For those using Apologia with highschoolers

My oldest is doing Apologia Physical Science and I bought the Daily Lesson Plans (basically just a stapled packet with an orange cover) which lays out exactly what he should do each day. He does it and checks off each day and lets me know when it’s test day. I am 99% uninvolved with this subject bc I have five children younger than him. Every now and then he starts banging around in the kitchen so I know he’s doing a science experiment. Just thought I’d mention the Lesson Plan packet that they sell because I’m glad to have purchased it. Also, I seem to remember reading the introduction to the book and it saying that if a student is getting Cs on the test that that is a very good score for Apologia bc it is rather demanding. Maybe none of this really helps but wanted to let you know that you’re not alone out there. 🙂

My 9th grader has done General Science and Physical Science, she’s doing Biology now.  We use a schedule that breaks the reading up into a few pages per day, she answers the on your own questions on paper as she reaches them.  She writes down vocab.  I check her on your own daily, (answers at the back of the chapter) and if she’s missing questions we stop and go over it together.  I worry less about the speed she gets through the material and more about getting the material understood.  So we take longer when needed.

(I have 8 younger children so she does work independently often for this, but she always knows to come to me if she isn’t understanding it or if she just wants someone to do her biology work for that day with.  When she asks for that I make time for it to happen.)

Tristan, is she doing the student notebook or just the “On Your Own” questions? I’m curious whether you have her write any narrations in addition to the student notebook work (as in, do you think this is too much?). We are new to CM so my daughter is not doing written narrations on her science yet, but we’re close as I do have her summarize each paragraph.

Steph3433, we just began completely applying the CM philosophy to our school this year. So my girls are not as adept at narrations as they should be, but we’re working on it. In addition to what Tristan does with her daughter, I also have my daughter write a one-sentence summary of each paragraph that she reads. That has helped her accuracy with the student notebook questions as well as tests.

Also, I have her take the test, writing her answers on notebook paper and then leaving space after each answer. Then when she is finished, in a different pen, she goes through the test again with her notes and the book to redo or finish any answers that aren’t complete (she and I are visual so this helps us both to see how much she does/n’t the book and whether her daily habits are helping her need the book less on tests). Then she hands it in to be graded. She is 7th grade, and so I’m not grading these tests for her records. She is seeing how the daily upfront work (reading carefully, writing summaries, answering questions) actually means less formal studying for the test. In addition to learning science, she is learning what she needs to do to learn the material.

I agree with Tristan about checking work daily. If my daughter gets the “On Your Own” incorrect, I have her find the right answer just as I would have her correct her math daily. If you’re correcting daily, you should see better results on the tests.