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Physical and Earth Science Recommendations for Middle Schooler


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I plan to teach my daughter physical and Earth sciences in seventh and eighth grades, but I have not decided which order yet!  I may leave that decision up to her.  Anyway, I have am having hard time finding something that works for us.  Our requirements:

 

  1. The text cannot be written from a YE viewpoint (It doesn't have to be secular, but YE won't work for us).
  2. Age appropriate for a middle schooler
  3. Includes a textbook, student book (or some type of work for the student based off the readings), and a teacher's manual.

My daughter really enjoys science, but unless it is laid out for me, it just doesn't get done.  My daughter is too old to let science slip through the cracks.  Thank you.

 

ETA - Has anyone used Holt Earth or Physical science?

Edited by kagmypts
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If you're open to an OE Christian text (based on your post it sounds like you are), check out Novare (www.novarescienceandmath.com). They currently have middle school level Earth Science and Physical science, with Life Science projected for 2017. They have a textbook and also a resource CD for the teacher/parent. I plan to use the Earth Science for my sixth grader next year. I don't yet have it in hand, so I can't vouch for whether it's actually as good as it looks online, but the samples look like just what I want in a science program.

 

As for order, this may make no difference to you or your daughter may already fit this requirement, but my engineer husband has requested that I not cover physical science until 8th grade so that our son will be at least at a preAlgebra, and possibly an Algebra, level in math by that time. He says there's a very limited amount of physics you can learn without a basic familiarity with Algebra. I have never taught either subject, so I'm just taking his word for it at this point.

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We will be using the Houghton Mifflin Earth Science, I think it might be HS level, but I have it here and it seems to cover quite a bit.  Very happy so far- just looking through it to see the depth of the topics covered.

 

Thank you.  From where did you buy your HM Earth Science?

 

If you're open to an OE Christian text (based on your post it sounds like you are), check out Novare (www.novarescienceandmath.com). They currently have middle school level Earth Science and Physical science, with Life Science projected for 2017. They have a textbook and also a resource CD for the teacher/parent. I plan to use the Earth Science for my sixth grader next year. I don't yet have it in hand, so I can't vouch for whether it's actually as good as it looks online, but the samples look like just what I want in a science program.

 

As for order, this may make no difference to you or your daughter may already fit this requirement, but my engineer husband has requested that I not cover physical science until 8th grade so that our son will be at least at a preAlgebra, and possibly an Algebra, level in math by that time. He says there's a very limited amount of physics you can learn without a basic familiarity with Algebra. I have never taught either subject, so I'm just taking his word for it at this point.

 

Thank you.  I will look at the Earth Science sample.  An OE Christian text definitely will work for our family.

 

As for the order of science, I did life science with daughter this past year when she was in sixth grade.  I had planned to do Earth science last year, but she was begging for life science.  I just switched sixth and seventh grade.  Since she will be taking algebra this upcoming year, she will have completed algebra before beginning physical science in eighth grade.  Thank you for the advice.

 

 

I will look at OM.

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I'm in the same boat -- dd loves science, I don't, and if it's not pretty easy to follow there's a good chance it won't get done.

 

We have used Noeo in the past and been pleased with it, but they don't offer Earth Science. (We did, however, really enjoy their Physics III this year.)

 

We're switching to Elemental Science Astronomy and Earth Science for the Logic Stage for next year. Another one I considered was Mr. Q. I honestly thought it would appeal more to dd, but she preferred Elemental.

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If you're open to an OE Christian text (based on your post it sounds like you are), check out Novare (www.novarescienceandmath.com). They currently have middle school level Earth Science and Physical science, with Life Science projected for 2017. They have a textbook and also a resource CD for the teacher/parent. I plan to use the Earth Science for my sixth grader next year. I don't yet have it in hand, so I can't vouch for whether it's actually as good as it looks online, but the samples look like just what I want in a science program.

 

As for order, this may make no difference to you or your daughter may already fit this requirement, but my engineer husband has requested that I not cover physical science until 8th grade so that our son will be at least at a preAlgebra, and possibly an Algebra, level in math by that time. He says there's a very limited amount of physics you can learn without a basic familiarity with Algebra. I have never taught either subject, so I'm just taking his word for it at this point.

Yes, mine took it in 7th grade, and there was a fair amount of math in it. She managed while working through PreAlgebra at the time.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have been using Earth Holt Science and Technology this year and have really liked it.  I purchased the student and teacher textbook.  DD reads the chapter ( and I read along with her in the teacher book), and I have her answer all of the comprehension questions in the book.  There is also a lab at the end of the book for each chapter and sometimes even mini labs built into each chapter that are less than 5 minutes long.  The labs at the end require some prep on supplies, but have been fun (even though we haven't done them all). There is also an online component with videos for each section. 

HTH!

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