Begin Apologia GS in 7th or finish BJU 6 first, wwyd?

[Zee]

We recently finished BJU 5 and are only a few lessons into BJU 6. I suspect that we will be at MOST 1/2 way through the text by the end of the year. But, it is very likely it will be less than that, because we tend to take our time and do the lessons, as designed. Would you finish BJU before starting GS? I think it would take us to Christmas next year. We don't school in summer - it's too busy and dh doesn't support that.

 

I want to move to Apologia next and continue with their sequence. I'm also looking forward to the self-study skills that Apologia teaches. WWYD? :bigear: I could easily stretch BJU 6 over next year, but I don't know that that's best. And if we skip GS, does the Physical Science book teach the self-study skills, also?

 

I'm also thinking about moving to GS in the fall and I can have ds dabble with the BJU as there is time to do so, streamlining quite a bit, at that point. DS loves science and BJU 5/6 has been a winner here. I'd appreciate advice. :grouphug:

[Sharon in MD]

I have heard some folks say the GS book is not so great, but that the Physical Science book is better. We just started with Bio because we had a good basic science background from what we had already used (which was design my own) If I had it to do over (ds is a senior) I would probably still just start with Bio, but I'd start it in 8th grade so that we could hit both advanced courses instead of just one. We did Bio in 9th because that was the earliest it was offered at our oversight academy's group classes. But I would probably just do it at home if I had it to do over....I thought I'd need the group classes (and okay, ds loves the group class thing) but we did physics and Adv Chem here at home with no trouble at all.

 

So, if you really like what you are already using, I'd just finish that and then go to Bio or PS skipping the GS course.

[hose]

and see if you will have covered those topics through your BJU studies.

[Zee]

I did compare a week or two ago and while some topics are similar, there are many that BJU isn't covering and there are some in Apologia that are covered in much more detail. It's like comparing an apple to an orange; they are both very different from each other. That's part of why, I'm not so sure what to do.....

[Zee]

I'll have to think about the Biology in 8th thing....I'd have to consider where we are in math then and whether I think I could take him through both Adv. Chemistry and Adv. Biology. Ds leans towards chemistry at this point and isn't as much interested in Biology, but he's young and all that could change. The one consistent factor is his interest in science and persistent desire to be a scientist of some type. Thank you for your suggestion and for sharing your personal experience and reflections. I will consider that as I try to figure out what to do. :)

[MBH]

If you are going to do Apologia Biology in 8th grade, then I would do Apologia Physical Science in 7th grade and skip Apologia General Science. He doesn't need to have General Science in order to do well in the higher sciences.

 

My son did Apologia General Science in 6th

Apologia Physical Science in 7th

and will do Biology in 8th grade. He is leaning towards Marine Biology.

[gardenschooler]

We skipped Apologia General Science because it seemed to cover a whole lot of what BJU had covered in grades 5-6. I don't know that you really need to do both - they are sort of on the same level, iykwim.