TheApprentice Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I wanted to take a look at CPO's Foundations of Physical Science, but for the life of me, not only do I not see any samples, I can't seem to find how I could buy just one set. I've noticed lots of posts of people using it. How?:confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 #1 you should know there are two versions of CPO. One is what I call standard CPO. There is also a california version. I think it's got 'focus' in the title...like "focus on earth science". I think that's it. Anyway, the Cali student text books are available online as PDFs. But there is some confusion because the CPO program has several parts. There is the student text book, the teachers book (with lots of stuff) and then the experiments...and another book on the site? I am sorry this is so imprecise, I get confused by it all. Anyway, it is important you know the Cali books don't follow the exact progression of the 'standard' CPO books as well as the progression of the experiment books. The chapters don't match up exactly. But, I have good news and bad news. A mom here has posted a link to the online CPO cali books (good news) and I think this very nice person has also posted on her blog a progression of the experiment books so it does match the student text book (more good news). However, I think she has only done biology so far (could be bad news if you aren't doing bio). For some reason, the Cali books seem to more available. So, if you use the free PDF student book and match up the PDF of the experiment books, you have only to find the teacher's manual online. Just make sure it is the cali specific. Has your head exploded yet? #2. I found the standard CPO book and teacher's book used at Amazon for not that much. I am doing earth science and I wanted to include astronomy in that. I guess the cali version doesn't include a space unit? So, if you want to see samples (and I know that is confusing) I would do a search on CPO and find the post with the link to all of the Cali "focus on" books. I think it is just the student books and the experiment books. Look at them and decided if you like it. Then decide if you want the Cali version or the standard version. As of right now, CPO isn't selling directly to homeschoolers. They claim it can't be done at home. Whatever. FWIW, I also bought 'how the earth works' and "how the universe works' in case I can't manage the experiments in CPO. I figure I can always just change out the experiment if it has the same educational goal. And the teacher's book does look worthwhile to have. But, I would love to hear from someone who decided to go with just the PDFs that are available without the teacher's guide. I know someone will try it. I'll bet I just gave you a headache. Let me know what I explained badly and I will try to be more clear. FTR, I only own the CPO earth science and I haven't used it yet. I have it for next year. So, lots of my opinion is guesswork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Foundations of Physical Science is meant to be used after the CPO Earth Science/Life Science/Physical Science books that many of us are using for the middle school grades. I haven't yet tried to find copies of that book. redsquirrel is correct in that there are different versions of the Earth/Life/Physical Science books with the national version and the California versions Focus on Earth/Life/Physical Science. The California version is different in that some chapters are moved between the Earth and Physical books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 If you want to order from the publisher, you need to call them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. at J.A. Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I went to the CPO website and emailed the representative for my state and they were really helpful. They sent me out some cds (for free), which include the full teacher's manual, student textbook, and some additional stuff as well. I was very pleased with my communication with them, and they even admit that homeschoolers have recently successfully used their curriculum. Blessings, Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekmom Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I just found the CPO Focus on Life Science on Ebay for $19.99 -NEW with free shipping! There are several left if you're interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-CPO-Focus-Life-Science-ISBN-1588922537-NEW-/130485660732?_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D4%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8666040615642840282 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheApprentice Posted April 24, 2011 Author Share Posted April 24, 2011 Thank you all. I will call my state representative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awstgs Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Here in Georgia, my representative was not helpful and said CPO was NOT for homeschoolers. I was extremely disappointed and went with another publisher, mainly due to the fact that they were so "unfriendly". Hopefully you will have a much better experience, like some have posted. I was bummed because it looks like a wonderful program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. H Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Coming out from lurkdome to say that we are currently using using CPO with Rainbow labs. It doesn't match up perfectly, but I was able to find labs online for the few topics in CPO not covered in Rainbow and also use a few of the CPO labs that are online (and home-friendly). We chose the "standard" CPO version for the reason that it contains chapters on electricity, magnetism, and waves (the PS topics my son is most interested in). I was able to find a reasonably priced copy on ebay. Sarah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Home Alabama Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 (edited) I'm going to use CPO Foundations with an 8th grader next year. We've done earth science and are finishing BJU's Life Science this year. She will also take Alg. I concurrently. Her younger brothers, primarily the older 6th grader, will use Exploration Education which has hands-on projects. I'm hoping dd will be able to benefit from the EE projects. Doing physical science this way keeps all three kids on the same science, although I won't try to combine the two curricula. The TOCs don't line up easily. CPO will focus on math while EE will give us hands-on. The rep for Georgia is also the rep for Alabama. He was helpful to me. I'm sorry you had a negative experience with him, awstgs. ETA: I also got free CDs. My Alabama rep forwarded me to a different CPO guy who sent me free copies of the 8th grade CPO physical science. I have 3 cds: The lesson organizer, teacher's resources, and the student text. They might come in handy as supplementary reading for the 6th grader as he works through EE. Editting again :) How to get it? I ordered it through Delta Ed. 800-338-5270. This number came from my CPO state rep. I purchased the teacher's DVD and text from them. I purchased a student text off of Amazon. This way both my student and I can benefit from the E-book and also both have a text. Buying this way kept the cost down.... still expensive, but not as bad as buying all from CPO (Delta). You can see great examples from CPO's web site. www.cpo.com Click on Foundations of Physical Science. Edited May 2, 2011 by Sweet Home Alabama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymilkies Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 Bumping up an old thread! For those of you who contacted your state rep-what did you say? Did you say you homeschool? Did you ask for the CDs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 We've done CPO for three years now. I've just bought the student and teacher's books on Amazon or Ebay, usually for very little $. This year we're using Physics: A First Course, and I also got the Test Bank. I also blew a bunch of $ this year and got the car ramp, photogates and timer. I'm using it now for my 2 olders and will again for my younger (and will also be able to use them for the other books for my younger when she does those). Still way less than an online course, if I figure all that across multiple kids and years. And I needed easy this year. Anyhoo, even that stuff I had no problem just calling up CPO directly and ordering - they were actually very helpful. One thing I've been wondering - anyone know if there are answers to the online Skill sheets? Are they on that Teacher's Resource disk some have mentioned? It would be so nice to have the answers to those... they're excellent supplements, but I really don't want to check all that math! :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. at J.A. Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 (edited) Bumping up an old thread! For those of you who contacted your state rep-what did you say? Did you say you homeschool? Did you ask for the CDs? I emailed my state rep. I mentioned that I currently homeschool our two boys (7th & 5th grades) and explained that I had seem homeschoolers successfully use the product (Thank you, Luckymama!). I said that I was interested in their curriculum and would appreciate any feedback or recommendations they could provide. They offered to send me the cd and it has been a blessing. Edited September 28, 2011 by A.J. at J.A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom'sGirl Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I went to the CPO website and emailed the representative for my state and they were really helpful. They sent me out some cds (for free), which include the full teacher's manual, student textbook, and some additional stuff as well. I was very pleased with my communication with them, and they even admit that homeschoolers have recently successfully used their curriculum. Blessings, Angela My representative never got back to me. I was looking for someway to have tests for the Middle School Physical science as I feel that was a weak point for us last year with Earth Science. I ended up finding something online that will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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