Liza Q Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 I am planning my daughter's last year of high school. We live in NY so she needs a minimum or 2 credits/years of science. In 9th grade she did an American School course - Health and Physiology. I treated it as .5 credit Health (also required) and .5 credit Science. In 10th grade she started American School's Environmental Science. She finished half, so she got another .5 credit. This year, 11th grade, she is finishing up that Environmental Science for another .5 credit. As I am sure you can tell, this child struggles academically. She has some, well, issues (sensory and many, many food allergies, plus some other stuff), and for her, she is doing pretty well. Last summer she "woke up" and realized that if she wants to achieve her goal - studying Fashion Design at Fashion Institue of Technology - she actually has to finish High School! So, she has been working hard - for her - and knows that she needs some more science next year. FIT doesn't have too many academic requirements. Her portfolio is what really matters. If she does not get in, she intends o start at the Community College (open enrollment) and then try again. She is way behind in Math - basically doing Pre-Algebra for the third time (third times the charm right?) and hopefully will get some Algebra in next year. But that means that she cannot handle a math-heavy science. I was thinking...would it be possible to do one semester of Biology? She already covered Physiology in 9th grade and has covered a lot of Ecology topics in her Envoronmental Science. I could use the first few units of the Power Basics Bio, add some labs and some essays. It might also be possible to use parts of another, better text. She is "interested" in Chemistry...but I don't know how to condense it to a one-semester, non-mathy course. Astronomy? No Earth Science - she has done a lot in Envoronmental Science. It would need to be secular. Any thoughts? Trying to work out stuff that she will actually do is challenging! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angie in VA Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 No thoughts other than to say I would think a non-mathy chemistry would be easier to fit into one semester than a mathy chem course, and there are living books for chem she could read. Search these forums and google CM or living books chemistry. Guest Hollow is always good for ideas, but I think her chem course is for younger students. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 You could use middle school materials like Ellen McHenry units (Elements, Carbon Chemistry). Or Walch Power basics. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space station Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 There is LOF Chemistry for high school. The math she would need would be the ability to do conversion factors, which is usually covered in PreAlgebra. This would be a very light chemistry course without labs, and Fred is fun. Two lessons per week to cover the book in one semester. Another way to go would be to do a kitchen chemistry if she likes cooking. MIT open courseware has 2 of these. They are seminars, not intended to take a full semester, but might work as such for your dd. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/special-programs/sp-287-kitchen-chemistry-spring-2009/ You could do both Fred and kitchen chemistry if she likes topic and the approach. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornblower Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 How about a Food Chemistry unit?I have this bookmarked http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/articles-by-topic/food-chemistry.htmlIn the lessons & activities section, the 1st link takes you to a page with a bunch of easy food science lab activitiesthe Carb link is broken (just takes you to the cheese page again) but there is still a fair bit of stuff here...Also, the Naked Science page at Cambridge has a Kitchen Science section. The carrots link from the link above goes there .. it's worth staying there & checking out a bunch of the other activities http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/kitchenscience/exp/colours-from-carrots-staining/ eta - oh I see now Space Station had already suggested Kitchen Science. Sorry, didn't read all the replies... :D 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Q Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 Thanks - I am compliing links for samples so she can compare a few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I think the power basics either bio or Chem could be completed in 1 semester, I was using the Physics one for my 8th grader with the text and workbook. My 6th grader was doing just the textbook. We switched because they thought it was boring. Do the Chemistry, she'll need/use it more (the fashion students a my Univ. had to take a couple Chem classes). You could get the MicroChem Kit from HST. Cram the 17 experiments and the text book( you could do 75-80% of the book and call it good like P.S. does) plus some of the workbook into 1 semester and count it as a full lab and course credit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenC Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 What about botany? Culinary chemistry is fun too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3andme Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Pacworks has Biology and Integrated Physics and Chemistry .These are well written non-mathy science texts. Very open and go and written to the student for independent use. The student reads a few pages and then answers worksheet questions. On Pacworks website, they explain how you can split out the Integrated Physics and Chemistry to do only the Physics (Conceptual Physics course) or Chemistry (Basic Chemistry course) parts. