KellyMama
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Posts posted by KellyMama
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In my home state the P.S. require A Physical Science, they are kind enough to clarify that it includes Chemistry, Earth Science, Physics, and any non-life, non-tech science.
Hmm ok, so if that is the definition, does the Chemistry credit she completed this year count as "A Physical Science" because I was going to count it as one of her 2 required lab sciences - I'm assuming I can't double dip for that credit. ;) So far she's had Biology (with a lab) and Chemistry (with a lab). I had planned for her to take physics and marine biology for her remaining credits. However, now that most of the physics classes seem to be either extremely involved with Precal/trig math requirements or pitched to a 9th grade "physical science" level, I'm wondering if it's ok to just have her take marine biology and maybe something else like geology or environmental science?
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A few thoughts:
1. Are you sure your requirement is really "physical science" and not "A physical science"?
2. Plenty of students never have physics. 20% of my STEM majors at an engineering school did not have physics in high school. Some high schools don't offer any,
3. Physics courses do not assume any previous physical science. Not even an intro course for majors assumes any previous knowledge - it starts right there at the beginning.
Thanks Regentrude :) Here is my understanding of it -
1. A physical science - I thought my choices here were limited to physics or physical science but if it can include something like geology or something else I haven't thought of, that would be great.
2. I'm not committed to her having physics I just thought all high schoolers did - it was the standard in my school in Australia in the 80s/90s
3. Unfortunately, I've not found this to be the case in several of our local tutorial and co-op groups. I would think they would be starting from the beginning because that's what I did - however, because of the trend of doing physical science in 9th grade, many of the physics classes I'm finding are pre-requiring algebra 2 and/or a basic physics class. :/
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I'm hoping this happens to all of us at some point 🙄 but I recently discovered that physical science is a requirement for our state - "discovered" meaning I re-read it last week on the paper *I* printed out 3 years ago when I started planning DD-1's high school transcript. Apparently I thought Physics and Physical Science are one and the same thing - there was no such distinction at my high school 20 years ago. We all just did physics.
Fast forward to now - I have a non-STEM kid who will complete chemistry and geometry this semester. I was assuming she would enter her junior year in August and do algebra 2 + physics. Sigh. Neither of us really wants her to do physics - she isn't going to use it for her career and while she's adept at math, a subject that incorporates even more of it will NOT be a favorite for her. It seems many of the physics classes assume you've previously taken physical science - which appears upon closer inspection to be a mix of earth science and 'physics lite' - which we skipped thinking she'd do physics later.
Will it look totally ridiculous on her transcript to have her just take physical science either via Derek Owens or some other similar course - (Clover creek is full) during her junior year just to get that elusive credit? Or now that we've skipped it in 9th (which I'm now seeing is when many other students take it) does she really have to take physics?
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We used L'Art de lire and really liked it!
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How do you like the Pronunciator? Our library just handed me card about the program.
It serves a very specific purpose for us. We are trying to reinforce a four years of French grammar rules and writing by using this program to practice verbal French expression. I love that it "grades" their pronunciation - thumbs up for that. However, it has many flaws not the least of which is the instability of the platform. Our kids have experienced numerous bugs in the program; some the programmers at tech support could fix and other bugs that left them baffled and we had to troubleshoot on our own. :confused1: I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a complete program for someone to learn a language all the way through, but for vocabulary/expression/repetition it is great!
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My oldest will complete Singapore 6AB this year and I had been debating between NEM, Dolciani PreA and AOPS PreA. I don't think AOPS is a good fit for her. She's good at math but works very slowly and makes lots of careless mistakes. I had been planning to use NEM because we have loved SM, but after reading these posts maybe that is a bad idea. My plan is to use Foerster in 8th. Given that, any thoughts on what to use in 7th? Would Dolciani work or is there something else I am missing?
After looking at the samples online we picked Dimensions over NEM because to me it seemed most similar to the Singapore series we'd been doing. He already loves the look and layout of the text but we don't officially start using it until next week after spring break. We used Lial's Algebra for our girls but I'm not sure if we will do Algebra I with DS - we will most likely go straight into Geometry (Jurgenson) in 9th because of the material covered if we stick with 7A-8B.
