KeriJ Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 I know many use the Tiner books as a supplement, but what about as a spine? We really like them here. Are they "enough" for middle school? (doing 2 per year) Other than the exercises at the end of each lesson, what additional assignments could we do? My tentative plan for this year (7th) is to use Exploring Planet Earth with Carry on Mr. Bowditch (kind of an earth science and geography theme) and then Exploring the World of Physics with The Story of Inventions. But that's as far as I've gotten in my planning........ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Check out Memoria press, they have extra tests and questions that correlate with the Tiner books. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Yes, I think they are enough for middle school. Master Books puts out lesson plans for the books but they are all just reading, worksheets and quizzes. There are lab suggestions in the intro to the lesson plans that are mostly kits from Home Science Tools, but they aren't scheduled and buying them all might get expensive. If you want to see the lab ideas, you can see them if you look at the PDF samples of the parent lesson plans at Master Books' website. A different option would be: they also have some free study guides you can download, not for every book, but most of them. There are activity suggestions in those, along with worksheets and questions. Or, you can write your own plans, which is what I did last year. I planned 3 books for the year, doing science 3x a week, and I bought science kit type stuff to go with the books. For example, to go with the physics book, I bought a Thames & Kosmos physics workshop kit. (They were such lovely plans and then my son ended up not using them at all.... but I digress.) And yes, Memoria Press has lesson plans as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 You and I are always on the same wavelength! Grace has already read the History of Medicine one and is doing the World of Chemistry when we start back to school in a couple of weeks. She loves Tiner's books so I'm planning on using them for her science during the middle grades as well. I'm working on the chemistry extras right now (just adding in extra reading, experiments, and documentaries). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeriJ Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 You and I are always on the same wavelength! Grace has already read the History of Medicine one and is doing the World of Chemistry when we start back to school in a couple of weeks. She loves Tiner's books so I'm planning on using them for her science during the middle grades as well. I'm working on the chemistry extras right now (just adding in extra reading, experiments, and documentaries). We really are. It always cracks me up! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeriJ Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 Yes, I think they are enough for middle school. Master Books puts out lesson plans for the books but they are all just reading, worksheets and quizzes. There are lab suggestions in the intro to the lesson plans that are mostly kits from Home Science Tools, but they aren't scheduled and buying them all might get expensive. If you want to see the lab ideas, you can see them if you look at the PDF samples of the parent lesson plans at Master Books' website. A different option would be: they also have some free study guides you can download, not for every book, but most of them. There are activity suggestions in those, along with worksheets and questions. Or, you can write your own plans, which is what I did last year. I planned 3 books for the year, doing science 3x a week, and I bought science kit type stuff to go with the books. For example, to go with the physics book, I bought a Thames & Kosmos physics workshop kit. (They were such lovely plans and then my son ended up not using them at all.... but I digress.) And yes, Memoria Press has lesson plans as well. This kind of what I was thinking. What happened?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeriJ Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 Pondering using them with the 101 videos. or are those a little over the head of a middle schooler? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kareng Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Pondering using them with the 101 videos. or are those a little over the head of a middle schooler? We have used the Chemistry 101 with Tiner's Chemistry (Exploring the World of Chemistry) this year. Although my dd is a junior, she has dyslexia and her reading level is a couple of grades below. She read the Tiner book by herself and we have watched the 101 video together. I think it would be fine for middle school. We LOVE both the 101 series and Tiner's books. I love both of their styles. Some of the information overlaps but John Hudson Tiner and Wes Olson take different angles and cover some different material so they worked so well together. I highly recommend them! :hurray: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 This kind of what I was thinking. What happened?? Um... he got lonely. :) He was doing science all by himself and seeing the rest of us do experiments from Science in the Beginning, so I let him join us. I sort of wish I had made him stick to the original plan, but it's too late now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 (edited) . Edited May 23, 2023 by SilverMoon 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 I know many use the Tiner books as a supplement, but what about as a spine? We really like them here. While I wouldn't use the Tiner books as the spine for a science course, we very much enjoyed them as historical supplement. I know many use the Tiner books as a supplement, but what about as a spine? We really like them here. Are they "enough" for middle school? (doing 2 per year) Other than the exercises at the end of each lesson, what additional assignments could we do? My tentative plan for this year (7th) is to use Exploring