Ellen McHenry for life sciences overview before returning to school in 8th?

[dauphin]

I am looking more for suggestions on how-to, I think, than alternative options to meet the same goal.

 

We are applying to private school for DD for 8th grade. We won't hear until June whether she is admitted so operating on the hopes that she is.... Anyway, we've been doing Rainbow Science double-time but DD has hit a slump or burnout with it during the Biology unit. Originally our plan was for her to finish the two year program in one year with the intention of her being ready for high school level sciences next year (probably co-ops). I read in many places here on the forums that it was do-able that way, particularly for an accelerated learner.

 

Anyway, I want to switch to something else so as not to let these last 6 weeks or so go to waste, and to give her a break from what had become tedious. Ellen McHenry seemed fun and versatile and I'm not all that worried about meeting some kind of standards. HOWEVER, I had the idea to contact the school to see what she'd be doing next year as well as what had been covered in 7th grade. We have spent a LOT of time on the physical sciences (and others, like electronics, robotics) over our 5 years of homeschooling, and not so much on life sciences, so if they had already covered life sciences in 7th grade, I thought we should try to sort of beef that up a littl more before we're done. Well. You guessed it, next year is Physical Science, and this past year has been Life Science.

 

So I already have Botany and Cells. Her stuff is a great buffet of choices but I get lost in the array of choices and could use a hand in shaping up a game plan.

 

I really wanted to do her Chemistry. Wah.

[8filltheheart]

It is doubtful she needs anything. You could look at Plato.

[Farrar]

It's middle school. You should do whatever you want. If you think she will enjoy some biology and hasn't done much, seems like a good plan and the Ellen McHenry stuff is good because it's unit studies so you could do it in a shorter time, but really, high school classes start at the beginning. Trying to cover more material isn't an absolute must.

[dauphin]

Yes, I think I've seen the conversations on here (you, 8, and maybe lewelma too?) arguing that there really aren't any prerequisites for high school sciences. And even if someone were to argue that there's essential content, I'm pretty certain that DD would have no problem assimilating that information when needed. 

 

I suppose I was simply wanting an overview, the "hit the high points" kind of survey. Not so much because she needs it for success, but more just to avoid the "what?!? you've never learned about photosynthesis? (or mitosis or basic cell or human anatomy)." As in, to save her any embarrassment in her new classes at a new school (and okay, possibly me a tiny bit, although I'm pretty hard to embarrass, and I have no problem saying "what, we went deeper on this, this and this, so so what?" -IF- I'm given the opportunity to directly address it....).