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Our Tentative Plans:
Math - Singapore Dimensions 7A
English - Sadlier Vocab, Growing with Grammar 7 (and then 8 - he's halfway through 7 currently), Daily Grams 7
Literature - Lightning Lit 7
Writing - IEW Narnia
Bible - undecided (either another independent Positive Action study or maybe a Beth Moore study for everyone)
Science - AiG Physics (plus labs at co-op)
History - Uncle Sam and You (Government/Civics)
Latin - finishing up GSWL and deciding if we want to progress or set aside
French - continue reinforcing with Pronunciator and assorted French fiction
Logic - looking at Discovery of Deduction (?)
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We've used AiG and enjoyed it. We used the Apologia Elementary books for a couple of years but then wanted to cover 'life science' in one year and same with 'earth science' so this is where we landed. After our earth science year I actually gave my middle schoolers a choice of AiG or returning to Apologia or something else - they unanimously picked AiG! I don't find it boring but then I'm no longer reading it to them - one of the draw cards for this curriculum was the clearly defined lesson structure (with Apologia, I had to determine where we would start or stop) so they prefer reading it to themselves on their own schedule. We complete a few experiments per unit and sometimes they'll ask to do additional labs on their own time. The lessons are short but I feel they cover sufficient material and it is challenging enough for this level. I have one kid who looooves science and one kid who's more of a 'get it done' science kid but both of them like this series. We did chemistry this year. Next year we will use physics.
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We've used several of the studies and found them to be favorites here. This year we are using Route 66 with our 14 & 15 yo DDs and our 12 yo DS is doing the 6th grade book - we really like them. I think the favorite so far has been the Pilgrim's Progress one. Wise Up was also good (Proverbs study) but my oldest DD was 12/13 when she did it and I felt like it wasn't a great fit for her age/stage so even though it's pitched as middle school I plan to wait on that one for DD #2 ;) Not sure if we will do another one next year or change things up but we've liked them so far. I haven't seen the milk/bread/meat one and I'm not sure what the one for girls is called either, but happy to answer any other questions you have about them!
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We tried AoPS Pre-A after SM in an attempt to find the Prealgebra unicorn 😂 It wasn't working out here - waaaay too wordy for my kiddo. We will be starting SM Dimensions 7a on Monday and praying it's a better fit! We both really liked the idea of AoPS but the layout of it was just too much reading and not enough problem solving for us.
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In trying to find the best math sequence for DS we narrowed it down to AoPS and Singapore Dimensions math, but I somehow didn't even look at NEM! Not sure how I missed that as an option originally, but now that we're beginning to feel like AoPS isn't the right format for us, I'm back to the drawing board. There is just waaaaay too many pages of written explanation in the AoPS text and we both just glaze over. I also looked into moving more slowly through AoPS Algebra as I read that text is slightly more straightforward, but I just don't think it's right for him. After the clean and concise lessons in Singapore, AoPS just seems like drinking from the firehose every day lol Can anyone weigh-in on pros and cons of Dimensions vs NEM?
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We just had to make this decision also. We went with AoPS PreA and it's been a huge jump for my older 6th grader. He's getting the concepts just fine and making the connections BUT . . . the layout and sheer volume of material has both of us feeling like he's drinking daily from the firehose! ;)
After a disastrous end to the first chapter, where he missed an unprecedented number of questions in the review section, I decided we would have to revisit 'how' he does math. We've taken a couple of weeks to review the chapter one exercises, make some flash cards of the key concepts boxes in the text, and spend some time working through Alcumus problems.
Praying chapter two goes more smoothly - if not, we will be jumping ship and swimming hard towards Singapore Dimensions 7-8!!! ;)
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Do you think the CAP Discovery of Deduction book is more middle or high school level? We've read through FD as a family and the kids each read Thinking Toolbox on their own, but I was on the fence about formal vs informal logic from here out. My youngest is a rising 7th next year and is the most mathematically/logically inclined - he may go on to do a formal HS logic program but my girls will be 9th and 11th next year and are more humanities inclined.
