Name: Teach Them Diligently (Branson)
Start: 2025-05-15T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-17T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Branson, MO

Tagged: middle school, science

This topic has 19 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 11 months ago by Dawn.

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March 5, 2015 at 4:07 pm
Dawn
Participant
We have not done much formal study of science thus far. My oldest will be in 7th in the fall so it is my understanding now is the time. I see general science is recommended specifically Apologia. If you used it was the information retained by your student? Did you add anything to it? Did you use it with notebook? If you didn’t use it I would also love to hear what you used and your experiences with it. This child is interested in a career in the science field so far so I want to give him a good taste of the beginnings of it.
Would also love to hear how the science plan continued into 8th grade and high school.
May 12, 2015 at 12:22 pm
Melanie32
Participant
Dawn-I think Apologia would be right on target for a science minded student going into a scientific field of study. My friend’s daughter is very science minded and she LOVES her apologia books. She is always telling me about the things she’s learning. She’s retaining a lot from her studies. She’s already completed General Science and Physical Science and is now working on Biology. Her mom has a degree in biology and her father is a pediatrician and they are both very pleased with Apologia.
My son used it. He is NOT science minded and it was a bit of a struggle for him. He did well through General Science and Biology. We skipped Physical Science. He really began to struggle when we got to Chemistry. I think my son retained quite a bit of what he learned but not a ton.
My daughter is just starting General Science. It’s going really well so far. Time will tell how well she retains the information but I think the results will be good from what I’m seeing now.
Bookworm is a great fan of Apologia and I believe she’s used it with all of her boys. Hopefully she’ll chime in.
May 12, 2015 at 12:25 pm
MrsB
Participant
We used this for 7th grade physical science. My son really enjoyed it. We also read some biographies about various scientists.
http://www.educationexploration.com/intermediate/projects.html
May 12, 2015 at 3:05 pm
suzukimom
Participant
We are planning to use it next year too – so can’t give you any results.
I am going to use the schedule provided by Donna Young on her site…
http://www.donnayoung.org/apologia/general.htm
(we are using edition 1, and I plan to use the schedule #2 which gives 3 weeks for the first module, and I think does the labs on a different day than readings.)
I plan to make a home-made notebook using a 5 subject notebook and the ideas from here.
http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/2009/07/how-we-organize-apologia-notebooks.html

May 12, 2015 at 3:54 pm
art
Participant
My daughter is doing it right now in 7th grade. She hadn’t had too much formal science before. She struggled a bit at first, but we kept going. She is doing great now and just sailing along. I really see it as a growing experience for her this year. She really has retained the information well. We didn’t use any published notebook with it. She just has a regular notebook she uses to take notes and answer questions. Tests were new to her this year too, and she has finally relaxed a bit about them.
I will say the first chapter about the history of science bored her to death. I don’t remember if I made her do it; I didn’t want to kill the book before she started. Maybe I just had her read it over without any pressure to “learn” the info.
All my kids have loved the Apologia books they’ve used.
May 12, 2015 at 4:45 pm
Melanie32
Participant
We have read so much about the history of science along with multiple scientists’ biographies, that I felt completely justified in skipping the first module.
May 12, 2015 at 8:53 pm
HollyS
Participant
We’ve done an assortment of materials for science so far. For 7th grade, DD used AIG God’s Design series. This coming year (for 8th) she’ll be using an assortment of materials, mostly living books. I’ve picked a few topics to focus on (birds, trees, stars, and geography/exploration).
I’m undecided on what we’ll do for high school. Part of me would like to stick with living books and part of me wants to be sure they are prepared for college level science. My oldest won’t be completing Algebra until 9th grade and Algebra is usually paired with physical science. I’m thinking of using the 8th grade book for her 9th grade year. We may still stick with living books. My biggest concern is making sure she does enough lab work…that seems like it will be a challenge when planning out living books.
May 13, 2015 at 4:41 am
Melanie32
Participant
Holly-I’m considering having my daughter do Physical Science for 9th grade as well. However, many students take Physical Science before Algebra 1 with no problems-especially the Apologia text as it is written for 8th grade.
I’ve gone back and forth with living books for science as my daughter is getting older. We’ve used a mixture of textbooks and living books for science this past year and some of the living science books were much harder to understand than the Apologia General Science text! My daughter and I actually found it easy in comparison.
I have not made a definite decision on this but I am beginning to rethink using just living books for high school science in this day and age. There are lots of science books written for children. When a student gets to high school, they need the nitty gritty details and most of the living books you can find that go into that detail, are written by science minded adults to science minded adults. Therefore, I find some of them very tedious and hard to wade through. My daughter had to stop every paragraph to narrate and get her thoughts in order. It took FOREVER!
I’m leaning toward Apologia with a few living books thrown in for good measure. It takes the burden of having to plan high school level courses off of me and still enables me to add in the living science books that I do think will add to my daughter’s understanding without overwhelming her.
Again, I haven’t come to any definite decision. I may change my mind next week. 🙂 These are just some thoughts I’m having right.
May 13, 2015 at 5:21 am
Melanie32
Participant
Here’s an old thread on the topic. 🙂
https://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/helpthey-hate-apologia-general-science/
May 13, 2015 at 5:58 am
missceegee
Participant
Two quick things:
1- it’s a good idea to have Algebra before Chemistry, but isn’t necessary to have it before a Physical Science course in my opinion. My dd14 took Physical Science this year (not apologia) and is in pre algebra. She did fine .
2- Remember that Charlotte was not opposed to textbooks completely. They can fit nicely in a CM education when well done, especially. for sciences. You would be hard pressed to cover high school level material with labs using only living books your child would understand.
May 13, 2015 at 6:00 am
missceegee
Participant
3- You could consider adding a biography or loving book(s) to Apologia or another textbook to add that dimension.
May 13, 2015 at 6:03 am
missceegee
Participant
HollyS – my dd14 will take Algebra I in 9th with apologia biology. It isn’t necessary to have algebra I with physical science. It would be good to have it before chemistry.
(Sorry for 3 posts. Editing is not working correctly on my phone.)
May 13, 2015 at 1:06 pm
HollyS
Participant
My concern with having her do physical science next year (for 8th) is that she’ll be ready for chemistry before she finishes Algebra. That way she’d do biology and Algebra at the same time, then chemistry with geometry. I don’t see her starting Algebra before 9th grade…and I’m hoping she’ll be ready for it then! My understanding is that the high school science and math should be lined up…how else could you schedule them?
May 13, 2015 at 1:34 pm
missceegee
Participant
HollyS, my apologies for misunderstanding. My dd14 will take Biology and Algebra I in 9th after physical science in 8th and misc in 7th. I think the physical science by apologia or others I’ve seen is doable in 7th and not dependent upon having algebra to manage it. Whether it lines up through future years for your needs, I’m not sure.
Many people skip either apologia general or physical science with no problem.
10th grade for dd will be chemistry and either geometry or algebra 2. 11th and 12th, she can choose a science and mayh, but I don’t foresee physics or calculus for her. Not her interest. I took through advanced calculus in college. It was a waste in my opinion. Not my interest not pertinent to my field (nursing).
May 13, 2015 at 1:37 pm
missceegee
Participant
Again, sorry for double post.
HollyS – what if…
8th – physical science and pre algebra
9th – biology and algebra i
10th – chemistry and …
That would allow her to finish algebra I before starting chemistry. Unless I am misreading somewhere. Which is always a possibility.