tmstranger Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Can you please tell me how long each book takes to complete? I noticed in The Brain, it said up to 9 weeks and the same with Botany. Anyone know about Cells? How many of these books do you typically use in one year? Are they solid middle school level? or more elementary? I'm starting to look for next year and I'll have a 7th grader then. Thank you. ***After all of the positive comments, I have a question: Am I crazy?? Simple answer is YES, but seriously, I'm thinking of stopping my current chemistry and picking up the elements. Is that nuts?? I'm finishing Lesson 4 in Apologia's Chemistry & Physics (Young Explorer's). We are in our 9th week of school. We have covered the Periodic Table, molecules, compounds, etc. BUT, not sure we covered it *as well* as The Elements would. My kids have learned the vocabulary because we do repeat it often, but The Elements just seems like more fun and the feedback is that it is deeper, so still more to learn here, I assume. We have one more lesson in chemistry (about 2 weeks) before we move into more physics topics. I could skip ahead to physics and then revisit chemistry with The Elements at the end of the school year? Is that too much? Are my kids going to revolt?? (sometimes I hate the 2nd guessing that happens in homeschooling!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 I haven't used them all. As I understand it, they were originally designed for co-op classes, so doing them on your own works well... but it can mean that some activities are skipped, others take a lot less time. A lot of the activities are a bit optional so that's part of the flexibility. I don't think any of them could be made to last more than a semester if you're consistently working on them. A lot of people seem to be using them with elementary schoolers, but IMHO they're solidly middle school level. There's a ton of pretty detailed information in there, which is why I say that. Unless you've got a kid who both grasps concepts at a pretty high level quickly and can take in a lot of vocabulary and facts, then the ones I've seen seem best for logic stage learning. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 We just started The Cells with dd12. I cant imagine doing this with a younger kiddo. Like above post stated it has some pretty deep coverage. So far we read through the lesson one day and dd does some written narrations from the lesson. The next day we start on the activities. So far we have made it through the bulk of the activities in 1-2 days. Again dd does a written narration or maybe a sketch to reflect what she is learning. The last day we complete the questions orally then discuss what we have learned. If time permits, we move on to the next lesson same day. So far it is going great!! Dd12 is really liking it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 We did them about one a semester with some supplementing in grades 5-7. They were probably my most favorite materials ever. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 What is this like? I am curious now. I feel like we have not settled on a good middle school science. Maybe this would be good for us? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 For her weekly Intro to Chemistry co-op class of 6th-8th graders, DD11 is using The Elements this first semester and Carbon Chemistry her second, along with weekly experiment labs, lab reports, and element reports. She reads the text and turns in most of the activities from the text for review. I feel like it is a solid middle school curriculum. And, the experiments and reports really round out it out. I'm very pleased with McHenry's texts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Are they solid middle school level? They are very solid middle school (IMO) if not more. I'm working on The Brain with a 13 yro this semester and even I can't remember all the content in there. We've done some of her other stuff - like The Elements and sadly, I finally understood a few concepts from chemistry that I just didn't grasp when I was in school. :tongue_smilie: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 What is this like? I am curious now. I feel like we have not settled on a good middle school science. Maybe this would be good for us? There is generally a teacher's guide with everything in it - all the text that you read with the student, exercises (she includes crossword puzzles, questions, worksheets, etc), projects, experiments, sometimes there are games in the TM... Then, she has a YouTube channel with a playlist for each course. So, if we're doing The Brain...we read through the text, answer the questions or do the activity at the end of the section and then go onto Youtube and watch the corresponding videos for the section. For example, we watched videos about Savant Syndrome, what happened to Einstein's brain, a short documentary of Phineas Gage, videos showing brain anatomy, etc. One of her programs is a video course - Mapping the World with Art (we did that one a few years ago). She teaches each lesson on DVD and then there's additional reading, more Youtube videos on her playlist, etc. The science courses aren't her teaching on video, though - they're the TM + YouTube. Not sure if that was helpful. Her courses are awesome (IMO). Very multi sensory and not dull/dry. She has a great way of explaining difficult concepts. Edited to add: the only downside is she doesn't have full courses. They're almost like mini-courses. IOW, there's no complete biology course or anything... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Very, very good material. I'm using Elements with my 10 yo and she is enjoying it and getting it. I use it for co-op class where most of the students are younger, but I don't expect them to know the material. They enjoy the games and projects. My goal here is to help them to avoid the fear I had of chemistry....and enjoy the games, etc I also have Botany and Cells (got the set when she had a sale). I have briefly gone over some of them and there is no way I would use these with my dd till she is about 12 or 13. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmstranger Posted October 26, 2015 Author Share Posted October 26, 2015 Wow! It sounds like I need to give this a try! Thank you all for your responses. I think I'm going to start with The Brain since we're already doing Apologia's Chemistry and Physics this year. I like the samples and you can't beat the great feedback here. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmstranger Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 I edited my original post with another question...because I've lost my mind. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I think dropping your current program and doing The Elements could be fine. Or you could finish and then do The Elements later. Both okay. :) This about how your kids will react... my kids like to change topics pretty often. Even if The Elements were covering it better and with more information, they'd be like, ugh, didn't we just do this! I'd be better off doing something else, then coming back around and doing it. I don't think that hurts. But other kids would be more like, whoa, this is much more fun with all these games and cards and so forth. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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