Anybody use the Simple Schooling science products??

[plain jane]

Someone on another thread mentioned using Simple Schooling Middle School Physics so I went and checked it out.

 

I've never heard of this before but have spent the better part of the last year searching for a physics curriculum. I'm wondering if anybody else here has some experience with it and could share a review?

 

I'd like to know if it's fairly rigorous? Workbookish or living books? What does it use for hands-on experiments- kits or materials around the home pulled together for experiments? Are there lots of experiments? Did you kids enjoy the program and how was their retention afterwards? Do you feel it is worth the money and would you use it again?

 

I did see that they have a sample up but it's of the first several pages that explains the program rather than samples of the actual lessons so it's hard for me to figure if this program will work for me or not.

 

Also, for grade 5 would I be buying both levels I and II?

 

Thanks for any input you can offer! I need to end this search for physics curriculum. :glare:

[krisperry]

My 7th grader is using this - she is using the online interactive version:

Link to the interactive sample

 

The Physics Textbooks I and II come with the interactive version. It is definitely more a textbook class than a living book class. For 5th grade, it would certainly be rigorous - parts of it may be difficult. While there is no advanced math, there are formulas discussed. So it will help considerably if your 5th grader can understand things like P=w/t (power = work/time)

 

Take a look at the sample - the text is just about word for word like the sample. You can get a good idea of rigor there. I compared it recently to a copy of Hewitt's conceptual physics that my husband had left over from high school. I'd rank it a notch lower but generally within the same ballpark (less math). Since Hewitt was designed for high school, I think this would be solidly middle school level.

 

It is a secular curriculum.

 

Textbook 1 is 126 pages long

Textbook 2 is 134 pages long

I printed them both (color) and had them bound together at staples. I also printed the lab book and had that bound.

 

There are some other (optional) supplies that you will need to buy to complete the suggested labs in physics I:

Yenka (free) - http://www.yenka.com/ - this is pretty difficult stuff. I would think it would be extremely challenging for a 5th grader.

Thames & Kosmos - Physics Workshop - I personally have found these labs very difficult to build. Now, I must admit that I'm not the most talented person and assembly but there are no step-by-step instructions. There are completed pictures and you have to figure it out from those. Not my forte. My 7th grader was lost. We have skipped some of the more difficult ones and completed some of the easier ones. The reviews on Amazon are good so it might just be us :lol: This course is completely doable without this workshop

 

There are a few other labs with household supplies as well but those are easy - one with paper towels. Another building a Rube Goldburg machine (had to contain different types of pullys, levers....).

 

Physics II lab supplies:

Yenka again

Snap-Circuits (SC-300)

NOVA: Einstein's Big Idea DVD (rent or buy)

Adventures in Fiber Optics Kit OR The "Sound Measurement Kit" which states it is for ages 12 and up

 

Expected timeline: one unit per week, doing science 3 to 5 days a week using this as your guide

 

Day 1: Read entire unit without stopping to ask questions, watch videos contained in the unit (these are links if you just have the texts), make flashcards for every bolded work, every law and every formula

 

Day 2: Reread text, have student to stop and ask questions, practice flashcards, rewatch videos, do workbook activity pages (these are questions at the end of the units in the text)

 

Day 3: Complete lab activities

 

Honestly, if you do all this, it takes about a week and a half to complete each unit. Which is what we have done. There are 14 units in Physics I and 14 more in Physics II - it will certainly fill up a year.

 

If you have any other specific questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer them. Other than the Thames & Kosmos Physics lab, the course has been a winner. My daughter has been retaining the information.

 

Oh last note: I bought the interactive version solely b/c the videos were embedded within the website. No youtube comments (thank you very much :tongue_smilie:) The text being read and interactive has been a great plus! She still reads her text but her first "reading" is watching it online. Then her second reading is the actual textbook.

Edited March 25, 2011 by krisperry