MBtP The Story of Science- Newton in the Center

[BusyMom5]

I am trying to figure out some new things to try next year.  I bought the Story of Science series by Joy Hakim, and we are thru the first 1/2 of the first one, and I'm thinking about having my 7th grader do this MBtP unit next year.  We've never used MBtP, so I have no idea what this has in it.  If you used this, did you like it?  Do you count TSOS as history or science?  I find it a mix of both, and I really am enjoying this first book!  It is deep, though.  Is this unit too much for a 7th grader w/ good comprehension/gifted?  What else, besides the unit, did you use?  And how long did it take to get through it?  Do I need to get other MBtP units, or can you just use one as a supplement?  Can you use this while also doing other science and history?  Or is it too much?  How long per day did it take your child?

 

 

 

[winoelle]

I am using this unit with my 7th grader this year. The unit only covers part of the book as it is only designed as a 3 week unit. For me these usually end up being more like 4 weeks. I purchased the student workbook and teacher guide that go with the book and plan to have more like a 12 week study with it.

[paceofnature]

Not sure if you would be interested, but Build Your LIbrary is planning on using the Story of Science books for her 8th grade curriculum. Here is a blog post about it: http://buildyourlibrary.com/a-hint-of-whats-to-come-grade-8/

[Cottonwood]

I am trying to figure out some new things to try next year.  I bought the Story of Science series by Joy Hakim, and we are thru the first 1/2 of the first one, and I'm thinking about having my 7th grader do this MBtP unit next year.  We've never used MBtP, so I have no idea what this has in it.  If you used this, did you like it?  Do you count TSOS as history or science?  I find it a mix of both, and I really am enjoying this first book!  It is deep, though.  Is this unit too much for a 7th grader w/ good comprehension/gifted?  What else, besides the unit, did you use?  And how long did it take to get through it?  Do I need to get other MBtP units, or can you just use one as a supplement?  Can you use this while also doing other science and history?  Or is it too much?  How long per day did it take your child?

 

 

MBTP is project based, lots of hands on and the LA is my favorite subject by that company.  I used the entire 11-13 level with my 7th grade DD last year and now my 7th grade DS this year..  It is deep and rigorous but is for a gifted 11-12 yr old.  My DD didn't have a problem with it.  We didn't use anything else for LA at the time that we used this unit.  MBTP units tend to take us around 4-5 wks to do if we do all the activities.  I don't know if you need to get other MBTP units...it depends on what else rounds out your year and if you have enough curriculum chosen.  But the nice thing about MBTP units is any ONE of them could be a nice supplement to anything else being done when just buying one or so at the time.  However, MBTP is written as a stand alone curr and is very full and takes some deep thinking in spots.  I personally found that we had ALL we ever needed and didn't need to add to anything.  My DD would have probably been overwhelmed if I added anything to it, actually.   

 

In the curr book, it states that one lesson and everything in it should take one hour.  So, lesson 1, day 1, lesson 2, day two, etc.  It is said to be written to last 3.5 weeks.  However, we have NEVER done any MBTP in that short of time.  Each lesson can easily take 2 hours or more so we tweak out anything I feel they have already mastered, or anything I consider 'busy work'.  The one gripe I have with MBTP is that the authors had no concept of how long a lesson was going to take a child, any child.  So we just stop when we need to stop and pick back up tomorrow.  We don't stay within the bounds of doing allllll of a lesson in a day.  We do an hour of each subject and move on, no matter where it puts us.  HTH