RobinL in Canada Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 My youngest son, the only one left at home, will be gr 8 this fall. Science has never been a hit at our house, although I do enjoy reading about it myself; experiments and labs have always fallen woefully by the wayside due to lack of interest on my sons' (and I confess my) parts. I managed to get my older sons to cover three high school sciences but we never did much more than read about scientific topics when they were younger and do some simple hands-on activities. Then they were allowed to go play ball hockey : ) That's the stage my gr 8 will be at. We've done snippets of programs here and there but never thoroughly. He's an academic child, loves to research and read about history and geography; can write well. Science just doesn't turn his crank. What I'd like to do this year (gr 8) is cover a few basic areas of science lightly--as in "intro to..." One area we never got around to while studying basic biology was plants, believe it or not, so I thought a botany study might be relatively simple and enjoyable. Would anyone have any specific suggestions for such a study which would not take an entire year? I would like to combine that with something else--perhaps some meteorology/ weather study and/ or oceanoography? (We did do some earth science a few years ago but did not cover those areas). One other idea is Friendly Chemistry, which I used many moons ago with my oldest, non-sciency son. Any thoughts or ideas? Especially for materials available online? I'd appreciate the feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 One online resource is CK12. Lots of different science texts. You can also put your own course book together. Not sure how but I have read that you can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladykayaker Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I would recommend Exploration Education Science - light, suitable for grade 8 , and certainly 'intro to' i am using it for mine two who don't have much interest in science. It wouldn't have worked for my oldest who lives and breathes all things science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WishboneDawn Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 What about adding in some history-science readings? Bill Bryson's A Short History of nearly Everything, Dava Sobel's Longitude, James Burkes' Circles, Mark Kurlansky's Cod, Robert Kaplan's The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero, the TTC lecture, The History of Science, and on and on. If you're not getting the labs and such in anyway why not survey science in a context he enjoys? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinL in Canada Posted August 31, 2012 Author Share Posted August 31, 2012 I would recommend Exploration Education Science - light, suitable for grade 8 , and certainly 'intro to'i am using it for mine two who don't have much interest in science. It wouldn't have worked for my oldest who lives and breathes all things science. Is this online? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 For a short plants unit, we really enjoyed the TOPS Radishes book. We did the Corn & Beans one as well, but I thought the experiments in Radishes were a bit better. The books is inexpensive, and the materials are readily available. If you like this idea, one suggestion would be to do it soon, before the daylight levels get lower later in the year. We tried this unit once in mid-winter, and the plants just didn't do as well due to the lack of light. Maybe you could pair this unit with a book (or books) from the library on plants. Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 (edited) Would he enjoy something that he can read and then make? The Caveman Chemistry book was lots of fun for my son and the Dangerous Book for Boys was also a hit (physics). Maybe a forensics course? There is an online course (supposedly not good enough for high school) that I thought looked fun. I love science in the 8th grade. It is the last year to do whatever they want - I think doing lots of short units for 8th is an excellent way to go. Did he ever do Rainbow Science? I can't remember if you did that with the older boys or not. It would be very easy for an 8th grader to do in a year and, IMO, is a great intro to the high school sciences. I'll see if I can find that forensics course - I'll edit this if I do. I have no advice on botany...that was never a favorite of mine :D Found it: http://bsapp.com/forensics_illustrated/http://bsapp.com/forensics_illustrated/ Edited August 31, 2012 by CynthiaOK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinL in Canada Posted August 31, 2012 Author Share Posted August 31, 2012 Would he enjoy something that he can read and then make? The Caveman Chemistry book was lots of fun for my son and the Dangerous Book for Boys was also a hit (physics). Maybe a forensics course? There is an online course (supposedly not good enough for high school) that I thought looked fun. I love science in the 8th grade. It is the last year to do whatever they want - I think doing lots of short units for 8th is an excellent way to go. Did he ever do Rainbow Science? I can't remember if you did that with the older boys or not. It would be very easy for an 8th grader to do in a year and, IMO, is a great intro to the high school sciences. I'll see if I can find that forensics course - I'll edit this if I do. I have no advice on botany...that was never a favorite of mine :D Found it: http://bsapp.com/forensics_illustrated/http://bsapp.com/forensics_illustrated/ Thanks for chiming in, Cynthia. Yes, he did part of Rainbow last year and really did not enjoy it. I ended up finally selling it this summer now that it had flopped with all my sons. I'm not sure what it is with my boys, but they just do not like the hands-on-let's-make-something kind of labs or experiments. He *will* be doing some hands-on magnetism study (I think that will be the topic) in a co-op next semester; last year did electricity via TOPS there. He's just so much more verbal/ artsy at heart than scientifically oriented. I'll check your forensics link, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 The NASA education website has three spaces related TOPS courses for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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