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Clover Creek Physics workload and student age


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I am considering Hewitt Conceptual Physics for ds turning 14 in the fall. This year he has been doing Apologia physical science. I found out the Clover Creek uses Hewitt.

Ds is finishing up TT algebra 1 and will do a few chapters in Foerster algebra 1 for the rest of the school year.

If you have used Clover Creek, can you share how much work or how much time is needed per day and what age your dc is when taking it?

It looks like a good option to do before ds goes on to Apologia biology, which is said to a a steep step up from physical science.

This will be for ds's 8th grade.

Thanks!

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DS11 (6th grade) takes an average of 30mins per weekday for readings, problem sheets and the chapter reviews. He takes a nice long time for lab because DS10 will be his lab assistant and then do too if he wants to.

 

However DS11 is also my kid that can do a whole week's worth of work in a day just because he doesn't want to wait. So once Jetta (MorningGlory) puts the assignments up online, he goes at his own pace as long as he finishes before deadline. He read through the whole textbook once during summer to familiarize himself with the textbook. I also have a collection of physics textbooks at home if he wants to look at more worked examples.

 

ETA:

Coincidentally DS10's homeschool hands on science class (5th/6th) also use Hewitt's conceptual physics as one of the reference text.

Edited by Arcadia
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We had a discussion of Jetta's class last year which is why so many of us are in it this year, http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/544205-clover-creek-physics/?hl=%2Bclover+%2Bcreek&do=findComment&comment=6230102

 

DD10 finds it challenging. We would never have been able to finish this on our own in 2 semesters without this class. I mean, we could have read the book in a few months, but it would have been incomplete. This is DD's first exposure to a formal study of physics; we didn't do a year of physics in elementary since she only wanted to study mammals. On average, it's about 45 minutes per day, but we don't always do what is assigned for that particular day. Usually, she combines a couple of days of work. For DD this class provides the right amount of challenge since Jetta assigns labs, quizzes, tests, word problems, textbook review problems and has a live class every week. It's a highly organized class with weekly reminders of what to expect during the week and a morning message containing the assignment and an explanation of the day's reading. 

 

ETA: The majority of kids are older than DD and Arcadia's son; it just depends on whether your child is done with algebra. 

Edited by crazyforlatin
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  • 8 months later...

We had a discussion of Jetta's class last year which is why so many of us are in it this year, http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/544205-clover-creek-physics/?hl=%2Bclover+%2Bcreek&do=findComment&comment=6230102

 

DD10 finds it challenging. We would never have been able to finish this on our own in 2 semesters without this class. I mean, we could have read the book in a few months, but it would have been incomplete. This is DD's first exposure to a formal study of physics; we didn't do a year of physics in elementary since she only wanted to study mammals. On average, it's about 45 minutes per day, but we don't always do what is assigned for that particular day. Usually, she combines a couple of days of work. For DD this class provides the right amount of challenge since Jetta assigns labs, quizzes, tests, word problems, textbook review problems and has a live class every week. It's a highly organized class with weekly reminders of what to expect during the week and a morning message containing the assignment and an explanation of the day's reading. 

 

ETA: The majority of kids are older than DD and Arcadia's son; it just depends on whether your child is done with algebra. 

 

Old post alert!

Did your dd finish the year at about 45 minutes per day? Did that include labs?

 

Thanks!

 

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Yes, that's about right, and it didn't include labs, but the labs were fun and the reports turned out to be easy to do for DD.

 

Thank-you. I'm running short on time already this year, and looking ahead to next year I know I'm not going to be able to teach science because of a job change. I think she would love the class, but we absolutely cannot spend more than 5 hours a week on science or I need to change the schedule on some outside activities. Things to ponder.....

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Thank-you. I'm running short on time already this year, and looking ahead to next year I know I'm not going to be able to teach science because of a job change. I think she would love the class, but we absolutely cannot spend more than 5 hours a week on science or I need to change the schedule on some outside activities. Things to ponder.....

Your student needs to finish algebra 1 to do this class. Every day, the teacher gives several math problems. They can be hard! The physics word problems can be very tricky. Ds13 (turning 14 in a month) has done more than two algebra 1 courses. He is still struggling with it. He needs lots of support from me. Some of his classmates have done algebra 2 and they handle it better.
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This is our DD13's favorite class. It's the first subject she tackles each day.  However, it is a challenging, high school level class. It's not one of those classes where you can do a little work and "check the box."   I would not put our 11 year old in the class, as there's no way she's prepared for the critical thinking needed to do well.  Our 11 year old could certainly remember definitions and handle the labs, however, the math problems require a higher level.  Plus, the tests are closed book.  In addition, we supplement the daily workload with videos (Derek Owens, Crash Course, Khan Academy and Georgia Public Broadcasting).  These extras are reinforcing the concepts learned in the live online class and textbook. I will have no trouble giving our daughter a high school credit for this class and would recommend it for any student in high school.  

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My 11th grader, newly 16, is taking it as his first & only high school physics class. He's also doing Algebra 2 this year online elsewhere, & a community college computer science class.

We don't have a local option for AP physics & I didn't think he would be ready for physics at the CC, so this was a good fit.

 

Jetta says on her site that it's a good first physics class for a younger STEM kid who will later take AP physics, or a non stem kid as their only physics in high school. But...

 

For us, in a rural area, this was good, we had no other local options & limited online ones. I didn't want to tackle physics on our own. He's going to go into STEM, but the reviews of the class were glowing (& it's living up to its reputation!- really, it's great).

 

I think there are other high schoolers in it too.

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How would this class be for an 11th or 12th grader? I'm seeing all these younger kids in it, and thinking it looks better for a 9th grade physics class vs an 11th grade one. Is this true? It's live, so must be started in the Fall, right?

