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Apologia general science
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I read in a recent thread that Apologia General Science should be started with pre algebra. Do you find this to be the case? I am trying to determine what to use for my older ds wbo will be in 7th grade next year. If we continue with MUS at the current rate he will not start pre algebra until 9th grade. Should I be looking at other options for science? I had thought we might either complete the 3rd zoology book together next year or move him on to general science spread over 7th and 8th. I think it might be too much to do in one year, but maybe not if he waits until 9th. I hear the young explores anatomy book is quite challenging, but would it be sufficient for an 8th grader doing on their own?
Thanks in advance for whatever advice you can offer.
I have no idea but Makayla will begin General Science this fall for 7th and she’ll only be partway through MUS Zeta (the level before PreAlgebra). We keep math going year round so she’ll move into Zeta in April/May and get a good ways into it by fall. At least that is the plan…LOL.
My son is using Gen Science right now and I have yet to have him tell me that his math skill level is holding him back from understanding and/or completing the text. He’s more than 1/2 way through, so maybe later in the text??
BTW, he will not hit pre-algebra until 9th grade.
My3boys, I can’t remember if your son is in 7th or 8th. Did he start gen science this past September?
The only critical thing really is you must be concurrently in biology and algebra. Algebra must be understood well before beginning Chemistry. And that would be true of any high school college prep level chemistry course–there is too much math. Student must have already completed algebra. So that is the only reason to associate. There is really no math of any consequence in General Science. The kicker is being ready for chemistry. You could possibly do physical science with pre-algebra in 9th, do algebra and biology in 10th, and do chem and geometry in 11th.
My son is in 8th grade and began this text in the beginning of 7th, or so. It has taken much longer to get through than I thought…not so much on the fault of the text or my son (other than the fact that he is not a super fast/strong reader). I think we have alot going on, probably more than the average family, and he hit some road bumps while trying to get through it. For example, we school year-round, but take 2 full months off, one at the holidays and one at in the summer, that seem to get him off track (don’t know why). And when we didn’t have supplies for certain experiments that always messed things up for him. Also, he’s had to wait on me for correcting/narrating, etc.
With all that said, I am glad that we have taken this long to get through it, especially since this is his first real science text. He only did a part of Astronomy and felt it was too young for him and 106 Days together w/ his brothers before that.
Hope that helps.
I’m confused. I looked up my notes from talking to an Apologia rep. and he rec:
Gen. Science 2 yrs before Algebra
Phys. Science same time as Pre-Algebra
Biology with Algebra
He said you don’t have to, but that’s ideal so math is learned first. He also said in Jr. Hi it’s better to do General than the elementary series to prepare for h.s. My confusion is we’ve been doing MUS a book a year and dd 7th is doing Pre-Algebra and General Science. I’d planned for her to do Algebra and Physical Science in 8th. Why is it important to do Algebra with Biology instead of learning Alg the year before? Thanks for any input!
You don’t HAVE to do algebra and biology together if you are ahead in math. You HAVE to have had algebra before you begin chemistry. If you’ve already completed algebra earlier, that’s fine. You just can’t possibly complete the chemistry book without a thorough grounding in algebra. You’d be lost. For many students that means doing algebra and biology at the same time. My kids were ahead in math too, and it worked fine. You just need to be able to do algebraic equations before you hit chemistry!
This is a good thread! My DD is a bit behind in math and I’ve been trying to figure out if next year will be our last year with the elementary books (she’ll be in 6th)…I didn’t even factor in math! It’s been a tough subject for her, so we may be starting General in 8th anyway.
I’m hoping to have her go through Anantomy for her final elementary year, but I can’t figure out which year she’ll move up to the other books (or if will go another route for HS science).
Thanks, Bookworm. I’ve never thought of dd as ahead in math so this thread has surprised me. We’ve had a rough year and it would be nice to lighten up on something so I’m thankful for this thread! I really want her to do the Honors pages and she hates them/struggles, so it’s nice to know I can take a bit more time if we need to.
Dd is one who tends to forget past concepts at first. For instance, in Pre-Alg when MUS has a grey box reviewing how to add improper or mixed fractions, etc she needs me to show her (just once then she has it again). Would it be more beneficial to do Alg with Biology so the math is fresher in her mind, and so Alg is fresher when she hits chemistry? Or is it not a big deal? I’m just trying to figure if I should adjust our plans. It’s feeling crammed to finish Pre-Alg and Gen Science this year due to lots of travels and I’m hoping to finish these bigger subjects before an extended trip in May. Thanks for advise! Blessings, Gina
Ive been teaching Apologia science to homeschool students for several years now and have completely covered every Apologia textbook (not including the advanced texts), so I hope my insight will be helpful to you.
General Science has no math concepts. Your child should at least be taking pre-algebra at the same time as Physical Science though. There are some algebraic math concepts that will be difficult without a basic understanding of algebra. That said, since those math concepts are mostly the basis of Physics, I wouldn’t be too concerned if some of the math makes no sense to them. It’s the basic exposure that they need. They won’t see those concepts covered again until they take Physics. By that time they should have already taken Algebra II or trigonometry.
Here’s my recommendations:
Pre-Algebra with General Science in 7th grade
Pre-Algebra or Algebra I with Physical Science in 8th grade
Algebra I with Biology in 9th grade
Algebra II with Chemistry in 10th grade (if the student is not prepared for the math in Chemistry, have them take Advanced Biology first)
Pre-Calculus with Physics in 11th grade
Calculus with an Advanced Apologia course
If you’re ahead, great! You don’t want your kids to be struggling with the math concepts in science because they won’t enjoy the science. Chemistry and Physics are a lot of fun when the math seems easy.
Regarding taking Physical Science in 9th grade, if you want your child to be able to attend college or attend a high school institution at some point, Physical Science is not regarded as a valid high school course. Some schools are teaching Integrated Physics with Chemistry as a 9th grade science (DIVE Science offers this), but there again you have math when Biology does not. And IPC is still considered a remedial science by some universities. If you don’t get General or Physical science in before high school, just start with Biology anyway. They’ll pick up all of the concepts they need without the middle school sciences. If you’d like, you can cover one of those sciences during the summer.
Neither General nor Physical Science should take two years to cover. On a consistent schedule, there are only 8-10 pages to read per week, a few questions to answer and maybe a lab, totaling maybe two hours per week. If you drag it out too long, it will get boring and feel like it will never be completed.
Thanks for your reply to this post. I have looked at some schedules on Donna Young and think that maybe Gen Science in 7th will be more doable than I thought. I am thinking about getting the audio CD for my DS to listen to while reading the text (and for me to listen to so I can be in the know). He reads well, but is more of an audio learner, and it will help wioth pronunciations, too.
I wonder if I should get him the notebook. We haven’t bothered with anything beyond the free notebooking pages with the elemnetary boooks. Would the student notebook be more of a must with General Science? He still doesn’t do much for written narrations, only his science notebooking pages.
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