Physical Science
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
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If you are looking for Apologia class schedules, please click on the DonnaYoung button on the right. Look under the tab SCIENCE and it will take to you the page with all the information you need and more. 
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You can find this science curriculum at Apologia Educational Ministries .
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I have been asked several times if I thought the first and second edition of Physical Science could be use in the same classroom. The simple answer is no. I had one student who picked up the wrong edition and within the first week, there was a small problem. Also, there are new experiments in the second edition that are not in the first book.
Quote from Apologia Educational Ministries website: “PLEASE NOTE: Because of the differences between the first and second editions, students in a group setting cannot use both.
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During Co-op for the school year 2007/2008, I have the privilege of teaching seven students using Apologia Exploring Creation with Physical Science, by Dr. Wile. We are using the second edition, which is really nice. The examples, On Your Own questions, and experiments are all color coded. Student’s can’t miss them. 
There are a few extra things that I needed to bring to class because I lack a stove and sink in the classroom. These things are listed below and will be updated if needed.
- Large and small bowls
- Large pitcher to carry water
- Portable burner
- Electric teapot
- towels to cover the tables to keep them dry
- paper towels
- Here are the list of schedules and forms I am using for this class. All come from DonnaYoung website.
- Basic Lab Sheets, both pages
- Drawing Sheet
- Weather Chart
- Co-op Schedule Mine is included here, but you’ll also find other Phys. Sc. schedules.
- Vocabulary
What to do, if you need an empty 2 liter bottle and don’t have one.
Listed below are my posts on the different modules. I hope you enjoy hearing about our fun class this year.
- Lab Reports
- Module 2 Air
- Experiment 3.1 Atmospheric Pressure
- Experiment 3.2 See the effect of Changing Temperature
At the beginning of the second week in Module 3, I gave a quiz on the the Homosphere layers. I used Figure 3.5 (page 65, 2nd edition) to make the quiz. For some reason I was not able to type in the ozone layers numbers, so I hand written them. I also drew in moutains at the bottom of the page. Since my scanner is not working right now, all you get is the unfinished copy on my computer. Write in 30km at the top of your Ozone layer, and 20km at the bottom. Draw in moutains if you want.
The kids had fun with the following lab, even though it didn’t work very well.
Module 5 – The Hydrosphere
Module 6 - Earth and the Lithosphere
- Plastic Rock Experiment
- Split your world
- Experiments to be added later.
- A great movie for this module is Thundering Earth by Moody Institute of Science.
- Part B
Module 7:
- A great movie for Module 7 is Whirling Winds by Moody Science.
- The experiment in this module will take us almost 4 weeks to finish. We are using the website Weather Underground to gather all of our data.
- Build a Barometer
- We had extra time during class with this module, so I made a Bingo game using all vocabulary from previous modules to make up the time. YoungMinds CD, has blank bingo cards you can use. Just put the words on the cards, and call out the definitions. Make sure you have some winning cards.
Module 8:
Nothing exciting went on for Module 8. The students gathered their weather information and predicted the weather. It was harder than they thought, but I think they enjoyed trying to figure it out. An extra experiment we did was The Awesome Power of the Sun. This was a fun experiment to do before the Christmas break.
January 2008:
Module 9: The students find it difficult to do the conversions. IF I was to do this course over again, I would make worksheets with two or three equations for the student to do each week, to prepare them for the second half of this book.
Module 10 Newton ROCKS!
A great book for Modules 10 & 11 is The Science of Forces by Steve Parker. It has several easy experiments to do for extra excitment in the classroom. I wanted to do the experiment Act and React, for Newtons’ Third Law, but I didn’t get the book in time. I will be doing Around and Around on page 20, to demonstrate Centripetal Force for Module 11. Actually, I am going to use a spinning top game, but this book gave me the idea. I’ll be posting about it later.
Module 11: Forces in Creation
Module 12: Forces in Creation Part 2
Module 13: Latin terms on the Periodic Table of Elements
Extra experiments done during Module 13. They have nothing to do with Module 13.