Debating if this book could be a fun elective for the girls and a good bridge between FD/TT and something more traditional for DS? (I should add, DS has also completed all 3 books in the Logic Lift-off series.)
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KellyMama- I have a question after reading your signature I noticed that we use a lot of the same things, but I have a couple of questions..:)
Do you like the 180 days Geography? That is where we are heading next.
How is the AiG sciences? I need to find our next level of sciences, and it is about as fun as picking Alg texts.
Sorry MommaBea! I apparently need to check in more frequently lol We've like several aspects of 180 days - it's been excellent for honing skills like combining research from various sources. I also enjoy the way it approaches geography as more than just maps and locations but also includes information about cultures, customs and world religions. Good overview!
AiG has been our science for three years because it's what the kids like - enough detail to be interesting but concise/short lessons, some terms to define, a few worksheets, some experiments (not too many and you can definitely skip some) and easy for us to do consistently (essential!) ;)
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We stayed with CLE 700 and 800 and our oldest transitioned very easily to Lial's Algebra I this year. She did so well that we've decided to stick with CLE for our middle dd who will finish 800 this year and do the same transition for her freshman year. If your kiddo does well with the CLE approach, IMO there is no reason to switch before Algebra.
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Thanks for all the great suggestions! We're starting out with GSWL and will transition to another program next year (or next Spring lol) if we want to continue! So glad to have this list to reference :)
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Visual Latin actually looks great! :)
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AOPs did not work here but we are liking Dimensions Math. It would be perfect but for the lack of detailed solutions to the workbook answers (there are solution books. I just don't find them sufficiently detailed). For a mathier parent, these would be so great. I miss the HIGs :(
Uh oh! Are you saying that AoPS didn't work due to the lack of detailed solutions or that you like Dimensions Math in spite of a lack of detailed solutions? Sorry - the end of the homeschool day and my synapses aren't firing as quickly, LOL! ;)
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OK I'll check into Dimensions Math - thanks for the recommendation! So I would call that - what? Prealgebra, Algebra and Geometry? LOL I wonder how many years it would take us to work through that? I guess if we do it for half of 6th, then 7th and 8th, he can do Algebra 2 in 9th? Atypical, but if it works, that would be great! Are there online helps for it or a really REALLY good solutions manual? The HIG for the standards ed is what has kept me sane throughout this process! ;)
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Would it work to use GSWL and if that isn't "enough" move into Latin Prep? I'm thinking I only want 15 minutes to be honest! We already have French so I'm not wanting to replace foreign language time, more just to supplement like an elective.
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FYI, I did very little teaching with AoPS pre-A. It is written to the student, and the videos by Richard R. are very helpful.
Are the videos online via the AoPS website or a 3rd party website? I'm wondering if he really could do it on his own. He's very bright and good with math but still needs guidance and help sometimes in Singapore. We often have to "problem solve" together - but he pretty much always gets it before me! LOL ;)
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Latin Prep 1.
Can I teach this if I've had no real Latin? I have a writing/English degree and studied Spanish and Italian in college but no actual Latin besides roots.
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If I used AoPS as enrichment vs his Fan Math (singapore style) problem solving, would that be more challenging? I've looked at it online and it made my brain hurt. I know there are helps online but I'd need to find them for him, explain things and set it up for him. I'm just leery of getting in over my head and then frustrating him when I'm no help at all because my brain doesn't do that *kind* of math! LOL
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We're signed up for Wilson Hill (using Jurgensen) in the fall. I'm hopeful it will be the right fit for us - we looked at Derek Owens, Jann in TX and WHA but liked the WHA reviews and text better.
Need help with science sequence and what to do with Physics
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
We're in Alabama. They've amended their document online (in the last few weeks apparently!) to clarify this since I printed it out a couple of years ago for reference. It now says Biology (1), A Physical Science (1) - chemistry, physics, or physical science, (2) additional science - and they list options ranging from aquaculture to engineering to anatomy. So, that to say I think she's going to be fine if we skip physics and physical science in lieu of geology and marine biology for her final 2 years!