klmama Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 What did you use for middle school that you thought gave your dc a great science foundation for high school? Dc will likely be interested in colleges that require 4 years of science, so I want to be sure we don't mess this up. I'm not interested in BJU or Apologia, and I'm already familiar with Science Explorer. What else have you loved? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loesje22000 Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 I presume the best foundation for science is math. Besides that it helps to have good reading and study skills. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in SA Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Math probably is a prerequisite for going beyond the norm. With enough math to just follow along, you could just watch the videos from the introductory courses on MIT-OCW and leapfrog any of the common middle school science programs. Even the biology course there requires some algebraic skills, though (to watch). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 (edited) We did interest led science with books and documentaries and some sections of textbooks, and did not follow a "program" until high school. My goal was to keep interest alive and to create some broad foundation, but not aim for comprehensive coverage. The factor that limits what a student can do for high school science will be math. What they did for science in middle school is irrelevant, as long as they are literate; all high school (and intro college) texts start from scratch. Edited August 10, 2017 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted August 11, 2017 Author Share Posted August 11, 2017 LOL! Okay, it's unanimous! Math it is! Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 Math knowledge and fluency has been THE determining factor in high school science, so far. And I'd take a gander at Ruth's posts on reading non-fiction. My highly literate, reasonably intelligent high schoolers have had to be explicitly taught (and re-taught..) how to read that science textbook and process the info. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticmomma Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 Science fair type experiments that follow scientific method plus measurement and conversion skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 We used BFSU for middle school science and it was excellent. After that my daughter took AP chemistry in 9th grade and my younger daughter took the WTMA biology course, and both gals did really well on their AP and SAT subject tests. So we're big fans of BFSU. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 Science fair type experiments that follow scientific method plus measurement and conversion skills. As an alternative perspective, this is definely not our experience. My kids don't have any focus on planned experiments prior to high school. It has not impacted their science courses (or science careers, for that matter) later on. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 (edited) I presume the best foundation for science is math. Besides that it helps to have good reading and study skills. This. However, I wouldn't completely ignore science... even though high school and college textbooks start from scratch, it will still be helpful to have encountered most of the terms and concepts before. Likewise, while science experiments aren't necessarily super important in middle school, having experience measuring things for other reasons (cooking, etc) couldn't hurt (e.g. I wouldn't want to have to start high school science with explaining how to measure liquid in a measuring cup/graduated cylinder/etc... some basic life skills like that would be nice to have). Not that my kids are in high school yet - just going by what I learned in high school/college science. Edited August 11, 2017 by luuknam 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 (edited) Speaking of college textbooks starting from scratch... in 7th or 8th grade (I think 8th, but maybe both... it's been a while) we used a US community college textbook... I'm thinking something for Life Science for Non-Majors. I had physics and chemistry in Dutch, so I can't comment on that (I was in a bilingual secondary school program). ETA: actually, I didn't have chemistry in middle school, just bio and physics. ETA2: the CC life science textbook was a good preparation for high school bio. Edited August 11, 2017 by luuknam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 We focused on math, reading, writing, and study skills in middle school. We did the other subjects just in a hit or miss less intense way. It has served us well so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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