Joanne Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 I've got students ranging from 4th to 8th grade (I actually have a K'er, too, but I'm not counting her for this;)). I have a lovely RS4K Level I set, purchased from a great seller on this board. We started Chemistry today. It is fairly in depth for 4th - 5th graders, IMO. Not inappropriately so, but certainly not "science lite". I'm thinking it could serve as our spine for the 2 8th graders, and I can supplement them. Do you think this would work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 ...up to a point. I am not sure about the biology--it's really not all that advanced. But the physics and chemistry, if you supplement them significantly, could be a decent introduction for 8th graders who have never studied either discipline before. I would recommend using Tiner for supplementing both, and then maybe doing Level II chemistry with the older ones while the youngers are doing Level I biology. I wish that they would get that Level II physics curriculum out! But the Level II chemistry is really outstanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joanne Posted November 24, 2008 Author Share Posted November 24, 2008 I would recommend using Tiner for supplementing both Thanks for the helpful response. Do you have links or more info on Tiner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 ...are called "Exploring the World of Chemistry" and "Exploring the World of Physics". Tiner is Christian but not overly Providential, IMO. His books teach the history of those disciplines, included some historical details about scientists' being Christian and writing about searching for signs of God's order in His creation. So the books are Christian-friendly, but are historically accurate and don't overstep. The Tiner books expose students to a broader amount of technical information than RS4K1 does--but they don't use the 'right' nomenclature as RS4K does. I think that they are perfect complements to each other, and based on the RS4K website samples, I think that the books by Tiner are more advanced than the supplemental (and very expensive) books from ARN--so would be a better choice for supplementation at the junior high level. The only caveat I would have it that the Tiner books don't have much in the way of evaluations. In my case, as I read them to DD I quizzed her on patterns in the periodic table as they came up, for instance, but the tests internal to the Tiner books are pretty trivial and don't really thoroughly assess whether or not the students are absorbing the technical material. If I were teaching this in a group setting, I think that I would either write my own tests or do a lot of verbal Q and A work to test the students' understanding / absorption. I believe that there are also Tiner books about biology, but I have not seen them as I ended up going with Science Explorer for life sciences. I have seen them available from a lot of standard homeschooling sources. I have seen some of his books at Timberdoodle, and I think that Rainbow might have them as well. I bought them at a conference. Sonlight uses some of them in their cores--Core 5, and maybe 6? so if you have a Sonlight discount, that would be a good place to check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 I've got students ranging from 4th to 8th grade (I actually have a K'er, too, but I'm not counting her for this;)). I have a lovely RS4K Level I set, purchased from a great seller on this board. We started Chemistry today. It is fairly in depth for 4th - 5th graders, IMO. Not inappropriately so, but certainly not "science lite". I'm thinking it could serve as our spine for the 2 8th graders, and I can supplement them. Do you think this would work? If you are on the RS4K yahoo group I created a schedule that combined Chemistry 1, DK Chemistry, DK Matter, Chemistry for Every Kid and Tiner's Chemistry book. Not sure if it would work for you, but you could peak at it. My oldest just needed more volume (serious reader) and wanted daily experiments she could do if she felt like it. I wasn't shooting for 8th grade material though. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kim973 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 If you are on the RS4K yahoo group I created a schedule that combined Chemistry 1, DK Chemistry, DK Matter, Chemistry for Every Kid and Tiner's Chemistry book. Not sure if it would work for you, but you could peak at it. Could you send me a link to the schedule? I couldn't locate it. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeefreak Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 :lurk5: We're looking at Physics level 1 for 4th grade. Thanks for letting me lurk!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Kim, I will see if I can just up load it here. Nope too big. :D Off to find the link. Here you go. Chemistry 1 RS4K with extras schedule. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaof2andtwins Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Could you explain what you mean by "supplement them significantly"? What do you feel it is missing for a pre-high school science course? I was planning to use both books with my dd next year in 8th grade. She has a strong dislike of chemistry. I am not sure why. We touched on it briefly when she was in 3rd grade. She has such a passion for life science, and she will have completed all of Jeannie Fulbright's zoology books. She is anticipating a possible major of equine science after high school. Thank you. Jennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Could you explain what you mean by "supplement them significantly"? What do you feel it is missing for a pre-high school science course? I was planning to use both books with my dd next year in 8th grade. She has a strong dislike of chemistry. I am not sure why. We touched on it briefly when she was in 3rd grade. She has such a passion for life science, and she will have completed all of Jeannie Fulbright's zoology books. She is anticipating a possible major of equine science after high school. Thank you. Jennie Jennie, Do you realize that the program plans to add a second half to all the books? Eventually there will be a Chemistry 1A (the current text) and Chemistry 1B, Pre Chemistry 1A and Pre Chemistry 1B. Same with the level 2 books: Chemistry IIA and Chemistry IIB, Physics IIA and Physics IIB. While I am not the person who stated that just the fact that more books are planned tells me the author doesn't think it covers the topic well enough. Plus if you are used to Jeannie Fulbright's books you might find the RS4K books really light. My dd has no problem reading a whole chapter in RS4K Chemistry 1 in one day. She could have easily cover the whole book in 10 days. (Though I don't think she would have really absorbed the concepts in that little time.) Assuming you are going to use the level II texts (and I would with an 8th grader) then it will be more meatier and I think would last 10 weeks easily. We would have a hard time making it into a year long program here. I do agree that the Tiner book adds a lot of background that is good to have. If the B book was out I suspect it would be more of a complete program. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaof2andtwins Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Ah, thank you, Heather. I did not realize any of that. I just became aware of the program over the last two months since I have been a hive member. I knew they were only 10 lessons. I guess my question is what would be in the next 10 lessons of the level 2 Chemistry. Thanks again. Jennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Jeannie, Here is a link to the author's blog where she lays out the future of the program: http://www.gravitaspublications.com/index.php/blog/P15/ BTW some of the pictures are way to small, but if you copy them into word (or another word processing program) you can read them. :D Heather Ah, thank you, Heather. I did not realize any of that. I just became aware of the program over the last two months since I have been a hive member. I knew they were only 10 lessons. I guess my question is what would be in the next 10 lessons of the level 2 Chemistry. Thanks again. Jennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeefreak Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Thanks Heather! You've been a big help to me too! Dorinda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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