Holt Science and Technology---Does it matter what order?

[mo2]

There is Life, Earth, and Physical Science for grades 6-8. Do the books need to be done in any specific order? Thanks.

[TarynB]

I haven't used them, but Kolbe uses these books for middle school. I found this helpful info recently on their website. Physical science requires concurrent enrollment in algebra (or algebra completed previously). Looks like the sequence of life before earth, or earth before life doesn't matter, just personal preference, and neither one of them is math-dependent. HTH.

 

ETA: For others who may read this, Kolbe schedules Holt's Concepts in Action high school physical science text in 8th/9th grade, which apparently requires algebra. But here is Holt's middle school physical science text.

[Alessandra]

double post

[Alessandra]

The HMH website does not list any order. Ds's school happens to to do Physical, Life, Earth for grades 6,7, 8. I have all the books and am familiar with them -- imo, order doesn't matter. I would not say any special math is needed for any of them.

 

Philosophically, I would agree with people who put physical science first, as a foundational science. But, from a practical viewpoint, I would consider my dc. I have started my homeschooled dd with Earth Science (not Holt, but closely related program from same publisher -- see siggy). I did this because 1) physical science is more abstract then what dd is ready for, and 2) dd is simply fascinated by space, weather and rocks/minerals.

 

ETA Another reason we chose earth sciences first is that there are lots of videos on the subject.

[Alessandra]

I haven't used them, but Kolbe uses these books for middle school. I found this helpful info recently on their website. Physical science requires concurrent enrollment in algebra (or algebra completed previously). Looks like the sequence of life before earth, or earth before life doesn't matter, just personal preference, and neither one of them is math-dependent. HTH.

 

I looked at the Kolbe webite -- had a bit of a hard time figuring out what was what. But in 8th grade, it looked like they listed a Holt Physical Science high school level text?? Did I see this correctly/ Maybe that is what the algebra is for? Please correct me if I am wrong!

[mo2]

Alessandra, do you prefer Holt or ScienceFusion? And why? Science Fusion is the other program I'm considering. Well, if the order doesn't matter, I will probably start with Earth Science because my dd hasn't had as much of that as she has had life science previously.

 

 

I looked at the Kolbe webite -- had a bit of a hard time figuring out what was what. But in 8th grade, it looked like they listed a Holt Physical Science high school level text?? Did I see this correctly/ Maybe that is what the algebra is for? Please correct me if I am wrong!

 

 

That's what I saw too, the high school text scheduled for 8th grade.

[TarynB]

Yes, you're right! I didn't look in detail at the physical science book used by Kolbe, since I knew we weren't ready for it yet. Sorry, I thought I was being helpful but I just made it worse! For others who may read this, Kolbe schedules Holt's Concepts in Action high school physical science text in 8th/9th grade, which apparently requires algebra. But here is Holt's middle school physical science text. :blushing:

I updated my original post for future readers.

[mo2]

Yes, you're right! I didn't look in detail at the physical science book used by Kolbe, since I knew we weren't ready for it yet. Sorry, I thought I was being helpful but I just made it worse! For others who may read this, Kolbe schedules Holt's Concepts in Action high school physical science text in 8th/9th grade, which apparently requires algebra. But here is Holt's middle school physical science text. :blushing:

I updated my original post for future readers.

 

No worries! It was navigating around their site that I found confusing, not what you said! :)

[Alessandra]

Alessandra, do you prefer Holt or ScienceFusion? And why? Science Fusion is the other program I'm considering. Well, if the order doesn't matter, I will probably start with Earth Science because my dd hasn't had as much of that as she has had life science previously.

 

 

That's what I saw too, the high school text scheduled for 8th grade.

 

I can't say I prefer one over the other. It's more a matter of what works for an individual student. For teaching myself, I like HST -- the middle school level is perfect for me, lol. These books are classics, with close to 100 authors, reviewers, etc each. The charts, tables, graphics are superb. They would be my first choice for a reasonably bight kid, good reader. I also like that they give students a real textbook experience. There are lots of teacher materials to go with HST, but I don't have these, as I have not seen them at a reasonable price.

 

The SF program is from the same publisher (HMH) as HST. Many of the units, chapters are arranged in the same order. The reason I like it is that the student text, actually a worktext, is excellent for dc with some reading comprehension issues. Not only is the writing easier, there is simply less information. (If I have time later, I'll try to compare what they say about, say, stars in both texts.) HST has much more detail. But for a kid with some special needs, less can be better. Also the worktext is nicely laid out, with short paragraphs and lots of questions to answer right in the book, charts to fill in, etc. Those are a good reinforcement for comprehension.

 

SF has a big computer component -- the site is bloated and rather cumbersome to use. But the heart of the site are the student lessons, and these are very helpful to us. Dd can listen to the lesson before doing the work text, and then listen again afterwards. The lessons are clear and well done. Some of the other materials are so-so. I find the online teacher manual difficult to read, so I use the HST as a TM for SF. Probably a bit weird, but it works for me.

