chaya Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Hi everyone. I'm new here and about to begin our second year of homeschooling. My 7th grader would like to study physics this year and I am having trouble finding a curriculum. We're looking for something very hands-on but with a thorough enough text component so that I dont have to flesh out the entire lesson. Ds is a strong student and a good reader so something like real science 4 kids turns him off (he looked at some of the samples online and said it seemed a bit immature and for younger kids). He also does not like learning on the computer much, so no online coursework or dvd based programs. I saw a reference on this site for Stop Faking It, but it seems that there is only one companion for classroom activities book? I dont think that would be enough for a full year's study, and I have not been able to find any reviews of this program. I also prefer something secular but if its a rigorous and fun curriculum I can overlook a religious bent. thanks in advance chaya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Let me put in a quick plug for one of my favorite curriculums: Paul Hewitt's Conceptual Physics. I've used it twice for seventh graders and am about to start it for the third (and last!) time. In brick and mortar schools, it's often used for ninth graders who then take AP physics when they are seniors. It's light enough on math that a seventh grader who is a competent math student can handle it. But it's challenging and 40 chapters long so editing, or being very focused, is required. Conceptual Physics' strength is its explanations, drawings and photos that explain physics concepts to novices. As a college freshman, engineering major, and high school sophomore, my older two boys both say that Conceptual Physics still comes into their mind as the explanation of a concept. Ds in high school reports he was the only student in his class this past year who grasped that angular acceleration encompassed BOTH velocity AND direction-not as a test question, but as a concept while the teacher did a class demonstration of angular acceleration. I've used the Conceptual Physics lab manual for demonstrations, but any book, Janice van Cleave for example, is fine for demos. Just plan ahead and get the materials so that it's not overlooked. Try to do one per week. ETA: Conceptual Physics is completely secular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbalogh Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I cannot vouch for how great it's going to be but I got Life of Fred's Elementary Physics for my 7th grader next year as a supplement to her regular math. People seem to love it or hate it. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Paul Hewitt has quite a few books available. Touch This! (very inexpensive) and Conceptual Physical Science which are accessible to your average 6th-9th grade student. He has Conceptual Physical Science for High School that is a basic (not AP) high school physics course. Then, he has Conceptual Physics that is for college courses for liberal arts majors. Sure, you can use the highest level book in 7th with a physics lovin' kid, but the other books may be a better fit, especially if your child has not previously used a textbook designed for classrooms or has not previously completed a jr high level physics. Paul Hewitt really likes his subject and this comes through in his writing. HTH- Mandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I've had a few people recommend the Stop Faking It! series, and it looks amazing! We'll be trying it out this year with my rising 7th grader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Here's a thread I started on this ~ two months ago with a lot of good resource recommendations: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/473899-conceptual-physicsphysical-science-resources-for-middle-school/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaya Posted July 21, 2013 Author Share Posted July 21, 2013 Let me put in a quick plug for one of my favorite curriculums: Paul Hewitt's Conceptual Physics. I've used it twice for seventh graders and am about to start it for the third (and last!) time. In brick and mortar schools, it's often used for ninth graders who then take AP physics when they are seniors. It's light enough on math that a seventh grader who is a competent math student can handle it. But it's challenging and 40 chapters long so editing, or being very focused, is required. Conceptual Physics' strength is its explanations, drawings and photos that explain physics concepts to novices. As a college freshman, engineering major, and high school sophomore, my older two boys both say that Conceptual Physics still comes into their mind as the explanation of a concept. Ds in high school reports he was the only student in his class this past year who grasped that angular acceleration encompassed BOTH velocity AND direction-not as a test question, but as a concept while the teacher did a class demonstration of angular acceleration. I've used the Conceptual Physics lab manual for demonstrations, but any book, Janice van Cleave for example, is fine for demos. Just plan ahead and get the materials so that it's not overlooked. Try to do one per week. ETA: Conceptual Physics is completely secular. thanks, I was looking at that one but was a bit nervous that it would be too advanced being a high school text. ds is a strong reader with good intuitive science sense and he's half way through saxon 8/7 math, will be begining algebra 1/2 in september. so I do think he can handle a *bit* of math and it is reassuring to hear that you've used it with middleschoolers. my other concern was the lab portion, I do have a tendency to procrastinate putting that stuff together so I was hoping to find something that had it all put together for me, but I see that I cant have everything. the reviews I found on Janice van cleave's physics demos was not so positive. will keep looking for a lab component but I think I'm leaning towards this text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaya Posted July 21, 2013 Author Share Posted July 21, 2013 I've had a few people recommend the Stop Faking It! series, and it looks amazing! We'll be trying it out this year with my rising 7th grader. I saw this one too, I think its good for me! it seems that there is only one activities book? I'm not sure that will be enough to take us through the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaya Posted July 21, 2013 Author Share Posted July 21, 2013 Here's a thread I started on this ~ two months ago with a lot of good resource recommendations: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/473899-conceptual-physicsphysical-science-resources-for-middle-school/ omg, so many wonderful books out there! this is going to become an expensive obsession. thanks for the link to your thread. what did you end up purchasing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaya Posted July 21, 2013 Author Share Posted July 21, 2013 I cannot vouch for how great it's going to be but I got Life of Fred's Elementary Physics for my 7th grader next year as a supplement to her regular math. People seem to love it or hate it. HTH I got LOF fractions for ds last summer. He absolutely hated it. He likes his math straight-up, kwim? I was reading some LOF physics reviews and they were mixed. like everything else, I suppose. I love Fred though : ) do you know if there is a lab/demo component in there or do you have to supplement? