J9Mommy Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Hi. What are your top choices for middle school history and science ? I want to start preparing for the fact that high school will be here before I know it. He is my oldest and the words, '6th' grade are making me sweat. Haha. I would also prefer a secular curriculum if possible.Thank you :) P.S. We have not done any formal history and limited formal science. Just for reference. Science wise, I am not worried about him being behind at all. We do a lot of 'un-schooling' science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J9Mommy Posted July 7, 2013 Author Share Posted July 7, 2013 No one has a secular curriculum they like for either science or history ? I know there are parents to middle school aged children on here.Just looking for ideas, for either one :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladydusk Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 You might try posting this on the Loguc Stage sub-board to the K-8 board. Most of them hang out there ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Pandia Press http://www.pandiapress.com/?page_id=50 has recently been my go-to for science and history materials. Completely secular. Real Science 4 Kids is another option for secular/neutral. I find SOTW to be very good as a secular option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entropymama Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 We love SOTW and I think volumes 3 & 4 would be great for a sixth grader. The earlier volumes are aimed at younger kids but if you do a lot of the recommended supplemental reading it would still work. By 6th grade you could even have him do SOTW independently. For science we've never really used a curriculum, we just followed SWB's 4 year rotation and chose books and activities based on that. Since you say you've never really used a science curriculum, just go with it. Pick a topic (astronomy, human anatomy, whatever) and go empty the library of books. Read them, have him narrate or do reports, look up websites and activities. The only open and go science curriculum I've worked with is Apologia and it's not secular, so that doesn't help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Hi. What are your top choices for middle school history and science ? I want to start preparing for the fact that high school will be here before I know it. He is my oldest and the words, '6th' grade are making me sweat. Haha. I would also prefer a secular curriculum if possible. Thank you :) P.S. We have not done any formal history and limited formal science. Just for reference. Science wise, I am not worried about him being behind at all. We do a lot of 'un-schooling' science. Here is what we are using next year for history and science: Social Studies A Message of Ancient Days- Houghton Mifflin Social Studies, Grade 6 (the same book is used by Calvert for grade 6) Prentice Hall Readings in Social Studies: Ancient Times World Geography and You, Book 2 Eastern Hemisphere Science Conceptual Physical Science with the Conceptual Physical Science Practice Book Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way with Student Guide The middle school history titles from K12 are the big hit on the boards at the moment- The Human Odyssey Volumes 1-3. K12s condensed 4 book version of Hakim's History of US has been mentioned a few times as well. BFSU Science, Science Explorer, Holt, CPO, Plato, ScienceFusion, CK-12 Science Flexbooks are all mentioned. Look for posts by lewelma. She has described in detail her approach to science. On the logic stage board there is a planning thread for 6th grade. Maybe that would be helpful as well. HTH- Mandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J9Mommy Posted July 7, 2013 Author Share Posted July 7, 2013 You might try posting this on the Loguc Stage sub-board to the K-8 board. Most of them hang out there ... Thank you so much for taking the time to reply :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J9Mommy Posted July 7, 2013 Author Share Posted July 7, 2013 Here is what we are using next year for history and science: Social Studies A Message of Ancient Days- Houghton Mifflin Social Studies, Grade 6 (the same book is used by Calvert for grade 6) Prentice Hall Readings in Social Studies: Ancient Times World Geography and You, Book 2 Eastern Hemisphere Science Conceptual Physical Science with the Conceptual Physical Science Practice Book Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way with Student Guide The middle school history titles from K12 are the big hit on the boards at the moment- The Human Odyssey Volumes 1-3. K12s condensed 4 book version of Hakim's History of US has been mentioned a few times as well. BFSU Science, Science Explorer, Holt, CPO, Plato, ScienceFusion, CK-12 Science Flexbooks are all mentioned. Look for posts by lewelma. She has described in detail her approach to science. On the logic stage board there is a planning thread for 6th grade. Maybe that would be helpful as well. HTH- Mandy Thank you. This was very helpful :) Exactly what I needed as a starting point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J9Mommy Posted July 7, 2013 Author Share Posted July 7, 2013 Oops, I just noticed two more replies. My notifications were off.Thank you to everyone that replied so far :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spetzi Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 We enjoyed Joy Hakim's History of Science. The Quest guides were erratic. Some of the activities were interesting and some weren't at all. It's been a challenge to find a great science program so I don't have a recommendation, but I have a lead. DD is about begin Science Fusion. There is a write in text and a lot of online content (videos, virtual experiments, alternate teaching plans, lab manual for numerous hands-on experiments.). It's looks pretty cool. I got a good deal at HSBC, but when I saw a rep at a convention she gave me 20% off so you might be able to get that if you make a call. http://saxonhomeschool.hmhco.com/en/products/default.htm?level2Code=M0010&level3Code=M31099 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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