I am planning on purchasing the new one or borrowing the 2nd edition from a friend. The lab class my ds will take in the fall will be guided by the 2nd edition but I’d almost rather purchase the brand new one just because.
@bookworm, we too like to read a wide range on any given topic and then come up with our own conclusion. While I might not disagree with Apologia on a given statement, I’d rather the text stay more focused on the subject matter. Just my preference.
@crazy4boys, you mentioned my concern … the “religious or extras” that are included in the texts of Apologia. While I don’t necessarily disagree with them (having not seen any, I can’t say for sure) I just don’t see why it’s necessary or good Science to put those in the texts. I could understand an explanation of position in the introduction but throughout the texts?
I’d almost decided to use these but this makes me leery all over again. 🙁 Has anyone else worked around this issue who would care to share how they approached it?
Well, we’d prefer that too, Claire. In our household’s opinion, the material is inconsequential and can just be zipped over, in all texts, except one module in Biology, which you can treat however you want. I had my boys read it, we discussed it, and we moved on without testing over it. It did not provide a major problem for us, excepting some eye-rolling on the part of the boys. It’s in general a minor annoyance, in our minds, and considering that alternatives to the text also had major weaknesses, we just decided to live with it.
It is the strawmen arguments against the environmental movement that give me reservations with the Apologia texts. Disagreeing with global warming or the environmental movement in general is not an issue for me–inflammatory caricatures and strawmen are. That said, I do use the Apologia texts with DIVE CDs because I haven’t found anything I like better and it gives me a chance to throw in some critical thinking and evaluation in with science 🙂 . I’m not a huge fan of Bob Jones or Abeka either. I supplement with living books and still wondering if my elusive “it” curriculum will ever be found. I’m intrigued by science simply with living books that I read online, but I am not yet confident enough in it to choose it. I’ve only graduated 1 of 8 kids, though, so I’m not anywhere near being an expert in this.