Secular MS Science

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

DS is studying RSO Physics this year (4th) & will complete RSO Biology 2 next year (5th). Then… we run out* of courses. 

We’ve been heavily supplementing the elementary sciences & most of what I’m seeing at the “middle school level” isn’t any more in-depth or challenging that what he’s already completed. 

We own Joy Hakim’s Story of Science trio, so we could do “Scientific History”. I looked through the Quest Guides which include timeline-building, comprehension questions, data collection / representation, projects, & examinations. It looks like we could cover ~30 chapters per semester, so it would probably take 2yrs to complete the series. Would these make up an adequate science course?  

I like the look of Derek Owen’s Physical Science / Physics, Clover Creek Physics, & Clover Valley Chemistry - but I believe these are all considered high school level & I’m not entirely sure they’d be a good fit before 8th grade or so. 

* RSO does have an Astronomy 2 course, but it’s only one semester & if their other courses are any indication we’d complete it in far less.

Edited September 24, 2022 by Shoes+Ships+SealingWax

[daijobu]

Have you thought about BFSU?  You can scan the flow chart and see what your student is interested in learning.  They teach the energies early in the series:  kinetic/potential/etc.  So it will help to have that taken care of first.  

[cintinative]

Have you looked at ACS Middle School Chemistry? (free  https://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/download/  )  This is a very hands-on curriculum.

We used CPO Earth Science Middle School and I didn't think it was bad. I did modified labs based on a blog. I later learned you can "borrow" a stream table from the local soil and water conservation district. I would totally check into that if you are interested.  It was the coolest. I never thought to ask them but my friend did. (http://nowisthebesttimeofourlives.blogspot.com/2010/09/adapting-stream-table-lab-investigation.html  (Note: there is also a CPO focus on Earth science and that one is different).  

The Prentice Hall Science Explorer series isn't terrible. I know some people on here are not huge fans but for middle school I think it is fine. We used a few of the physics titles since we had already done Chemistry (the ACS course above).  The Physical Science book is basically the three physics titles plus two chemistry titles all bound together.  If it helps, you can get guided reading notebooks for these. 

 

[cintinative]

Derek Owens physics requires completion of Alg 1. FYI.

[MamaSprout]

I see that unicorn still hasn't been found, lol.

Dd did CPO Earth science kind of half-heartedly in 4th grade. She wasn't a fan of the textbook. She had done mostly BSFU bunny-trail style before then. (And before there were helpful support groups).

She did DO Physical Science in 5th/ 6th grade. She had enough math and really liked the subject. 6th/ 7th-ish she did a lighter high school biology or heavy life science (Exploring the Way Life Works/ Campbell's Exploring Life) then the Georgia PBS Physics (7th), then GPBS Chem (8th). Chem/ Physics were chosen because she had a ready-to-go older lab friend set up for those GPBS years. ETA The teacher for the older versions of those courses is goofy enough to be engaging for a science-minded, math-strong, middle schooler. 

Otherwise, I probably would have thrown in a year of Astronomy... or the dreaded Earth Science before another round of physics in 7th.

After that a mash up year of Anatomy/ CLEP Biology (9th).

She did a DE class that taught Office Suite that was heavy on Excel the same year she did Anatomy/ Biology. It is very handy for science labs and made her a much sought-after lab partner.

After that, (10th/ 11th) she did dual-enrolled science for majors at the local 4 year.

Please note that the above mentioned Earth Science hating kiddo is in school for .... Civil Engineering. 

Edited September 24, 2022 by MamaSprout

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

13 minutes ago, cintinative said:

Derek Owens physics requires completion of Alg 1. FYI.

Yes, he will complete Alg I in either 6th or 7th. Thanks! 

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

28 minutes ago, daijobu said:

Have you thought about BFSU?  You can scan the flow chart and see what your student is interested in learning.  They teach the energies early in the series:  kinetic/potential/etc.  So it will help to have that taken care of first.  

I assume you are referring to their Level III text? I can’t seem to find any samples of the third online, so it’s hard to say. We’ve thoroughly covered the content from the first two books. 

Generally speaking we prefer to stick to one major discipline per year - though of course it’s all interrelated & we circle back to what we’ve learned in other fields whenever relevant.

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

1 hour ago, cintinative said:

Have you looked at ACS Middle School Chemistry? (free  https://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/download/  ).

Reading through the first several chapters, this looks almost identical to what we did last year for Chemistry.

I’m beginning to wonder if that isn’t the issue I’m running into… it appears I may have supplemented to a higher level than I realized. Not so much for biology, so it’s good we’ll hit that again more deeply next year, but for Astronomy & Chemistry.

ETA: The ACS Chemistry in the Community book looks intriguing! It seems to delve more into the practical applications of Chemistry, balancing equations, isotopes & radioactivity, etc. 

1 hour ago, cintinative said:

We used CPO Earth Science Middle School

We haven’t done Earth Science formally at all! DS has two grandparents who do related work (archaeology & civil engineering), so that could open up interesting rabbit trails. 

I’ll take a look at the Prentice Hall series. 📚 

Edited September 24, 2022 by Shoes+Ships+SealingWax

[Shoeless]

Have you looked at the Conceptual Science books? There's Conceptual Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and an "Integrated" general science course. The middle school books are the general/integrated science books.  Bio, Chem, and physics are high school level, but light on math (thus the "conceptual" part of the title). 

You can look at samples of older editions of each book on the internet archive. 

[SilverMoon]

Build Your Library level 8 schedules the Hakim books across one year, for a lit based history of science year. An advanced 6th/7th could do it in two years. 

I never found a middle school science I could follow level after level. We've been literature based, which rather ruined them for typical "middle school" books. My 6th grader did zoology for 5th and is loving prehistory and evolution this year. His science is so much deeper than a course aimed at his age would be (if we could find one on evolution!). I've learned tons just building it for him. We haven't thought about his 7th grade yet and I was planning on BYL 8 for eighth grade. He'd definitely be ready for the science in something like Hazen's integrated science textbook by then, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. 

[JennyD]

I really like Oak Meadow's 8th grade physics program, and so far the OM 6th grade bio program has been pretty good, too.

 

[Malam]

There are also HS science programs you could use for MS, or you could read living books until highschool/alg 1. If he's one or two years off from alg 1, you could get "Thinking Physics"

Maybe go meta with a "science of learning and memory" unit which they can apply to future subjects

Edited September 25, 2022 by Malam

[Green Bean]

nm.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Green Bean

[silver]

I've not used their middle school books, but https://centripetalpress.com/ does have two books for middle school (Planet Earth and Physical Science). I've used their accelerated path for 9th grade (algebra based physics) and am currently using their accelerated chemistry book, and I've liked them. 

For middle school, I used Conceptual Integrated Science Explorations. It can be hard for find teacher resources for that, since it's now been out of print for a while.