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 You could get Miller/Levine Biology and pick and choose just the chapters that she hasn't already covered. It does quite a bit of Anatomy and has a unit on Environmental Science. However, a quick look at the table of contents tells me you could do: Unit 1: The Nature of Science Unit 3: Cells Unit 4: Genetics Unit 5: Evolution Unit 6: From Microorganisms to Plants Unit 7: Animals You won't have time to do all of that, but pick maybe the 4 or 5 units she is most interested in and with what she has already done in Anatomy and Environmental Science, you'd be in good shape. The iBooks version of the book would be a great way to go for 1 semester. I think it is just $15.00. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Q Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 Thanks for all the good ideas! She wants to go Chemistry or Astronomy, just not Biology, so I am narrowing my focus. For Chemistry, I have looked at Power Basics and a few Physical Science books, including PAC works, that I could modify by just doing the Chemistry portion. She reads well enough to manage any text, I think. But I would prefer to have her do all of an introductory text than part of a full text, as I am not knowledgable enough to pick and choose. I will show her sample pages from a few and let her choose, I think, and then get a sort of general lab kit from somewhere like Home Science Tools or TOPS. She likes labs, so that is good! Astronomy is harder to find! She has a lot of sensory issues and won't listen to a lecture series if she is bothered by the sound quality or the timbre of the instructor's voice (I wonder how she will do in college!!), so I am not hopeful about the Teaching Co. Videos. There are some great books like the DK Encyclopedia of Space, but if I don't have questions that she can answer in both discussion and writing, as well as the answers, I won't be sure that she actually read the book. A textbook would be best. Maybe a middleschool Earth and Space text, and just do the Space part? But what about a lab? Without labs to beef it up, I would not feel that it was really a semester of High School level work. She may not be on level in math and science, but I do want her to be challenged. Whatever I decide, I think I could call it Introduction to Chemistry or Astronomy and assign .5 credits without a problem. The colleges she is looking at just need her to have fulfilled NY State Homeschool Laws - her transcript is not as important for community college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 She could do a non-math oriented biochemistry class. For example, you could cover the basics of atoms and elements, structure of hydrocarbons, the structure of the macromolecules of life, you could carry out some labs with food testing based on biochemistry (with the lab report), you could teach her about photosynthesis, respiration, fermentation, DNA replication, transcription, translation....all of those things don't require a lot of math and you could beef it up with the readings from, for example, the double helix by JD Watson. Also, start with middle school chemistry materials, perhaps the McHenry books and ACS free online chemistry resources. I am planning my daughter's last year of high school. We live in NY so she needs a minimum or 2 credits/years of science. In 9th grade she did an American School course - Health and Physiology. I treated it as .5 credit Health (also required) and .5 credit Science. In 10th grade she started American School's Environmental Science. She finished half, so she got another .5 credit. This year, 11th grade, she is finishing up that Environmental Science for another .5 credit. As I am sure you can tell, this child struggles academically. She has some, well, issues (sensory and many, many food allergies, plus some other stuff), and for her, she is doing pretty well. Last summer she "woke up" and realized that if she wants to achieve her goal - studying Fashion Design at Fashion Institue of Technology - she actually has to finish High School! So, she has been working hard - for her - and knows that she needs some more science next year. FIT doesn't have too many academic requirements. Her portfolio is what really matters. If she does not get in, she intends o start at the Community College (open enrollment) and then try again. She is way behind in Math - basically doing Pre-Algebra for the third time (third times the charm right?) and hopefully will get some Algebra in next year. But that means that she cannot handle a math-heavy science. I was thinking...would it be possible to do one semester of Biology? She already covered Physiology in 9th grade and has covered a lot of Ecology topics in her Envoronmental Science. I could use the first few units of the Power Basics Bio, add some labs and some essays. It might also be possible to use parts of another, better text. She is "interested" in Chemistry...but I don't know how to condense it to a one-semester, non-mathy course. Astronomy? No Earth Science - she has done a lot in Envoronmental Science. It would need to be secular. Any thoughts? Trying to work out stuff that she will actually do is challenging! