Looking for a secular middle school life science kit

[EKS]

I know about the eScience kits, but is there anything else out there? I'd like something that has essentially everything in the box and has maybe 15 activities that would go with a standard middle school life science course. It must be secular and not ridiculously expensive.

 

Any ideas?

[swimmermom3]

Kai, how long do you need the course to last? Is CPO science out of the question?

[EKS]

Kai, how long do you need the course to last? Is CPO science out of the question?

 

We're going to be doing CPO, but I was hoping to find a kit rather than piece together the materials for the CPO labs.

[swimmermom3]

This is not good news. I was planning on doing CPO Life Science when we finished with earth science. I assumed there was a kit. Over the years, I have picked up any miscellaneous things I need from Home Science Tools. I don't know if this will help and I will be watching to see what replies you get as I am losing steam on gathering my own supplies.

[Capt_Uhura]

Swimmermom - I think I may have a supplies list for CPO Life Science along w/ where to buy needed items from. I'll take a look and see if I can find it. I'm pretty sure I made one. I have mixed reviews for CPO Life Science.....can't exactly put my finger on it. It's not floating my boat, so to speak. It's probably just my boat b/c I really like CPO Physical Science from reading it, we'll be doing it next year in conjunction w/ Exploration Education kit. CPO life seems too broad and shallow...not enough depth. I've oscillated between doing CPO Life as written and them coming back to go deeper or going deeper now and being OK w/ taking more than a year to finish it.

[EKS]

I have mixed reviews for CPO Life Science.....can't exactly put my finger on it. It's not floating my boat, so to speak.... CPO life seems too broad and shallow...not enough depth.

 

This is depressing. Maybe it's just the nature of middle school science texts to be broad and shallow. We are moving from Science Explorer to CPO because I feel that SE is too shallow and vocabulary focused. I do like the questions better in the CPO books and I'm impressed with some of the worksheets. The one thing I'm worried about with CPO is that they say they're "inquiry based" and that tends to mean (at least with other programs I've used) that the teaching aspect is weak as the philosophy of the program is that the kids discover things for themselves.

 

I'm going to look at the CPO labs again and see if I can pull something together.

[Capt_Uhura]

WEll, as far as inquiry based.....DC often does the experiment before reading the text. So he is able to draw conclusions. I like that aspect of it. Then it's all spelled out.

 

I know my post was vague. Let me see if I can find an example....I'm in between soccer games so if I leave abruptly, I'll be back later. :lol:

 

Well, I should preface this all with I'm a scientist. We've done quite a bit of scientist so as I said, it could just be my boat.

 

ANd I should also add that we're only on chapter 6. I know folks hate when posters review a curriculum they haven't used long term so take what I say in that light. After considering that, perhaps I shouldn't post. OH well, I'll leave it anyway.

 

Physical Science connections....which to be fair, it's making a connection w/ physical science so I guess they are assuming prior exposure.

 

In two pages elements, atoms, compounds, molecules are covered. Two pages on the importance of water. Two pages to cover carbs, lipids, enzymes, proteins and another page for nucleic acids. The book is written landscape w/ a large font w/ a fourth of each page being side bars. Ok, fair enough, it's a physical science connections.

 

Then there are 5 pages to cover ecosystems and habitats: land habitats (temp, precip, sunlight, soil, oxygen, air), freshwater habitats (distribution, pH, oxygen, nitrates and phosphates), and the oceans. Again large font, not full use of the page to cover all of that.

 

Let's move on to cells since a lot of biology these days appears to be heavily cellular biology. What are cells, discovering cells, cell theory, similarities among cells, classifying cells....all covered in 5 pages!!!! Diagram of an animal cell, cell membrane and nucleus, cell organelles, plant cells in another 7 pages w/ 2 of the pages being a diagram of the animal or plant cell.

 

I don't know....it seems like moving on so quickly, the kids wouldn't have time to assimilate/integrate what they are learning. It seems to me, that you take fewer topics, go deeper, to really get them to see science, to enjoy it. So focus on the process rather than covering all the content.

 

But while I'm a scientist, I've never taught science (well, I have at the graduate level but quite different from middle school) so I could be totally off base in my expectations.

 

It just seems that for ME and my kids, the books are either too shallow and two many topics, are too detailed w/ tiny fonts (the Campbell texts for example). There doesn't seem to be a good middle ground. :lol: Ok, I found that funny.

