Physics text driving us nuts!

[Barb B]

Hi! Me again! I started the year with Giancoli, switched to apologia advanced physics (we did saxon physics last year and want another year as ds is interested in engineering). Now, we find we liked Giancoli better! I am crazy I guesse. I find apologia doesn't prepare us enough for the tests. I can't quite put my finger on it but. . . anyway back to ginacoli. So, anyone here ever compare both these texts? I know this is babbling but I am thinking outloud trying to convince myself that this is the right decision!

Barb

[HeidiD]

Hi! Me again! I started the year with Giancoli, switched to apologia advanced physics (we did saxon physics last year and want another year as ds is interested in engineering). Now, we find we liked Giancoli better! I am crazy I guesse. I find apologia doesn't prepare us enough for the tests. I can't quite put my finger on it but. . . anyway back to ginacoli. So, anyone here ever compare both these texts? I know this is babbling but I am thinking outloud trying to convince myself that this is the right decision!

Barb

Barb, did you like Saxon physics? I was thinking of getting it because I've liked Saxon math (although lately I've been investigating Russian math due to the enthusiastic posters who highly recommend it). My eldest used Bob Jones physics, which I like, but I wonder if Saxon might be more streamlined. What tests does Apologia not prepare for? And what is Giancoli?

[Barb B]

Well, I liked Saxon physics but. . . the incremental approach wasn't good for some physics topics. Each physics topic was too spread out over the whole text - I wished, for example that I had one unit of electricity topics instead of it here and there through the text. But, I loved the constant review - you just don't get that with other texts. So, it had good and bad points. It is good the way we are doing it - one year of Saxon followed by another year of physics. We can do that because ds had biology in 8th grade. Apologia - at first I liked his conversational style, but then I realized I missed learning from a more traditional textbook. Also, the test (aplologia tests after each module) had really hard deductive reasoning type problems. These are good, don't get me wrong, but I felt that the textbook just didn't prepare you for them. Giancoli - has a more traditional textbook look which my brain seems to remember more from. Also, it seems to break down the topics step by step in each chapter better. I also like how every now and then there is a big box with general problem solving tips in it (which help for those deductive reasoning type problems where you have to really problem solve and not just plug numbers in).

So, we've tried 2 for our second year of physics (and it is only week 6 of school!). I think we will stay with Giancoli. Especially since I have a cd from the publisher that makes creating tests really easy! Also a web sight I found from a college class that has a list of which problems are good to do (there are soooo many problems at the end of the chapter you can't do them all!).

Barb

[Kareni]

And what is Giancoli?

I don't know what specific Giancoli textbook Barb is using, but here's one:

Physics: Principles with Applications, 6th edition (http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Principles-Applications-Douglas-Giancoli/dp/0130606200) by Douglas Giancoli.

Regards,
Kareni

[HeidiD]

Well, I liked Saxon physics but. . . the incremental approach wasn't good for some physics topics. Each physics topic was too spread out over the whole text - I wished, for example that I had one unit of electricity topics instead of it here and there through the text. But, I loved the constant review - you just don't get that with other texts. So, it had good and bad points. It is good the way we are doing it - one year of Saxon followed by another year of physics. We can do that because ds had biology in 8th grade. Apologia - at first I liked his conversational style, but then I realized I missed learning from a more traditional textbook. Also, the test (aplologia tests after each module) had really hard deductive reasoning type problems. These are good, don't get me wrong, but I felt that the textbook just didn't prepare you for them. Giancoli - has a more traditional textbook look which my brain seems to remember more from. Also, it seems to break down the topics step by step in each chapter better. I also like how every now and then there is a big box with general problem solving tips in it (which help for those deductive reasoning type problems where you have to really problem solve and not just plug numbers in).

So, we've tried 2 for our second year of physics (and it is only week 6 of school!). I think we will stay with Giancoli. Especially since I have a cd from the publisher that makes creating tests really easy! Also a web sight I found from a college class that has a list of which problems are good to do (there are soooo many problems at the end of the chapter you can't do them all!).

Barb

Thanks, Barb. It sounds as though you like them both for different reasons. What would you think about combining them? I tend to have my kids use a bunch of textbooks simultaneously for math, with Saxon being my favorite series (I'm lazy, and I've got most of them memorized at this point :)). Could we combine these two physics books into a course, pulling the same concepts out of both as we go along?

[HeidiD]

I don't know what specific Giancoli textbook Barb is using, but here's one:

Physics: Principles with Applications, 6th edition (http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Principles-Applications-Douglas-Giancoli/dp/0130606200) by Douglas Giancoli.

Regards,
Kareni


Thanks, Kareni. This book sure gets mixed reviews - people seem to either love it or hate it. Someone called it a course in "equation slinging"!

[Barb B]

Thanks, Barb. It sounds as though you like them both for different reasons. What would you think about combining them? I tend to have my kids use a bunch of textbooks simultaneously for math, with Saxon being my favorite series (I'm lazy, and I've got most of them memorized at this point :)). Could we combine these two physics books into a course, pulling the same concepts out of both as we go along?
Well, We found saxon alone to be quite demanding. But if you use the other text just to read certain parts - kind of as a supplement, then maybe. The thing is saxon works best if you do all the problems and thats is what is time consuming.
Barb

[Barb B]

I don't know what specific Giancoli textbook Barb is using, but here's one:

Physics: Principles with Applications, 6th edition (http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Principles-Applications-Douglas-Giancoli/dp/0130606200) by Douglas Giancoli.

Regards,
Kareni
Sorry about that - yes, thats the textbook we are using (we haven't had calculus yet).

Barb

[Brenda in MA]

So, we've tried 2 for our second year of physics (and it is only week 6 of school!). I think we will stay with Giancoli. Especially since I have a cd from the publisher that makes creating tests really easy! Also a web sight I found from a college class that has a list of which problems are good to do (there are soooo many problems at the end of the chapter you can't do them all!).

Barb

Hi Barb,

My son used Giancoli for Physics, and we both loved that book, so I'm planning to use it again with my next child. Would you mind sharing the ISBN for the publisher's CD of tests? and also the website with the list of recommended problems?

TIA,
Brenda

[Barb B]

Sure, ISBN 0-13-035246-2

It is called: Instructor Resource Center on CD-ROM. Pearon/Prentice Hall is where I got it online. You need to contact them first (I think I phoned?) as they will send you a form you need to fill out just stating you are a homeschool parent - nothing much else is on that form but that. Then you can order it. The best thing on it is the Test Generator; then there are files for the solutions to the textbook problems (invaluable to me!).

Barb

[Joan in Geneva]

a web sight I found from a college class that has a list of which problems are good to do (there are soooo many problems at the end of the chapter you can't do them all!).

Barb

Hi Barb,

Could you share the website with the problems? My son is picking the problems at this point but some guidance would be useful...

Thanks,
Joan

[Susan C.]

Barb,
Another thing to explore.....with us, if we started hopping from publisher to publisher because we couldn't find a good fit, it meant that it was a subject the kid wasn't very good at.... It happened with math, and physics! Started with BJU, but then we moved to Apologia (not advanced), it was much better. Math, well...... the kid is an English major now after trying calculus failed miserably...

[Barb B]

Susan, Thanks, your are right - except its that the subject is one that I'm not very good at! I have found that I need to do some problems and ready EVERY day or I won't remember a thing!

Barb

[8FillTheHeart]

Barb,

I don't think you are looking to switch programs, but I do want to share that my ds absolutely loves Kinetic Physics. He is doing their Conceptual Physics program, but do not confuse it with Hewitt's. It is an algebra 2 based program with lots of application problems. They also have a cal based program.