7th science (need to be realistic!)

[Shay]

In your most honest opinion(s), would someone who struggled to implement TOPS science struggle to implement Ellen McHenry science materials? I need to be realistic, not idealistic. It seems as if I really need daily work completely spelled out for us, and I don't want to waste money and time on my "ideal" (McHenry botany and cells) if I'm unlikely to implement well.

TIA!

[EmilyGF]

McHenry's books are divided into lessons, which sort of correspond to weeks. There are games to play for each week. There aren't really worksheets to go with lessons.

 

You could just buy one if the books and give it a trial period and have a backup for if you don't implement it well during that time.

 

FWIW, I'm giving Elements and Botany another try this year. I do like the idea of them both, but I do much better with more traditional formats. We'll see. 

 

Emily

[Reefgazer]

I've used 3 McHenry curricula now  (including botany) and am on my 4th one.  I cannot implement a damned thing without explicit instructions and idiot-proof scripted teacher manuals and I find McHenry easy to implement and requires little to no preparation; it's open and go.

In your most honest opinion(s), would someone who struggled to implement TOPS science struggle to implement Ellen McHenry science materials? I need to be realistic, not idealistic. It seems as if I really need daily work completely spelled out for us, and I don't want to waste money and time on my "ideal" (McHenry botany and cells) if I'm unlikely to implement well.
TIA!

 

[Shay]

Thank you, Emily and Reefgazer.

 

Good idea, Emily, to have a back-up in case I stink at using the materials (even if not purchased, at least "picked out!"). Nice to know I'm not the only one.

 

Reefgazer, this is so encouraging! Because, I *want* to be successful with it and I think DS would like it. I just really want the lessons all ordered with M-F explicit plans, so perhaps I need to do that before school starts. It is just so hard to guess what a good workload will be. Also, how many books I can get done for the year, etc. We are starting with Botany.

 

Did you do the Level 2 assignments? (I really think that is what is throwing me, I can't get a handle on doing level 1 then 2, timewise). Did you do many activities? My guy isn't a crafty guy, but he likes games and will like watching the YouTube clips.

[Reefgazer]

We didn't divide the book into "lessons" so much as we looked at each chapter as a "unit".  So in botany, for example, each chapter has some reading, then several activities you can opt to do.  So DD read the lesson and then I assigned activities due on different days (So Activity 1.1 was due on Wednesday, after the reading, for example, and then we reviewed that for a few minutes together.  Then Activities 1.2 and 1.3 might be due on Thursday, and so on, through the end of the chapter).  There are probably more exciting ways to implement that, but it worked for us.

 

DD was 11 when we did botany.  We did all the exercises, levels 1 and 2, and that was a perfect match for us; same with The Elements.  Carbon Chemistry was more of a challenge, but we did levels 1 and 2 there also and it was fine.  We skipped the games but did most other activities.

 

It's hard to say how long it will take because every kid is different, of course, and everyone has a different school schedule and breaks.  But for reference:  We school from early September through early June, with no summer school, and we work 5 days per week with scattered time off throughout the year; about 34 weeks of solid school for us per year.  In addition, there were some books where I added more in-depth activities (I teach biology and biochemistry at a local college, so DD and I did some far more in-depth stuff for certain units).  Anyway, with that said, it is easy to complete 2 books per year.  But that doesn't bring you to 34 weeks of school and you'll fall up a bit short if you are implementing some type of science each week.  You can try to cram in 3 books per year, but IMO that is a lot and you will wind up not hitting the books in-depth.  So like I said, I supplemented with free ACS chemistry online and my own experiments and so forth; DD was a busy kid that year, LOL!  I estimate each chapter would take 1-2 weeks, depending on whether or not your were hitting it hard and in-depth or skipping a few activities per chapter.  Two weeks per chapter would be a very comfortable pace, I estimate.

Thank you, Emily and Reefgazer.

Good idea, Emily, to have a back-up in case I stink at using the materials (even if not purchased, at least "picked out!"). Nice to know I'm not the only one.

Reefgazer, this is so encouraging! Because, I *want* to be successful with it and I think DS would like it. I just really want the lessons all ordered with M-F explicit plans, so perhaps I need to do that before school starts. It is just so hard to guess what a good workload will be. Also, how many books I can get done for the year, etc. We are starting with Botany.

Did you do the Level 2 assignments? (I really think that is what is throwing me, I can't get a handle on doing level 1 then 2, timewise). Did you do many activities? My guy isn't a crafty guy, but he likes games and will like watching the YouTube clips.

 

[Penelope]

McHenry is much easier to implement, but that is because it is mostly reading and talking and not very much to DO. The doing tends to be more games and puzzle type things to reinforce the reading, not as much doing investigations to illustrate the science as in TOPS. I've only used the two chemistry programs and I've seen the one on the cell.

 

I like the TOPS books I have, but I wish they were somehow organized differently. It seems like an older student could try out a lot of it on their own, but something about how they are packaged makes them hard to get into for us, for some reason.