Science Programs

[Mary+Immaculate<3]

So, I'm a freshman and homeschooled. Right now I struggle with science because all I have is a textbook, my brain, and my eyes. No teacher, no program, no class. The textbook I use is Dr. Wile's Exploring Creation with Physical Science. I used his General Science textbook before this. Don't ge me wrong, I think the man has some valid points and is very smart and great at making his textbooks more like a printed classrom, but I have some issues with the books. If y'all aren't familiar with him, he is a Protestant scientist who has written a series of middle/hign school science books for homeschoolers. Unfortunately, the books are very biased towards the Fundamentalist approach to science. As a Catholic, I know the it is open to interpretation, but in the general, and even more so in the physical science book, the points that support the young earth theory is stressed to the point where on at least one occasion there were questions on the tests which required the student to answer that one of its aspects was correct and downplaying the opposing old earth theory.

My question to any of you out there is if you are aware of any high school programs/textbooks for biology, chemistry, and physics, which are taken from a Catholic perspective, or are at least as unbiased as possible. I realize that an unbiased program is impossible, but at this point I don't even have enough satisfying knowledge to decide either way my view of the age of the spinning blue marble on which I live.

God bless,

Mary+Immaculate<3

[NotreDame]

Are you asking for a new program to replace the one you are on or are you asking for reading on the catholic approach to science to properly supplement your studies?

[ChristinaTherese]

Um. I don't know of textbooks you can use on your own, but if you can find someone who has studied science enough to understand high school stuff, I would recommend the Singapore books. You'd have to find lab supplies online to make it work, but it's worth it. Or Keystone (a correspondence school) has some stuff with labs supplied, and while I don't think I liked it very much I'm certain it was less painful than Apologia. But, really, the best thing would be to have it either one-on-one or in a class with an actual teacher. Are you sure that you can't find a lab class for homeschoolers at a local college (I took a few at George Fox University, which were taught by college students), a parent or other person who has a decent understanding of science and can teach you, a class at a local high school that they might let you take (but you might want to choose school wisely if you did that), or something?

 

If nothing else works, I'd try switching to Keystone. It isn't Catholic and it isn't the best thing in the world, but anything at all is better than Apologia. (Can you tell that I used it once and then absolutely refused to let my mother use it ever again? And we used Singapore, a little bit of Keystone but I think we just got some labs from them not a whole curriculum, and a college textbook for Chemistry with a person from our church who was a chemist.)

[Mary+Immaculate<3]

Are you asking for a new program to replace the one you are on or are you asking for reading on the catholic approach to science to properly supplement your studies?

While the supplemental information would be helpful, at this point I am seeking simply the bare minimum to complete high school. Since science isn't really my strong subject and I have no intention of having it be a pursuit of mine in college, it would be nice to have a program at this point.

[Mary+Immaculate<3]

Um. I don't know of textbooks you can use on your own, but if you can find someone who has studied science enough to understand high school stuff, I would recommend the Singapore books. You'd have to find lab supplies online to make it work, but it's worth it. Or Keystone (a correspondence school) has some stuff with labs supplied, and while I don't think I liked it very much I'm certain it was less painful than Apologia. But, really, the best thing would be to have it either one-on-one or in a class with an actual teacher. Are you sure that you can't find a lab class for homeschoolers at a local college (I took a few at George Fox University, which were taught by college students), a parent or other person who has a decent understanding of science and can teach you, a class at a local high school that they might let you take (but you might want to choose school wisely if you did that), or something?

If nothing else works, I'd try switching to Keystone. It isn't Catholic and it isn't the best thing in the world, but anything at all is better than Apologia. (Can you tell that I used it once and then absolutely refused to let my mother use it ever again? And we used Singapore, a little bit of Keystone but I think we just got some labs from them not a whole curriculum, and a college textbook for Chemistry with a person from our church who was a chemist.)

Well, if I can next year, perhaps I could post-secondary science classes, since I was planning on taking those anyway. My fear with that is that everyone else would have already taken the high school level and I would thus be behind, good suggestion though, I'll look into it.
My mother is a nurse, so perhaps she could help me if I tried Singapore. I'll research those programs a bit. I agree, Apologia smells of elderberries. The two homeschool co-ops I participate in in my area (Catholic and Protestant) both use Apologia :-/ At this point in time I think I want to avoid the public high school.

[Nihil Obstat]

In high school I used the following textbooks:

These were specific for Canada and Alberta, so they were geared towards our diploma exams. They seem fairly solid, but I do not know how your curriculum compares.

