Apologia 1st and 2nd editions?
Posted 07 February 2011 - 09:44 PM
Specific to general, physical, and biology?
And do you have to have general before physical? For an 8th grader who is comfortable with science?
Posted 07 February 2011 - 10:29 PM
I don't think you have to do general before physical. Both my girls detested general and did much better in physical. I don't know why they hated it so much though.
Posted 08 February 2011 - 12:02 AM
I think 2nd ed. has more color photos, a couple more experiment instructions, and has little marks to show what CD segments to watch, which are all nice. But it only amounts to stretching out a couple of chapters onto another page.
The only real change, IMHO, is the chapter summaries in the back. They are fill-in-the-blank summaries of each chapter for review purposes. I tried to make something like that myself with 1st ed., so I liked seeing them. But actually the ones I made didn't really turn out that useful for ds, so I'd have to try it to know whether it is useful for my child.
I hope someone else chimes in, because I could be making errors here, but this is to the best of my recollection.
Posted 08 February 2011 - 12:26 AM
Posted 08 February 2011 - 10:09 AM
If you are purchasing this year, I would go for the 2nd edition. There are plenty on the used market. But, the 1st edition is fine. I'm most familiar with the biology editions. I've taught a co-op several times and I had families that used the 1st edition, though I was teaching from the 2nd edition. There is little difference in the content. The biggest difference is in the graphics. Charts and diagrams in the 2nd edition are much better and the charts and diagrams have integral information to the course. I think the layout and color photographs were better in the 2nd edition as well.
You absolutely do not have to do general before moving into physical or biology. In fact, none of the Apologia books are prerequisites for the others. Each book stands alone. Not a big fan of general, so I vote to skip it.
Posted 08 February 2011 - 02:05 PM