Module 14: Waves and Sound
Module 15: Light
Module 15: part 2
Hi. I came across your blog- a group of us just started a co-op. We meet once a week. Do you find that taking 2 weeks to do a module is the best? Do you do all the experiments on your co-op day? Or do you have the kids do them at home as well as they are reading? How do you get your kids to do really good lab reports? Mine kind of look into space with blank looks when they have to come up with an intro, adn hypothesis etc. Any good suggestions?
Hi Cheryl! Thank you so much for stopping by. I’ll try to answer your questions.
Yes, two weeks is just right for the modules. They are set up in the book in such a way that the kids have an exam every other week. I spend the first Monday on the first half of the module and the second Monday the second half. The kids take their exams at home on a Friday and bring it to me to grade on the following Monday.
We try to do all the experiments in class. There are a few that I can not do, like ex. 5.2 (I think) needs extra time to freeze salt water. We don’t have that time. Any experiment that requires something I can’t provide in the classroom, is done at home. I find that we can do three experiments in a 1 1/2 hour class, if needed. In other words ALL experiments will be done, either in class or at home.
The kids have daily reading assignments. They do not have reading assignments on Mondays or holidays. I’ll make a link to my schedule in the above post.
I messed up and did not go over the lab reports the first day. I assumed they learned it last year. Anyhoo, I took an hour one class period and went over what was expected. I do not have them write a hypothesis. The link to the forms we use, is Basic Lab Sheets, above. Once I got the labs to grade, I wrote what they needed to improve. I gave no mercy.
I do not have them write an introducation. I have them write a purpose “Why are you doing this experiment?”. They were able to answer that better. 
Mine look into space also when I start talking. It is very boring to them, so I try to living things up. This past week, I had them tasting different water sources. I told them they just drank water from a ditch and that got all of them awake. LOL It really wasn’t ditch water. I’ll be posting about that next week. We are in Module 5 and I have one more Monday in that module before I’ll post about it.
I have posted about some of our experiments above. Have a look around and see what all we did. If you have any questions, just let me know.
Looks like you are doing a great job with this class. I read through most of the posts and it seems like the kids are all liking it alot. I wish I was able to send my son to a co-op for chemisty!!
hi I’m looking for the co-op schedule for Apologia Chemistry
Hi Lorraine, you can find the schedule at DonnaYoung.org
I don’t remember ever learning Physics and was wondering if there are any books that explain Modules 9 and 10 in really easy terms!!! ; ) and/or websites. My library does not have the Parker book you recommended.
Dean, I would just do a search on the internet for Physics of Motion and Forces. Also, the library has a lot more books that might help. I don’t have anything right now to suggest, but I’ll do a search and see what I can come up with. Module 9 & 10 are not easy.
This might help. Discovery Education I know that Apologia Educational Ministries has extra help on their website.
Hi- How much do you charge for your co-op class? Do you provide all of the experiment materials or have each child buy the kit? We are doing a general science coop this year and praying about doing physical science next year. Enjoyed your site very much. thanks
Thank yo Christina. I emailed you.
do you have any info on Exploring Creation with Zoology 1?
Rhonda, the answer is no, but I did email you.
Hi Michelle-
I was looking for your email address and couldn’t find it, So i am leaving this on your blog. My question is how long are your classes each week…1 hr?
Thanks
I appreciate your help
Christina
Hi Christina. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
I am going to email you, but I’ll put the answer here also. Our classes are 1 1/2 hours each Monday.
Michelle,
Does each student need their own lab kit?
Thanks,
Arlene
If the experiment was inexpensive, I had each student do their own. The rest, I either paired them up in twos or threes, or did only one in front of the class. So, no each student does not need their own lab kit.
Your blog has been so helpful as we plan our co-op, and I thank you for taking the time to share it! We are going to try and do science in the summer and double the pace, just like a typical summer school class. We will be doing 1 module per week. Do you have suggestions for how to structure the class time? We’ll be meeting once per week for 1.5 hours. I appreciate your thoughts!
