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Arg! Just tell me what to do. Holt or A beka or ? science?


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Just kidding, but I could use support and thoughts. I'm having a really hard time figuring what to do for science for my 7th grader. I've been thinking about ordering A Beka but am now considering Holt. There are some great things about Holt, and since I'm planning on switching from TT to Saxon next year (for advanced maths) and already using Hake Grammar and Writing, maybe I'll just stay in the same academic family. Ha!

 

I don't care if our science comes from a YE or OE, design or evolution slant. We can work with either. What I do care about is that my child is learning and applying higher and critical thinking skills rather than just being spoon fed and regurgitating info, BUT I need it to homeschool and mom friendly. By that I mean, not too ridiculously advanced that it can't be done mostly by my child or with the help of a mom with no science background. 

 

My brain is fried, and, honestly, it doesn't take much these days.  :lol:

 

Suggestions?

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Any particular field?

 

Have you seen The Rainbow? I tried talking my 7th grader into Rainbow's year 1 this summer, but he wanted straight chemistry. He's using a tweaked Guesthollow schedule, which doesn't sound like what you're after.

 

No nothing in particular. I guess I'm hoping for a publisher that has a sequence of some sort. Thanks for the rec.!

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I've seen Holt textbooks but never used one. They seem overwhelming to me. I haven't used Abeka so I can't comment. 

 

We've often used Apologia because we have a coop that would use that and do the labs so I didn't have to. Apologia is so easy to implement and my kids who used it love science and transitioned very well to high school and college science.

 

For my eighth grader, we're going interest-led, because I'm trying to spark her interest and motivation. So far we used bits of a genetics book and now we're going through the Apologia elementary botany book since she likes nature photography. Not a lot of deep thinking going on but I have bigger fish to fry with her right now.

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The Rainbow year 1 in 7th and year 2 in 8th would cover all the major bases before highschool, with high quality labs.

 

I have the Rainbow. I got it at a used curriculum sale and never used it. What would be nice about it for some students is that the sections are short, only two or three pages from what I remember with a few questions. It's very straightforward and the lab notebook is very clear and makes the activities easy to implement. The suggested schedule doesn't seem overwhelming either.

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We love the Holt Science & Technology series. Lots of stuff here that I don't remember learning until high school, and in some cases college. The homeschool pack through RR comes with a CD of resources that includes different levels of tests and lots of lab options, so you can make it simpler or more rigorous by adjusting the components you use. I have my son do the lesson reviews, chapter review, and chapter tests. We're doing physical science this year and using a chemistry kit for chem labs.

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