My3girls Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 I need to get more serious about science with my soon to be 8th grader. I am looking at Holt science but am not sure whether to go the FusionScience or Science and Technology route. Also, there are the short courses versus the Life, Earth, and Physical science books. Anyone have experience with any of these? Pros and cons? I'm thinking physical science next year, but I am open to slipping in a little human body and earth science for the rest of this year and the summer hence the interest in the short courses. These are all fairly expensive so I just don't want to waste any money on this if I can help it. Thanks! Oh and are the teacher books absolutely necessary? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 We are using Holt Science and Technology Earth Science this year and will go on to Physical Science next year. It's a regular public school textbook, so it's not super exciting, but it does cover all the bases. There are vocabulary words and comprehension questions at the end of each section, and a larger review at the end of each chapter. It gets the job done, which is what I need right now. While I would love to do more hands-on inquiry-based science with my kids, my focus now is more on the basic skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 We are doing HST Life this year for 7th and will do Physical next year for 8th. Like mo2 said, this gets the job done. Is it super exciting? No. Are the labs lame? Yes (at least the life science ones are, so we skip them). But the program is EASY to implement, is comprehensive, and you know that your kid has learned the material. I simply do not have the ability to put together a program that does a better job and I don't have the time to do the teaching. I print out the lesson reviews, lesson quizzes, chapter review, chapter test (usually version B) and sometimes a performance-based assessment. There are lots of other options too (guided reading worksheets, lab sheets, etc.). I bought the package from RR with the hardbound TM. It has the answers to the lesson and chapter reviews. It's very easy for me to read the lesson, correct the lesson review, discuss it with DS, hand over the lesson quiz, grade it, and we're done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyhwkmama Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 You can often find these on ebay and half.com. How do you print the tests and quizzes? Is there a disk or is it online access? Could you still do that with a used copy? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waa510 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I'd definitely get the Teacher's book. It has blurbs for ways to tie in other branches of science with the topic at hand, a box in the margins about common misconceptions with this topic and ways to make sure the kid isn't confused, huge lesson plan schedules in the unit pages and chapter pages, lab stuff, answers to reviews and vocab assessments and loads more. It's really needed, IMO, to get the full benefit. And I agree with pps that it's not the most fireworks amazing science ever, but it is so easy to get into a routine with and do consistently. For me, it was so much more important to find 'good enough' and just roll with it so it could get done. We've never found that before with science!!! I've not done the short courses or anything other than tech. I found the other stuff written at a more basic level and I wanted to kind of step it up this year. Others could say the other options are then more approachable for student reading so I guess it depends what you're looking for. I looked at all of it at a great convention. They also are super at telling you what you 'really' need based on what you're looking to accomplish, how busy you are, etc. I think to print out quizzes and tests you need the CD. I'm cheap so I just got the supplemental workbooks on amazon and have been kind of creating my own little interactive science notebook thing for dd. It's more work but I'd rather do that. Might buy the CD for next year, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 You can often find these on ebay and half.com. How do you print the tests and quizzes? Is there a disk or is it online access? Could you still do that with a used copy? Thanks. The package from Rainbow Resource comes with a resource CD which has all of the worksheets and quizzes/tests. It can be hard to find used on Amazon. just make sure isbns see correct so you are getting the edition that matches your textbook. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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