Thanks everyone but I meant Hewitt conceptual physical science.Unfortunately I don't live in US to look at books and I don't have access to a public library.

Can a book like Hewitt conceptual physics work or is it too much for her right now?

My daughter just finished plato middle physical science class and she really liked the subject that she wants to do it again next year. We did the course without labs. She saw exploration education website and she is interested in the projects. I plan for next year to do physical science again but more in depth.So we are going to use exploration education the advanced one mainly for the labs part and ASKME COURSE through Ut Austin online high school( based on case study). Please tell me if she is ready for a high school course based on doing only plato science or I need to wait another year or two? What kind of textbook should I use with these programs? She is going to do Algebra as well with Aops next year. Do you suggest any documentaries, living books.....etc to make the course more meaty. Any reviews of exploration education and ASKME course .Do they worth the money spent? Thanks

I am planning to do chemistry just for twelve weeks and I am considering McHenry's elements with RS4K. But I am wandering wich level should I use to complement each other for fifth grader. Based on a discussion with a lot of members in this forum and the help of Ruth I have a plan for fifth grade science thanks to everyone. Please review with me and suggest anything to enhance it with resources or just a way how to do it. Here is my plan for science next year. 5th grade: 1st quarter Chemistry: Ellen Mchenry's the elements, RS4K level? chemistry Docos: Modern Marvels on Chemistry topics, BBC's Chemistry: A volitile history 2nd quarter Human Body: science fusion or discovering science and medecine from DUKE TIP Docos: the secret life of the brain, inside the living body 3rd quarter: Physical science: story of science Aristotle leads the way with the quest guide. Docos: I am still researching Please can you give me your opinions about the plan and suggest any hands on activities, fiction or non fiction books to go with the plan. Thank you

Thanks everyone for all the great resources you shared with me. After a lot of research I think chemistry and physics are foundational subjects to understand science. So, I need to start by studying chemistry and then physics but I want to do a human body unit study in between because my dd wants to do it so badly. My plan is going to be: 5th grade: 1st quarter Chemistry: Ellen Mchenry's the elements, RS4K level 1 chemistry.( Ruth why did you choose level 2 and not level1) Docos: Modern Marvels on Chemistry topics, BBC's Chemistry: A volitile history 2nd quarter Human Body: science fusion or discovering science and medecine from DUKE TIP Docos: the secret life of the brain, inside the living body 3rd quarter: Physical science: story of science Aristotle leads the way with the quest guide. Docos: I am still researching Please can you give me your opinions about the plan and suggest any hands on activities, fiction or non fiction books to go with the plan. Thank you

Thanks for the advice I will definetly go slowly with her. That's the problem with science unlike math you can't learn algebra till you learn arithmetic. I am wandering if there is such a thing in science. Do we just choose a topic and that's it gather all the materials and go or there are concepts that you should know in an orderly matter. I want to learn science from the ground up.

Ruth you are amazing person. You are such an inspiration to me and a lot of homeschool moms. I am impressed with what you are doing with your boys I wish if my daughter had a mom like you. You really need to write a book. I really want know what did you do with your kids and what resources did you use taht's going to help me a lot. I want thank you for helping me even you are so busy with your kids and thanks to anyone response to this thread. Really is the best forums.

