Physical Science, again considered MS science by Apologia. Should I just skip that and move the the high school Biology Text? Since we are already in our 10th grade year, my older son's goal is to make it to Physics before college. Chemistry has to be done by both of them, and my youngest would likely do a Marine or Advanced Biology his senior year. By skipping Physical Science, will I be skipping some essentials that won't be made up elsewhere?? I have to keep SAT/ACT in mind obviously as well. Our last physical science would have been long time ago with elementary science. Do we go to the Biology and then maybe do a "condensed" version of Physical Science over the summer maybe...(more for the information than the transcript/grade)? I'm trying to decide so that I don't end up further behind or cause them to miss what they need for college. I know most colleges (and our state) require that we have at least 3 years science, with labs. I'm leaning towards putting physical science on the back burner for now and moving forward. Apologia's site says there is no science prerequisite. Our math requirements are not an issue. Thoughts or suggestions?? I've got one learner that can handle whatever I throw at him. The oldest son is slower to process the material and needs the time to get through it and his notes/work....so just doubling up isn't a great option, at least not for the oldest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 Moving to biology should be fine. How is their math? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 You don't need physical science. Just take actual physics and chemistry. The SAT/ACT does not test any science knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esavvymom Posted December 14, 2017 Author Share Posted December 14, 2017 Thank you @maize and @regentrude. That is very helpful! Math skills are good so far. As and Bs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 Yes just move on to Biology. No worries. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted December 15, 2017 Share Posted December 15, 2017 Absolutely move on. You mention college, and you're going to want solid-looking classes for the rest of high school. Most of science before algebra is not really about prerequisites for the next level, but about (ideally) cultivating a spirit of inquiry and an idea of the scientific method. Frankly (imo) as long as those are done, science could be altogether omitted before then without loss. (that doesn't mean I think that you shouldn't do it -- science is FUN -- just that your boys will be fine). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted December 15, 2017 Share Posted December 15, 2017 My STEM student never did General or Physical--she just jumped right in with biology. You'll be fine skipping Physical. The ACT includes science but very little outside knowledge is expected (they have revised the test in the last couple of years to have a couple of questions that rely on outside knowledge--the answers for these questions are not found within the text--but the vast majority of questions really require the student to be able to read tables, charts, graphs, descriptions of experiments and so on and determine an answer from what they can read/see in the test. Reading speed and ability to understand tables/charts/graphs will be much more of a factor than their science background.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted December 15, 2017 Share Posted December 15, 2017 The ACT includes science but very little outside knowledge is expected (they have revised the test in the last couple of years to have a couple of questions that rely on outside knowledge--the answers for these questions are not found within the text--but the vast majority of questions really require the student to be able to read tables, charts, graphs, descriptions of experiments and so on and determine an answer from what they can read/see in the test. Reading speed and ability to understand tables/charts/graphs will be much more of a factor than their science background.) :iagree: In fact, my dd#1 has found that the more she knows about a topic, the more she tends to miss. (Note that she might get all the questions right about a topic she knows nothing about and then miss one or two questions on a chemistry topic she's very familiar with. It may be that she doesn't pay as much attention when she knows more - thinking she can quickly find the answer that makes sense.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esavvymom Posted December 15, 2017 Author Share Posted December 15, 2017 Thanks everyone for the replies and suggestions. Then going to be the plan then...Biology. I'll have some time between getting the new material and finishing our old, so I'm just going to touch on a few terms and topics from the Physical science that I know they aren't familiar with, but just to fill in the blanks and time, and then move on. Not for test knowledge or anything like that...just for fun and background. Then I'll turn around and sell the Physical Science material to put back in the coffers for the next set of books. :) Good!! I'm excited. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted December 15, 2017 Share Posted December 15, 2017 :iagree: In fact, my dd#1 has found that the more she knows about a topic, the more she tends to miss. (Note that she might get all the questions right about a topic she knows nothing about and then miss one or two questions on a chemistry topic she's very familiar with. It may be that she doesn't pay as much attention when she knows more - thinking she can quickly find the answer that makes sense.) I could be wrong but I think some students that are really familiar with a topic then overthink it when asked questions on the SAT. They see the details and think depth when the question is going for more surface processing. No idea how true that is. I just remember a teacher friend of mine suggesting this could be one of the issues a friend's child had had and it making perfect sense to me. I remember in college another student and I getting some questions wrong on an exam and we went to the teacher to protest the grade. After listening to why we answered the way we did she was really surprised at our interpretation of the questions and agreed that seen from that light we were 100% right. She said we had seen a lot more depth in the question than she had intended. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted December 15, 2017 Share Posted December 15, 2017 I could be wrong but I think some students that are really familiar with a topic then overthink it when asked questions on the SAT. They see the details and think depth when the question is going for more surface processing. Very possible with other people's kids. Knowing mine, I doubt she overthinks anything related to academic questions. :D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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