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Astronomy is harder to find! She has a lot of sensory issues and won't listen to a lecture series if she is bothered by the sound quality or the timbre of the instructor's voice (I wonder how she will do in college!!), so I am not hopeful about the Teaching Co. Videos. There are some great books like the DK Encyclopedia of Space, but if I don't have questions that she can answer in both discussion and writing, as well as the answers, I won't be sure that she actually read the book. A textbook would be best. Maybe a middleschool Earth and Space text, and just do the Space part? But what about a lab? Without labs to beef it up, I would not feel that it was really a semester of High School level work. She may not be on level in math and science, but I do want her to be challenged. What about this? http://www.starrynighteducation.com/product_9-12.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawyer&Mom Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I think a basic chemistry course that uses conversion factors could be really useful. Knowing how to calculate conversions is probably be great for fashion. Inches to cm, yards to meters etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Galore Park's So You Really Want to Learn Science is a nice solid middle-school level general science book. (Level 1 or Level 2. Either could be done in a semester.) Very do-able. Another option is Life of Fred Physics. It'd help reinforce pre-algebra, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excelsior! Academy Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Horticulture? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Q Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 What about this? http://www.starrynighteducation.com/product_9-12.html This looks kind of awesome...but I can't tell if it is a full year, 2 semester program, or a shorter 1 semester one. And I can't find a TOC...I need to spend more time on the website. Thanks, though. It looks great!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Q Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 Well. I was looking through TWTM book for something else and I saw that Susan had recommended a book for High School Astronomy: Astronomy - A Self Teaching Guide. I ordered it and my daughter likes the layout! I can tell that parts of it will be too challenging as she doesn't have the math foundation, but overall it should do very well. I've decided not to fuss about making it a proper lab course, but have her spend some time and do some research at the Hayden Planetarium. We can't really see the night sky here, as it is too bright, even at night, so I am looking for a local astronomy club or something...maybe upstate. The book was so inexpensive that I should be able to pay for a few hands-on experiences. I hope it works out. Anyway. Thanks for all your ideas! It really does help me to have experienced homeschoolers to bounce stuff off. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Q Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 There is an Amateur Astronomer's Association that has activities all over my area, including one in a National Park about 15m from my home!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Togo Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Since this is your daughter's last year of high school and you want to make sure that you get the transcript boxes checked without any problems, I would use the Chemistry portion of PAC's Integrated Chemistry & Physics, which was suggested in another post. We have used PAC in the past, and their courses are excellent for earning credits without distraction. The student can do the work independently, and there is nothing to put together; i.e. Point A to Point B. I would also take a look at Tablet Class math (I am becoming a broken record about TC, but it's been so good for dd.), and call the author. We began TC with Pre-Algebra and are now studying Algebra 2 and Geometry. Dd gets weekly, online tutoring with the author. Since your dd is behind and struggling with math, i would make the science credit easy and streamlined and focus your daughter's mental energy on math. Fwiw, whenever I get anxious about what dd hasn't done or may not do to the standards on this list or even with her peers, I remind myself of regentrude's posts about the reason many freshman, physics students fail her class. It's not because they didn't take physics in high school. Instead, it's their poor algebra skills. If your daughter goes the cc route, she will need math, and the more secure she is with math; the better. Also, I don't know the overall picture of your dd's senior year, but it's usually hectic, so I would suggest prioritizing. What is most important? How much time will be needed on a daily basis for the important things? What is git 'er done? What materials will make that happen? Oops! After I posted, I saw you decided on Astronomy, but I am leaving my post for other readers. It's what I needed to read two years ago. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 You could use Conceptual Chemistry and do as much as she can get through: http://www.conceptualacademy.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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