Wondering about a quote from SWB on the Rainbow Science site...

[Colleen]

In perusing the Rainbow Science site, I was glad to read positive feedback from SWB. Specifically, she's quoted as having said here, "This is probably the best homeschool science curriculum I have seen." Yet I can't find any mention of or recommendation for the program in the latest, third edition of TWTM. Our of curiosity, does anyone know when or where she offered that opinion? Thanks!:)

[Susan Wise Bauer]

In 1998, it was the best (/only). I was less impressed with subsequent revisions.

 

Right now I'm pretty much unhappy with *all* the home school science options. On the elementary/middle levels, I think RS4K wins out for thoroughness and ease of use. I know that many people have issues with the RS4K author's positions on origins, but this is one of the issues keeping home school science courses out of development right now.

 

SWB

[Colleen]

In 1998, it was the best (/only). I was less impressed with subsequent revisions.

 

Right now I'm pretty much unhappy with *all* the home school science options. On the elementary/middle levels, I think RS4K wins out for thoroughness and ease of use. I know that many people have issues with the RS4K author's positions on origins, but this is one of the issues keeping home school science courses out of development right now.

 

SWB

 

Yikes! This is disappointing on two counts. First, that the publisher would ride the coattails of a 14 year old review based upon previous editions. And second, that you (SWB) find Rainbow Science in its current form less-than-impressive. Are you willing to elaborate on why that's the case?

 

We enjoy reading RS4K elementary biology as a supplemental resource. I can't get a good feel for the middle school series, or how using it would look in practice. I can't find samples on the web site and have no idea what the labs are like, or what they require on my part. And while TWTM suggests using RS4K chem/bio/physics over grades 5-7, the publisher states that used as-is, the books will cover one semester of instruction.

 

I'd love to have more info on the RS4K middle school program, either from SWB or others who have firsthand experience with it.

[GWOB]

I used RS4K Chemistry for my then-6th grader. While I personally hate chemistry, I really liked how the information was presented. Big concepts are broken down into easily managed pieces without being dumbed down. I really appreciated the teacher book as it had additional information for chemistry haters like me. Labs were easy yet useful. We fizzled out when we switched to biology. :tongue_smilie: Overall, RS4K is a decent program to introduce a variety of science concepts. It may need to be supplemented (library book, Khan Academy videos, etc.), but it's still a good overview.

[redsquirrel]

Thank you so much for clearing that up. I have wondered the same thing for a long time.

[Chrysalis Academy]

We enjoy reading RS4K elementary biology as a supplemental resource. I can't get a good feel for the middle school series, or how using it would look in practice. I can't find samples on the web site and have no idea what the labs are like, or what they require on my part. And while TWTM suggests using RS4K chem/bio/physics over grades 5-7, the publisher states that used as-is, the books will cover one semester of instruction.

 

I'd love to have more info on the RS4K middle school program, either from SWB or others who have firsthand experience with it.

 

We used RS4K Chemistry Level 1 . . . in 3rd grade. I think with the rebranding this is now the "middle school" program, but I'm not completely sure. I thought it was an *awesome* program to introduce my 3rd grader to chemistry, we were afterschooling at the time and we did one lesson per week for 10 weeks. It was great. BUT I would not consider it a stand-alone program for a jr. high level student by any stretch. Certainly not a whole-year program, there were only 10 chapters.

 

I'm using RS4K Biology level 1 now as a small supplement to our Biology studies, along with the BFSU Vol. 2 & 3 B-threads and a lot of living books. The information is great, and the level is fine for my 5th grader, but again it would be woefully inadequate as a stand-alone. IMHO ;).

[Halcyon]

Susan, would you care to pipe in with your thoughts on BFSU?

[Jyniffrec]

Susan, would you care to pipe in with your thoughts on BFSU?

 

:bigear:

[GoVanGogh]

Susan, would you care to pipe in with your thoughts on BFSU?

And Elemental Science?

:D

[Colleen]

Susan, would you care to pipe in with your thoughts on BFSU?

And Elemental Science? :D

 

My hunch is that Susan would rather not review curriculum here (though she may of course reply and prove otherwise ;)). I didn't intend to draw her into commenting on specific programs ~ just wanted to clarify her comment on Rainbow Science since it's published on their site.

[Kathy in Richmond]

Yikes! This is disappointing on two counts. First, that the publisher would ride the coattails of a 14 year old review based upon previous editions. And second, that you (SWB) find Rainbow Science in its current form less-than-impressive. Are you willing to elaborate on why that's the case?

 

We did a lot of rigorous science in the high school years here, and my kids are both STEM majors at college. What prepared them well for higher level science? Two things: a strong foundation in math and the ability to read and comprehend difficult material. That's what we emphasized in the early years.

 

So for science in the early and middle years, we strove for broad exposure, some lab work, & keeping interest levels high. We made lots of trips to the science museum, read science magazines, checked out lots of library books, played with experiment kits...

 

Rainbow Science was a real winner for us in middle school! Both of my kids spent two years enjoying this program (one in grades 6/7 and the other in grades 7/8). They are creative, visual, right-brained sorts. The program looks fun and easy, but the concepts and vocabulary are solid.

 

Here's a link to a previous post I wrote about Rainbow Science. One thing that I forgot to mention then was that we added in the DK Eyewitness Science books recommended by Susan in the original edition of the WTM. These fleshed out some of the info & gave the kids a little more in-depth reading. I especially like the Force & Motion book in that series.

 

Especially if you're occupied with other more important matters this year, I think that you will be pleased at how easy Rainbow is to implement. :grouphug::grouphug:

[dereksurfs]

We did a lot of rigorous science in the high school years here, and my kids are both STEM majors at college. What prepared them well for higher level science? Two things: a strong foundation in math and the ability to read and comprehend difficult material. That's what we emphasized in the early years.

 

So for science in the early and middle years, we strove for broad exposure, some lab work, & keeping interest levels high. We made lots of trips to the science museum, read science magazines, checked out lots of library books, played with experiment kits...

 

Rainbow Science was a real winner for us in middle school! Both of my kids spent two years enjoying this program (one in grades 6/7 and the other in grades 7/8). They are creative, visual, right-brained sorts. The program looks fun and easy, but the concepts and vocabulary are solid.

 

Here's a link to a previous post I wrote about Rainbow Science. One thing that I forgot to mention then was that we added in the DK Eyewitness Science books recommended by Susan in the original edition of the WTM. These fleshed out some of the info & gave the kids a little more in-depth reading. I especially like the Force & Motion book in that series.

 

Especially if you're occupied with other more important matters this year, I think that you will be pleased at how easy Rainbow is to implement. :grouphug::grouphug:

 

Thanks Kathy. I really value and appreciate your input. Its good to hear your perspective on these middle school years in light of your experience. I especially like the way you described your overall approach in preparing your kids (at the time) for HS and beyond.

Edited August 20, 2012 by dereksurfs

[Beth in SW WA]

Thanks Kathy. I really value and appreciate your input. Its good to hear your perspective on these middle school years in light of your experience. I especially like the way you described your overall approach in preparing your kids (at the time) for HS and beyond.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[Colleen]

Thanks Kathy. I really value and appreciate your input. Its good to hear your perspective on these middle school years in light of your experience. I especially like the way you described your overall approach in preparing your kids (at the time) for HS and beyond.

 

My sentiments exactly.:)

 

I'm going to give myself one less thing to think about and order Rainbow Science. I'm not sure what SWB's reservations are about the program, but I'm confident it will be a good fit for us. Info like that offered here by Kathy has been a real help to me. Thank you!

[loftmama]

one year later....

 

For those who ordered Rainbow Science, how did that work for you?

[Merry]

I'm curious too about Rainbow Science for my upcoming 7th grader.

[dereksurfs]

I decided to give it a try for 7th grade next year. I was also fortunate to find the books used on the forum here at a good price. So that made the decision even easier. I still need to order the science kit. Based on Colleen's longer than expected wait last Fall I plan to order in advance to ensure we have everything in time.

[Oakblossoms]

We hated RS4K. I would have been sorely disappointed if I spent my own money on it. (We were using a PS program at the time.). We have been using Apologia for the last few years and it seems like a flop. Rainbow Science looks pretty good to me. I would love to hear opinions and reviews.

[KellyMama]

one year later....

 

For those who ordered Rainbow Science, how did that work for you?

 

Overall, it's been a good year. I have liked the measure of independence it provided for my 7th grader. I really like the simplicity of the teacher manual.

 

Key thing to remember for me? My dd just doesn't like physics and chemistry isn't far behind! ;) The concepts are meaty enough that with NO prior introduction these ideas, she was regularly stretched by the material. She attended private school for 6 years and never heard a word about Newton or gravity or acids/bases etc - so when you consider that each and every page was new information for her, I think she handled it well.

 

The labs were very simple (mostly) and they got done! All I had to do was stick to our schedule and she did the rest - about as easy to implement at it gets! She is looking forward to biology next year - especially the frog dissection ;)

[loftmama]

Oh I'm so glad to hear it worked so well. I think I'm leaning in the Rainbow direction. :)

[dereksurfs]

Thanks, Kellymama. I appreciate the update and sharing your daughter's experiences.

[Spetzi]

We didn't have a great experience with Rainbow. It is quite shallow. My science hungry 5th grader claims there is nothing in the physics, chem or bio sections that she hadn't read about or completed in the past. This surprised me because our science hasn't been great, although she does read a lot of non-fiction. My 8th grader felt the same.

 

They were able to complete the first 3 sections quite easily this school year.

