Advice for science order (Apologia/BJU)

[mims]

My original plan was to have my 8th grade daughter take Apologia General Science this year (we didn't do it in 7th since she is not real into science) but a neighbor science teacher started a homeschool science class and used BJU's 7th grade life science. The classroom experience was real good. Next year she is holding her classes 20 minutes away at a inconvenient time for us so I need to decide what to do next year for my daughter's freshman year.

- take BJU 8th grade Space and Earth science from this lady. She would probably do it with her brother who is two years younger than her. She is not excited about that and is concerned it wouldn't count as high school credit.

- take BJU 9th grade Physical Science. She would like to take this but she would literally be gone from home from 12:30 until 9:00 between piano lessons, science, and AWANA. Ugh.

-take Apologia 8th grade physical science. Again she is concerned whether that would count as high school credit.

My questions revolve around whether the 8th grade classes count as high school credit. Also what will she be missing if she goes out of order? And is there a major concern with skipping back and forth between these curriculums since I don' t know what will happen the following years.

If I do it just at home I really want to do Apologia since we really struggle with experiments but if some years we do it at home and some years with our neighbor we could really jump around.

Thanks for any advice.

[HiddenJewel]

I don't see any reason why BJU Earth and Space couldn't count as credit if she is in high school. It is a heavy duty course - too much for junior high IMO. We have not done the experiments for the Life Science and Earth Science. We will get the experiments with the DIVE into Science CD-Rom next year with Physical Science.

[Sharon in MD]

If she were in 9th grade and taking either the Apologia Physical or the BJUP Earth and Space, it would certainly count as a high school science credit. But why are you wanting to count the 8th grade science as high school? Are you trying to complete the science credits early? Most colleges we looked at wanted to see at least 2, very often 3, science courses in high school.

[Melissa in CA]

I don't see any reason why BJU Earth and Space couldn't count as credit if she is in high school. It is a heavy duty course - too much for junior high IMO.

:iagree: I recorded the classes off our satellite this year for my son's 8th grade science, and frankly, I am thinking of using it in 9th! It seemed far more difficult than the Apologia Physical Science my middle son used while in 9th grade (back then, Apologia's Phys. Sci. was recommended for 9th). My son will be using BJU's Life Science this next year and I will see how well he keeps up before deciding if he can handle the Earth and Space class in 8th.

I also think Apologia's Physical Science would be fine in 9th as well. Many still use it for high school credit. :confused:

[K-FL]

I don't know if this will answer your questions, but. . .
Dd#2 did Apologia Physical Science w/labs in 8th grade--all at home--& NARS counted it as hs credit. She also (Dd#1 also) did Apologia Biology w/labs--all at home & alone--for hs credit. Apologia is written to the student so you don't have to "teach" as the book is designed to do that. All I did is grade the tests & take pictures & be the scribe for the labs. HTH!

As to the why we used it for hs credit--it's a lab science, many ps have a physical science credit for hs, & they'll be taking (dd#1 has completed) more science at the college level for their dual enrollment credits to get an AA.

[mims]

I'm planning for her 9th grade year (next year). I tend to not be as concerned about her having enough highschool credits but she has really taken ownership of her highschool classes. This is fun to see but she is also a little paranoid about getting it all right. I don't see her doing anything with real strong science in college but she is a smart student and probably college bound.

[Sharon in MD]

I thought you meant that she was currently in 7th and rising to 8th grade next fall....duh....

Really, it is perfectly fine to do the Apologia Physical as a 9th grade science credit. Just always bear in mind what the min. requirements are that the colleges you think you might be headed for. You can go on pretty much any college website and look at the prospective student tab and check the admissions requirements. They should list the high school course selections that they insist on. I'd shoot for a minimum of 2 sciences, but 3 is safer.

I know you probably don't really know where she wants to go at this point. What we did was look at our state university that is pretty highly ranked to see what they listed, figuring it would be pretty standard and it was.