1) Why do you want to study science? Is is just to tick the boxes or do you have some idea as to where you are headed? I want to teach science just like history chronologically, from the ground up to the broadest abstractions. I want my daughter to be able to explain her observations and know her self and the wrorld around her.I want her to learn the difference between the name of something and knowing something. 2) Is you dd excited about science and asking you for more? or are you just looking for some exposure? She is very excited about science and she is very curious. She wants to know how stuff work and how it made of. I don't want just exposure I want study things in depth. I am planning to do a three year cycle earth science, life science, and physical science. I want at this stage to be able to connect subjects in a way they complement each other. For example we study ancients in history , do science that is aligned to that period of time, read literature related to that period of time. so we have a same theme for the whole year so we plan field trips, demonstrations, and projects that complement each other. I want her to connect and discover the relationships between all the subjects. 3) Does your dd have scientific questions? Does she ask you about things? What interests her? She's always asking about the human body and how it works. she always wants to know which muscle is moving when she swims or how braincommunicate with other organs to tell them what to do. It's hard to tell about the other subjects of science because she wasn't exposed much to them. I was focusing on language and math because they are the foundation for anything else but at the logic stage I want her to know more how to explain the wrorld around her. 4) Has your dd ever done a scientific demonstration or activity or has she only read through books? No we haven't done any demonstration but we watch some videos like Bill Nye and happy scientist. 5) Do you do any nature study? Do you look at the moon or the sun and where it is in the sky? do you notice the plant and animal life near you? Do you go on walks and *see* things? she likes to walk and watch trees, sky ....etc but we haven't done a nature study in a formal way like having a notebook and write everything about what you are seeing. Maybe I need to do botany to be able to do nature study. 6) Do you have any longe) Do you have any longer term plan for science? Have you read any other threads about science and how different people do science? r term plan for science? Have you read any other threads about science and how different people do science? I didn't read every thread about science but I read quite a few because always science is the subject that most homeschool families struggle with. Here in Morocco, they don't study science till you are in 8th grade. Since we have a choice here to choose majors in 8th grade to be either science, math, econmics, or literature I chose at the time to be Math so I didn't study science at all in high school. In US when I went to study my undergraduate for Business Administration it was required only two classes with labs in science to graduate. After I talked to a lot of professors and counselors they advised me to take Biology which the easiest of all science categories. So, it's hard to tell if I like it or not since I wasn't exposed to it. I liked the biology classes I took. Right now I am trying to familiarize my self with the subjects again and I am taking two physical science classes online through Udacity and Coursera. (how things work). I like so far but it's just stared. My goals for science is to be able to undestand how things work, what's happening inside your body, always about the howand why questions. I appreciate that you're taking the time and replying to my questions even if you are so busy. You are right I am uncertain about what I am doing because I didn't plan to homeschool at all. It happened by accident since I came to care of my lonely mother and I am schocked with the high expense american school charge her in Morocoo and it was impossible to put her in moroccan school due to language barrier. So I had to homeschool and I am learning on the way how to do it. But to tell the truth I enjoy it and I am planning to continue homeschooling even if we get back to America.

Thanks Pen I'll look them up.

She reads independtly. She was qualified last year for cty gifted and talented program for both english and math. Last year I sent her to US for last two months to test for STAAR test because I felt insecure about my teaching and her teacher said that her reading level is at 8+ . Her STAAR test was at 98th percentile. But the reading we did are all retold for young readers. Here are the list of books that she is required to read during this year and they are all from K12. Scienec 4 The Fossil Record and the History of Life Animals without Backbones: Invertebrates LA4 Classics for Young Readers, Vol 4A Classics for Young Readers, Vol 4B Exercises in English, Grade 4 (Level D) If You Lived in the Days of the Knights by Ann McGovern Feathers, Flippers & Fur Vocabulary Workshop, Grade 4 (Orange) Nature's Way Writing in Action, Vol C Writing in Action, Vol D Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter —K¹² edition, abridged for young readers Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe —K¹² edition, retold for young readers Keyboarding CD History4 The U.S. Constitution and You, by Syl Sobel (Barron's, 2001) Inventors: A Library of Congress Book, by Martin Sandler (HarperCollins, 1996) Understanding Geography: Map Skills and Our World (Level 4) All these books are kind of easy for her and she can read them and understand them without any help of me. Thanks

No I don't have any formal requirement to meet. I am just asking because I am planning to buy Human Odysse from k12 if it is similar I can buy just Joy hakim book and make part of history and science. Can you recommend some DVD's and documentaries to watch suitable for her age?

That's really a good information to know. Thank you so much.