 

Many of the chem 'experiments' were worksheets. Many of the physics labs were extremely simple for middle school. It seems that there was more "wow' factor in Noeo Physics I.

 

The supply kits were NOT complete. I had to purchase a few things. Perhaps there were errors in the packing, but nonetheless I found it annoying when I was "promised" I only had to buy a gallon of distilled water.

 

We were excited about this program and wanted to like it, but there just wasn't enough there.

 

FYI, after researching quite a bit I'm between RSO Bio II and CPO LIfe Science for next year.

 

I hope this helps someone.

[Catherine]

For those in search of a good 7th or 8th grade physics program, I'll put in another plug for my own fave: Conceptual Physics by Paul Hewitt. It has minimum math and truly focuses on the conceptual basis of physics principles, which is often a stumbling block for high school students. Or it is if my current high school sophomore and college freshman are to be believed. Both of them did Conceptual Physics in logic stage with me and even my college freshman, science\math guy that he is, still tells me that he believes that CP gave him a strong foundation in understanding that is still helping him in Honors Physics.: ) If you are ordering the book, please take care that the TM and student editions match as there are dozens of different editions.

[loftmama]

Catherine, do you have any links for this book? I found his website but it doesn't have a whole lot of sample pages. Is it just reading? Are there experiments? Thanks!

[mom31257]

I used the first half of Rainbow when dd was in 7th. It was okay, but the experiments were a little disappointing. You have to do the experiments because part of the actual teaching is in the lab manual. I didn't choose to finish out the last half because I didn't want to invest that kind of money for the experiment kit.

 

The next year I had dd do BJU Life science online. That was a wonderful course. Dd isn't planning on going into any kind of science field, so I didn't continue BJU due to the rigorous nature of their science. I used Dive with BJU for ICP, and she's using Apologia now. Ds is a different story. He probably will be a STEM major, so I'm looking at doing BJU 6th and up or Apologia but starting in 6th so that he'll be doing their advanced books in high school.

[Colleen]

For those who ordered Rainbow Science, how did that work for you?

 

Luke has enjoyed Rainbow Science, but I think he'd be the first to say it hasn't stretched him by any means. I doubt it's even taught him anything new, though it's helped solidify what he already knew. The lessons are extremely brief, and while I don't think a lesson needs to be lengthy and in-depth to teach concepts, I feel there could be better/more explanation & information. Sometimes the questions at the end of lesson leave me with a question mark, because it doesn't seem like minimal lesson provides enough to connect the dots and apply the info. The same is true of the labs.

 

Having said that, it's definitely filled a need for me this year as I wanted a program Luke could use independently. He's rarely required anything from me. (The flip side is that I feel bad about not being more involved in this aspect of his learning.)

 

I planned to cover Rainbow over two years, which is the intent of the program. So this year, as a 7th grader, Luke covered the first two sections (Chemistry & Physics). Each week he only had two lessons & a lab, and cumulatively, it took very little time. Maybe one hour, max. I'm poor at supplementing, so his science studies have been rather shallow. I wish now that I would have just had him do the whole program in one year, but that would have left me with no plan for 8th grade. As it is, I may have him take an outside class as my older two guys did. I'm less than comfortable with one year of Rainbow, on its own, for 8th grade. At a minimum, I'll make a more concerted effort to supplement with books such as the Eyewitness series. Luke has been reading portions of Hakim's Story of Science, which we like quite well.

 

So, a somewhat mixed review. I recommend Rainbow, but it's definitely science "lite". If you're okay with that, or good at supplementing and digging deeper, go for it.

[loftmama]

This is just what I was wondering. I was gung ho Rainbow Science but have since changed directions. I'm glad I didn't jump the gun and buy it.

[dereksurfs]

Colleen,

 

I really appreciate you coming back and sharing your experience with Rainbow, even if somewhat mixed. I think this helps me adjust expectations going in. If I go this route I'll probably supplement as others have such as Kathy did. The DK Eyewitness Science books she used with her kids look good. So far I am also considering supplementing with:

 

* Chemistry 101: An Overview of God's Chemical World

* DK Eyewitness Books: Chemistry

* McHenry's The Elements

* Foundations of Science 101 - an online course. This starts tomorrow!

* Holt Physical Science - free eBook

* Conceptual Physics by Paul Hewit

 

After reviewing all of these 'supplementals ' the only thing I'm wondering is do I really need rainbow to go with them. :tongue_smilie: So I guess I'm still a little undecided at the moment. We're also going to a homeschool convention soon where I may find other possibilities. For now the jury is still out until then.

[Tess in the Burbs]

I bought it and have spent some time looking through it. I want my son to start moving to independence in some subjects, so this is a perfect start. I do plan on supplementing with extra reading from the library or books on our shelves. Dh thinks some science fair type project for each section would be appropriate and push him to spending more time on science. But to transition to independent I think this will be a good attempt since it's short/simple and to the point.