8th Grade Science Suggestions?

[birchbark]

I'd been planning to use Rainbow the last few years, but I'm realizing that my DS is just not a hands-on guy. He's intuitive, not sensing, if you know what I mean, and doesn't like to be bothered with projects. I am drawn to the interest-led approach, but I also really liked the idea of an overview before high school. What should I be looking at? We're open to Christian or secular.

[g1234]

We have been using Singapore's middle school (Science Matters) and high school (Biology/Physics/Chemistry Matters) this year and I have been really impressed. I'd say it could be an excellent match for an intuitive student. (Do you mean that in the MBTI sense?). It is very intellectual, with text and workbook questions that ask for a lot of synthesis and deep thinking. The lab component is separate and we're using a lab component from a different provider, so I can say with confidence that the text and workbook stand alone very well and offer a lot of learning and a good mental stretch without any hands-on, project element. The questions in the text and workbook really are higher-level than I have seen elsewhere.

 

Good luck finding something that works!

[birchbark]

(Do you mean that in the MBTI sense?). 

 

:thumbup1:

[Space station]

Bridget Ardoin's Science for High School http://www.scienceforhighschool.com/ would be my recommendation.  We are using the Physical Science one for 8th grade science.  We have to add projects since my daughters want more hands-on, but the program as it is has one lab per week and so far the ones they provide do not take long at all.  We jump around a bit in the lessons to follow her interests, which has been working well.  She can really dig into the things that she is really interested in (like astronomy), and she does the minimum required for the things that she is not interested in (like weather).

Hope that helps,

Kristin

[dereksurfs]

We went this way as well starting with Rainbow and then deciding to switch gears to a more literature overview of science.  There are quite a lot of options to choose from in this arena.  So far we are using CK12's Physical Science Concepts For Middle School which has been working out well for a science overview.  We also supplement with things such as the BBC's Chemistry, a Volatile History, Ellen McHenry's Elements, etc...  For the second half of the year which I've broken roughly into Chemistry and Physics we may jump into Bloomfileld's How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life including his U of Virginia lectures.

[TheApprentice]

We are using Derek Owens Physical Science, which can be purchased. There are a few labs, but they aren't done every chapter. My son, too, is not all that excited about hands-on activities, so this is working very well.

 

 

[HollyDay]

We did physical science in 8th grade.  Oldest used Apologia, youngest used Abeka.