Aquinas Academy Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I'm considering Signs & Seasons for my 8th grade DD next year. The website says that it is a high school curriculum. Is it really? Looking at the sample pages it seems a bit simple. Are there more complex chapters? I think it sounds like a very interesting book and could be a good fit for DD, but I'm worried about there not being enough "meat". Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanMom Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I own it. I think if you did everything in it, it would be a full semester. You could add in some extra reading if you wanted to stretch it out. I think it's fine for an 8th grader. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to pull it back out and try to answer them. I tried to use it for my older son in 4th or 5th grade, because it looked easy to me, too. But some of the concepts and activities were just too old for him then. I should pull it out again now that he's older, thanks for reminding me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquinas Academy Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 Thank you American Mom! I'm starting to think this could work really well for us. I think I'll get DD to look at the sample tomorrow and see what she thinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayfromcleveland Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 (Surfing in late here, sorry....) FWIW, my 10yo son read and understood the whole thing while I was writing it. The objective of the S&S course is to go outside and observe the sky. This is why every page is heavily illustrated, to depict what one might hope to see outside. I don't agree with "armchair" science curricula, where the entire learning experience is merely contained within the pages of the book. Science is supposed to be the direct study of God's natural world, and that cannot be accomplished by just reading a book. I've had some people peruse the sample and imply that S&S looks like "a comic book, for very small children." I doubt if young kids are prepared to tackle the observing activities, especially the data tabulation and analysis. Though S&S was created to be visually appealling, I've had some moms complain of the difficulty of the subject matter, since there are no other books or other materials anywhere that encompass the scope of this forgotten area of science, and most of the concepts are new to most readers, and require effort to comprehend. Anyway, when I had a pick an age level, I decided on 13+ to not compete with the astronomy curriculum of my friend Jeannie Fulbright, which would be no competition since she sells about 15 times as many copies each year as me. However, young kids are more sharp-eyed and observant, and are thus actually better prepared to learn the constellations and otherwise observe the sky. The course can easily be completed in a semester, or even over the summer, but I tried to provide enough activities to fill 120 hours for a Carnegie Unit credit. I'm happy to answer any questions via email if you'd like to drop a line. Thanks for your interest in our curricula. -jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquinas Academy Posted May 12, 2011 Author Share Posted May 12, 2011 Jay, I just saw your response! Thank you so much, this is really helpful. I'm debating whether or not we'll be studying astronomy next year, but if we do I will definitely be using S&S with my 13yo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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