 

SF is now available from RR at a discount, so it's easy to order just one module to try and get free shipping if you can make a $50 order. HST is available used from textbooks.com.

 

ETA I wrote the above when I was tired.... To put it more succinctly, HST is a much better text, imo. But if you need one at an easier reading level, SF is fine, especially as most of the (secular, school) science texts I've seen for lower grades are general science and you'd need several years of books to get all the topics in an area.

[MrsBanjoClown]

This is what we used when I taught in public school. We did physical in 6th, life in 7th, and earth in 8th.

[mo2]

I can't say I prefer one over the other. It's more a matter of what works for an individual student. For teaching myself, I like HST -- the middle school level is perfect for me, lol. These books are classics, with close to 100 authors, reviewers, etc each. The charts, tables, graphics are superb. They would be my first choice for a reasonably bight kid, good reader. I also like that they give students a real textbook experience. There are lots of teacher materials to go with HST, but I don't have these, as I have not seen them at a reasonable price.

 

The SF program is from the same publisher (HMH) as HST. Many of the units, chapters are arranged in the same order. The reason I like it is that the student text, actually a worktext, is excellent for dc with some reading comprehension issues. Not only is the writing easier, there is simply less information. (If I have time later, I'll try to compare what they say about, say, stars in both texts.) HST has much more detail. But for a kid with some special needs, less can be better. Also the worktext is nicely laid out, with short paragraphs and lots of questions to answer right in the book, charts to fill in, etc. Those are a good reinforcement for comprehension.

 

SF has a big computer component -- the site is bloated and rather cumbersome to use. But the heart of the site are the student lessons, and these are very helpful to us. Dd can listen to the lesson before doing the work text, and then listen again afterwards. The lessons are clear and well done. Some of the other materials are so-so. I find the online teacher manual difficult to read, so I use the HST as a TM for SF. Probably a bit weird, but it works for me.

 

SF is now available from RR at a discount, so it's easy to order just one module to try and get free shipping if you can make a $50 order. HST is available used from textbooks.com.

 

ETA I wrote the above when I was tired.... To put it more succinctly, HST is a much better text, imo. But if you need one at an easier reading level, SF is fine, especially as most of the (secular, school) science texts I've seen for lower grades are general science and you'd need several years of books to get all the topics in an area.

 

 

Hmm... Well, I was all set on HST. RR has it for $119 as a set that comes with the student text, homeschool parent guide, and chapter resources CD-ROM (worksheets and stuff). Is that a bad price? I don't mind buying it new, because I have 3 kids who will use it eventually. But now you have me thinking about ScienceFusion again. My oldest would definitely benefit from the lower reading level and watching the lessons. I had pretty much ruled it out because I keep hearing how difficult the website is to navigate and how many troubles people have had even getting their subscription activated. Plus, the subscription is for 1 year, which means I would have to re-purchase for my younger kids when they get there. Sigh. I don't know which would be best.

[Alessandra]

Hmm... Well, I was all set on HST. RR has it for $119 as a set that comes with the student text, homeschool parent guide, and chapter resources CD-ROM (worksheets and stuff). Is that a bad price? I don't mind buying it new, because I have 3 kids who will use it eventually. But now you have me thinking about ScienceFusion again. My oldest would definitely benefit from the lower reading level and watching the lessons. I had pretty much ruled it out because I keep hearing how difficult the website is to navigate and how many troubles people have had even getting their subscription activated. Plus, the subscription is for 1 year, which means I would have to re-purchase for my younger kids when they get there. Sigh. I don't know which would be best.

 

 

I would jump at using the HST. I am tempted by the RR package -- you are getting a lot for the money. Having the extra resources is great -- I'm not sure that they have been available until fairly recently. I looked at the shopping page for one of the HST text (they all have similar resources) and found some things that might help.

 

http://www.mcdougall...=SEQ_NAME#order

 

There is a Reading Comprehension Guide and a Special Needs Workbook -- however, they are not available to the general public. (Oh, boy, do I hate this!) I looked for them last year and couldn't fine them used -- perhaps that will change, now that HST is being sold through places like RR and Saxon Homeschool. In any case the chapter resources could be a help -- my ds in ps has assignment based on these and they are well put together worksheets. You could always get a used, older edition of the text only for less than $10 and try it out on your ds.

 

Three years of SF is a lot of money. There is (was?) a place on the internet -- a school system in Florida -- that had all the lessons displayed. No idea if they've added a password, but that would be a good place to use if you want to test it on your ds. The website can be navigated -- it's just very irritatingly designed. Oh, and the teacher version is displayed in a way that makes it almost impossible to read. It's similar to how HMH displays samples, similar to Evan Moor samples. When you enlarge text, the window stays the same size, so you see only a small fraction of the page.

 

ETA Found the link that had all SF for every grade. The link no longer works. Maybe someone here has some sort of link to another school.

