6th or 7th grade science

[tld]

What are you doing for 6th or 7th grade science? 

I'm looking for something engaging that can be done in 20 minutes or less each day.  My child isn't a fan of hands-on experiments, but a few are fine.

[ScoutTN]

We just read library books at that age, and had some oral and written narrations. 30 minutes/day, mostly.

Science center, nature center, zoo, and the outdoors generally for hands-on or 3D things.  

Edited July 19 by ScoutTN

[SilverMoon]

For 6th my youngest read a PILE of nonfiction books on evolution and prehistory. Zoology in 5th left him with so many questions. We took a deep dive from the big bang to human dispersion. We watched loads of documentaries too, and he had a geological timeline on the wall.

For 7th he's done chemistry. He watched the Crash Course videos and did worksheets aligned to them, all the Periodic Videos, read another pile of nonfiction books, and built a periodic table on the wall. 

No hands on projects beyond adding pieces to the timeline and table of elements. He's not a fan of projects and experiments. We definitely spent more than twenty minutes a day though. 

[caffeineandbooks]

I see from your other post that you were interested in something a bit like Apologia but less wordy.  I haven't personally used the John Hudson Tiner books but have friends that like them for those grades.  That would give you just reading with no experiments.  The link is to Amazon, but Rainbow Resource also stock them and give varying age guides for each book.

[Lori D.]

Possibly:
- Noeo Science -- complete package
- choice of Ellen McHenry units --most are 8-week studies, for grades 5-8
- use a grade 5-8 as a "spine" book, and get a stack of interesting books on the various subtopics to flesh out
("spines" examples: Reader's Digest How _______ Works series; Usborne Internet Linked _______ series; Prentice Hall Science Explorer series)

[Xahm]

What we are doing won't meet your parameters, but my kids that age love watching You tube videos like Kurzgesagt. If you are hoping to have science output in 20 minutes a day, maybe get them to write three things each day, whether they be facts they learned, questions that they now have, or things they found interesting.

[Lori D.]

15 hours ago, caffeineandbooks said:

I see from your other post that you were interested in something a bit like Apologia but less wordy.  I haven't personally used the John Hudson Tiner books but have friends that like them for those grades.  That would give you just reading with no experiments.  The link is to Amazon, but Rainbow Resource also stock them and give varying age guides for each book.

We really enjoyed the John Toner books, but they are best done as a supplement, rather than as a text that is general/overview of a science subject. Instead, each Tiner book takes a topic (Medicine, Planet Earth, Chemistry, Physics, etc.) and then in chronological order, each short chapter is about one key discovery/event/person in the advancement of that science. From a distinctly Christian perspective.

[ScoutTN]

What does your student want to study? 

[Lori D.]

While I personally don't find workbooks engaging, some students might. And, sometimes there are seasons where one has to have "just get 'er done" materials. So, another thought: for short, daily, little-to-no hands on, how about a workbook? And add in a nonfiction book per month on a science topic to flesh it out.

These are divided into 49 lessons, so 1-2 lessons per week + time for reading 1 book a month easily fits your 20 min/day request:
Spectrum 6th Grade Science Workbook 
Spectrum 7th Grade Science Workbook 

Or this -- a page/lesson a day for 180 days, + time for reading 1 book a month:
180 Days of Science, grade 6

Or these:
Streck-Vaughn Core Skills Science Workbook: grade 6
Streck-Vaughn Core Skills Science Workbook: grade 7

Edited July 21 by Lori D.

[Porridge]

I used BFSU with my kids around that age. We usually did it over a meal - I would teach while they were eating.  It was definitely under 20 minutes at a time, and not every day of the week.

BFSU does require a bit of prep on the parents' part. I would read through the lesson in advance and plan out where/how I was going to ask questions to get them thinking. It would probably take me 10-20 minutes to prep. Some lessons we could get through in one sitting; others would take multiple sessions. I have a strong science background - I'm not sure how easy to use it might be for someone who didn't feel as confident in science.

They also read a lot of science books from the library, watched YT videos (Nat Geo, BBC), and did some science kits for fun.

You could also look at Biochemistry Literacy for Kids. 

[Servant4Christ]

If you're looking for Christian based science, there are many. My oldest doesn't care for being confined to only one branch of science for an entire year nor does he enjoy doing hands on experiments everyday. He prefers and enjoys Rod & Staff. He reads a lesson and answers the questions. Many times there are 2-3 optional activities listed at the end of a lesson that demonstrate/apply what was taught. Sometimes we do them, sometimes we don't. It's not for everyone, but we like it a lot. I cannot believe how much my oldest has learned from this series.