 

the best analogy I have is that CPO is to science what Kingfisher is to history. It's the bare bones.

 

ok soccer time....

[EKS]

I am also a scientist (biochemistry), or was a scientist until this whole parenting thing happened.

 

I have the book and just looked at it with your comments in mind and I see your point. So I went and read an entire chapter of the Miller and Levine biology text online and now my head hurts. I don't think we're ready for a high school text just yet. Have you seen the book The Way Life Works by Hoagland and Dodson? Its focus is the unity in the way biological systems function and it looks to be less dense than Miller and Levine.

[Capt_Uhura]

Yes, I have Exploring the Way Life Works by Hoagland and The Way We Work by Macaulay. I also have another book by him titled "Intimate Strangers Unseen Life on Earth" which covers microbes and their relationship w/ us. I also have Essential Biology by Campbell, Reece and Simon. Kalmia and I call it the Embryonic Campbell...not to be confused with Baby Campbell and Daddy Campbell. I think Essential Biology was meant to be a high school text unlike the other Campbells which are college texts, if I remember correctly.

 

So I was thinking to just do CPO Life as written for some things (Biomes, habitats, etc) and then do Exploring the Way Life Works and The Way We Work for cellular chemistry and human physiology. Hence I was saying I would either do CPO Life as written and get it done, then spend next year going through Exploring The Way life Works and The Way We Work or if I coordinate them now, accept that it will take us two years to do CPO life. I have to get outside of my box of completing curricula in one year. For some things, I'm absolutely fine with that but for other things I seem to be more anxious about getting it done as written.

 

ANyhow, back to Hoagland and The Way We WOrk. Those books are deceiving. The graphics are wonderful. It's deep though. There are topics in there I didn't learn until college and a few I didn't learn until graduate school. Granted, that was in the south and 20yrs ago BUT I've seen high school texts and they don't have quite the depth of the Hoagland book. And the Hogland book is more living bookish....it's like having a conversation with the author. Same for The Way We Work.

 

I don't know, after trying to get through CPO Life this year and failing miserably...not knowing if it's the curriculum, the teacher or the student..... I might follow 8FilltheHeart's lead and just have it be interest driven until high school and ditch the textbooks. Maybe pick 4 areas to focus on, collect resources and go from there. As it is, our experiment in CPO Life science led to a chemistry diversion for 5 weeks and that worked well for us and really cemented what they were learning in CPO Life Science.

 

I also just pulled Prentice Hall Exploring Life Science off the shelf.

 

Good grief, I need an intervention......:001_huh: Well, to be fair to myself, I picked that one up at a book sale for 50cents.

 

I might have the Miller and Levine book. If I do, I'll read through it and report back.

[EKS]

Yes, I have Exploring the Way Life Works by Hoagland and The Way We Work by Macaulay. I also have another book by him titled "Intimate Strangers Unseen Life on Earth" which covers microbes and their relationship w/ us. I also have Essential Biology by Campbell, Reece and Simon. Kalmia and I call it the Embryonic Campbell...not to be confused with Baby Campbell and Daddy Campbell. I think Essential Biology was meant to be a high school text unlike the other Campbells which are college texts, if I remember correctly.

 

So I was thinking to just do CPO Life as written for some things (Biomes, habitats, etc) and then do Exploring the Way Life Works and The Way We Work for cellular chemistry and human physiology. Hence I was saying I would either do CPO Life as written and get it done, then spend next year going through Exploring The Way life Works and The Way We Work or if I coordinate them now, accept that it will take us two years to do CPO life. I have to get outside of my box of completing curricula in one year. For some things, I'm absolutely fine with that but for other things I seem to be more anxious about getting it done as written.

 

ANyhow, back to Hoagland and The Way We WOrk. Those books are deceiving. The graphics are wonderful. It's deep though. There are topics in there I didn't learn until college and a few I didn't learn until graduate school. Granted, that was in the south and 20yrs ago BUT I've seen high school texts and they don't have quite the depth of the Hoagland book. And the Hogland book is more living bookish....it's like having a conversation with the author. Same for The Way We Work.

 

I don't know, after trying to get through CPO Life this year and failing miserably...not knowing if it's the curriculum, the teacher or the student..... I might follow 8FilltheHeart's lead and just have it be interest driven until high school and ditch the textbooks. Maybe pick 4 areas to focus on, collect resources and go from there. As it is, our experiment in CPO Life science led to a chemistry diversion for 5 weeks and that worked well for us and really cemented what they were learning in CPO Life Science.

