Physics first (Novare) for an student headed to an engineering field?

[ByGrace3]

I am trying to decide a path for my ds for 9th for next year. He is a good student, smart, but still a 13 year old boy who struggles some with executive functioning tasks. He is doing well in online classes this year,  but still needs a little hand holding with some things. My older dd did Biology for 9th and Chemistry for 10th. I was looking for my ds and Schole does the Physics first path using Novare for 9th. Anyone have experience with this? What are the pros/cons? He is taking Algebra 1 this year and is more interested in physics than he would be in biology fwiw... but I don't want to short change him with his goals of an engineering degree. 

Also, can anyone tell  me the faith component of Novare? Is it Christian? old earth? Young earth? (this won't matter for physics but Schole uses Novare for Biology as well)

[mom31257]

It looks like they use the Introductory Physics text which is designed for early high school and doesn't use trigonometry. He could do Biology, Chemistry, and then do dual enrollment of an AP Physics. 

Novare is Christian and old earth. I would love to have used their curriculum, but our Christian co-op would never have agreed to old earth. 

 

[JenneinCA]

I have two kids that did physics first.  One is getting a civil engineering degree.  The other has already gotten a computer science degree.  Both had to take calculus based physics in college.  Both say that doing algebra based physics first was a good thing.  It separated out learning physics and learning the math.  They essentially got to stagger learning the math and learning to apply it.  

I don’t know about the provider you are talking about but for us physics first worked.

[mom31257]

And I think it would be good to get physics early. It is the foundation of engineering. Ds thought all along he wanted to be an engineer until he took physics, which he didn't like at all. He's now leaning toward a business degree. I think he'll do well in business because he has a mathematical mind but is also very personable. 

 

[GoodGrief3]

My electrical engineer daughter did physics first, in ninth grade. I don't know about that particular program. I would inquire about what the expectation is as far as math for that curric.

[MamaSprout]

We did physics first with dd. She didn’t care for Novare, so we did the GPB Physics with a textbook. (YMMV- many families really like Novare, it just wasn’t her cuppa).

 She was in Geometry at the time. It has served her well- she’ll do AP or DE calc-based physics in 11th. Having done some physics has helped her visualize calculus.

[regentrude]

My kids did physics first. It only makes sense, however, for a student who has completed algebra, and possibly a short introduction into trigonometry.

They both started with an algebra& trig based physics course and took a calculus based physics later.

[Reefgazer]

8 hours ago, ByGrace3 said:

I am trying to decide a path for my ds for 9th for next year. He is a good student, smart, but still a 13 year old boy who struggles some with executive functioning tasks. He is doing well in online classes this year,  but still needs a little hand holding with some things. My older dd did Biology for 9th and Chemistry for 10th. I was looking for my ds and Schole does the Physics first path using Novare for 9th. Anyone have experience with this? What are the pros/cons? He is taking Algebra 1 this year and is more interested in physics than he would be in biology fwiw... but I don't want to short change him with his goals of an engineering degree. 

Also, can anyone tell  me the faith component of Novare? Is it Christian? old earth? Young earth? (this won't matter for physics but Schole uses Novare for Biology as well)

We did physics first, and also used the Novare book.  DS is very math proficient and enjoys physics and chemistry more than biology.  I do not think it would work well if the student was not algebra capable.  It worked out very well for us, and I wish I had done that for DD, who graduated earlier, because it makes sense as long as the student is algebra capable.

[ByGrace3]

Thank you everyone! This was very helpful! Ds is taking Algebra 1 this year so will be taking geometry alongside physics.