CLBMom Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I have one!:D I am hsing my kids for the first time this fall. I have quite a few curriculum issues to work out, but I'm working on them one at a time. I will have a 6th, 3rd & Ker. My dd who will be in 3 hasn't really had much more science then just going over very general stuff. I guess that's normal since the first few years of school are spent really focusing on the 3 rs . Ds who will be in 6 did earth science last year and life science this year in 5th. I would really love to find something they could do together, focusing mostly on the 6 grader. I was thinking something that both ds and dd could get a lot out of and maybe the k'er could just come along for the ride and get library books that somewhat fit the subject. What I haven't figured out is what that subject should be and what curriculum to use . What is normally taught in middle school? The school they currently go to uses Harcourt in elementary, but not sure about middle. They say their 6th grade does a general science course but I'm not sure what that is. I'm not really worried about following what their current school is doing, I just want him prepared for high school. Wherever that may be:tongue_smilie:Also I should mention we are Catholic and OEC. So YEC or anti-Catholic won't work for us. Secular is fine. Thank you so much for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 (edited) In middle school integrated sciences are generally taught. Rather than one discrete discipline, there is a mix of general physical (physics,chemistry, astronomy) and natural (biology, geology, etc) sciences. A good middle school science will include lots of inquiry, problem solving, and process learning. This is usually the exception though since so many "standards" are mandated and science often gets pushed out to the side as a semester or two-quarter class in middle school. As far as what to teach... According to TWTM you should be teaching earth science in 6th (I think). I don't follow TWTM for science because I think science early on should be mostly observing and hypothesizing (forays into the facts/concepts of scientific knowledge, based those observations), and then adding designing and testing hypothesis (while increasing conceptual/factual content) followed by rigorous depth. So, that said we use a mix of things which include BFSU, mom-created items, and interest lead activities. BFSU can definitely be used as a stand alone. You could use the first book for all the kids if you feel your oldest has had a lack-luster science experience so far. Or you could use the second book (which I don't have yet) and have the youngest play tag-along. Good luck with homeschooling! Shannon (former middle school science teacher) Edited May 22, 2012 by Targhee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLBMom Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 Bump for more ideas. Thank you :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma2three Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 When I was in middle school, I remember we had a general life sciences/biology course in 7th, and 8th was a sort of chemistry class. Saxon had a science curriculum on Homeschool Buyer's Coop called Science Fusion and the middle school offerings were unit studies in a variety of topics, and I think it was supposed to be about 3 units a year for a public school. That might be worth looking at. I bought the kindergarten level Science Fusion and it seems nicely done: we've only done the first lesson from it. I think we're going to try to go through it all this summer, to start Building the Foundations of Scientific Understanding in the fall. There are also various unit studies at Intellego and a program called GEMS. I just started another thread asking for more ideas, so you could find it and check. I think I like the idea of unit studies for elementary and middle school, personally. And it seems relatively simple to simplify middle school science for lower levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharilynn29 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 We like rainbow science. It is physics, chemistry, and biology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5Wizards Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 You could consider Exploration Education - I bet a 3rd grader could do the Intermediate level along with the 6th grader (who could either do Intermediate standard or Advanced, which just adds 2 more lessons each week). I haven't tried Exploration Education yet but will be starting it in Aug. or Sept.. http://www.explorationeducation.com/index.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillysmom216 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I like to supplement whatever we are doing with AHA science. We love it here and at $15.00 for a year, you can't beat the price :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.