Apologia BIOLOGY VIDEO INSTRUCTION DVD

[wehave8]

Has anyone used the BIOLOGY VIDEO INSTRUCTION DVD?

Was it helpful?  Would you recommend it?

 

Pam

[prairiewindmomma]

We purchased it.  I don't recommend it, certainly not at the price that they are selling it at.  I *did* find the study guide to be worth it. 

[wehave8]

5 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

We purchased it.  I don't recommend it, certainly not at the price that they are selling it at.  I *did* find the study guide to be worth it. 

What study guide?

 

Pam

[Blossom'sGirl]

I bought it but haven't opened it yet.  I thought it would be interesting to watch the labs along with doing them as I always have a hard time finding internal parts during dissections and picking out small organisms under the microscope (Is that a dust particle or the cell???).  I would love to hear other opinions.  I do agree that the video is pricey but I had extra homeschool $ this year now that I am down to 2.

[wehave8]

1 hour ago, Blossom'sGirl said:

I bought it but haven't opened it yet.  I thought it would be interesting to watch the labs along with doing them as I always have a hard time finding internal parts during dissections and picking out small organisms under the microscope (Is that a dust particle or the cell???).  I would love to hear other opinions.  I do agree that the video is pricey but I had extra homeschool $ this year now that I am down to 2.

Watch it and let me know!!!  :)

 

Pam

[prairiewindmomma]

Exploring Creation with Biology student spiral notebook

[monalisa]

I bought it for this year for my dd15, and have watched part of it myself.  I have met the teacher,  Sherri Seligson, at a couple of homeschooling conventions (as has my daughter), and the fact that both of us enjoyed her workshops was a prime reason I bought the DVD.   She is a marine biologist who homeschooled her own children.   For the price I paid ($137 from CBD) I think it is well done and reasonably priced.  I've paid much more for BJU online science distance learning courses ($300-$400), which were a little overwhelming with material and longer daily videos (the online tests and quizzes were included in the distance learning course, so its not a completely fair comparison).  This DVD has a few short videos for each day's reading lesson, and all of the experiments are also on video (so the student can see how to properly set them up).    It runs on a computer DVD drive, not a DVD player, so you can easily navigate to the videos for that day's reading.  From what I've watched so far, I feel like this will be a helpful supplement for my daughter's biology course.  She prefers to have some lecture/direct instruction via video versus just reading the textbook, and this looks like it will work for her.  It is much cheaper than an online class, which was the other option I was considering.   Sherri Seligson's teaching is clear, her voice is easy to listen to, and the online visuals seem helpful.   I would recommend it if you're looking for video instruction to go along with the Apologia biology book. For students who do well with or even prefer using the textbook alone, it would probably be a waste of money.  If there are any specific questions you have about the video, let me know and I'll try to answer them.

[kbutton]

On 8/3/2018 at 8:38 PM, monalisa said:

I bought it for this year for my dd15, and have watched part of it myself.  I have met the teacher,  Sherri Seligson, at a couple of homeschooling conventions (as has my daughter), and the fact that both of us enjoyed her workshops was a prime reason I bought the DVD.   She is a marine biologist who homeschooled her own children.   For the price I paid ($137 from CBD) I think it is well done and reasonably priced.  I've paid much more for BJU online science distance learning courses ($300-$400), which were a little overwhelming with material and longer daily videos (the online tests and quizzes were included in the distance learning course, so its not a completely fair comparison).  This DVD has a few short videos for each day's reading lesson, and all of the experiments are also on video (so the student can see how to properly set them up).    It runs on a computer DVD drive, not a DVD player, so you can easily navigate to the videos for that day's reading.  From what I've watched so far, I feel like this will be a helpful supplement for my daughter's biology course.  She prefers to have some lecture/direct instruction via video versus just reading the textbook, and this looks like it will work for her.  It is much cheaper than an online class, which was the other option I was considering.   Sherri Seligson's teaching is clear, her voice is easy to listen to, and the online visuals seem helpful.   I would recommend it if you're looking for video instruction to go along with the Apologia biology book. For students who do well with or even prefer using the textbook alone, it would probably be a waste of money.  If there are any specific questions you have about the video, let me know and I'll try to answer them.

How much does the DVD overlap with the book? I find that the page layout makes me want to stab my eyes out, and I have a kiddo that would learn much better via DVD than the book for a multitude of reasons. 

[prairiewindmomma]

I'm popping in my disks... in module 2 there is a <1 min introduction, a 8 minute clip on bacteria, a 5 minute clip on the eating habits of bacteria, an almost 5 minute clip on asexual reproduction of bacteria, 3 minutes on genetic recombination....a few minutes for each clip.

The introduction is of a woman in bed with a thermometer (it's implied that she is ill) talking about how much bacteria there is in the world, and how it's important to study them because they can make us sick.  

In the 8 minute clip on bacteria, there's a series of diagrams with a speaker talking. The diagrams are pretty simplistic. While the speaker is spending the majority of the time on a single diagram of the parts of a bacterium, she's making some aside comments which could be confusing. (She talks about different shapes of bacteria, but only one is illustrated in the diagram.) The commentary on flagellum is pretty good. The instructor then talks directly to the camera and is holding a ruler while talking about how small bacteria are. (I think she's making a reference to micrometers---how that's smaller than a millimeter--but for one of my kids, this is confusing.) She concludes the clip by speaking about God's omnipotence---how even simplistic bacteria couldn't have sprung out of primordial ooze and how they are beyond our understanding in their complexity.

I bought the DVD series hoping that it would be better for my visually oriented kid.  I think for some kids, it could be a really good fit.  If your child is a bit quirky and pretty literal and hung up on details....this would NOT be a good fit, imo.  Likewise, if you have a logical sequential thinker, run away!