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I tried to email you, but the addy bounced back. Here is what I wanted to say:
My students read an average of five pages a day (I think), if you condense it down to one week, they will have to read up to 10 or more pages a day, plus experiments. One module had six experiments in it.
I think it would be difficult for the student to read the material, do the experiments, answer all On Your Own Questions, write up the labs, do the Study Guide, and the Test, all in one week. Especially if you meet for 1.5 hours a week, that gives them, three other days to do the work, then the test on the fifth day.
So, I am not sure how to help you. =) If you do the work in one week, I hope it goes well for you. If you have any other questions, please let me know.
I am starting to prepare for teaching a coop this coming year. Your schedule and blog look great and will be very helpful. I had a question regarding editions 1 and 2. Do you know if there are major differences between them?
HI Trudy, Thanks for visiting my blog. No, you can not use both books in one classroom. I explained it in the post above, finally.
Did you do Module #16. We’re running out of time, and I’m wondering if it can be skipped. Thanks.
Yes, we did. I just didn’t report anything on that module, for some reason. If you are running out of time, I don’t see why you can’t skip it. That’s up to you, though. The students did like the expanding universe experiment.
Hi, I just purchased Physical Science First Edition, is there a schedule out there for Edition 1? Thanks so much!
Jayne
Yes, there is. Go to Donna Young, the Physical Science page and look in the blue box to the right. There is a link to schedules for the 1st edition. Hope that helps.
I am leading a coop this year for physical science. I’m looking for a schedule for Apologia’s 2nd edition. We will meet once a week and I’d like to do all of the experiments in class. I tried the link, but couldn’t find your schedule. Can you direct me again?
Thanks so much.
I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened to the link in the post. Thanks for letting me know. I fixed it.
You can find the co-op schedules here. Just make the schedules fit your class best.
Hi,
We live in a rather rural area and do not have ready access to a co-op. I have been pondering buying the DVD available through http://www.redwagontutorials.com/. The link for this site was found through Apologia. I looks good, but I am not crazy about spending $150. Do you know anything about red wagon, or do you have any other advice for family without access to co-op? Thanks.
Hi Jeanne,
I don’t know anything about redwagontutorials. I do know you can do the Apologia sciences on your own. They are actually made that way. If you need scheduling help, you can go to Donnayoung.org.
Michelle
Jeanne:
Apologia has changed ownership. The new owners are veteran home educators and science folks, too. Anyway, Red Wagon is a venture for video based tutorials they have just launched this year. I think it sounded great, too, but I would encourage you to try to teach this course yourself. My children have enjoyed directing themselves through the Apologia text (even the ones that are not science-lovers) because they are so well written. Either option you choose, you can’t go wrong.
Enjoy the journey,
Stacy
Hi! We’ve just started a physical science co-op this year and are just on module #2. We meet once a week on Thursday and it’s taking me so much longer to make sure everything’s covered. I’m doing my best to cover each module in two class meetings but I can’t seem to get through all the material and it’s even worse when there are more than one experiment. Our class meets for 2 hours. If you could give me any tips or direction on how your 1 1/2 class time is structured, I would greatly appreciate it!!
Hi Katie,
Thank you for visiting my blog.
In our co-op we are considered “facilitators”. We direct the kids in their lessons. They are responsible for learning most of the material on their own. That is also how the book is written. I had plenty of time each class period of 1.5 hours, to do all the experiments schedule plus lecture, plus add in a lot of fun extra stuff.
I usually had two classes per module. I lectured for 45 minutes, cover any important points, then did labs, but some days we only had time for labs. All lab write-ups were done at home, not during class. There were a lot of times, I would not even go over certain areas of a module. Those sections were easily understood and the students can do that at home.
I hope that helped you some and I hope you have lots of success in your class.
Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Yes, that does give me some direction! Thank you!