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7th grade science..... biology?


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So, my AL is a STEM kid. Currently, she plans to go into the medical and / or research science fields.

 

Is there any reason not to combine her with my will be 9th grader for Biology with labs for 7th?

Then Chemistry with labs in 8th. Physics in 9th.

 

Would these satisfy high school,lab requirements if done in middle school technically?

 

Then in 10th - 12th, I don't know what she would do! DE, or what!

 

Thanks!

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We had older DS do advanced science courses in 7th and 8th in biology, chemistry, and physics.  We graded him where we thought would reflect "normal" expectations for his age.  It turns out we were WAY too rigorous.  He signed up for honors biology for 9th, and hasn't learned a thing this year.  If anything, he has regressed - his knowledge is such that it is distracting for the teacher.  She handles it well, but the point is, he's wasting his time.

 

So, I would suggest doing it right, as a proper honors course, or wait until she is ready. If she does honors science in 7-8-9, she can do AP-level sciences in 10-11-12.  DE would be even better if possible, because the labs in a college setting are WAY better equipped than any high school lab.  But, if she is ready now, there's absolutely no reason to make her sit through middle school science.  You can fill in the "earth and space science" bits on the side, if you care to.

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Will she have the math level to do chem/physics at a solid high school level? Bio isn't really a concern (we did have to diverge and do some statistics, but that was beyond what would be expected for general biology), but high school chem is usually taught after Algebra 2, concurrent with trigonometry or pre-calculus, and high school physics also requires a solid background in math. If her Math is at the right level, she'll probably be fine.

 

FWIW, even the community college labs far exceed high school labs and definitely exceed anything I can do at home. It can be really tough getting into lab classes, though, at least here where about half the kids who are going to the CC are in nursing or allied health.

Edited by dmmetler
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Thank you!

 

I hadn't really thought about the math needed.

 

As far as math, she is finishing AOPS intro to Algebra now. Then will start their geometry and counting and probablity. So for 8th she should be in the AOPS intermediate Algebra book.

 

I do not want her wasting her time, repeating a class. We have free DE , just pay for the books, so that is probably what we will do eventually.

 

I know she can handle the biology.... it would be convenient to do it with my older son (particularly the labs).

 

Truthfully, I do not know that she will be up to writing high school level/ maturity lab reports.

 

Decisions. Decisions.

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FWIW, I was concerned about lab reports too, because my DD was a reluctant writer. But we found that for her, doing lab reports was a much more logical, natural form of writing, and it bootstrapped her formal writing skills. I think that for STEM kids, technical writing can actually be easier than the more standard essays.

 

I can also see benefits to doing the high school labs now, even if you choose not to consider it high school bio. It certainly doesn't hurt to get that extra exposure, and it would be easier to do with 2 than with one.

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Thanks!

 

She can write a very organzied thesis driven essay. But her writing lacks maturity. It sounds young. Maybe lab reports will help. But I also don't want to go through bio with her, and assign credit if I don't think her lab reports are high school level. But maybe they will be. Who knows?

 

Honestly, even if she doesn't technically do biology next year, she will be shouting out the answers to her older brother when he gets stumped. So, it would benefit him to have them do it together.

 

Up until yesterday she wanted to do Ellen mchenrys Mapping the body with art, along with reading books, videos, whatever lab kits we are willing to buy... and writing up all that in her science journal. Sigh.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Our state will not allow you to count high school credits in middle school for anything other than foriegn language and math. Obviously, if you have a stem kiddo, she is going to go on and do more science. More than likely do a few AP's in there too. We are getting passed the stipulation with AP tests. If he scores well enough, they cannot discount the courses. He still will have to take some science in high school, but it is far more open.

 

Test scores can be your friend if they do not freak your student out.

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