CPO Foundations of Physical Science experiments

[Sweet Home Alabama]

My 8th grader will do CPO Foundations of Physical Science next fall. CPO's experiment kit is way too expensive, and I'm working on making substitutions so that we can do experiments out of the Investigations Manual inexpensively.

 

I have Readers Digest's: How Science Works and I know about Home Science Tools and Labpaq. I could order specific items from Home Science Tools or maybe order an algebra based lab from Labpaq, but I'm not sure these would be the best ideas. (She'll take Algebra I concurrently.)

 

Can you all offer any other ideas about making this physics/chemistry course doable inexpensively?

 

ETA: 6th grade ds will use Exploration Education, so we have the experiments from that that both can share. I will definitely plan on doing this.

Edited May 31, 2011 by Sweet Home Alabama

[redsquirrel]

Can I ask a stupid question? Ok, another stupid question...

 

Why did you pick Foundations of Physical Science? Did you like it better than Middle School Physical Science?

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Can I ask a stupid question? Ok, another stupid question...

 

Why did you pick Foundations of Physical Science? Did you like it better than Middle School Physical Science?

 

Redsquirrel, I felt like Foundations would prepare dd better for high school science and also bolster her math. I just felt like the 8th grade physical science wouldn't go as far.

 

Dd will take Alg. I concurrently, which justified Foundations as well.

 

I also showed dh the TOC from both and he liked Foundations better. Physics was one of his best subjects, and he will be helping out.

[redsquirrel]

Do you have the teacher's guide? I have noticed that in the CPO middle school earth science TG there is always a brief explanation of the goal of the experiments. If I know what the goal is, then I can often find a simple substitute. For example, if I can't do the whole timing the water as it comes out a spout experiment I can look in the TG and see that the goal is to teach them to record specific examples and calculate an average. Well, we can do that with lots of things, such as temperature, running races etc.

 

There is also a section in every chapter in the middle school TG called 'extending the lesson' or something like that...? And it usually has a much simpler experiment with similar goals. For example, again in the chapter with the measuring volume etc it suggests the student design an experiment to determine which chewing gum has the longest lasting flavor. Much easier but with a similar outcome.

 

Another parent pointed out that in the TG there are completed results from experiments. On occasion, if the experiment could not be substituted, she simply had them work out the answer using the data given in the book.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Do you have the teacher's guide? I have noticed that in the CPO middle school earth science TG there is always a brief explanation of the goal of the experiments. If I know what the goal is, then I can often find a simple substitute. For example, if I can't do the whole timing the water as it comes out a spout experiment I can look in the TG and see that the goal is to teach them to record specific examples and calculate an average. Well, we can do that with lots of things, such as temperature, running races etc.

 

There is also a section in every chapter in the middle school TG called 'extending the lesson' or something like that...? And it usually has a much simpler experiment with similar goals. For example, again in the chapter with the measuring volume etc it suggests the student design an experiment to determine which chewing gum has the longest lasting flavor. Much easier but with a similar outcome.

 

Another parent pointed out that in the TG there are completed results from experiments. On occasion, if the experiment could not be substituted, she simply had them work out the answer using the data given in the book.

 

Thank you, RedSquirrel. I do have the TG, and I recall reading the posts about the chapter activities and the data provided in the TG. ...So thankful for those.

 

I also have the Investigations Manual, and I wanted dd to gain the experience of reading, following directions, and "doing" the science in it.

 

Several here have spoken about doing CPO physical science or CPO physics, and I wanted to see if anyone had found anything to use as substitutions for the CPO equipment in their research.

[Create Your Ritual]

I would love to know the answer to this as well .. 3 years later!  ;-) 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

SaDonna,

I just happened to see your question today.  I rarely check the logic board anymore.  

Would you clarify the question you would like answered?  I'm not sure you're referring to something I posted or something Redsquirrel posted.

I can tell you that after using CPO with my (then) 8th grade daughter, we ended up not really liking CPO.  We found errors in the end-of-chapter questions/answers that discouraged us from using the curriculum with our other kids.

[Create Your Ritual]

Hi, thank you for posting. My kids are in PS now, but both have expressed interest in studying physics at home after school.  They are middle schoolers now.  We have the Focus on Physical Science free downloaded text and I was wondering if anyone had replaced the classroom kit with a specific list of items they ordered to use alongside this text.  It's hard because I like the aspect of having an actual text to read from alongside labs.  They don't have a curriculum per say at their middle school.  Just 'packets' ... oh my how I dislike packets.  ;-(  So I would like to get a bit more info than just a lab kit with experiments would give.  Would you mind sharing what you changed over to after CPO? 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

SaDonna,

I chose to cover physical science in 8th grade to prep for high school physics and chemistry; after reading a lot about the physics-first approach, I decided this was how I wanted to cover science in high school.  My oldest used CPO Foundations of P.S. in 8th grade, but in hind-sight, it was not a great choice.....at least for us.  (Others have loved CPO.)

 

My oldest (dd) used Hewitt's Conceptual Physics in 9th grade using a kit from Labpaq.  I'm not sure which kit we purchased.... might be able to find it if you'd like. This purchase happened before the Labpaq company reorganized; I'm not sure if they still sell the kit or if it would have the same number.  The kit only has about 9ish experiments.  We do 7 of the 9.  My dh teaches this class.... he's a mechanical engineer and makes this class understandable and fun. For 10th grade, we outsourced chemistry with a teacher who used the Apologia text.  

 

 I wanted my second kid to take Derek Owen's physical science in 8th grade.  (I really like Derek Owens, yet we've never actually taken anything from him.  He is so very helpful when you're trying to decide on his classes!  His physical science course is available for purchase on his website.) My ds really wanted to study earth science, so we went with the BJU Earth Science course instead following his interest.  For 9th grade, he is also using the Hewitt CP book with Labpaq just like his older sister. I will follow CP with chemistry again with him.  

 

Something my kids loved during junior high.... Exploration Education.  This might fall under your category of packets- not sure.  My oldest never used it, but my second kid (with younger brother's "help") did.  He used it when he was in 7th grade, but EE can be used through high school level.  It is a physics course on disc that incorporated very hands-on experiments.  It would make a wonderful after school program.  Personally, I'm not sure I would actually use it for high school credit, but it is really wonderful for the type of student who loves physics and hands-on experiments.  Of ALL the science programs we've tried, EE was the favorite by far as far as my boys are concerned.    EE was a fantastic prep for a higher physics class.  It was a great stepping stone.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions!   :001_smile: