Has anyone used Rainbow Science and not liked it?

[Shelly in IL]

After looking at this program, I am very close to ordering. IT looks awesome! Are looks deceiving? I think my son would gain tons from it! He is in 7th this year.

[Shelly in IL]

for a 7th grade academic? i'm sure he will be college bound and possibly pursue science. Thanks.

[Guest Katia]

Academic-wise Rainbow Science is great for jr. high level. We did not like it, however.

 

The text was terse and to-the-point. Read: non-engaging. It was flat out boring. It was so short that none of my kids could fully grasp the concepts to answer the questions at the end of the chapter without a LOT of direction from me reading the answer key. So much for them doing it on their own.

 

The experiments were good and the kids liked them a lot. The equipment was all there and top-rate stuff. However, once again it took me reading answers in the key for them to grasp the how and why of what exactly the experiment was showing them in relation to the text.

 

We used the first two sections and then moved on to Apologia, after which I was frustrated that we had even wasted our time with Rainbow since we had to cram to get both General and Physical done in the jr. high years. Apologia covered SOOOO much more than Rainbow, and my dc could understand it.

 

Well, that was how it worked for our family. I hear others have great success with it.

[Deidre in GA]

My son just finished with Rainbow Science this week. It was a great fit for him. The text is written to the student and involved very little clarification from me. He was able to do most of the experiments on his own and grasp the concepts behind them. I was very, very pleased with this curriculum.

[Shelly in IL]

I am worried that I am doing the wrong thing! We used Apologia this year - so I have general out of the way. Anyone with different experiences, please!! I just ordered the darned thing!! Help!

[Shelly in IL]

I've decided that if there is a subject that he doesn't grasp (he's good in science) we can just pull out the Apologia and he can read up on it in that! Hope it works!

[Miss Marple]

I had to laugh because I could have written Katia's response except I would be talking about Apologia! We found Apologia dry and boring; but my boys loved Rainbow. My 6th and 7th grade sons did Rainbow in one year and I seldom had to explain anything. Most of the time they read the text and answered the questions. We then went over the questions and discussed them.

 

I actually taught Rainbow in our co-op this past year (my boys were in my class). We opted to use Rainbow over Apologia because the previous year a class had used Apologia and the moms/kids were less than thrilled. Obviously each program has a fan club. I personally think that Rainbow offers more in-depth thinking opportunities as well as pertinent experiments than Apologia, but YMMV :-)

[SusanAR]

I am more of a 'science/math mom' than a 'humanities mom', and I didn't care for Rainbow science. To me (and I know other science moms disagree) Rainbow is such a cursory overview, that my dc retained very little. My science ds wanted a bit more detail. I suppose it depends upon what you are looking for.

Susan

[Denise in PA]

My daughter recently finished two years studying junior-high level science with Rainbow Science. She enjoyed the text and completed most experiments on her own; a self-study program. Since my daughter is not too interested in sciences and will probably not pursue that field in college Rainbow Science was fine. I found it rather cursory in science knowledge at best. On the other hand - yes, I have been blessed with several children who learn very differently - my teenage son is very interested in pursuing engineering in college. THus he needs challenging math and science courses to help him prepare for college. My children never cared for Apologia Science texts (they feel Dr. Wile is too "chatty"). I realize that many, many home school families really like his series. My son prefers studying science using Bob Jones curriculum - very colorful and thorough. He just finished their high school biology program - rather intensive, in my humble opinion. My daughter, the one who read through Rainbow Science, will be studying a Bob Jones science text for ninth grade in the fall. I am not sure Rainbow prepared her very well, but she is a bright student and will come through. I guess I would recommend Rainbow Science for the non-science student. Since your son enjoys science then supplement Rainbow with other facets. Have a great school year ahead!

[Miss Marple]

I agree about BJU Biology! My 2nd son took this last year in 9th. It was certainly challenging. But I do feel that Rainbow did prepare hiim well for it. A local veterinarian taught the BJU course which was wonderful. My son struggled through the cellular part, but still pulled out an A in the class.

 

I think Rainbow fits my 'philosophy' of science education. It is a broad overview of all the pertinent topics in science. Then, when the student moves to high school, he studies each topic in depth. Up until high school, I think science education should be one of exposure to basic concepts and vocabulary. We also condense Rainbow to 1 year which is entirely do-able and that gives us time to use 7th and 8th for other 'sciences' like Runkles World Physical Geography and Conceptual Physics.

[Shelly in IL]

You wouldn't have any problem with putting him in Rainbow for 7th, then going with BJU for 8th?

 

Is it hard to accomplish Rainbow in 1 year, or is it easy?

 

If he does all of rainbow in 1 year - what would he go into in BJU for 8th grade? Thanks.

[Miss Marple]

Well, I like to use 8th grade to get a geography program in or conceptual physics. One could easily do an astronomy program as well. I don't think I would go to BJU biology in 8th unless you have a super motivated student. I like to have a variety of science represented in the K-8 period. It broadens the students' concept of what science is and helps even those anti-science kids develop an interest in or an appreciation of science.

 

I will have 2 sons who will/did do Conceptual Physics as 8th graders, and 1 who will do it as a 9th grader. This is just how it works out when they were combined. So, if my son did Rainbow in 6th, he goes on to Runkles in 7th, and CP in 8th, then, ideally, chemistry in 9th, and so on. If he does Rainbow in 7th, he will do Runkles in 8th, CP in 9th, chemistry in 10th, etc.

 

We did not find it difficult to do Rainbow in 1 year - in fact, the author gives a schedule for that track. A student who likes science would find it very do-able. A student who doesn't like science might have trouble.

 

There are lots of options out there for good junior high level science. I liked Rainbow because of the set-up, lab materials, and ease of use. I don't overly stress science in the K-8 because they really get down to business in the high school years.

[Shelly in IL]

I too, like a broad spectrum approach. They can focus in on my in depth in high school. Thanks for the confidence. What is Runkles?

[Miss Marple]

World Physical Geography by Brenda Runkles. It's one of my top 5 favorite programs. I don't do Physical Science with the boys because it locks me out of science variety. Instead I do Runkles and Conceptual Physics and together they make a "better than Physical Science" program, IMO.

[74Heaven]

Rainbow Sci is a good overview and it makes it so very easy to "do science" every day. We were "light" on science overall in grades K-5, so I was looking for a good overview and preparation for high school science. We loved Rainbow - and we are mostly science-haters :).

 

We did it much diff. then anyone else and in fact, we would have had a horrible time trying to do it in one year so we spread if over 2 yrs. The curric is set up so students do a great percentage of the learning *in* the labs.

 

Mondays, we read a lesson and did the questions. The next day we re-read the lesson and outlined it (i.e. main topic, sub topic, details). This was our first exposure to outlining and so our science did double-duty as outlining. (We are now pretty good outliners btw. And this was our first "real" science.) Then on Weds/Thurs, we repeated this process for the next lesson. Friday was experiment day.

 

Here is our science progression so far with 2 dtrs:

gr 5/7 Rainbow Year 1 (physics, chemistry)

gr 6/8 Rainbow year 2 (biology, applications

gr 7/9 Apologia Physical Sci (which was a good firming up year)

gr 8/10 Apologia Biology

gr 9/11 Apologia Adanced Anatomy & Physiology (w/ co op -projected 08-09)

gr 10/12 Apologia Chemistry (projected 09-10)

gr 11 only - I have no idea - physics???

gr 12 only - I have even less idea

 

I highly recommend Rainbow, esp if you want your student to be more independent (we didn't want that) and if you want a curriculum that will really be easy to use, pick up and go and thorough!

 

Lisaj, mom to 5: k,3,6,9,11

[Bev in B'ville]

My daughter recently finished two years studying junior-high level science with Rainbow Science. She enjoyed the text and completed most experiments on her own; a self-study program. Since my daughter is not too interested in sciences and will probably not pursue that field in college Rainbow Science was fine. I found it rather cursory in science knowledge at best. On the other hand - yes, I have been blessed with several children who learn very differently - my teenage son is very interested in pursuing engineering in college. THus he needs challenging math and science courses to help him prepare for college. My children never cared for Apologia Science texts (they feel Dr. Wile is too "chatty"). I realize that many, many home school families really like his series. My son prefers studying science using Bob Jones curriculum - very colorful and thorough. He just finished their high school biology program - rather intensive, in my humble opinion. My daughter, the one who read through Rainbow Science, will be studying a Bob Jones science text for ninth grade in the fall. I am not sure Rainbow prepared her very well, but she is a bright student and will come through. I guess I would recommend Rainbow Science for the non-science student. Since your son enjoys science then supplement Rainbow with other facets. Have a great school year ahead!

 

 

My dd is very science minded. She and her brother completed Rainbow Science in one year (my dd 8th grade and ds 7th grade) and my dd went on to take AP Biology in the 9th grade this past year. She had a 97 average in the online class and made a 4 on the AP exam. RS was a perfect introduction to the higher sciences.

 

Bottom line: Choose the curriculum that works best with your dc.

 

HTH.

[Shelly in IL]

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[Bev in B'ville]

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