Planet Earth with Carry on Mr. Bowditch (kind of an earth science and geography theme) and then Exploring the World of Physics with The Story of Inventions. JMO, but no, I do not think the Tiner books would be enough for middle school, even doing 2 a year. The books are history-based -- key people and scientific discoveries of history -- not really science-based science. And while we loved the Exploring Earth and World of Physics, I would put Exploring Earth at a gr. 4-6 level, and the Physics book at a gr. 7-9 level. Also, the Exploring Earth book is much more about Explorers and Geography topics rather than Earth Science topics, so it's getting a bit tangential to actual science. JMO. :) … what additional assignments could we do? Kareng and SilverMoon gave you some great ideas. If you don't mind putting some things together yourself, what about reading through Rader's Geography4Kids (Earth Science) and Physics4Kids (Physics) websites for super gentle "spines", reading the Tiner books, getting books from the library to dig deeper into different topics, and doing some kits? You could get very exploratory and go for a longer science fair project investigation during the year. (See some of lewelma's posts on how they do science!) We used the (secular) Reader's Digest How Earth Works (Earth Science) and How Science Works (Physical Science) in the middle school years and enjoyed loads of supplemental resources (including the Tiner books), and hands-on. We are Christians, but we enjoyed a mix of Christian and secular materials for our science. Some of the TOPS units would be ideal for 7th grade -- the Rocks & Minerals unit (and supply kit) to go with Earth Science, and choice of units for Physics (Electricity, Pendulums, Focus Pocus, Floating & Sinking, Motion). BEST of luck in coming up with what works best for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeriJ Posted July 4, 2015 Author Share Posted July 4, 2015 Well, dh made the call. (he's good at sorting through my random thoughts and cutting to the chase) For one semester, we'll use Tiner's Physics, assign additional research (outlining and defining terms) from a textbook, and figure out some videos to go along. (I might grab a copy of Janice Van Cleave physics book from the library). I'll check with easypeasy homeschool for extra ideas. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 We are using the Earth and Biology books for 7th grade with the Memoria Press materials. I think these books are plenty for 7th grade science, but everyone has a different idea of what is "enough" for 7th grade science. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 … assign additional research (outlining and defining terms) from a textbook,... I just remembered -- we used the physics part of Abeka's Matter & Motion to flesh out some of the physics topics in middle school. :) See Cathy Duffy review, or table of contents. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeriJ Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 We are using the Earth and Biology books for 7th grade with the Memoria Press materials. I think these books are plenty for 7th grade science, but everyone has a different idea of what is "enough" for 7th grade science. I agree. I read through the Physics book last night. I own a few other middle school textbooks, and I can't see what they have that the Tiner books don't have. It's every bit as good if not more than a physics section of a middle school science text. There are terms, definitions, thorough explanations, suggested activities, do-able experiments. At the beginning of each chapter it poses 3 questions and asks the reader for possible solutions. There is a worksheet at the end of each lesson. But in my opinion, it's the writing that actually makes the books superior. It's much more readable than many science books. Even though it's written in a narrative style, it still includes all of the important information and facts....let alone all of the historical information. I do wish the output suggested was more than just multiple choice and true/false. I need to figure out some writing assignments to include and put together some memory work. It seems like most of the other lesson plans out there for these books are just more questions and quizzes though. Anyway, I'm feeling good about using these books for middle school. I think they're excellent. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I know many use the Tiner books as a supplement, but what about as a spine? We really like them here. Are they "enough" for middle school? (doing 2 per year) Other than the exercises at the end of each lesson, what additional assignments could we do? My tentative plan for this year (7th) is to use Exploring Planet Earth with Carry on Mr. Bowditch (kind of an earth science and geography theme) and then Exploring the World of Physics with The Story of Inventions. But that's as far as I've gotten in my planning........ We used them for a large chunk of a year--my dd had already read the History of Medicine, but did the Biology, Chemistry, and Physics books. The previous two years she was heavy on experiments, so I had no qualms about a year that was mostly reading, and she really enjoyed them. We did also participate in a science fair that year (she does this every year, and spends 3-4 months on her project from research to completion. That particular year, her project was about solar panels, and she created working models.) I also think it was a good intro to those three main fields going into high school when she would study them in depth. Anyway, I think your plan sounds like fun! In junior high and earlier, I think our main goal is to foster an interest in and curiosity about a variety of science-related topics. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunshine clementine Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I think it's a great plan! I own the books you mentioned, and now I have some ideas! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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