Janeway Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Hi!!! My older one, who is 9/10th grade now (probably 9, but it depends) is taking biology this year, followed by Jetta's Physics next year (2nd year, for 10th grade), and then Chemistry the 3rd year (11th grade). Math is all ok as he is in algebra 2 this year and so on. Younger one is in 7th grade. He should start Algebra 1 around Christmas so hopefully, the math will not be an issue for anything you all suggest. I had hoped that 3rd year from now, he would do chemistry. This is because I would rather not purchase the chemistry set twice. It would be great if they did it together. I was going to have him do physical science (Apologia) right now. I plan on us going slow so the goal is to finish it by the end of 2nd year, which for him would be 8th grade. However, I wonder if this would be redundant to do physical science the year before we do chemistry. PLUS, if older child is going to do Jetta's physics in 10th grade, should I have younger do the physics at the same time instead of doing the physical science? I am worried we are getting too redundant. I am also open to other ideas, such as Earth Science, but I already have the physical science book. The only Earth Science books I have are RS4Kids geology and astronomy. In the spreading the physical science out, it is because I did not want to be on a strict schedule. I think I have pretty well settled on the sequence for oldest child, because it is too late to get in to Jetta's class for this year and I would like both kids to do chemistry at the same time. So basically..it goes like this..hopefully, when I post, these will line up. Older child listed first, and then younger. biology..>>>>>......Physics....>>>>>>........Chemistry.....>>>>>....Elective Physical Science...>>PhysSci...>>>>.........Chemistry....>>>>>.....Physics or biology....>>>>bio or phys I also considered speeding up the physical science and make it finished in 1.5 yrs, and then starting biology half way through 8th grade, then interrupt with chemistry, and then finish the second half of biology after that. Then it would be less...same same. I don't know. I would love suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 I would not do physical science at all, if you are planning to have them take physics and chemistry in high school. I am not sure why you want to combine your sons for chemistry, since you have written repeatedly that they do not get along. I do not see how they could work together in chem lab if they cannot stand to be in the same room. And doing separate chem lab with each student in the same year - no way I would want the hassle. So, not sure why you are even planning this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted July 12, 2016 Author Share Posted July 12, 2016 (edited) I would not do physical science at all, if you are planning to have them take physics and chemistry in high school. I am not sure why you want to combine your sons for chemistry, since you have written repeatedly that they do not get along. I do not see how they could work together in chem lab if they cannot stand to be in the same room. And doing separate chem lab with each student in the same year - no way I would want the hassle. So, not sure why you are even planning this. Stupid optimism? Not sure. Maybe hoping that when they are a little older, they will get along better? Can you please remind me of what you did for science? I seem to recall you maybe having similar academic goals. Edited July 12, 2016 by Janeway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 (edited) Can you please remind me of what you did for science? I seem to recall you maybe having similar academic goals. I do really not know what your academic goals are. My DD is gifted and ambitious and was aiming for a highly selective top tier college to double major in physics and literature. My DS who is equally intelligent and not academically ambitious wants to be a professional athlete. DD: Bio before 9th (7thgrade; she skipped 8th) College Physics (alg+trig based) in 9th Chem in 10th Calc based physics in 11th - DE at uni Modern Physics in 12th - DE at uni DS: College Physics in 9th Chem in 10th Bio in 11th Astronomy in 12th - DE at uni before 9th, he did an interest based mix of some astronomy, some physics,some forensic science, some bio Edited July 12, 2016 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted July 12, 2016 Author Share Posted July 12, 2016 I do really not know what your academic goals are. My DD is gifted and ambitious and was aiming for a highly selective top tier college to double major in physics and literature. My DS who is equally intelligent and not academically ambitious wants to be a professional athlete. DD: Bio before 9th (7thgrade; she skipped 8th) College Physics (alg+trig based) in 9th Chem in 10th Calc based physics in 11th - DE at uni Modern Physics in 12th - DE at uni DS: College Physics in 9th Chem in 10th Bio in 11th Astronomy in 12th - DE at uni before 9th, he did an interest based mix of some astronomy, some physics,some forensic science, some bio What did your son do in middle school? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 (edited) What did your son do in middle school? see very last line of my previous post. A mix of this and that, interest based, with a variety of resources: Astronomy: GC lectures, library books, lots of documentaries Earth science: a bit of Tarbuck's text. Documentaries and library books. Physics: a few mechanics chapters from Conceptual physics; electricity chapters in a conceptual physical science book Evolution: a few chapters of a bio text, lots of documentaries A bit of forensic science. Particle Physics: GC lectures, Fred Bortz' books on elementary particles. Bill Bryson's "Short history of nearly everything". And more documentaries. And library books. And tons of field trips to geological sites, science museums, technology museum, etc Edited July 12, 2016 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 I don't know anything about any relationship issues going on with your kids, but here's my two cents: 1. My kids are best friends, and I can still barely get them to clean the kitchen together without squabbling and bickering. I can't imagine how much worse that would be in a chem lab. 2. In my many years of homeschooling, I have come to the conclusion that trying to keep my kids together in subjects for my convenience rarely works out well and rarely serves the kids' needs. I think your younger son deserves to have a science sequence based on his interests and capabilities, not based on what his brother is doing. At this point, I basically purchase completely separate curricula for my kids, and they are less than one calendar year apart in age. Good luck! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 I'll just answer your question. Apologia Physical Science is not redundant with chemistry; it covers almost no chemistry. It is half earth science and half physics. There is nothing wrong with doing it in middle school, then starting with Chemistry in 9th. That has nothing to do with whether your boys will be well served trying to do chemistry together or not. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymama7 Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 So I don't want have anything specific to add except that combining is the only way homeschool works in my house. We keep the whole family on the same basic topics and use the bus stop approach for the varying levels. There is no way on earth I could keep up with multiple history and science curriculums and my kids are not the kind of kids you can just hand a textbook to and say learn this. We prefer the social environment of family school. So some do make it work if that's what you want to do :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 So ... my 10th grader and 6th grader are both doing astronomy this semester because I wanted them to have something in common... but they're not working together except on some field trips, telescopy, and such.... it's our first year with both at home. otherwise 10th grader is doing an online class (MOOC) mostly and using a related college textbook. 6th grader is doing a mix of the forensic science he has been working on this summer and a mix of astronomy library books, documentaries, etc. And we got a cool astronomy lab book on order that I'm hoping will be fun. We have the RS4K middle school astronomy book (it was super cheap used) but don't really plan on using it much. I will wake them both up at 3 am for persieds and take them both to planetarium shows and such. I told the 10th grader he could plan a lesson for 6th grader as a project - he did something similar in a class before and loved it.... We're currently planning to do something similar with geology in thw spring but we'll see... I expect that I'll parallel some of 6th graders future science to his brothers but I don't feel the need to devote a full year to in depth study in the same way and I expect that one of the next two years 10th grader will outsource science to the CC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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