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 I saw this one too, I think its good for me! it seems that there is only one activities book? I'm not sure that will be enough to take us through the year. There are several - Forces and Motion, Electricity and Magnetism, Forces, Light, Sound, etc. You can "look inside" several of them on Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 omg, so many wonderful books out there! this is going to become an expensive obsession. thanks for the link to your thread. what did you end up purchasing? So far I picked up: CK12 Physical Science Concepts For Middle School Flexbook How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday LifeExploring the World of Physics These texts plus online courses such as Udacity's Introduction to Physics are plenty to go through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbalogh Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 I got LOF fractions for ds last summer. He absolutely hated it. He likes his math straight-up, kwim? I was reading some LOF physics reviews and they were mixed. like everything else, I suppose. I love Fred though : ) do you know if there is a lab/demo component in there or do you have to supplement? We haven't gone through it yet, but in reading the first couple of chapters there was no mention of labs. My daughter needs to learn the basics so we're doing Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra and just using this as a supplement. There are some folks who use it as their whole math curricula. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaya Posted July 22, 2013 Author Share Posted July 22, 2013 I found a copy of How Things Work on ebay last night for $9/free shipping. so of course I had to order it. when it gets here I will see what else we *need* as far as LOF, I meant to ask if anyone knew if the physics book has labs, not the math books. I have a few of the math books. thanks to everyone who responded to my thread...I am so excited about re-learning physics now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoverdavid30 Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Paul Hewett's Conceptual Physics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoverdavid30 Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Paul Hewett's Conceptual Physics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Check out Lori's posting at the following link: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/454502-physics-lab-kit-help/?hl=%2Blori+%2Btops&do=findComment&comment=4698936 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 I have heard of Instant Physics too, by Tony Rothman, recommended for this age bracket. http://books.google.com/books/about/Instant_Physics.html?id=CwFAAQAAIAAJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 My 7th grader is doing the advanced version of Exploration Education and loving it. It has a computer based lesson followed by hands on project and experimentation. They build some cool projects and do a lot of experiments with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grantmom Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 That looks really good! I've never heard of that one before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cschnee Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 There is one activity book in the Stop Faking It! series. It is for Forces.We used it in conjunction with the actual book, but it isn't really necessary. Books by Bryce Hixon are excellent too http://www.seriouslyfunnyscience.com/ And there are some great books by AIMS as well http://www.aimsedu.org/category/activity-books_science-69/Activity-Books/Science-Activity-Books-6-9/1.html (we've used Machine Shop). Don't forget TOPS! http://www.topscience.org/ Lots of great physics there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 We haven't gone through it yet, but in reading the first couple of chapters there was no mention of labs. My daughter needs to learn the basics so we're doing Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra and just using this as a supplement. There are some folks who use it as their whole math curricula. (A PP asked if LOF physics had labs). In the very first chapter, Fred takes a rectangular object and discusses how in science, you must experiment in order to find out if what you think is true. He builds a "model safe," and gives its dimensions, encourages the student to predict which surface will generate the least friction. He then conducts the test. It is not a stretch of the imagination at all to get a $2 spring scale and a rectangular object and a ruler and duplicate what Fred is doing (that is precisely what my 9YO ran off to do). There is a lab gift there in chapter one; it just doesn't say, " Now do this. Now do this, " yet all the instructions are there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 More labs in LoF Physics... In the Chapter 3 Your Turn to Play, Stan asks the student to predict: how will the length of a pendulum affect the length of it's period? Will it change? What about the weight hanging on the pendulum? My just turned 10YO did not want us to turn the page to check his predictions yet. He ran off to gather string, some different objects, a stopwatch, a yardstick and a tape measure. He is going to test his predictions before looking at the answers. Mom, can we try some really long pendulums out the second floor window? Yes, there are tons of labs in Fred Physics. Just do the problems in real life. (A PP asked if LOF physics had labs). In the very first chapter, Fred takes a rectangular object and discusses how in science, you must experiment in order to find out if what you think is true. He builds a "model safe," and gives its dimensions, encourages the student to predict which surface will generate the least friction. He then conducts the test. It is not a stretch of the imagination at all to get a $2 spring scale and a rectangular object and a ruler and duplicate what Fred is doing (that is precisely what my 9YO ran off to do). There is a lab gift there in chapter one; it just doesn't say, " Now do this. Now do this, " yet all the instructions are there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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