sbgrace Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 (edited) I had intended to do an outsourced, in person chemistry class for my rising junior. Due to COVID, this is going to need to be postponed until his senior year. His brother is doing physics, but he is not at all interested in physics himself. It was going to take him too much time and math is a weakness for him. He's already completed advanced biology. Would it look bad to take a year off in terms of science, and pick up chemistry his senior year? Because of special needs related attention stuff, science has tended to be a big time suck for him. A break would be nice. But if that's a bad idea, what would you recommend? Is there something that might be less time intensive, but look ok on a transcript? Maybe I should do a low key chemistry to get it on the transcript his jr year (does such a thing exist)? I really want to do that outsource class for chemistry, though. Edited July 19, 2020 by sbgrace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 How about doing a science that isn't chemistry or physics? Astronomy, environmental science, forensics, geology, meteorology, botany, zoology, and anatomy all come to mind as viable alternatives. Texts for undergraduate, nonmajors survey classes assume no scientific knowledge and tend to be written on a high school level. The Wiley Visualizing series is an example of these sorts of texts. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 (edited) While you could do 3 rather than 4 Science credits, I agree with Kai -- why not explore with a "lighter" science that doesn't take quite so much time for the special needs?Guest Hollow has several lighter high school Science options -- including a math-free Physics, in case you wanted to keep both students in the same Science subject. She also offers a very light high school Kitchen Chemistry. I have also heard that Friendly Chemistry is a lighter/easier Chemistry program, if wanting to do Chemistry at home this year. Or... Check out POST #5 of the big pinned thread "High School Motherlode #2" at the top of the High School Board -- lots of threads on doing high school Science that is not one of the "big 3" of biology, chemistry, physics. Sciences discussed in the linked threads there include: Anatomy/Physiology Astronomy Botany/Horticulture Ecology Environmental Science Forensic Science Geology/Earth Science Marine Biology Meteorology (Weather) Zoology (Animals) If interested in 0.5 semester of Astronomy that was non-mathy, you might contact Garga of these boards, as she designed a great high school intro to Astronomy course for one of her DSs. Or, you could also go broad and do an overall Integrated Science using several of the Teaching Company's Great Courses, like The Joy of Science. Or a non-lab Science that is literature-based, like Joy Hakim's The Story of Science. Or, you could go very focused on a narrow topic. For example, several people have done Equine (Horse) Science, and someone on these boards designed an Ornithology (study of birds) Science course for their student. Lots of flexibility for Science -- have fun exploring! 😄 Edited July 19, 2020 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 My dd#1 skipped science her junior year & did a 1 semester DE (chem) class her senior year. She was shooting for merit money, not top tier Unis, so it worked out great. She had time junior year to add another foreign language (which was/is a passion) to her schedule because of the free slot, her senior DE class transferred & covered a later requirement, and she was happy with the decision. None of the schools she applied to required more than 3 years of science although we didn't know that when we made that decision. (She could have taken another semester of DE science if she had to.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 I have one who is planning to take chemistry senior year instead of junior year, and actually will not have a science at all junior year. But I prefer transcripts arranged by subject, without completion dates, so I don't think it ends up looking odd. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 My dd did a semester of Astronomy and a semester of Paleontology. They were really fun! (Home grown classes) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 (edited) You could do conceptual physics, very light, with a few labs. It's more like middle school level, but our local high schools use this as their lower end physics and gives high school credit, it is taught at the STEM middle school and the high schools. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0131663011/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Edited July 21, 2020 by ElizabethB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanDiegoMom Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 My dd only did three sciences -- she was very clearly a humanities kid and she (public schooled) really doubled down on the harder social sciences instead. So instead of a science her senior year she took AP Psych. It didn't really affect her college admissions - but she really did go heavy in the other areas. (LOTS of AP's). If she were a STEM kid she wouldn't have considered it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 I appreciate all the thoughts. I'm going to share them with him to see what he thinks. I hadn't thought of a conceptual physics. Our state requires either chemistry or physics. It might be nice to get that box checked, just in case next year doesn't go according to plan. Some of these other course ideas may really appeal to him, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 This class is full for fall, but the books look like they would make a really nice option for a different science semester. My DD is doing the class since we wanted to avoid lab sciences DE this semester. https://www.onlineg3.com/product/physics-for-21st-century-citizens/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 Would computer science count as science? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 12 hours ago, sbgrace said: . I hadn't thought of a conceptual physics. Our state requires either chemistry or physics. It might be nice to get that box checked, just in case next year doesn't go according to plan. Some of these other course ideas may really appeal to him, though. Clover Creek Physics (http://www.clovercreekscience.com/physics/) is already full or I would strongly recommend that. Between Physics and Chemistry, I would say Physics is easier to do home based labs while it’s more fun to mess up a school/college lab for chemistry. Besides he can be his brother’s lab partner for home based physics. DS15 did not do any science in 9th grade. DS14 might not do any science in 10th grade. 13 minutes ago, Roadrunner said: Would computer science count as science? It does for UC “D) Science UC-approved high school courses Two years of college-preparatory science, including or integrating topics that provide fundamental knowledge in two of these three subjects: biology, chemistry, or physics. One year of approved interdisciplinary or earth and space sciences coursework can meet one year of the requirement. Computer Science, Engineering, Applied Science courses can be used in area D as an additional science (i.e., third year and beyond).” https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/admission-requirements/freshman-requirements/subject-requirement-a-g.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 5 minutes ago, Arcadia said: Clover Creek Physics (http://www.clovercreekscience.com/physics/) is already full or I would strongly recommend that. Between Physics and Chemistry, I would say Physics is easier to do home based labs while it’s more fun to mess up a school/college lab for chemistry. Besides he can be his brother’s lab partner for home based physics. DS15 did not do any science in 9th grade. DS14 might not do any science in 10th grade. It does for UC “D) Science UC-approved high school courses Two years of college-preparatory science, including or integrating topics that provide fundamental knowledge in two of these three subjects: biology, chemistry, or physics. One year of approved interdisciplinary or earth and space sciences coursework can meet one year of the requirement. Computer Science, Engineering, Applied Science courses can be used in area D as an additional science (i.e., third year and beyond).” https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/admission-requirements/freshman-requirements/subject-requirement-a-g.html Do you know if it does for other private universities? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 2 minutes ago, Roadrunner said: Do you know if it does for other private universities? YMMV. There is no consensus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 A few of my kids had just three years of science, and it didn't affect what they wanted to do after that. For example, one worked really hard on foreign languages and was therefore able to skip right to higher level courses in that language once in college. Another was basically able to put more effort into all her other classes which was helpful to her (academics didn't come as easily for her!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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