plain jane Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 What's everybody using for grammar stage physics (grade 4 if you follow WTM cycle). I'm reading to start my research and shopping for next year and really need some suggestions of great curriculum that's worked for your family. This would be for a 9yo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patchfire Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 I first looked at the WTM suggested book, but quickly admitted to myself that I'd do much better to purchase the kits with all the supplies. :) This is our physics program for the year. I didn't come up with a detailed schedule for the year (about the only subject I didn't!); I do plot out the labs 3-4 weeks at a time, and each weekend when I prep for the week, I pull out the supplemental books and assigned pages/chapters/whatever to be read. I will also say that in retrospect I would not recommend the Light kit we ended up purchasing, but I don't have any other suggestions for what to use instead. Love the TOPS units and the Science in a Nutshell kits have been good too; Thames & Kosmos starts after Christmas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica in OR Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 We're using the recommended WTM book, Physics Experiments for Children by Muriel Mandell. I've liked it because each unit has a large number of brief experiments to choose from, so we skip the ones that we don't readily have the materials. The bulk of the experiments have been easy to find materials around the house though. We don't do a report on all of them, but when we do, we follow the WTM questions - what did you use, what did you do, what did you see, what did you learn. Erica in OR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 We'll be using Physics Experiments for Young Children and Gizmos and Gadgets when we get there. I'm working on putting Physics for the Grammar Stage together right now for Elemental Science. Samples should be available in the next month or so and the whole program should be available in March of 2010. Hope that helps :)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 We are going to use sonlight science 4. We are still finishing up sci 3 but hope to start science 4 quickly in the new year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 :lurk5: I would love to find the physics equivalent of Ellen McHenry's chemistry programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s.z.ichigo Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 I can't speak for their Physics, but we're using NOEO this year for Chemistry and LOVE it. I plan to use them next year for Physics as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 We'll be using Physics Experiments for Young Children and Gizmos and Gadgets when we get there. I'm working on putting Physics for the Grammar Stage together right now for Elemental Science. Samples should be available in the next month or so and the whole program should be available in March of 2010. Hope that helps :)! That DOES help!! I look forward to seeing it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 :lurk5:I would love to find the physics equivalent of Ellen McHenry's chemistry programs. BINGO!! Exactly what I'm hoping to find too!! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 I can't speak for their Physics, but we're using NOEO this year for Chemistry and LOVE it. I plan to use them next year for Physics as well. Thanks. :) I have used both their biology and chemistry programs (working through the Chem one now along with a few other things) and have liked them both. They have very good book selections so I know whatever I do decide to do, I will be sure to include those books into our science program next year. I was hoping to change things up a bit and have a more hands-on approach and let the books take a supplemental role if I can find the "perfect" physics program that everyone is raving about. :D If not, I know NOEO will be a faithful choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alte Veste Academy Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Pandia Press is supposed to be releasing their grammar stage physics program in the spring of 2010. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 I'm pulling together something for my 9yo 4th grader from the variety of materials we have available. I'm hoping to start around February once we finish the earth/space one I put together earlier and will be following it up with Ellen McHenry's The Elements for chemistry. I'm starting with physics before chem primarily because she has an interest and I have a lot of the materials already on hand. Because of her age and math level, this is going to be almost entirely conceptual physics, so very little math. The list is pretty ambitious, but I am sure I will be modifying as we go along. I'd rather have too much and end up dropping some pieces because of overkill than have to scramble at the last minute. I've set up a table listing out all the lessons and scheduling in all the extras, because that's been working well for us this year. Main materials: 1) Currclick.com had free downloads a while back of the force and sound books from Bitesize Science by Science Jim, so we are using those (the force covers primarily gravity, electricity and magnetism, with a tiny bit of friction thrown in). 2) a free downloadable textbook and teacher's guide on physical science from the PASS program in Florida for some chapters---scientific method, science and society, atoms, matter, heat, friction, Newton's laws. It's an older high school level curriculum for the exceptional children's program, so the topics are there, but covered in pretty simplified form and without much if any math involved. I will pull from that, modifying as needed. http://www.pass.leon.k12.fl.us/default.aspx In addition, I am scheduling videos and online activities from: 1) Brainpop (subscription), 2) Powermedia(subscription), 3) The Way Things Work (library), Bill Nye the Science Guy (youtube)--free 4) bitesize science from the BBC (some from the KS3 section, some from the KS2 section --here's one link http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/science/chemical_material_behaviour/ from KS3 and one from KS2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/materials/) --free 5) Science Jim http://www.bitesizephysics.com/physicsmovies.html --free For hands-on, there are experiments in the BiteSize Science books by Science Jim books and the PASS books. I also have a gear and pulley kit, an electronics kit with fiber optics, a spring scale, prism, activity kit on optics, solar car kit, solar oven kit and a few other things. Most of these I have picked up inexpensively over the last couple of years at Scholastic book warehouse sales, education store going out of business, etc. I requested the free laser kit from the PhysicsQuest site and it should come toward the end of January http://www.physicscentral.org/experiment/physicsquest/index.cfm. It's aimed at middle school, but I believe there will be some material we can use now as well as later. The quest guide and other info will be posted online soon, so might be a good resource. My daughter loves almost anything if it's presented in a graphic book/comic book format. There's also a comic on Tesla in one of the previous challenges http://www.physicscentral.org/experiment/physicsquest/past/upload/tesla.pdf A few other links: http://www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/coaster/ lets you vary forces to design a rollercoaster http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/lab/index.html interactive online exploration of how large structures are made http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore/online.html has a variety of online activities from the Exploratorium in San Francisco---I'm using the mix and match on light/color as well as a lot of the optical illusion stuff http://www.physicscentral.com/experiment/physicsathome/laser-jello.cfm experiments with lasers using a laser pointer and jello. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 We are currently using Sonlight 4. Ds does it independently. He likes it, I like it and it gets done. The main experiments are with Tops books on Electricity and Circuits. There's also some on light (along with concave/convex curved lenses - stuff along those lines). Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 We're using the recommended WTM book, Physics Experiments for Children by Muriel Mandell. I've liked it because each unit has a large number of brief experiments to choose from, so we skip the ones that we don't readily have the materials. The bulk of the experiments have been easy to find materials around the house though. We don't do a report on all of them, but when we do, we follow the WTM questions - what did you use, what did you do, what did you see, what did you learn. Erica in OR I see that this thread has been reraised for more suggestions - I just want to say that I did exactly as Erica in OR did. We really enjoyed it, and it was easy. This, from a mama who didn't know what physics was a few years ago. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Thank you for letting us know how that worked for you :) I will have to check out that book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 I believe this is it: http://vidyaonline.net/arvindgupta/physicsexperiments.pdf (free online) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 My gr 4 ds did RS4K, and if we were to do it all year we'd still do RS4K but add trade books and other experiments. We already have several trade books & 2 Science in a Nutshell Kits we bought our first year homeschooling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 I'm using Noeo this year for Biology, but just got Elemental Science and I love it! As Paige said above it should be ready this spring... it's formatted very similarly to Noeo, but IMO "meatier" meaning more experiments, premade response sheets for the experiments as well as narration pages. Having all of that done for me means we do more science! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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