DIVE Earth Science.....

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Does anyone have experience with this? Ds will be in 8th grade next year, and I'm trying to decide between DIVE Earth Science and Derek Owens Physical Science. (I'm much more familiar with DO.)

I'm concerned a student without chemistry/geology experience may become frustrated with DIVE ES.

 

Based on the website, I can see that DIVE ES is for 7th-8th grades and adaptable to high school and that it requires pre-algebra skills. When I watch the sample video lesson, however, it seems like a student could become frustrated without a decent knowledge of chemistry and geology. Chemical/geological terms and names are used as if the student should be very familiar with them.....able to recognize and use them from the get-go. This is what is making me shy away from using it.

 

We studied earth science when ds was in 3rd grade.... I think. We used Lyrical Earth Science and a variety of extra components. He hasn't worked with any kind of earth science terms/concepts since then. Would DIVE Earth Science be too frustrating?

 

 

 

I love/need the way the course is written for independent work, and I want ds to begin to move away from one on one teaching from me. The way DIVE Earth Science (and DO physical science) is presented is wonderful.

 

Ds is completing pre-algebra in 7th grade and will be going into Algebra I as an 8th grader. In 6th grade he used Exploration Education (physical science). In 7th grade he is using Science Shepherd Life Science. I will have him do the physics-first approach in high school probably starting with Conceptual Physics in 9th grade.

 

Earth science is a logical, sequential science for his 8th grade year. But, physical science is still a possibility just to get him familiar with concepts he'll learn in high school science. The only down-side: he already covered physical science in 6th (Exploration Education), he would repeat similar material in 8th and go on to Conceptual Physics in 9th. Kind of redundant.