Apologia vs. A Beka Biology

[m in ca]

I am wondering if anyone can give me more information about the Apologia Biology text. I currently have an A Beka Biology and enjoy the photos and layout. I have preferred the Apologia for Physical Science and Chemistry, but have never had opportunity to see their Biology. Any comparisons of the strengths and weaknesses as compared to A Beka would be appreciated. Thanks!

[teachmom3]

Hi--

I answered a similar question on these boards a couple of years ago, so I'm going to excerpt my response from back then. My response deals with the first edition of Apologia Biologia, but the 1st and 2nd editions do not substantially differ in content:

A Beka has a large section on human anatomy and physiology, which Apologia does not cover in its Biology course, but does cover in a separate course.

There are additional content differences. A Beka covers plants and vertebrates more extensively than Apologia does. On the other hand, Apologia does a better job covering cell biology, microbiology, and especially molecular biology than A Beka does. Additionally, Apologia covers ecology, which A Beka apparently ignores entirely.

Apologia incorporates scheduling of its labs directly into the text, while A Beka has a separate lab manual.

I was dissatisfied with the degree of specifics provided in some of the dissection instructions in Apologia. I ended up supplementing with dissection instructions and the dissection video from BJUP. The instructions were better in A Beka's lab manual. Best of all were the previously mentioned separate dissection manual and dissection instructional video available from BJUP.

Finally, A Beka’s text is more visually attractive, with many more illustrations and photographs, than Apologia’s.

I chose to use Apologia as our primary biology text with Child #2, with A Beka functioning as the supplement. The primary reason for this was the differences in content coverage I've described above. Although most children seem to enjoy studying about vertebrates more than molecular biology, the vast majority of news-making findings in biology, the discoveries that have or will affect our daily lives--e.g., cloning, the human genome project, genetically modified food, new drugs, etc., etc.--are largely occurring in the realm of molecular biology.

Apologia does a better job dealing with evolution than A Beka does, but neither does a great job.

HTH!