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Start Biology w/o first doing General/Physical science?
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I’m looking for some insight from high school mommas….
My oldest is 13 and starting 9th grade this year. I know the standard science is Apologia Biology for this grade. Last year we traveled the USA in an RV on an expedition of a lifetime. We opted to learn science through the various national parks, books, nature study, etc. that we explored, so we did not do Physical science.
Now that we’re done traveling and I’m planning this year, I’m wondering if it’s ok to go ahead and do Biology OR should I delay that and do General and/or Physical science first for foundation? My daughter loves science and is very self motivated. She’s taken 4 years of Apologia Zoology/Astronomy. She loved it and did very well. She’s already done many lab disections over the years. (And she can remember everything about them–the official names of inside parts and everything!)
I want to make sure I don’t short change her foundation though. I’m just not sure if she needs those to excel in Biology and beyond. Her ultimate goal is to be a medical missionary.
My son will be starting 7th grade, and General Science is what is recommended.
If I do General Science with him and she just learns about it from osmosis, would that be a good alternative?
I hope all that background make sense 🙂 In this situation, would you do Biology or do a formal General/Physical Science first?
Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Well, my kids are younger – so I can’t comment personally…
But – Milestones Academy has kids move from the Exploring Creation [Fulbright] series right into Apologia Biology….
I’d guess that if she is very science oriented, she would probably be fine….
I WISH we could skip Apologia General Science. My son does too, but I feel he needs the foundation b/c he is weak in science.
I have no experience with Physical Science, but I really think a motivated student could certainly try. You could always see how it goes. If it is not working well, shelve it and go back. While Gen. Science and Physical Science lay a foundation, your DD may already have the foundation.
My vote is go for it!
BTW, I really want to travel the US in an RV. If only DH didn’t own a business that can’t be relocated (or go on the road). Do you have a blog where you journaled? If so, I’d love to read and live vicariously through your family for a moment (and dream maybe one day we can do that too!).
HTH
I think she’ll be just fine. Take it a bit slow at first maybe, and teach her some skills to learn the vocab and get the info out of the text–it’ll be OK. You don’t really need a formal junior high program. It’ll be Ok.
Thanks for your opinions ladies! My DD may have picked up a lot of the foundation along the way already.
FYI~I did blog about our journey 🙂 teammontyexpedition AT blogspot DOT com We now live in KY (moved in July 1), but the blog goes through SD, mid-May. I had to suspend blog updating until we got through the moving process and the school year planned. As soon as I finish school planning, I’ll update the blog with our last month on the road. Until then… I have 9 months of travel blogged
It was an amazing experience!Oh, thank you for sharing! BTW, I’m your neighbor to the south! If you’re ever in the Nashville area, I’m not too far. Oh and we have a travel trailer and some nice places to camp around here if you are looking to just go for a weekend or so.
Kentucky State Parks are quite nice as well. We like to get to them when we can.
First of all…my dream is to travel the US in an RV so my children can see the US.
You would probably be fine starting with Biology. The one thing that is missing from the course is a study on the human body. So, if your child is planning on going into any sort of medical field you would want to do Apologias one year human body course at some point. The good news is that human body is covered in General Science as well.
I would have her do Physical Science this year for 9th grade. She doesn’t have to do General Science first but she should do Physical Science. Dr. Wile even told me this. In our state it is standard to do Physical Science in 9th grade but I had my reasons for doing a different Biology in 9th grade. and had my daughter do Physical Science in 10th grade. When my daughter took the PLAN test which is the prelimary ACT test she didn’t know the Physical Science stuff that other 10th graders had learned in 9th grade. So I wouldn’t skip Physical Science to do Biology first again.
I just now saw this thread, but I am glad that I did. DD 14 is going into 9th grade, but she didn’t get past the first chapter of General Science last year since we opted to go through living science books as a family instead. I was thinking of having her start Physical Science this year and just bypass General.
She’s not terribly science-oriented, though, so I found Bookworm’s comment about not needing a formal science program for junior high interesting. I also have a nearly 12yo DD and 13yo DS who are again using living books for science this year. DS is mildly autistic and needs a lot of material read to him, but he retains what he hears pretty well, so he’s the main reason we settled on living science books last year.
Sue, I just wanted to mention that I bought an MP3 audio disk for $15 this year at our Homeschool Expo. It has to be the best $15 homeschool purchase for us in a long, long while! My 13YO son (14 in a few days) is using Apologia Gen. Science again this year after not being able to go through it last year. He is now into Module 3 already and scored very well on the first two module tests. He is keeping a notebook with lab sheets and notes (thanks to Knowledgeboxcentral!–again, best $10 ever spent!), and he has vocab cards to study).
I just don’t have time to read aloud everything, but this audio mp3 has allowed my son to read along in his book while someone narrates it to him. The speakers are engaging, and they alternate b/t male and female, which is nice so that if one has a preference they get that some of the time.
Here is a direct link at Apologia to the one we have: https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=114
Just thought I’d mention it as they have these for all upper level course I believe. This is NOT the full course CD-rom but rather an mp3 with just audio of the text. I plan to continue purchasing these for future Apologia texts we will use.
Sue, I do think it is a little EASIER if one is used to a more formal program before beginning biology; one might want to ease into the first module, spend a little time acquainting the child to memorizing vocabulary, reading a text for information, and studying. However, I don’t think a very formal program is an absolute prerequisite. There ARE some elements that will be useful to review before beginning or to be sure and spend some time on in the first few weeks, but this is quite d0-able.
Oh, and as a BTW, college son returned for the weekend (wanted dad’s help rebuilding his laptop) and he says the Apologia high school texts are a very good preparation for college level study (he’s a physics major.) His professor made a big point of telling the class that he wrote his own textbooks (the ones ds is studying in class) because he thought most college physics texts were too simplistic; it’s true there is a LOT more math in ds’s class than in Apologia but ds said the concepts taught in Apologia are coming in very handy right now. 🙂
It was an amazing experience!
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