Hi, Lisa--

My two older children used Apologia's Physical Science in 8th grade. In 8th grade, my youngest used a mix of Apologia's Physical Science, A Beka's 8th grade science, and BJUP's Physical World--and I probably threw something else into the mix, too, that I'm forgetting at the moment.

BJUP's Physical World, which is their 9th grade text, is essentially introductory chemistry and introductory physics. Apologia's Physical Science is about half introductory physics and half earth science, with a tiny bit of introductory chemistry. To get earth science from BJUP, you'd have to use their current 8th grade book, not Physical World.

Therefore, one of the big differences between the two texts you're asking about (Apologia's 8th grade Physical Science and BJUP's 9th grade Physical World) is content.

BJUP's coverage tends to be more indepth than Apologia's (if I'm remembering correctly), but Apologia tends to be more self-explanatory. I tend to prefer BJUP's labs compared to Apologia's in general, but I have a science background.

I'm afraid I don't have any experience with the DIVE disks.

HTH!

Caron