Jump to content

Menu

Apologia Physical Science vs. Wiles new Chemistry class- or both?


Recommended Posts

I am wondering which would be more beneficial to do with my son next year, or whether to do both.

 

This year we are doing Apologia Biology and he has a solid A on the tests, and stays on task easily, but we didn't get to do Physical Science due to finances/ I about died (so I didn't add science test/ notebooking that year).  He completed the General Science/ BF History of Science/ read Abeka's Physical Science and BJU Earth Science books in middle school (but it was for pure enjoyment-no testing), so I was wondering if we should step back and do that this year before moving forward to Chemistry.  I was thinking that he could go at the pace of one lesson a week- and then go forward onto Wiles Chemistry for the 2nd two trimesters.  What would you do?  We plan on do Chemistry, Physics, and the Human Body before he goes off to college.  I also don't care to double up on sciences in later years, as he is a strong student and this is what I did in HS.  

 

We will be doing the following:

 

Ancient History and Literature and Bible:

MFW AHL with Easy Grammar and SAT vocabulary cards

 

Algebra 2 and Geometry: I don't care if he finishes these in one year or a year and a half

Doliciani Book 2 and Jurgenson and Brown Geometry with Khan Academy for fun

 

Spanish 1

Undecided

 

Health

Total Health/ CPR/ First Aid class

 

Logic

Fallacy Detective / Thinking Toolbox/ Critical Thinking Co. Building Thinking Skills 3- Verbal

 

Science

Undecided- leaning toward Wiles Chemistry, but would love to do both Physical and Chemistry with him..

 

Reading tons of classics, as he is a strong reader.

 

Thanks,

Brenda

 

P.S. I just feel bad missing one of Wiles programs, when we just love them all-lol.

 

eta: I got all but the BF History of Science for free from a school that shut down, but they didn't come with manuals/ solutions/ tests- just the books.

Edited by homemommy83
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since you asked for opinions. I don’t think Physical a Science is a tenth grade level course, and I’m not sure what would be gained from doing that vs moving on into chemistry and physics, since he is finished with algebra 1.

 

What does he want to do? I don’t see a problem with reading the physical science text first, but I wouldn’t make a tenth grader who is ready for chemistry spend time doing all of the work going through a separate physical science course if there isn’t a need for it. You say you don’t want to double up on science, but that is what you will be doing in one year. And then algebra two and geometry will also be doubled up on to get both done in three semesters? Especially because of that, I would not assign more science.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Penelope,

 

I don't mind doubling sciences- that is what I did for my Junior and Senior year of HS.  I doubled math my 10th grade year as our school didn't offer Algebra until 9th so I could take Calculus my senior year (this was the first year our school offered it and only 5 of us took it) and I took double sciences the following two years.  Sadly I didn't get any History or Geography in all of my HS years as our school didn't offer any at all- seriously. I don't think our school offers Calculus at all anymore as the honors kids just dual enroll now for a general education diploma.  

 

I just wasn't sure if I was missing anything important for him by not doing it.  We have really enjoyed the General and Biology programs.  I am really sure that the Maths will be easy for him to do concurrently as he is strong in math, and would have finished them already if I didn't have a down year with a close to death experience followed by new baby right after with a csection (it was a rough year-but blessed-lol)

 

I just noticed that the Chemistry would take us most of the year to do on its own, so I probably wouldn't have time for him to do both. :sad:  Although I never took Physical Science either, and I think I turned out alright-lol.

 

Brenda

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, I didn’t understand your post! I thought you were saying you did not care to double up on sciences. I read “did not care to†as not wanting to do that.

 

Anyway, are you able to lay hands on the physical science book to see if there are any concepts he might be missing? I haven’t seen the Apologia physical science book in a long time, but there isn’t a whole lot in the physical science courses I have seen that isn’t simply intro material for physics and a little bit of chemistry. So even if you’d like to but don’t have time, I agree with you that he will be fine :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's been a while since I did apologia physical science.   One semester was basics of earth science/weather kind of stuff, and other semester was intro to physics/motion kind of stuff. He'll get all of that (physics/motion) again in physics.

I agree that the book isn't 10th grade for college bound potential students.  You probably covered the material already, but if he wants to read it in the summer and enjoy, it's ok to do that even if you don't list it as a course.  Then you can see what you missed in the sequence and enjoy it.

here's table of contents to see if it's something he's interested in reviewing from any similar texts in grade 8. https://www.homesciencetools.com/content/reference/phy_sci_toc.pdf

Edited by cbollin
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't. I think it's more worth your time in high school to do Chemistry, Physics, and then maybe an advanced science. I would only back up to Physical Science at this point if you have a student who isn't strong enough in math yet to move on to chem, and/or a student who likely won't go on in a science field. Let him read Physical for fun if he wants though, but I'm not seeing a strong reason to backtrack in science now. And I can't really imagine doing chem in 2 trimesters instead of a year! I found the courses got longer/more involved/harder as you go.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't. I think it's more worth your time in high school to do Chemistry, Physics, and then maybe an advanced science. I would only back up to Physical Science at this point if you have a student who isn't strong enough in math yet to move on to chem, and/or a student who likely won't go on in a science field. Let him read Physical for fun if he wants though, but I'm not seeing a strong reason to backtrack in science now. And I can't really imagine doing chem in 2 trimesters instead of a year! I found the courses got longer/more involved/harder as you go.

I agree with everything that you said, I just didn't want him to miss any of the books-lol. Then after counting the chapters I realized it would definitely take the whole year just for Chemistry. He would need about two weeks a lesson and that brings one to 32 weeks. Thanks for helping me think this through as I am going to be writing in his extra classes into his MFW grid.

 

Brenda

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...