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Apologia- Not Liking it- what to do??
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Okay, we are NOT liking Apologia. I looked through the books at a HS convention and was really impressed. I ordered Physical Science for my 8th grader, and we ended up switing to general science after a few weeks, as she is not strong in math. She dreaded science everyday, and a few moms recommended switching to general.
Well, a week or so into that, and it is so dry and boring. My daughter does not like it at all. So should we keep using it, does it get better? Or should I switch her to something else?
Thanks!!
The first module IS the most boring. I can’t guarantee that she’ll like the next module better, but it’s worth a shot. My kids really like science, and in general my 7th grader who is doing Apologia is liking it, but he got bored in Module 1 at times as well.
I’m going to suggest you try something. Why don’t you go through Module 1 and see if you can find any info you think she’ll really need, then just go over that with her yourself and move on and start Module 2. My son just finished the first two experiments in Module 2 and loved them. But if she still hates and dreads it, you might need to try something else. I just hate to see you dump something worth more money, without at least trying another module, kwim?
ANOTHER thing to try. I really wasn’t sure I was ready to do “official big textbook science” with my middle son, but he’d finished up all the other science courses I liked, so I couldn’t think of much else to try. BUT he is only doing General Science “half time” So I am not pushing him to complete it in ONE year but in two. And then I’m adding in some living books instead. You might consider that. Especially to cover all those scientists mentioned in Module 1–if you skipped most of that, perhaps she’d like to read a bio? I can suggest some if you don’t have any around.
IF all else fails, and you’d still like her to work out of a book, I love, love, love the courses put out by God’s Design Science, and the last two in the series, the chemistry and the physical science, are rated for up to eighth grade. I did this whole series with the whole family all the way through and we were always pleased.
Hope some of this helps! LMK how it goes. I do have a son in General Science if she wants moral suppport!
Michelle D
I’m not sure if this will help or add to the confusion, but in Clay & Sally Clarkson’s book Educating the Whole Hearted Child, she talks about something like this. I can relate to your situation so much because I went through it with my daughter. Anyway, on page 127, Ms. Clarkson writes:
“Science or Not? First principle of science instruction: you are raising a child, not a scientist. Despite hand-wriging in the public schools over their failure in science, your priority is to focus on training your child to be a self-confident, self-motivated learner. Once that is in place, learning about science will take care of itself. By around 14 years old (eighth grade), you should know if your child is inclined toward science or not. If he is, then give him the books, tools and resources and point him in the right direction. If he is not, don’t try to make him be. Find out what God has put on his heart to do, and point him in that direction.”
At first I struggled with this but as my daughter gets older, I can see she defintely will not be heading into anything “sciency.” So, we read nature books, go on nature walks, and she does her Apologia, but it’s not something I push. With this topic, I’ve let my kids take the lead (and my oldest is already a Senior). I only have one child (out of eight) that so far is pretty set on going into a career that will require science, and that’s to be a vet. My other children still work out of Apologis but I schedule it only 3 times a week and do not fret about them finishing everything listed. Also, this year I purchased the lap book exercises from Live N’ Learn Press, more craftsy but gives my kids something to do besides read the book and answer questions. Live’n’Learn provides the learning folder material all the way through high school. Don’t mean to add more to your plate, but it’s something that’s worked for us.
Angie in TX
I do like the Apologia elementary series, but I couldn’t keep up with doing this as a family AND doing Truthquest History. I felt that the history was more important for us to do together as their is so much to discuss and so much of a Biblical worldview that I’d like to make sure we get to. My oldest is in 7th grade and she is not going to major in science or need a strong base in science that we can tell, so what we do is that each child gets a nature based book to read out of every week. I use the books suggested for nature reading in Ambleside (Yesterday’s Classics). I’m also reading aloud to them a nature based book once a week. We do nature study together as a family once a week, or whenever the Lord brings us something new to look at!
What I’ve added to my daughter’s schedule is Exploring Planet Earth. This course is like a history of science, and it focuses on the important people in science and their contributions. She’s enjoying it immensely. It’s not too much. She does a chapter a week and then the quiz. There are not really any experiments with it, but we do have several experiment books in the house that they often take out and do for fun. So, that’s been our approach this year and it’s worked well. I knew that if I made her do the Apologia general science on her own this year it just would have drained school of its joy for her. It would have been a source of contention and I just didn’t want to sacrifice our love of learning for something that I don’t think will be in her future. Should the Lord lead us differently in the future, of course we’ll look at it again.
Another option might be for your daughter to do one of the elementary courses on her own, like Anatomy or Flying Creatures. These are much easier to read and you can get the experiment kits with everything you need. The experiments are fairly easy. I’m considering this for my daughter in the future.
Hope this helps some.
Blessings,
Betty
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