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If you have used Apoligia Eploring Creation With Chemistry, please post.


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Were your children able to do this at home? My son will do this at home by himself, not as part of any group or co-op.

How did you like it?

If you have had experience with both this and FLVS Chemistry, which do you prefer and why?

Thanks,

Maury

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The only one I've had experience with is the Apologia text.

 

Both of my older sons did at home alone and did just fine. My third son will do it next year.

 

My two oldest have taken science classes in college and have felt very prepared by the Apologia series.

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My oldest did it this year, completely on his own. I never had chemistry, ever, ever and intended to keep up or ahead of him in the book but, alas, the best of intentions was derailed by morning sickness in the middle of the year. He has worked diligently and used the apologia.com knowledge base if he got stuck and is averaging a high B in the grades department so we're very pleased. The most important thing that has happened from this chem course is that he, who has been anti-science from the get-go, has fallen in love with science. On his own he has decided to to physics and advanced chem next year!

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We used Apologia Chemistry this year with my 13y/o and 15y/o. We also purchased the extra MicroChem lab set and did this every other week with a few other kids, kinda like a co-op. Both my 13 y/o and the 15y/o were able to do the work on their own & do well on all the tests.........both have an "A" averge, and both very much enjoyed the course. My only negative would be that my 15/yo looked at the Sat 2 Chem study book , and felt that there were areas on the test that we hadn't covered in the Apologia text. (Those are probably covered in the Advanced Chem book. ) My recommendation would be that for kids that don't want to persue a science career, and for parent user friendliness, this is the best course.

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You can definitely do all the Apologia books on your own at home with out a co-op. We have done it both ways and while we really prefer to do labs with a friend, it certainly isn't needed.

 

The best thing about Apologia, in my opinion, is the help line. If there is something they don't understand, help is a quick phone call or email away. And our experience has been that they are pretty quick on the turn around.

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My only negative would be that my 15/yo looked at the Sat 2 Chem study book , and felt that there were areas on the test that we hadn't covered in the Apologia text.

 

Mine too. Particularly labs, not just lab equipment but apparently there were questions about "famous" experiments of the past ??

 

I would love to find something else for #2.

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I've used Apologia Chemistry with my two oldest.

 

Ds used both the first and advanced books. Dd used the first book, then switched to Zumdahl AP Chemistry & study guide for her second year of Chemistry. The first Apologia book is easy to use, interesting, and inspiring, but I'd highly recommend an alternate choice such as Zumdahl for the Apologia Advanced Chemistry for the second year, if you have a student who wants to continue with Chemistry and take the SAT Chemistry subject test or especially the AP Chemistry test.

 

I have heard of one exceptional student here on this board who used both Apologia Chem books + study guides to successfully study for the AP Chemistry test (he got a 5), but I believe that the Apologia books do not teach the subject deeply enough for strong AP preparation for most students.

 

Apologia is interesting, and easy for the student to use at home with minimal supervision. It is wonderful for high school chemistry, just not college chemistry (which is what the AP test is about).

 

My daughter liked the first Apologia Chemistry book, but she really loved Zumdahl for her 2nd Chemistry book. She was sorry when she finished Zumdahl!

 

HTH,

GardenMom

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FLVS is FLorida Virtual School. I really did not want to do that. I prefer doing Apologia. I just wanted to make sure it was doable at home and alone. The parents that I know used Apologia for Biology but had used FLVS for Chemistry. My son will not be pursuing a science degree. He just needs to get the credits required for a college prep curriculum.

 

Thank you all for your responses.

Maury

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Our schedule didn't mesh with the local Apologia co-op so we did it on our own. We substituted Micro-Chem labs and watched Teaching Company dvd's to help with problem solving. My high school experience with chemistry was beyond frustrating; it was fun to do experiments and make calculations which actually made sense! My son ran the experiments; I acted as his assistant. There were a couple of times when we misunderstood the lab instructions and had to backtrack to figure out what had gone wrong.

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Mine too. Particularly labs, not just lab equipment but apparently there were questions about "famous" experiments of the past ??

 

I would love to find something else for #2.

 

Ds used Apologia Chemistry because I was lead to believe that it was a strong high-school level intro chem course. When he finished the course in May, he had several weeks to study for the SAT2 exam and discovered that many, many topics on the exam were not addressed at all or were not treated at the level of depth expected for the SAT2 Chem exam. For example -- calculating pH using logs was not covered, nor was basic nuclear chemistry -- things like half-life. He crammed and I helped him (since I have a Chem backround this wasn't a problem), but he still did poorly on the SAT2 exam. I really regret not looking the course over carefully before he used it.

 

I opted to skip the extra "microchem" kit, and in the end, I was really sorry. The regular labs in the book were very simple and didn't give the student the introduction to lab experience expected by the SAT2. We will definitely use something else for ds#2 in a couple of years.

 

I will say that ds#1 did go on to take Chem I at the local cc and got an A. He did not find that course too hard, so if you are not trying to prepare for the SAT2 exam, the Apologia course might be OK.

 

Brenda

Edited by Brenda in MA
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We used Apologia at home and had no problems. The experiments were fun and worked well. My dd who took Apologia Chemistry in high school, completed chemistry this year in college and aced it and thought that Apologia prepared her well for her class.

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I have been reading this discussion with interest since we are going to be hitting Chemistry soon. My oldest son used Apologia when he was in high school but he thought it was sort of dry.

 

Reading the responses I am curious now about MicroChem. Is this the kit you all are talking about?

MicroChem Kit

 

If it is the kit you all are talking about, I found on their website a document to coordinate the book and the kit together:

ChemApologia

 

I have one very science oriented son who I think would love the extra lab work.

 

Thanks to everyone who has responded.

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My ds (16) did it this year on his own. By the time he was halfway through the course, I saw a recommendation for Teaching Company's High School Chemistry DVDs. I purchased them when they were on sale and he used them the second half. My ds (14) will use all of them next year when he does Apologia Chemistry.

 

I have been pleased with it. He did most of the experiments at home.

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