Apologia for upper levels

I have similar questions since this is our first year using Apologia. We are starting with General Science.

Some of the things used for supplementation were the sowers series biography of George w. Carver, how its made on youtube, Who Built That, What will the weather be?,The frozen wild, 13 architects that every child should know, The big wave, The fantastic story of George Ferris, How it works: simple machines, archimedes and the door of science, Radioactive: how irene curie and lisa meither revolutionized science and changed the world., bio of sir issac newton( sowers series),the clouds ( a manual of types and then we observed them), The Way Things Work, The Birth of An Island.

He’s also in charge of reading the 7 and 10 yr old their sciencce books. His strength is science, so he does much reading in this subject. We also studied 2 months of birds, which was in addition to already work. Then, in May. our family traveled the country for a month and he read much about our national parks, famous buildings of places like hoover dam, fort pitt in, pa,

So, needless to say we did much more than the topics covered in the textbook!

All the extra books were from the public library. ‘

BLESSINGS, maRTHA

We have done General, Physical, and Biology. Makayla did all pretty independently, she would come talk with me when something wasn’t making sense to her or if she just wanted a partner. The younger kids generally loved watching her do labs, but we never required it.  The first book she was much slower to progress through the first several modules while she got a textbook science under her belt. A schedule is helpful! We usually chose to skip the tests, because the study guide and tests are the exact same material. We were more concerned about getting the material into her than in working on test taking skills.  Makayla generally took 2 weeks per module after she got into a groove (it was 3-4 weeks per module for the first couple modules). We do have her write out answers to the On Your Own questions, do labs, and write lab reports.

Did she love it? No.  But we wanted her to get a solid start with it and she did.

This year she’s doing two online science courses through Landry Academy – Veterinary Science I and Veterinary Science II. I’m thrilled to outsource science this year! She’s also continuing her home designed Herpetology (reptile study) course she began last year, and has added a ball python to her bearded dragons she’s raising. Currently she’s deep in genetic studies to figure out what morphs would be ideal to breed with her female python to have specific pattern possibilities in the babies. (She has a Ghost morph currently.)

It seems that we have ended up taking an integrated science approach due to following my daughter’s interests. We are working on Apologia Biology, Classical Astronomy and a living books approach to marine biology. We will work on one for a month or so and then switch to another for a month, and so on. It’s working very well for us so far. Charlotte Mason used an integrated science approach instead of working on one science topic per year. We are finding it more interesting to switch things up a bit.

Since I am down to homeschooling one, I am able to do science with my daughter so when we are working on Apologia, we read together and do the On Your Own exercises orally. I have her complete the Study Guide independently and we sometimes do the tests orally. I have also had her take a test here and there just to familiarize her with the process. I also have her keep a science notebook in which she draws various diagrams and illustrations to complement her studies.

I had my son work independently when he did Apologia science. I varied his assignments, sometimes having him complete the modules in a traditional manner, and other times having him write papers on each module.