Help from STEM minded parents on Rainbow Science

[Mogster]

Will the Rainbow curriculum thoroughly teach/reinforce the scientific method? I plan to use this with my 7th grade son and 8th grade daughter. We have doctors and teachers in our family who all hail from top tier grad schools. They do not live nearby where they can see what my two dc are learning and how they are flourishing. They cannot comprehend why we would want to continue to homeschool middle and high school. One of them is a middle school science teacher. I know she is going to ask this question and I want to be prepared (isnt that terrible?). Both of my children are very science/math minded like their father (and his lovely relatives). They know all the steps of the Scientific Method, but they do not yet know about things such as dependant variables. I'm hoping Rainbow will go into more detail on these things?

[Miss Marple]

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371074&highlight=rainbow+science

 

The above is a recent thread about Rainbow and prepping for high school sciences. You might find some good information there.

 

Just an FYI: my dh is a physician and I'm a pharmacist. We feel that Rainbow was sufficient for prepping and was an enjoyable curriculum that promoted a higher level of science interest than others we looked at.

[LovinHS]

We used and loved Rainbow Science, but it does not go into great detail on any of the topics. If you spread it over 2 years as planned, each week there are only 2 chapters (usually 1-2 pages each) and 1 lab to do. I used it as a jumping off point & added many other resources for my science-loving son.

 

There was 1 lab specifically about the scientific method, but I would not say that is a focus of the program at all. Have you looked at Real Science 4 Kids Chem II? The labs for that may be what you are looking for - they only give general guidance for the labs, but it is mostly up to the student to design and cary out the experiments. This is the most "scientific methody" resource for this age that I have seen.

 

I think Rainbow is a fun program to get or keep kids interested in science (ds loved the humor in it), and I love that all supplies are included. I would not say it is a rigorous program on its own though.

[Musicmom]

Just an FYI: my dh is a physician and I'm a pharmacist. We feel that Rainbow was sufficient for prepping and was an enjoyable curriculum that promoted a higher level of science interest than others we looked at.

:iagree:We felt the same. It didn't drum in the scientific method (you could supplement for that--do science fairs, etc.), but it did teach it in one of the labs. We found Rainbow Science nurtured a love of science in our dc and gave a good foundation in lab work. Ds especially clicked with it. He went on to thrive in high school science, achieve high scores on SAT 2 science tests and is now a college sophomore in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University (if you decide Rainbow is right for you and you need a success story to point to! :D)

[Brenda in MA]

We feel that Rainbow was sufficient for prepping and was an enjoyable curriculum that promoted a higher level of science interest than others we looked at.

 

Dh and I also have STEM backgrounds, and I used Rainbow Science with two children. Both have gone on to have success in high school science (and one in college science courses, too).

 

Rainbow is "short & sweet", but I found, as the others have said, that it does a great job at promoting an interest in science. The only advice I would give about using it is to have the dc make flash cards of the bold words from the text and study those cards for a few minutes a day. The readings are fairly short, so the extra study isn't taxing. As a result, your child will have a great foundation of science vocabulary when he/she hits high school science.

 

HTH,

Brenda

[Gwen in VA]

Another set of parents with STEM backgrounds who loved Rainbow. It always seemed a bit light, but my kids learned a lot and they loved the subject matter covered! What more could you want?

 

I did supplement with a set of labs from Consumer Reports (out of print -- and I can't find the title) that did a fantastic job of emphasizing the scientific method by having kids answer such questions as, "Which paper towel absorbs more?", "Which paper towel rips quicker when wet?", etc. It was fascinating!

[Kathy in Richmond]

:iagree: Another satisfied Rainbow family here with STEM trained parents!

 

We didn't choose Rainbow for 'rigor,' but rather for a broad introduction and great labs. Most middle school texts are dry as dust and focus on memorization of terms since the students don't yet have the math to do upper level science properly. Rainbow focuses on concepts and does a lovely job of doing so.

 

The kids adored doing Rainbow lessons; I loved having all the supplies provided. I liked how the lessons were short and sweet, so that if the kids showed a particular interest in anything, there was plenty of time left in the week to pursue trails. For instance, when my son got to the Year 2 "Hugo Czechemov" labs (where they were given a chart of different animal and plant phyla, classes, subclasses, and were supposed to "check 'em off" as they observed each one), we noticed an article in the newspaper about an upcoming bio-thon at the local state park. We had time to join in, and man, was it fun and worthwhile. We spent a day in the field with real biologists who were trying to classify the plant and animal life present in that park.

 

In the middle school years, I always tried to find curricula like Rainbow that weren't so time-consuming that we couldn't find extra time for worthwhile adventures like that one! There is plenty of time in high school for busier textbook studies. Middle schoolers imho shouldn't be tied to a desk, but out doing stuff as much as possible.

 

And like everyone else stated, Rainbow kept the kids' science interests alive! They loved it, and it sparked eagerness for more in high school. We had no trouble doing a complete set of rigorous AP sciences in those later years. Rainbow certainly didn't set my kids back.:)