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6th Grade year for Chemistry and Physics--Help!


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So I'm trying to come up with an introductory chemistry and physics program for my 6th grade son. 

 

My idea is for it to be a good hands-on year but with enough information to pull him into the topic, with either living books or videos or something.  I thought about doing one semester each, but that's not set in stone.  I also thought about doing the year in trimesters and doing chemistry for the first one, physics for the second and a unit on using the microscope for the third.  I may just be trying to pack too much stuff in, though. 

 

For Chemistry, I thought about using The Elements by Ellen McHenry for the beginning.  But don't know how I'd schedule it.  Would I go slow? would I go ahead and use Carbon Chemistry as well?  Or would it be more beneficial to use another text to go with it?  What are some awesome books that we shouldn't miss to add to it?   I've looked at Guest Hollow's schedule and a few others, but don't have a library around (we live overseas) so it's hard to come up with lots of extra books. 

 

For Physics, I like the look of Exploration Education, but that takes a 36 weeks to complete.  I wasn't really planning on doing a whole year of one topic.  But that's the idea, to do science and not just read about it.  But since I'm not sciencey it has to be easy on the teacher.  Again, what books would give that to him or do you have any other suggestions? 

 

So, any one who has a heart to help a fellow mum, and has been in my shoes or is really good in science, please share with me your wisdom!  Thank you!

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Exploration Education does both basic physics and some Chemistry.  At the Middle level (doesn't include the plane  :glare: ) it's only 3 days per week so you could theoretically do Microscope work or additional Chemistry on one or two of the other days using living books, videos, and such.

 

ETA: you could also order the advanced but only do the extra days when you don't have any thing else planned or it's a more interesting topic.

Edited by foxbridgeacademy
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If you were to go with two semesters of Chem and Physics, I think it could work. The Elements took us about 7-8 weeks max. with videos she links and acitivities (we school year-round so I'm not as focused on timeframe as I probably should be) and then Carbon Chemistry added about 6-7, as it was denser and had a lot of fun activities. My kids loved both. 

 

Now, EE was a good first pass at Physics but get the Advanced or Accelerated (can't remember what he calls it). The computer graphics were very corny (think 90s computer games) but my Dd still enjoyed it. It was a *very* watered-down elementary physics..this isn't going to get into any of the math or advanced concepts. The experiments were very easy to get done. After the applicable lesson, it would go incrementally step by step (with pictures, videos and animation showing where to glue what, or where to attach this piece to that thing). I am allergic to complicated science experiments and this was very easy to get done. You need a low temp glue gun but everything else is included in the box. You even use the box itself for a couple experiments! Now, I felt like I had to add a ton of books and Bill Nye Physics videos in order to really flesh EE out but YMMV. The course took us a few months with the stuff I added in. 

 

 

Edited by waa510
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Hi Julie, we're doing EE Advanced Physics with our 6th grader right now.  She's blowing through it so we're planning on finishing out the year with Elements (probably starting in February).  7th grade will be Chemistry so this should work nicely.  DD is a bit science-obsessed and EE was a bit light for her but was OK because it wasn't math-based. 

 

We did a lot of off-script things like wiring a couple lamps for her bedroom, backyard ballistics (2 stage rockets!) and she and a friend studied castle building and castle destroying (Middle Ages stuff) by researching and building a trebuchet with my childhood erector set (trebuchet) and her friend's Legos (castle).

 

We do a modified block scheduling:  M&F are science all day (with math) so she's able to get quite a bit accomplished.  I think that's why EE is going so quickly; it's self-paced to the student.

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fastweedpuller--can you tell me about your modified block schedule, I like what you had to say about that.  So you think that if we did the advanced maybe we could do the first three days of projects for each section and then choose whether to do the next two and he'd have the time to do the program.  Do you think that it would be profitable to buy other books or do any other reading to go along with it?  Thanks!

 

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RSO has Chemistry and Physics for 5th and 6th graders.  We're doing the Physics course, right now.  It's only 2 days a week for a 36 week lesson plan so it could be done in a semester if used everyday.  It's quick and to the point with lots of simple activities to reinforce the lessons.  My girls are enjoying it and learning.

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Hi Julie, back story is we're accidental homeschoolers because her private school didn't work well with dd's ADD.  And it took me about 2 solid years of homeschooling to realize that jumping from one subject to another (say doing 5-6 subjects a day) was really frustrating for both of us, because once she got really well into something, it would be time to switch to another subject...counterintuitive isn't it, with an ADD kid?  You'd think shorter/swifter/faster would work?  Well nope!  Slow and steady wins this race.

 

So we block-schedule, if I can call it that.  M&F are science.  TWTh are history/LA.  Math is every day, as is any reading or catching-up.  With this schedule we're able to devote the time required for science experiment set up, work, cleanup.  She gets a whole morning to research something in history, all afternoon to devote to grammar/writing.  Out of home classes can therefore be whenever they are and we can work around them. 

 

We're also able to do unit studies if she finishes something.  If, say, she finishes up EE physics end of Jan/early Feb we're gonna go full-bore on The Elements.  We'll have specific read-alouds (The Disappearing Spoon, Uncle Tungsten) and she'll have side projects. 

 

I would say it's worth it to pair specific books with the science studies, but that's how things have worked well with us...so for physics we read Archimedes and the Door of Science, she read a couple books about Tesla and Edison and Newton, and we watched a bunch of NOVA and Veritasium videos.  I simply tried to pair books or videos with the section being studied (gravity, electricity/magnetism, etc). 

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Thank you for all your replies. I'm looking more forward to this year than I have other years in the past because of McHenry's chemistry programs. Thanks for your help fastweedpuller. I'm liking your idea for my son who is struggling with ADD tendencies and it may be a real boost to him to be able to stick to something and concentrate on it better for as long as he needs. Thanks!

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