She made it clear that one needs to have completed algebra 1 with a B or better. So I would take that to mean a student should have good math skills. I think it is equal to high school physics, or more. I think it is a good, solid course.

 

I see people here with 7th graders in Calculus and taking 5 languages. I try to take that in to account when I am making plans. If there were an academic competition, I would want people from here on my team and would not bother to compete against them.

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It's an incredible class. She has added a layer of math on a daily basis and some of those problems are hard. Today's challenging problem was tough! You need good algebra skills to succeed. Our very highly ranked school district uses Hewitt's text for physics in 9th grade and I know they don't do nearly as much math. It's a great choice for physics.

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Your student needs to finish algebra 1 to do this class. Every day, the teacher gives several math problems. They can be hard! The physics word problems can be very tricky. Ds13 (turning 14 in a month) has done more than two algebra 1 courses. He is still struggling with it. He needs lots of support from me. Some of his classmates have done algebra 2 and they handle it better.

 

She is doing Algebra 1 with Dolciani this year. It sounds like this class deserves full attention, though. Maybe we'll wait another year. She's already done DO's Physical Science and is doing a high school level biology this year. I'll need to ponder what to do for science next year.

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I want to add that the book itself is very easy, but the biggest chunk of learning is taking place not from the book, but from morning messages. I don't read those messages, but I glance at them every day and they are detailed. Say today, it took 5 minutes for textbook work, but the morning message and the problem sets will take him 45 minutes. So if you are looking at the textbook alone to gauge the difficulty of the course, know that's the easiest part.

Edited by Roadrunner
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Not really commenting on the difficulty level - but this is a wonderful course!  It made my dd love Physics, which surprised me. She's even considering doing another higher level Physics course for her 4th year of science, and I would not have predicted that before she took Jetta's course!

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I agree that the meaty part is seriously the morning messages. Without that, a student will not be able to do the problem solving.

So this course is much much more than the textbook, which is why it is worth a solid high school credit. You cannot judge the course by the textbook it uses, to say it in another way.

 

I am loving and learning it along with ds.

Edited by JadeOrchidSong
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I am NOT going to put my younger son in this class when he is an 8th grader. I might wait till he is 9th or 10th. I would like him to be able to enjoy and get more out of it. I would like his math to be more solid and his critical thinking to be more mature to do this course.

Ds13.9 is very challenged. But now I know what to do to help and support him, he will be able to get throught this and learn a lot!

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I think she would love the class, but we absolutely cannot spend more than 5 hours a week on science or I need to change the schedule on some outside activities. Things to ponder.....

For morning messages, my kid download on Friday night or Saturday morning and reads through a weeks worth and does them.

 

Jetta gives the semester schedule in advance so we could plan labs to be done on public holidays if we plan in advance.

 

Quizzes have stricter deadlines but it is also on the semester schedule so my kid tries to do the quiz at 9/10pm Pacific Time before he sleeps.

 

Maybe PM Jetta (MorningGlory) for this year's schedule so you can gauge for yourself if it is feasible time management wise.

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  • 1 month later...

This has been a great class for my average-at-math, doesn't-like-to-work-too-hard, would-rather-play-Minecraft 16yo son. He is doing very well - better than I expected! He enjoys the work and never complains about it. But he could not have handled it at 14, and certainly not at 11!

 

This is a very well-organized class and worth every penny!!!

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We're still going strong with Mrs Jetta.   Our daughter completed the egg drop project and loved, loved, loved it. She dropped her egg contraption 20 ft off our tile roof! 

 

Now if someone could just give me a lead on a biology class similar to Clover Creek physics, then I'd be egg-static!

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We're still going strong with Mrs Jetta. Our daughter completed the egg drop project and loved, loved, loved it. She dropped her egg contraption 20 ft off our tile roof!

 

Now if someone could just give me a lead on a biology class similar to Clover Creek physics, then I'd be egg-static!

We are in the midst of it. My entire house smells like eggs since he managed to some while trying to get it out of the fridge. I won't speak of the front yard. Well, at least I have some awesome slow motion footage of exploding eggs, catapulting eggs. I hope this last one he is attempting holds.

 

We are looking for funsafunda for bio. I am not sure if it has a live component though.

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Jetta's Physics class was our son's favorite homeschool course he has taken.  She really makes learning interesting and fun.  It definitely has its challenging parts which were a just right challenge for him his freshman year.  His math skills were very solid which helped.  I also agree with others about waiting for a certain level of maturity.  Though every child is a bit different. So there may be some who could handle it earlier.  A parent just needs to be aware that it is high school level with appropriate rigor by design. I would probably wait longer for our middle dd who is not as far along in her math.  At the appropriate time it would be great.

Edited by dereksurfs
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DerekSurfs, I agree with you and others who mentioned that this class may not be a good fit for many young, middle level students. Our 11 year old certainly won't be ready for several years.  Math skills need to be strong, as well as critical thinking.  Our older daughter is definitely more mature and very focused on her school and learning.

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Going great here too. Interesting, engaging, & a challenge.

 

Egg drop was fun for everyone involved. Ds did it at a local parking garage & the police stopped to see what we were up to.

 

Mentioning " eggs" the week before Halloween got some raised eyebrows before the officer understood the "physics class experiment" connection :)

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  • 9 months later...

I just found a note in my desk and I thought that I would post it here because this thread comes up if you search  for Clover Creek Physics.

 

In June I asked my son to describe Jetta as a teacher and this is what he said:

 

She is orderly, straightforward, to the point, and never goes off on a tangent. But she is also fun and bubbly. I love her! She is a great teacher!

 

:001_smile:

 

 

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