plain jane Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 (edited) My mind is swimming, well drowning, actually when it comes to teaching science in the logic stage and then on to high school. I could use a little guidance/advice from those of you with older kids. My biggest issue *right now* is that I can't decide what to study next year so I thought maybe I will work backwards from high school. But then I get really confused, because, to be honest, my brain can't think *that* far ahead. So basically, I have grades 5, 6, 7, 8 and the topics of Bio, Chem, Physics, Earth/Space to work with and could use some WWYD advice. Is there an ideal order to study these in? Which is easiest to cover, which is hardest? It seems like a lot of the Earth/Space texts for middle school are aimed at grade 8- is this the best one to save for "last"? But then again, it doesn't seem like any of the CPO texts are do-able by a child in 5th and I certainly can't cram 4 topics in 3 years. Why is it that there doesn't seem to be much out there for 5th and even 6th? From what I've read on these boards about Rainbow Science (and am I the only one who thinks their website is lacking? :glare:) it seems that it's geared towards gr. 7/8 as well. I'm leaning towards studying one topic per year and likely using a textbook (supplemented by living books but a text so I can more closely monitor what is being done/learned and not have to do the ground work myself). That's all I know. So far, I'm considering CPO, Prentice Hall, Rainbow and possibly using the Harcourt texts that Kolbe uses but instead of going by grade like they do, buying several grades and studying by topic. I don't even know what I want to use, probably because I haven't chosen a topic. I do know that with how our family is and with having littles, that I'm not going to have the time, energy, or mental stamina to piece together stuff like I read some WTM posters doing. I'd love to be able to do it but I have to accept my limitations. Plus I will still have history to wrestle with. Basically I'm having a hard time finding something for grades 5 & 6 that is solid, fairly rigorous (and includes labs), and planned out for me. I do not know which topics to study during these years so I can find materials that are the most age appropriate. What made/helped you decide what to study and when in middle school? Thanks for any advice you can offer. Edited January 22, 2011 by plain jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I think there's more available for biology than any other topic and that it's more easily understood because much of it is already so familiar and therefore somewhat second-nature to us all. We did biology in fifth. I'm sure you know that's the sequence that WTM recommends, too. I tend to find chemistry and physics more challenging (to try to do them well, at least), so I left those for seventh and eighth grades. We did earth and space last year. I had many, many books to pull from, but I actually ended up using much of the info at the http://www.msnucleus.org site as my main "spine" (K-12 science: secondary: earth and space). For biology, we used How Nature Works and a mix of other things. If you are interested, I have details on what we did that year at my blog site (linked in my signature). It is under "Living Books for Biology" on the right margin, under "Pages". I also have some of the tests I created to go along with that book, some memory work, etc. listed in the same place. Memory work, etc. for what we did with earth and space science last year is also up there, but I posted the details of our work in a post entry entitled Sixth Grade Earth and Space Science Study," or something like that.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Well, I follow Oak Meadow's curriculum, and they do: 5th Grade - Basic Environmental Science/Basic Life and Physical Science 6th Grade - Life Science/Life Science & The Human Body 7th Grade - Earth Science 8th Grade - Physical Science Then the high school years don't really list grades but going by the order in which things are listed, I'm assuming: 9th Grade - Biology 10th Grade - Environmental Science 11th Grade - Chemistry 12th Grade - Physics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 IMO, of the three CPO books, Earth & Space is the easiest. We used it in 5th grade, along with the CyberEd/PLATO courses. DS had no trouble with CyberEd Earth & Space (and the virtual activities are really fun), but some of the Life Science and Physical Science lessons were a bit advanced; he did them, but some of it went over his head. Schools here all do Earth/Space in 6th, Life in 7th, and Physical in 8th (which seems to be how the CPO texts are organized), so you could also consider 5th a bonus year and do interest-led science. Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I know it is a bit weird, but I have a 13 year plan for each of my kids that I update once or twice a year as needed, so I can write out our entire plan for each of the girls. :) I have the two ends of the spectrum in my older girls. The eldest plans to major in Marine Science and the next has no real interest in science at all. science focus 5th - Chemistry (RS4K) 6th - Environmental Science (Oak Meadow) 7th - Physical Science (Kolbe) and Astronomy (Teaching Company) 8th - Biology (Oak Meadow) and Geology (Teaching Company) 9th - Chemistry (Oak Meadow) and Anatomy (Teaching Company and misc.) 10th - Chemistry I (Comm. College) 11th - Chemistry II and Organic Chemistry (CC) 12th - Physics I and Physics II (CC) non-science focus 5th - So You Really Want to Learn Science 1 (Galore Park) 6th - finish SYRWTL Science 1 and begin SYRWTL Science 2 7th - finish SYRWTL Science 2 and Oak Meadow Physical Science 8th - Oak Meadow Environmental Science 9th - Oak Meadow Biology 10th - Oak Meadow Chemistry 11th - Biology I (Comm. College) 12th - Biology II (CC) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Well, I follow Oak Meadow's curriculum, and they do: 5th Grade - Basic Environmental Science/Basic Life and Physical Science 6th Grade - Life Science/Life Science & The Human Body 7th Grade - Earth Science 8th Grade - Physical Science Then the high school years don't really list grades but going by the order in which things are listed, I'm assuming: 9th Grade - Biology 10th Grade - Environmental Science 11th Grade - Chemistry 12th Grade - Physics Back when OM used to list science by grade Environmental was 9th and Biology was 10th. