science-y people who are also familiar with Rainbow Science

[razorbackmama]

I just came across these reviews at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Science-Curriculum-Durell-Dobbins/product-reviews/0966657802/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_summary?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

 

I know next to nothing about the things these people are talking about, so for all I know, they could be completely off their rockers. But also for all I know, they could be totally right and Dr. Dobbins could be wrong. OR they could have just interpreted what he said in the book incorrectly. OR they could both be somewhat right, and these things could all be a matter of semantics.

 

So...if you are both familiar with science AND with the Rainbow Science book...who is right? The reviewers? Dr. Dobbins? Both? Neither?

[Sue G in PA]

I have the book and have used it with ds12..just a few chapters so far. I am not very well-versed in the sciences but I haven't come across anything blatantly wrong so far. So far. I'll do some more reading ahead before I present the other chapters. Perhaps we should just stick with Apologia. :glare:

[Julie of KY]

I own the book. The few parts that I've read have been fine My son decided he like the BJU textbook better.

[razorbackmama]

Just a bump for some more replies since I'm hoping to finalize next year's plans this week.

[frankcassiesmom]

Kristin,

 

Amy Kate from HK uses Rainbow Science and she has to be the most particular person about that kind of stuff I've ever known lol.

[Trish]

We have not done the Rainbow, but I have ordered Colors (the elementary version of Rainbow) for next year. And I have researched the Rainbow, and saw the review you're referring to. I can't speak to its authenticity.

 

But I CAN tell you this: in the course of researching middle school science textbooks, I have come across a number of sites that show that MOST (if not all) of the major textbooks used in middle school have these sorts of errors. For example, the best of the textbooks had a lot of errors, and the rest that were reviewed were "worse."

 

Now, some of these errors would be visible to the homeschool eye, and many would not be. (For example, one of the complaints was that a text used as an example an apple that weighed 4 ounces, and the reviewer felt it was extremely unlikely that any apple would weigh four ounces, thus giving students a wrong sense of proportion.)

 

Myself I would view this as a minor thing. There were lots of other things that were larger and smaller. Many of these minor things probably don't make a bit of differenc to middle schoolers, since they won't get caught up in the details until high school or even college.

 

Obviously if something is conceptually wrong, that is a bigger matter.

 

Bottom line: it's likely Rainbow's problems (if they are vailid) are no different than the same problems seen in most other middle school textbooks, including those widely used in public schools.