On YouTube, for free, Crash Course Biology,  Bozeman Science, and MrDBioCFC are all channels with well done biology clips. The quality of graphics and clarity of instruction is much higher. A more logical video would have been to start with high quality images of different types of bacteria. These could have each been labeled. Next she could have put up a slide describing the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.  She could have then shown the subdivision of prokaryotic cells---between Bacteria and Archaea. A series of slides showing the parts of bacteria would follow next.

I have the same problem with the text, to be fair. I find that Apologia Biology wanders all over. It is not for a logical, sequential reader.  I also find the coverage of material to be somewhat lacking. It, in no way, covers material to the same depth that other high school level texts do. Even more disappointingly, it's not even as interesting to my kids as some other textbooks are. I think the series needs a strong editor, preferably one with a strong scientific background and a straightforward manner of speaking.

 

[wehave8]

8 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I'm popping in my disks... in module 2 there is a <1 min introduction, a 8 minute clip on bacteria, a 5 minute clip on the eating habits of bacteria, an almost 5 minute clip on asexual reproduction of bacteria, 3 minutes on genetic recombination....a few minutes for each clip.

The introduction is of a woman in bed with a thermometer (it's implied that she is ill) talking about how much bacteria there is in the world, and how it's important to study them because they can make us sick.  

In the 8 minute clip on bacteria, there's a series of diagrams with a speaker talking. The diagrams are pretty simplistic. While the speaker is spending the majority of the time on a single diagram of the parts of a bacterium, she's making some aside comments which could be confusing. (She talks about different shapes of bacteria, but only one is illustrated in the diagram.) The commentary on flagellum is pretty good. The instructor then talks directly to the camera and is holding a ruler while talking about how small bacteria are. (I think she's making a reference to micrometers---how that's smaller than a millimeter--but for one of my kids, this is confusing.) She concludes the clip by speaking about God's omnipotence---how even simplistic bacteria couldn't have sprung out of primordial ooze and how they are beyond our understanding in their complexity.

I bought the DVD series hoping that it would be better for my visually oriented kid.  I think for some kids, it could be a really good fit.  If your child is a bit quirky and pretty literal and hung up on details....this would NOT be a good fit, imo.  Likewise, if you have a logical sequential thinker, run away!

On YouTube, for free, Crash Course Biology,  Bozeman Science, and MrDBioCFC are all channels with well done biology clips. The quality of graphics and clarity of instruction is much higher. A more logical video would have been to start with high quality images of different types of bacteria. These could have each been labeled. Next she could have put up a slide describing the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.  She could have then shown the subdivision of prokaryotic cells---between Bacteria and Archaea. A series of slides showing the parts of bacteria would follow next.

I have the same problem with the text, to be fair. I find that Apologia Biology wanders all over. It is not for a logical, sequential reader.  I also find the coverage of material to be somewhat lacking. It, in no way, covers material to the same depth that other high school level texts do. Even more disappointingly, it's not even as interesting to my kids as some other textbooks are. I think the series needs a strong editor, preferably one with a strong scientific background and a straightforward manner of speaking.

 

?  I hope we get through the course okay.  I'm not planning on the DVD now, but even the text not written well????  ?

 

Pam

[klmama]

Some people prefer the text specifically because of the writing style and layout. My very analytical, linear-thinking dc chose it over the Miller Levine text because it did not have distracting side bars or unnecessary photos and it was written to the student.  

[kbutton]

On 8/7/2018 at 11:44 PM, prairiewindmomma said:

On YouTube, for free, Crash Course Biology,  Bozeman Science, and MrDBioCFC are all channels with well done biology clips. The quality of graphics and clarity of instruction is much higher. 

I have the same problem with the text, to be fair. I find that Apologia Biology wanders all over. It is not for a logical, sequential reader.  I also find the coverage of material to be somewhat lacking. It, in no way, covers material to the same depth that other high school level texts do. Even more disappointingly, it's not even as interesting to my kids as some other textbooks are. I think the series needs a strong editor, preferably one with a strong scientific background and a straightforward manner of speaking.

Thanks for the video recommendations. I agree with the bolded. I own it, and it drove me nuts just trying to get the gist from browsing the book.

On 8/8/2018 at 10:04 AM, klmama said:

Some people prefer the text specifically because of the writing style and layout. My very analytical, linear-thinking dc chose it over the Miller Levine text because it did not have distracting side bars or unnecessary photos and it was written to the student.  

The layout makes me want to poke my eyeballs out (I have a tech writing background and have seen prettier black and white manuals). I need things that are visually distinct even if they are plain! I really wish I could find something written to the student that was better edited. I do understand the desire for that and for non-distracting text. 

I have not heard anything negative about how well-prepared kids who use Apologia are for college work, only good reviews. It's not like my high school biology/ecology course though, which prepared me exceptionally well for college bio.

[monalisa]

On 8/7/2018 at 1:38 PM, kbutton said:

How much does the DVD overlap with the book? I find that the page layout makes me want to stab my eyes out, and I have a kiddo that would learn much better via DVD than the book for a multitude of reasons. 

A later post pretty much answered this, but like they said, the DVD has short clips that correspond to the readings in the book.  You click on the title of that reading.  It doesn't repeat it totally, but covers the high points.  I don't think you could just watch the video and not read the book if that's what you are asking.  You'd get some of the content, but not all.

[kbutton]

29 minutes ago, monalisa said:

A later post pretty much answered this, but like they said, the DVD has short clips that correspond to the readings in the book.  You click on the title of that reading.  It doesn't repeat it totally, but covers the high points.  I don't think you could just watch the video and not read the book if that's what you are asking.  You'd get some of the content, but not all.

I was getting that gist, but thank you for being specific! It is was I was wondering.