How do I CMize Apologia General Science?

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  • May 29, 2009 at 9:10 pm
    caroline4kids
    Member

    Well, my son is just not able to get into Apologia’s General science very well, and I do not blame him. My youngers are doing Heart of Dakota science (mostly the One Small Square series) and I think I may have him do their science and keep trudging away at the textbook, but more slowly.

    I wish there were some high school living science books to look forward to. 🙁

    May 29, 2009 at 10:04 pm
    nak
    Participant

    Ladies,

    I just wanted to make a few comments about what I have skimmed over from this thread. Forgive me if I repeat advice already given!

    I don’t think I’ve heard anyone refer to this site:

    http://charlottemason.tripod.com/hisci.html

    She has excellent suggestions for text-free high school science.

    Everyone will have very different college experiences, but I must say that some of my college professors did things in a very CM way. Often times the exams were “blue book” and the professors handed you the book and told you to write everything you learned about the subject! Oh, how I wish I had had practice with written narrations in school.

    The following is an excerpt from a letter I wrote to a CM mom who was asking how she could use Apologia with her 7th and 8th grade boys. I recently graduated my second son using the CM method all the way through. They both found textbooks boring but easy, as there was no literary language to work with and the textbooks cut straight to the facts.

    Yes, I’ve been exactly where you are now and I’ve talked with many other moms in your same predicament. Mason used books in all subjects clothed in literary language until the age of 14 and research strongly supports the efficacy of this method. Now that your boys are there – now what?

    Yes, I think you will need to move into some textbooks soon. I think the main thing is to keep the principles in place, while moving that direction for some subjects. Apologia, while rigorous, can help bridge that divide nicely. Certainly they will be dealing with the textbooks if they do any PSEO or when they get to college.

    First of all, if you have been using CM, I think you will be pleased with how they will be able to handle this. Here are some things to keep in mind:

    – Keep treating them as persons and don’t drop out of the scene.

    -Instead of taking it as quickly as is suggested, take 4 weeks per chapter instead of 2. If you took 2 years to do the book, instead of 1, your eighth grader could count Physical Science as his 9th grade science course, do Biology in 10th, Chemistry in 11th and Physics in 12th. (This is the route we went with, 9th – Apologia Ph. Sc., 10th – Apologia Biology, 11th – Chem. through Northwestern.) At least start out slow until they pick up the pace themselves.

    -Do the first chapter with them. Show them how to properly do the Study Guide questions. Show them how to prepare for the test. I find most moms just expect their children to “get” how to do this because that is how they were taught.

    -Talk about what they are reading, just as you would a literary book.

    -I had both boys, 7th and 8th, doing this together which really helped them figure things out and enjoy it more.

    I hope that makes sense – it’s all I have time for now!

    Ring true,

    Nancy Kelly

    Windom, MN

    June 25, 2009 at 1:35 pm
    Jill
    Member

    Hello,

    I stumbled onto this thread while doing some research for next year’s science. The last post was three weeks ago so it might be a little late to add in something. My son is in 8th grade next year and we are gearing up for HS. My background is in science and I have been struggling to find a way to teach science for the HS years, still maintain our Charlotte Mason philosophy, and avoid using a textbook approach. I have found several options that seem to fulfill what I am looking for.

    Briget Ardoin’s Science for High School uses library books, textbooks or living books, whatever you have in your library or whatever your student responds to best. The student is assigned questions at the beginning of the week and they are responsible for the research to answer those questions. There is an answer key for the teacher. The next week an experiment is performed to highlight and cement what was studied. I haven’t used her materials yet but I do like the way it is laid out. I have compared the table of contents (physical science, biology, and chemistry) to Apologia’s and the content is the same.

    Castle Height Press by Kathleen Julicher is another. Her materials cover biology, chemistry and physics. Again, you can use any science books that you like as a spine. And as with the Bridget Ardoin Science, I haven’t used these materials yet but on her website she explains that she has written her lab materials to show the whole picture of each subject with real world application.

    Hope this might help someone.

    Jill

    Columbus Ohio

    June 25, 2009 at 2:04 pm
    caroline4kids
    Member

    Thank you Jill and others,

    You have given me a glimmer of hope! You know this all makes me think of that great living book about Nat Bowditch who taught himself French, Latin, navagation, mathematics, etc. I have hope that there is something out there that will be both fun and educational. 🙂

    I’m going to research Briget Ardoin’s Science and Castle Heights Press before I send my kids off to VBS.

    June 25, 2009 at 2:38 pm
    caroline4kids
    Member

    Does anyone know if the Bridget Ardoin books are Christian based? I can see how it being a research curriculum it could go either way, but I was just wondering if anyone knew her stand on things.

    I just ordered a bunch of things from Queen’s to try also. So many fun things to do–how will I get to them all?

    June 25, 2009 at 3:03 pm
    Jill
    Member

    I don’t know if the Bridget Ardoin books are Christian. I believe it depends on what books you choose to use as the text. If I remember correctly that question was asked somewhere on her website. I am currently reading a book titled, “Lab Science: How, Why, What, Who,’n’Where Book” by Barbara Shelton. It is Christian. It contains short articles from 30 home educators, science authors, and teachers concerning HS science. It also presents outlines of different ways to structure your science classes. I had to order it from her web site, oasis homeschooling,(I think ). She has another book, Senior High: A Home Designed Form-U-La, that addresses how to tract credit hours and create transcripts. Because of our Charlotte Mason approach, we use very few text books which makes assigning credit hours interesting. I like her method, I’m going to begin using it next year and I think it will allow us to continue with the Charlotte Mason philosophy through HS yet create a transcript that the world will understand and accept. TOPS science is also worth looking into.

    Jill

    June 26, 2009 at 12:08 pm
    Suzq
    Participant

    I don’t know if anyone mentioned this site http://www.squidoo.com/apologiabiology from Harmony Art Mom who also does the Handbook of Nature Study blog. It may be helpful. It is for apologia biology though. Maybe you can get ideas for ways to make it more Charlotte Mason style.

    June 26, 2009 at 3:31 pm
    jojo
    Member

    Hi, Thanks for the new information! I am going to check them out!

    Also i am wondering if any of you have used or seen this item below?

    Science Scope (Design a Study) by Kathryn L. Stout?http://www.designastudy.com/products/science.html

    It sounds good, i ordered it and waiting for it to come in so i can dive in and see if it is what i may be looking for. Any one use this before?

    Thanks billiejo

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