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[Paisley Hedgehog]

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[NanceXToo]

Oak Meadow :D

[Laura Corin]

Galore Park So You Really Want to Learn Science is one option. I haven't used it, but there are some satisfied customers on the board. There are samples on the GP website. Just so you know, UK years are numbered one ahead of US grades, so UK year 8 would be the same age as US 7th grade. Talk to me if you need shipping options.

 

Laura

[Harriet Vane]

Prentice Hall Science Explorer ;)

 

:iagree:

[elegantlion]

Did you see the other thread on middle school chemistry? Worth a look.http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=226318

Edited November 24, 2010 by elegantlion

[AngieW in Texas]

I like Prentice Hall Science Explorer. You can pick the books up on amazon pretty cheaply. You don't need the most current edition. The 2000 and 2003 editions match up almost page-for-page. The 2005 edition shuffled a lot of the chapter sections around.

 

I have the 2000 edition of most of the books and used the 2003 edition workbooks with them.

 

You shouldn't actually need the teacher editions, but if you don't have the teacher edition, you should get the Lab Zone EZ Planner cd-rom because it gives the teacher information for every experiment in the series.

[NineChoirs]

I am planning (may change my mind) on going all crazy next year and using a science spine approach. We (myself and my 7th & 8th grader) are going to do physical science. When we hit a new topic we are going to do a research paper, a lab experiment, a fun project, watch a related educational video, then take a quiz/test. I am planning on using a seton (Catholic) science book as the spine because I had one stored away. But any science textbook including some library castaway would work. In fact I am considering getting a cheap secular science text to have on hand for some additional info and ideas.

 

Next year is going to be interesting since I plan to tie together alot of my 7th and 8th grader's subjects. We will be doing science, geography and a history timeline as a group. I am even planning a music/singing class. :svengo:

[creekmom]

My son has been using Apologia General Science in a co-op class, and we have been very disappointed in the text. We've decided to pull him out after this semester and try something secular. I ordered this earth science text from Amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/Focus-Science-California-Michael-Padilla/dp/0130443476/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290618927&sr=8-1,

 

and it just came in the mail today. My husband has been sitting beside me looking over the book, and he said, "Wow! This book is like a breath of fresh air!" (We felt that the Apologia text "used" science to promote their agenda- it totally killed my son's love of science!) Dh will be teaching our ds science for the rest of the year, and he is very excited about this text!

[Matryoshka]

I really like the CPO Science series for middle school. You can get the books used inexpensively, and you don't have to buy the expensive materials to do the labs (that question always comes up) - you can easily substitute. They have Earth, Life and Physical texts for middle school. There's also lots of free supplementary materials on their website.

[Mom22ns]

Did you see this thread?

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224939

[Sunshine State Sue]

We used a combination of Science Explorer, TOPS, and Exploration Education.

[Paula in PA]

I really like the CPO Science series for middle school. You can get the books used inexpensively, and you don't have to buy the expensive materials to do the labs (that question always comes up) - you can easily substitute. They have Earth, Life and Physical texts for middle school. There's also lots of free supplementary materials on their website.

 

:iagree: This is what we're going to be using. My dd and I both felt they were a better choice for us than the Science Explorer texts.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

..

[Mom22ns]

We're doing Physical Science and using the DIVE dvd with PH Concepts in Action text book. I like the book better than I like DIVE. In fact, I think you can easily replace DIVE with Khan Academy videos.

 

I use BJU for 7th, so I can't really make a recommendation for secular 7th grade science.

[Matryoshka]

Thanks for the ideas. It seems like these are mostly textbook programs, which is fine, but do any have support beyond a Teacher's Guide? I mean, for instance, interactive cd-roms, instructional dvds, virtual labs, etc .

 

It sounds like the PH Explorers have virtual labs?

 

The CPO has some short videos on the website (mostly on short topics and setting up experiments), and lots of supplemental worksheets, but no chapter-long, comprehensive instructional dvds. I haven't missed those - I found it much more fun to assign science dvds related to the topic from Nova or Discovery Channel or other documentaries and such. I also assign living books related to the topic where I can find them. I use the texts like a spine to introduce things in an orderly fashion and tie everything together.

[Guest]

Inquiry in Action has just come out with a new middle school chemistry program that is available free on-line at http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com

 

It's put together by the American Chemical Society. There's a separate thread going on this program at the moment.

 

And here's my usual plug for GEMS, at http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/GEMS

 

The teachers' guides can be combined to form a coherent program; on the website you can look at the materials organized by grade level or by discipline. Dd did most of her science from this hands-on program through 7th grade, and the only reasons we stopped were that we'd done all the guides she was interested in by then, and she shifted to learning physics from a textbook. I've raved about this on so many threads that I will just quickly summarize: hands-on activities, data collection, observation, building and running models; long lists of fiction and non-fiction books to accompany activities; detailed lesson plans; incredibly engaging for kids; only downside is material-collecting (but it's well worth the time it takes).

Edited November 24, 2010 by Guest