 

I also just pulled Prentice Hall Exploring Life Science off the shelf.

 

Good grief, I need an intervention......:001_huh: Well, to be fair to myself, I picked that one up at a book sale for 50cents.

 

I might have the Miller and Levine book. If I do, I'll read through it and report back.

 

Maybe we could have that intervention together!

 

There's The Way Life Works and Exploring the Way Life Works. They're very similar except the Exploring the Way Life Works has added detail and is more textbookish with questions. I agree that it is deeper than it looks. It also assumes the general knowledge of an adult which may or may not be problematic.

 

What I like about The Way Life Works is that it's short enough to allow for some major exploration whereas if I use CPO I'm going to feel compelled to go with the program and stuff our time up with all those worksheets.

[Jen500]

I don't know, after trying to get through CPO Life this year and failing miserably...not knowing if it's the curriculum, the teacher or the student..... I might follow 8FilltheHeart's lead and just have it be interest driven until high school and ditch the textbooks. Maybe pick 4 areas to focus on, collect resources and go from there. As it is, our experiment in CPO Life science led to a chemistry diversion for 5 weeks and that worked well for us and really cemented what they were learning in CPO Life Science.

 

 

 

Can I sit next to you during the intervention? :lol: I will bring coffee and chocolate. CPO Life fizzled out with us but we did end up on some interesting bunny trails.

[swimmermom3]

So much food for thought. Capt. Uhura, I appreciate your review. I looked long and hard at the CPO Earth Science, but ended up with a high school text that Swimmer Dude and I both like. He is working on note taking with it and it is well-organized for that purpose. We watch TC lectures and lots of National Geographic and Nova specials. For labs we are using a couple of GEMS units and while it takes a bit to get the supplies together, it is working fairly well.

 

I had thought about using CPO Life Science because I am getting a bit tired of doing my own thing, but after your review, I will stick with my copy of Hoagland's book and probably follow my same format that I am doing with earth science. I read the Hoaglund book for fun and while I am not a scientist, the book seems so clear and not in the least bit tedious like many of the other science materials we've used.

 

We will finish the year with oceans in our earth science program. There is a distinct possibility Swimmer Dude's older brother will be home for school and he will be studying marine biology for science, so I am also looking for a way to possibly transition from earth science/oceans and piggyback for some of the way with older brother.

 

Kai, I will be waiting to see what you end up doing. I have spent a blinking fortune on science and our own thing at half the cost seems to be the most satisfactory even if it is a pain.

[mcconnellboys]

I bought several of the CPO books, but after going through them and hunting for the kits, portions of the kits, or something I could substitute, I gave up on them....

[mcconnellboys]

There are some good Science in a Nutshell kits that have to do with life science, but I don't know how well they might match up with CPO (I didn't buy their life science, just earth and physical)....

 

I'm going to include The Way We Work as part of a health study I'm putting together, but it would work well for anatomy, too....

 

I used Hoagland's college level text for non-majors with my older son when he was in eighth grade and liked it. He did some of their suggested readings from the ends of the chapters, too, that year.

[swimmermom3]

There are some good Science in a Nutshell kits that have to do with life science, but I don't know how well they might match up with CPO (I didn't buy their life science, just earth and physical)....

 

I'm going to include The Way We Work as part of a health study I'm putting together, but it would work well for anatomy, too....

 

I used Hoagland's college level text for non-majors with my older son when he was in eighth grade and liked it. He did some of their suggested readings from the ends of the chapters, too, that year.

 

The part in bold thrills me to no end to hear as I like the book and my son would be using it for 8th grade next year. :blushing: You don't happen to have a schedule for what you did with him do you?

[Capt_Uhura]

What is this Hoagland's college level text to which you are referring? Is it the Exploring the Way Life Works?

[EKS]

What is this Hoagland's college level text to which you are referring? Is it the Exploring the Way Life Works?

 

Yes--Exploring the Way Life Works is marketed as an introductory, non-majors college text. Conceptual biology.

[Capt_Uhura]

Ok, I guess I knew that but hadn't fully processed it.

[mcconnellboys]

I'll look back at my planner and pm you....

[mcconnellboys]

There's another version of it, too, that someone I know owns. It was marketed for high schools, perhaps, or for younger children - I can't quite recall. I've flipped through it and it seems to have basically the same content (but I haven't read it word for word)....

