Noeo vs Apologia

Are you talking the high school level courses or the elementary level courses?

We’re using Noeo Bio II this coming fall. I’ll have to let you know after we’ve started with it, but I’ve already and the books and the schedule both look excellent. I love how the experiments are built in – that’s very important for me, otherwise they wouldn’t get done. It’s going to be a fun year for science around here!

I bought NOEO for my dd when she was in 1st grade. It wasn’t for us. There were too many Usborne type books for my liking and the experiments weren’t great in my opinion. We ditched it, keeping a few of the better books. It was a BIG expense and not worth it for our family. This was our experience 4 years ago. 

We love NOEO but also echo the expense concern>> We did Chem III and I already had a chemistry set so the expense wasn’t too great. Same with the Physics III – I have the physics kit they use so I am tempted. I agree that for high school it might be a bit weak in certain areas but they do highly suggest that their guides and questions are a ‘minimum’ expectation. I read that to mean we can expect much more and more indepth reading but it can be reading of our choosing, not just from a textbook. Still undecided about the physics but I am leaning to it for 9th grade then going on to the Biology 101 and Chemistry 101 courses which I know have been assessed and accredited for our high school we are registered with. Noeo is a great program, it would be best to share the cost with a few other families and make a co-op out of it.

Noeo does tend to be more expensive than buying a spine, such as Apologia, but the curriculum includes so many great books I can understand they price. I recommend watching eBay and used curriculum boards. I got quite a discount this year!