 

 

Grade Ten General Science:

http://www.pearsoncanadaschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PS1zRo&PMDbSiteId=2621&PMDbSolutionId=25862&PMDbSubSolutionId=&PMDbCategoryId=25879&PMDbSubCategoryId=26225&PMDbSubjectAreaId=&PMDbProgramId=46628

 

Grade Eleven and Twelve Chemistry:

http://www.nelson.com/ABchem20-30/

 

Grade Eleven and Twelve Biology:

http://www.nelson.com/ABbio20-30/

 

Grade Eleven and Twelve Physics:

http://www.mcgrawhill.ca/school/explore/9780078807213/glencoe+physics:+principles+and+problems,+student+edition/

 

 

 

[CrossCuT]

So, I'm a freshman and homeschooled. Right now I struggle with science because all I have is a textbook, my brain, and my eyes. No teacher, no program, no class. The textbook I use is Dr. Wile's Exploring Creation with Physical Science. I used his General Science textbook before this. Don't ge me wrong, I think the man has some valid points and is very smart and great at making his textbooks more like a printed classrom, but I have some issues with the books. If y'all aren't familiar with him, he is a Protestant scientist who has written a series of middle/hign school science books for homeschoolers. Unfortunately, the books are very biased towards the Fundamentalist approach to science. As a Catholic, I know the it is open to interpretation, but in the general, and even more so in the physical science book, the points that support the young earth theory is stressed to the point where on at least one occasion there were questions on the tests which required the student to answer that one of its aspects was correct and downplaying the opposing old earth theory.

My question to any of you out there is if you are aware of any high school programs/textbooks for biology, chemistry, and physics, which are taken from a Catholic perspective, or are at least as unbiased as possible. I realize that an unbiased program is impossible, but at this point I don't even have enough satisfying knowledge to decide either way my view of the age of the spinning blue marble on which I live.

God bless,

Mary+Immaculate<3

 

I totally get that science is a hard topic for a student to grasp on their own! Major props to you for self learning! That is an extremely important skill all on its own!

Honestly one thing that helped me in a lot of challenging courses is YouTube. There is a tutorial or informational video on almost every topic imaginable. If you ever run into a rough spot, just try searching some keywords on YouTube and Im positive youll find some interesting things!

 

Like others have said, I dont know much about the book nor do I have any better suggestions off the top of my head, but I would like to add that the "young earth" idea is not science. It is not up for interpretation and its simply straight up false. Its really unfortunate that a science book is teaching pseudoscience. I would highly recommend finding a legit science book so that you can get the right information. Evolution and all it entails is not a threat to our faith in any way, but there is a large portion of Catholics who believe that it is based off a lot of atheists who hold Evolution as a type of God replacement. 

 

I was a Biology tutor back in college and I wouldnt mind answering any questions you have or even setting up Skype chats if you felt comfortable if there were any topics that were confusing to you. :)

[ChristinaTherese]

Well, if I can next year, perhaps I could post-secondary science classes, since I was planning on taking those anyway. My fear with that is that everyone else would have already taken the high school level and I would thus be behind, good suggestion though, I'll look into it.

My mother is a nurse, so perhaps she could help me if I tried Singapore. I'll research those programs a bit. I agree, Apologia smells of elderberries. The two homeschool co-ops I participate in in my area (Catholic and Protestant) both use Apologia :-/ At this point in time I think I want to avoid the public high school.

Well, if you were to take college classes at a local college, there are some classes that expect previous experience in science and some that don't. And they probably all expect some previous math (probably algebra and a bit more). So you'd just have to see if you met the prerequisites and the school would let you.

 

And if your mom is a nurse, working with her on Singapore sounds really good. For dissections (which can be rather fun) you will probably have to go out of your way to get stuff, as you would for other labs, but sometimes laws pose problems and you have to figure out how to find something that works. (I'm pretty sure that was why we used some Keystone lab stuff. The other stuff wouldn't ship to individual homeschoolers.) I worked with a friend on science stuff. It was great fun doing the labs together.

 

Also, do you have any siblings? Are they older or younger than you?

[Mary+Immaculate<3]

Thanks for your suggestions, everyone! That is true, YouTube is often a great source. I remember once looking up parabolic mirrors to put to life what I was learning in algebra, it was fascinating! Yes, sadly because of the literal approach to Scripture, Protestants tend to think that creation was literally 7 days, which causes them to disregard evidence pointing otherwise. I'll probably ask the local college what they think about me taking their classes, math is fairly easy for me, it's just the science that I'm dragging being in. There's a 2-day intensive I can do at the end of the school year which has labs and dissections, it covers all requirements for most science programs. Well, the problem is that I'm the youngest, but the only brother goes to a Catholic high school and has a job, so he's really busy, plus he's only 2 years older than me. Everyone else is moved out.
God bless y'all!

[AnneLine]

A lot of times a Community College will let you take classes... or let you sign up for on-line versions of classes....

[mortify ii]

Hi Mary,

 

If by unbiased you mean a text book lacking evolution, that will be very hard to find. As with most things though you can read and study a subject without having to accept everything at face value. Eat the meat and leave the bones so to speak.

 

I always advise people to find a practical profession, usually that involves a basis in hard science or math, so it's very useful knowledge to have.