Any reason not to do Environmental Science for 9th grade?

[Peaceseeker]

I know it is not the standard sequence but I have a child who is very interested in this topic right now. It would either be this or Conceptual Physics/Physical Science for 9th as I feel like we need another year before tackling Bio or Chem. The plan would be Environmental Science 9th, Biology 10th, Chemistry 11th, and Physics 12th. This child has zero interest in any health sciences and I don't foresee any AP science interest. She will do Algebra in 9th grade. Anything else I should consider?

 

(planning for high school next year is scary, lol...)

[Chelli]

I have the exact same plan for my ninth grader for the same reasons so I'm following to see if you get other responses.

Edited January 18, 2018 by Chelli

[Caroline]

Not a homeschooler, but my son took AP Env Sci as a ninth grader. It was a great way to introduce how his next classes (AP Bio, AP Physics, and AP Chem) worked in the world. I think it was a great ninth grade course for him.

[MerryAtHope]

Absolutely fine (and it might not even be that non-traditional--I still hear of schools doing earth science in 9th). It's even fine to do a more non-traditional sequence, depending on the schools your dd might be interested in (for many schools, having bio & chem with labs would be enough "traditional" sciences and you could do something else. None of our state schools required Physics, so if she had another interest you wanted to capitalize on later, you certainly could.) Have fun! It's definitely worthwhile to capitalize on a student's interest within a required subject area whenever possible!

[EKS]

I'll be the lone dissenter here...

 

I think that in order to do environmental science well, the kid needs a solid base in the physical and life sciences, otherwise the material needs to be dumbed down (or you are teaching those things behind the ES, and that can be spotty and inefficient).  If I were to do ES with my son, I'd wait at least until he had done high school level biology and chemistry.

 

That said, if the student has had a solid science education in middle school and needs a break from the biology-chemistry-physics routine, ES might provide a welcome reprieve (we did this in ninth grade with astronomy here, which has similar issues).

[GoodGrief]

The other thing to consider is that if a life circumstance arises later in which a year off from science is necessary, you may find yourself scrambling to get all the planned courses done. If you are okay with the remote possibility of him missing one of either bio/chem/physics, then I think the plan is fine.

 

My oldest did an exchange to Turkey junior year, and had previously had a personal meltdown sophomore year, which led to us running into this issue (though she had done bio in ninth grade). Dual enrollment senior year fixed it, but it was a scramble for sure.