 

http://cenes.pasco.k...us/?page_id=200

 

Oh, I just remembered, I did find samples of some of the videos and so on at the HMH website (massive, difficult to navigate).

[mo2]

Alessandra, thank you for taking the time to share your experiences and opinions with me. I really do think SF would be cost-prohibitive for me. With the HST, I am looking at $120, divided by 3 students (eventually), which comes to only $40 per student for a year of science...That's hard to beat. I really can't wait to get my hands on the package from RR and see what is on the CD-ROMs. They have samples of the text on RR but not samples of the extra materials. The rep that I talked to (I just love that new feature they have where you can chat with one of their reps!) said they have made HST very homeschool friendly. I'll have to see I can get my hands on those workbooks you mentioned. I hate it when ps materials aren't available to homeschoolers. I actually do prefer textbooks for some subjects.

 

Anyway, thanks for your input, and I think HST is the way to go for us. :)

[Alessandra]

Alessandra, thank you for taking the time to share your experiences and opinions with me. I really do think SF would be cost-prohibitive for me. With the HST, I am looking at $120, divided by 3 students (eventually), which comes to only $40 per student for a year of science...That's hard to beat. I really can't wait to get my hands on the package from RR and see what is on the CD-ROMs. They have samples of the text on RR but not samples of the extra materials. The rep that I talked to (I just love that new feature they have where you can chat with one of their reps!) said they have made HST very homeschool friendly. I'll have to see I can get my hands on those workbooks you mentioned. I hate it when ps materials aren't available to homeschoolers. I actually do prefer textbooks for some subjects.

 

Anyway, thanks for your input, and I think HST is the way to go for us. :)

 

 

When you get the HST, I would love to hear what you think of the extra (non-textbook) materials.

[mo2]

When you get the HST, I would love to hear what you think of the extra (non-textbook) materials.

 

 

 

I won't be ordering for a little while yet. Still have decisions to make in other subject areas. I will try to remember to get back to you, though!

[Guest GardenGirl]

We used the Life Science series and liked it.

 

You can find lesson plans downloads for free through Saxon. Lesson Plans

 

I purchased the textbook used through Amazon for less than $10 and picked up the Science Tutor CD-Rom through ebay for less than $15. This CD-Rom has self correcting tests, practice tests and study help. The lesson plans were pretty self explanatory and I was able to easily piece together our curriculum, I just had to make sure that my editions matched up when I purchased book and CD-Rom. The Textbook offers plenty of activities, quick labs, labs, vocabulary, reviews and more so I don't think I missed the work included in the Parent Guide. I used the Science Tutor at the end of each chapter for testing.

 

Going this route was easy and a little more budget friendly for us.

[Alessandra]

We used the Life Science series and liked it.

 

You can find lesson plans downloads for free through Saxon. Lesson Plans

 

I purchased the textbook used through Amazon for less than $10 and picked up the Science Tutor CD-Rom through ebay for less than $15. This CD-Rom has self correcting tests, practice tests and study help. The lesson plans were pretty self explanatory and I was able to easily piece together our curriculum, I just had to make sure that my editions matched up when I purchased book and CD-Rom. The Textbook offers plenty of activities, quick labs, labs, vocabulary, reviews and more so I don't think I missed the work included in the Parent Guide. I used the Science Tutor at the end of each chapter for testing.

 

Going this route was easy and a little more budget friendly for us.

 

 

Oh, that is interesting -- it sounds as though the cd rom didn't have any copy protection. I should try this.

[8elbows]

I realize this thread is a few years old, but if anyone is interested in Holt Science & Technology: Life Science, I came across a classroom website that offers login credentials to view the entire book with activities: 

 

http://vms.vale.k12.or.us/eric-bardwell/20/courses-7th-grade-life-science

 

I would only use the site as a means of viewing the curriculum before purchasing it yourself as I don't know how long the info will be available. (I'm sure the teacher will eventually update his page.) Also, it seems that the students of his class are currently using the material, so I would avoid typing in any answers. (Sometimes you will see answers written by students).

[Alessandra]

Old thread, but I wanted to add that Science Fusion can now be bought from the publisher by regular parents/consumers. I bought just the books -- the middle school modules were $13.80 each. Free shipping over $25. At RR and Saxon HS, the program was available only as a package, at a much higher price.

 

SF makes a good program for a middle school kid who cannot handle HST academically. When I had all the add-ons, I did not use them, but gathered my own videos and experiments. The new modules I ordered are for review of what dd is doing in her modified class in local high school. 

 

HMH offers some SF print supplements (lab manual etc), but they were expensive. I tried to preview books, but was not able to do so, have to be a teacher, iirc.

[kagmypts]

While I realize that this thread is several years old, I am wondering if anyone has updated thoughts on the Holt Science and Technology series.  I am considering Earth and Physical sciences for my daughter.  Are the CDs imperative?