 

This is the book my friend has:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Way-Life-Works-Mahlon-Hoagland/dp/0812920201

 

And this is the book I have:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Way-Life-Works-Science/dp/076371688X/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304375469&sr=1-8

 

Again, I think they're pretty much the same....

[EKS]

There's another version of it, too, that someone I know owns. It was marketed for high schools, perhaps, or for younger children - I can't quite recall. I've flipped through it and it seems to have basically the same content (but I haven't read it word for word)....

 

This is the book my friend has:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Way-Life-Works-Mahlon-Hoagland/dp/0812920201

 

And this is the book I have:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Way-Life-Works-Science/dp/076371688X/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304375469&sr=1-8

 

Again, I think they're pretty much the same....

 

I have The Way Life Works and have compared it closely with Exploring the Way Life Works. Apparently, The Way Life Works came out in the mid 1990s as a book targeted to laypeople. It was not marketed as a children's book. It was made into a textbook a few years later. Basically all of the pages in Exploring the Way Life Works that have Bert Dodson's illustrations on them are from the original and the pages with photos on them are added. Also all of the questions and suggested reading are added.

[mcconnellboys]

Thanks! I thought the basics of the text were the same....

[KarenNC]

The Hoagland text sounds interesting. My daughter (going into 6th grade) is not a science-focused kid, more about art, so I think the format of the Hoagland would appeal to her, and we definitely need a secular resource.

 

Google Books has a nice layout of this book http://books.google.com/books?id=hHpFMh902XEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=exploring+the+way+life+works&source=bl&ots=7ZEjaZPLN1&sig=b8Jz6YKD9hznm7Guoeae8aSTvJQ&hl=en&ei=VR7ATbTqCsK3tgfd1-3FBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Here's a link to student resources for the Exploring the Way Life Works http://waylifeworks.jbpub.com/student_resources.cfm

 

I also have some of the Prentice Hall Explorer books from a library book sale :)--2000 edition, but have been reading further online that they are not the best resource. I'm having a tough time with deciding on middle school science--both sequence and materials. I've about settled on the American Chemical Society's Middle School Chemistry http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/, but now for the rest. Do you think it would be beneficial to do the Middle School Chemistry before attempting the biology? My daughter is going into 6th grade and I haven't settled on what to do next year. Chemistry is probably the discipline to which she's had the least exposure. She will not have had pre-algebra yet, as we're going into Saxon 7/6.

[mcconnellboys]

Oh, glad you linked the web pages, thanks! I couldn't remember when I sent info to Lisa if those were still available to all, or not. I think that they definitely help flesh out the program (if the links still work - it's been a while since the book came out)....

[mcconnellboys]

Oh, and I meant to say, Karen, that I'm beginning to lean more toward a chemistry/physics approach first, or a mixing of the sciences for high school (some of each during each year)....

[swimmermom3]

The Hoagland text sounds interesting. My daughter (going into 6th grade) is not a science-focused kid, more about art, so I think the format of the Hoagland would appeal to her, and we definitely need a secular resource.

 

Google Books has a nice layout of this book http://books.google.com/books?id=hHpFMh902XEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=exploring+the+way+life+works&source=bl&ots=7ZEjaZPLN1&sig=b8Jz6YKD9hznm7Guoeae8aSTvJQ&hl=en&ei=VR7ATbTqCsK3tgfd1-3FBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Here's a link to student resources for the Exploring the Way Life Works http://waylifeworks.jbpub.com/student_resources.cfm

 

I also have some of the Prentice Hall Explorer books from a library book sale :)--2000 edition, but have been reading further online that they are not the best resource. I'm having a tough time with deciding on middle school science--both sequence and materials. I've about settled on the American Chemical Society's Middle School Chemistry http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/, but now for the rest. Do you think it would be beneficial to do the Middle School Chemistry before attempting the biology? My daughter is going into 6th grade and I haven't settled on what to do next year. Chemistry is probably the discipline to which she's had the least exposure. She will not have had pre-algebra yet, as we're going into Saxon 7/6.

 

Oh, and I meant to say, Karen, that I'm beginning to lean more toward a chemistry/physics approach first, or a mixing of the sciences for high school (some of each during each year)....

 

Karen, thank you for the links and Regena, thank you yet once again for sharing your hard work.