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rootsnwings Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 5th - Chemistry (REAL Science Odyssey) 6th - Physical (Exploration Education - Intermediate) 7th - Life/Anatomy (TBD) 8th - Earth/Space (TBD) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSNative Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 5th - McHenry The Elements, Apologia Gen. Science, Anatomy in depth unit study in June. 6th - Apologia Physical Science (perhaps McHenry Carbon) 7th and 8th - not sure of specifics yet. Not helpful, I know. Enjoying reading the thread for other ideas. I wanted to put a plug in for the McHenry The Elements book. We use this in a co-op and have kids from 5th-9th taking the class. They are enjoying it and learning way more about chemistry than I did in high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Back when OM used to list science by grade Environmental was 9th and Biology was 10th. :) Oh! Thank you for letting me know! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Sage Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 6th- Earth/Space/Weather 7th- Life science/biology 8th - Physics/chemistry 9th - Biology 10th Earth science 11th Chemistry/physics (one semester each) 12th Anatomy and physiology. This is the current plan, and 6-8 is set due to the curriculum we use. 11/12 are interchangeable depending on what the kid is up for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraQ Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 You know, I think it is hard to find single-subject texts for this grade range, so I think that a solid general science course that is supplemented with extra materials so that you have an emphasis on a particular field rather than an exclusive focus might be more reasonable. For general science, I've enjoyed SL's science since it is all planned out and scheduled and therefore easier for me (I've been a FT student and then work FT since before my oldest was 5th grade so this is a big deal to me). I've also used Singapore's science with great success and loved it (I've used 5th, 7th & 8th grade level materials so far) if you are looking for a secular program. It does not come with a schedule, but it is easy to schedule, and easy to supplement. The 5th & 6th levels do not require much to do the activities, but if you use the 7th and 8th grade programs you have to be willing to buy lots of science supplies, and there are no "kits" and even then you must pick & choose which experiments you can & can't do based on which supplies you can get a hold of. But having to cut stuff out is a great opportunity to add in supplements! For living 5th-8th grade subject-specific books, I absolutely LOVE Oxford University Press's "The New Encyclopedia of Science" series. Mine are from the mid-90's and I bought them at a used book sale, and they are generally hard to find, but I'm hoping they have something similar available new now. Here's one for bio: http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Life-Function-Kingdom-Encyclopedia/dp/0195210840/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3 sadly, only available used, and I haven't yet found an updated version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4Hisglory Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 We chose to do Beautiful Feet The History of Science in middle school and it unlocked an absolute passion for science in my daughter that fulfilled itself in her taking 5 high school science courses in which she never wanted to skip an experiment. I will do the same when my 8yo and 9yo are ready. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeJM Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Great to read these suggestions!! Thanks! Glad I happened upon this thread. I had totally forgotten about BF History of Science, I think I will pick that up; I'd wanted to do that in the past, but life got in the way I guess, and it escaped my consciousness. Now, how and where to fit it in... would that work for a summer course? I'll have to look at it online. For my youngest guy I chose the newest edition of BJU for science starting with 5th, and will probably use it through 8th. My progression is: BJU 5 BJU 6 -- this is where we are now, this year; he's enjoying it BJU Life Science (7) BJU Space & Earth (8) then I'm not sure. I will do physical science in 9th, all my other kids did that progression, but right now I don't know which publisher we will use. Two of my older kids did Apologia physical, the other did Prentice Hall. I have absolutely no problem whatsoever doing physical in 9th and biology in 10th. Then chemistry in 11th, and for 12th I think it would be fun to do maybe a semester of environmental science and another semester of something else, like maybe an intro to anatomy/physiology??? Have not planned that out yet and probably won't for quite some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehog Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I plan to use Apologia's science course through the logic and rhetoric stages. I think it will end up something like this: My current 6th and 4th graders are currently using the Elementary Astronomy course together. Next year they'll be in 7th and 5th Grade: General Science 8th and 6th Grade: Physical Science 9th and 7th Grade: Biology 10th and 8th Grade: Chemistry 11th and 9th Grade: Physics 12th Grade for oldest DD: advanced course of choice unless she's not wanting to pursue science 10th, 11th and 12th Grade for second DD: advanced courses of choice, or a break depending on where she's going academically With DS5 I plan to start the cycle in the same place as I will with DD9 - General Science in 5th Grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 (edited) I only have a rough plan at this point, but here is what I am considering for my ds (dd will tag along until ds hits 9th grade)... 5th grade: continue our interest-led unit studies 6th-8th grade: We'll be covering world history during this time (Gombrich's Little History of the World) so I am thinking about using Hakim's Story of Science series as a jumping off point for a chronological study of science tied into history. We would expand this by adding in biographies, documentaries, hands-on experiments, etc. I may tie in some Janice VanCleave experiment books. 9th grade: Life Science 10th: Earth/Space/environmental 11th: Chemistry (maybe at the community college?) 12h: Physics (again, maybe at the community college?) Since dd is two years behind ds, I am thinking I'll fill in those two gap years with a study of women in science (and women in history), or I may have her review American history for a year along with interest led science and then do women in science/history for a year. Edited January 24, 2011 by momto2Cs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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