Ruth, Thanks again for taking the time to reply. I am planning to add one hour of science three times a week or half hour every day. We read this year so far Robinson crusoe, cricket in time square, Heidi, and all the little house on the praririe books. For me I can understand undergraduate level books, I got my bachelor degree from US in business administration-Finance major. Next year I am planning to start World history I might order Human Odyssey 1 from K12 and I'll try to align literature to that. For science I have no plans right now. If you think biology will be good I don't mind that. I don't like texbooks neither I like interesting books that don't have to do a lot of reports, summaries and all that boring staff. I am going to add some computer science class in 5th grade maybe one hour/week on weekends. For writings, I might not worry much about editing now but at some point I need a qualified person to do that job. Reading,writing, and Math are very important skills that she needs to learn well. I read all your topics about writings and I am not sure what my plans are and which curriculums I should use but the end result I want her to be able to write clearly and express her thoughts accurately about anything. How to achieve that I have no idea. I appreciate any input to help develop a plan for her. Thank you

I heard good reviews about these books and I think it's a good idea to alighn them with history. But are these books science books or history of science that's confuses me? Can we count it as a science or history? Thanks

I plan to her a well rounded education that's what's most important for me, but at the same time I want her to be well prepared for college. Your grandson's plan is terrific. I am looking for something like that. At least she will finish Calculus by 11th grade so she can do an AP physics classes by 12th grade and finish al required AP science classes at the end of high school. I don't want her to make up anything in college time. I appreciate sharing with all this information. Thank you

We have done some outlining, dictation , and cpywork. Aren't these levels take a year work per level? that means it's going to take two to three years to start WWS? I am doing right now IEW and I am not sure if it's going to cover all the skills needed to start WWS. I am going to check the scope and sequence of each level and I'll try to fill in the gaps. Thanks for helping.

Thanks Ruth for replying to my post. I really appreciate the time and the effort you put to help others and I want thank every one in this forum for the information they share with others.Thanks everyone. I don't consider aligning her schooling with her career goals because I know things can change, She still young and she is going to change her mind many times. I am planning to get her a good liberal classical education with a focus on science. Since we have never done science before I don't know which topics should we focus on. I want her just to cover everything she needs to cover before college and should be ready if she wants to go to medical school if she desire that. I think we are fine with either fiction or nonfiction books. I am even considering online classes if they are any good ones. For writing the problem is english is my third language so it's hard for me to edit her papers that's why I am planning to outsource that as well but I am not sure where. I herad about a lot of online schools but mostly are christian based ones. I prefer secular curriculum but don't mind religious ones if they can help with our goals. I am planning to use WWS level1 next year based on your reviews, I don't know how we should prepare to make it happen. Thank you Ruth

Ruth I read your comments on other topics and I really appreciate your help with science and writing and I wish you can help me. I am very new in homeschooling. I homeschool a 10 year old bright kid that she wants to be a doctor when she grows up. So my plan is to cover with her everything she might need to prepare for medical school not only in science but in every subject, the problem though that I don't like science. So till now we never did science. We never find time for science. My daughter is spending four hours in the morning learning Arabic and French and the other half day is English and Math. On the week end it's just hard to make anything done with other activities that she does like horseback riding, dance, drama, and paintings. We are in Morocco right now so access to english books are hard but my husband is in US, he can send us any needed materials. I don't have any specific curriculum in mind I tried k12 and i found it kind of boring. I need especially help with science and writing. I have IEW and classical writing(aesop). She is a strong reader but reluctant writer. She is very strong in Math, it's our favourite subject at home. We can do math for hours without complaint(we are using saxon math and singapore math). I really appreciate your help and welcome any input from anyone. Thank you

I appreciate your replies. Where's the 4th grade thread?

:bigear::bigear:

please review my plan for next year. I homeschool only one child who is going to be a fourth grader next year. I'm open to all suggestions. Language arts: landry academy english 101 or online g3 Math: saxon math 5/6 and epgy open enrollment science: science at our house(physical science)-ancient history history: history at our house writing: classical writing aesop B french: alex and zoe art: I haven't decided yet arabic: I haven't decided yet Music: I haven't decided yet computer:scratch programming,typing, and computer applications I still don't know what curriculum to use please help I am so overwelmed with all the choices available thanks

Thanks everyone for suggestions. I am really interested just for personal use. I'll check the websites you mention.

I saw a lot of homeschool families blogging about their experience. I think this maybe a good thing to motivate both of us about homeschooling. But I don't know how to blog? Any suggestions where can I find tutorials?

:iagree: we used it this year and we loved it so much.