 

If I could pick the one thing I am sure we have done right for middle school science, it was starting with a basic physics section at the beginning of 6th grade. I did use that portion of Rainbow Science and supplemented with one of the Hewitt texts. It set the stage for the rest of the work we have been doing. While I really liked Rainbow's physics, I didn't particularly care for the chemistry part. For ease of use, clarity, and obviously expense, you really can't beat the American Chemical society's curriculum even if you do have to gather your own materials. I only wish I had found it before I purchased two unsatisfactory chemistry programs.

[EKS]

For ease of use, clarity, and obviously expense, you really can't beat the American Chemical society's curriculum even if you do have to gather your own materials. I only wish I had found it before I purchased two unsatisfactory chemistry programs.

 

I've never seen this resource before. It looks amazing!

 

I started this thread thinking I was going to use CPO Life, ended up deciding not to use it, and now I'm thinking about forgetting about the whole biology thing and using this for chemistry instead!

 

I definitely need more than a simple intervention.

[swimmermom3]

I've never seen this resource before. It looks amazing!

 

I started this thread thinking I was going to use CPO Life, ended up deciding not to use it, and now I'm thinking about forgetting about the whole biology thing and using this for chemistry instead!

 

I definitely need more than a simple intervention.

 

If you do end up using it, check with Regena about additional chemistry resources. I remember she had a bunch of great ideas for field trips and if I am remembering correctly, kitchen chemistry ideas too. I would never have thought to visit a distillery...at least for home school.:D

[KarenNC]

If you do end up using it, check with Regena about additional chemistry resources. I remember she had a bunch of great ideas for field trips and if I am remembering correctly, kitchen chemistry ideas too. I would never have thought to visit a distillery...at least for home school.:D

 

We have several vineyards in our area and I've thought that would make a great chemistry field trip, as well as a bakery (if they would address the chemistry aspect of it).

[KarenNC]

Oh, glad you linked the web pages, thanks! I couldn't remember when I sent info to Lisa if those were still available to all, or not. I think that they definitely help flesh out the program (if the links still work - it's been a while since the book came out)....

 

Looks like some of the links are still accurate, though some aren't. I'm planning to subscribe to Discovery Education Streaming for the next school year, so shouldn't suffer from a lack of video resources.

[KarenNC]

Karen, thank you for the links and Regena, thank you yet once again for sharing your hard work.

 

If I could pick the one thing I am sure we have done right for middle school science, it was starting with a basic physics section at the beginning of 6th grade. I did use that portion of Rainbow Science and supplemented with one of the Hewitt texts. It set the stage for the rest of the work we have been doing. While I really liked Rainbow's physics, I didn't particularly care for the chemistry part. For ease of use, clarity, and obviously expense, you really can't beat the American Chemical society's curriculum even if you do have to gather your own materials. I only wish I had found it before I purchased two unsatisfactory chemistry programs.

 

We've just done some basic physics because of participation in Science Olympiad and, last year, First Lego League. I'm really torn because she would prefer biology but the chemistry is freely available...

[redsquirrel]

I am just finishing life science this year with my 5th grader. I used the curriculum from the Guest Hollow website. The author is a WTM hive member and I am very grateful to her.

 

Now, I am secular and she is not but the program was dead easy to modify. In fact, for her life science program, she uses secular materials and just makes notes like 'ignore pages 112-113" Well, we don't ignore them, lol.

 

It is more than anyone could actually accomplish in one year with lots to chose from. There is lots of reading and I was able to get most of the books from the library very easily. We mostly used the book "Blood and Guts' and did all the dissections. I had my son do sketches of everything we dissected. We also did the blood test. I have a stethoscope and bp cuff around the house cause my mom is a nurse and she gets them for free from drug reps, lol. We also had a lot of fun with "The Body Book: Easy to Make Hands on Models that Teach." As I type, our paper skeleton, Bob, is grinning down at me.

 

Oh, I made some changes. I did a couple weeks on categorizing species, starting with Linet. Then we did a month on Darwin and evolution. For that, we did a lot of reading and narration and outlining. We watched a bunch of videos as well. I will also be changing the end of the year. We will do a bit of time on plants. We are about to start the TOPS unit on radishes and then we will be done!

 

It was lots of fun and I know my sons will always remember dissecting a cow eye! For memorization, my son had to memorize the major animal kingdoms, the major bones in the body and parts of a plant.