Guest Lorna Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Which of these books will I really need? Physics Matters Practical Book £8.99 Physics Matters Textbook (9-10 gr) £24.99 Physics Matters Workbook 1 £8.99 Physics Matters Workbook 2 £8.99 Physics Matters Workbook Tcher's Edition 1 £14.99 Physics Matters Workbook Tcher's Edition 2 £14.99 Physics Matters Practical Book Tcher's Edition £17.99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lorna Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Bump. Has anyone used any of the Singapore ________ Matters series? What did you use for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 This thread might be of interest: Anyone using or have used Chemistry Matters from Singapore Science? Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAR120C Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Biology, Chemistry and Physics... So I'm not speaking from experience, and I've only looked through the biology books so far... but from what it looks like, I think I'm going to be happy I got the teachers' edition of the workbook, just for checking answers easily. There are a few practicals that could probably use the teacher's edition (it wasn't available from the place I ordered mine...) but most of them seem fairly straightforward. If you give me a week and them PM me since I'll have forgotten by then (LOL) I'll give you the rundown of Chemistry and Physics too! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Hi Lorna, Have you looked at Physics Matters at the Singaporemath.com website? They do not recommend the Practical Books for homeschools because of their limited use. Most of the programs written for schools assume a fully stocked lab. It would be difficult to do most of the labs at home. However, the text and workbook would be fine. But remember, there is no answer key or tm for the textbook. It is only available for the workbook (and then it is simply the student book with answers). I'm using the Chemistry Matters text in our co-op and building my own answer key (worked solution manual). It's worth my time because I'll be teaching 2 more of my kids in a couple of years. I really like Singapore sciences, but the problem with the answer keys makes it a less viable option for many people. BTW, I taught Conceptual Physics a couple of years ago in co-op. I had the same problem with their lab (practical) book. However, I was able to tweak some of the labs to work without specialized equipment and I pulled a lot of labs off the internet and from other sources. So, one can do it, but it is time consuming. Another thing I noticed by searching the science forum at Singaporemath.com is that this level of physics is more on the Conceptual Physics level - it really only requires a basic knowledge of algebra. If that's what you're looking for, that's great, but if you're looking for a more advanced level, this probably won't be what you want. Well, I gave you a lot of information you didn't ask for ;), didn't I? But hopefully this will help some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAR120C Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Okay I sat down with all three practicals... the Biology looks almost completely doable, although the enzyme solutions might be a trick to get (they seem to be restricted to schools) so I might try to arrange a workshop with the local museum to cover that run of labs instead of running down all the materials. The only ones that I will probably drop altogether are the ones that require dataloggers, but they're all near duplicates of non-datalogger labs on the same topics, so it's not a big deal to go with the lower-tech version. Physics I don't see much problem with except for a couple more datalogger projects (and this time without low-tech options). There is some specialty stuff... some we already have, some I can get, and some we might adapt, but overall it looks good. The chemistry practical I think I won't use much at all. It's got GREAT ideas -- excellent approach, but huge safety and disposal problems, especially in the Qualitative Analysis section. We are NOT making chlorine gas at home. eek! Fortunately I think I can match up some similar stuff (concept-wise, not material-wise) from other, more home-friendly sources. TOPS Science is my current favorite. We're planning on Biology first, then Chemistry and then Physics, so I have a year to get my Chemistry lab plan together... with any luck I might just be able to outsource that, but I do think it can be put together with a subset of what the practical book suggests plus some extra stuff from other sources. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Ah! I just read the singapore site and found that it says: Answers to most of the textbook problems (those with short answers) are in the back. That's a plus! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lorna Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Thank you for all your help. I am looking for a maths-intensive Physics course. Our daughter will be finishing NEM 2 Singapore Maths at the end of this year and so I hope to start her with it after this summer or perhaps later, to work on alongside NEM 3 and 4. I am more than happy to work out our own labs. Do you think it would be worth getting the practical book as a 'diving-board' into adapting them to suit a home environment or is it clear from the textbook what the main jist of the practicals is? I guess the textbook is structured not unlike the NEM books then, with the short answers at the back. That sounds ideal. Thanks again for all your insight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAR120C Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Do you think it would be worth getting the practical book as a 'diving-board' into adapting them to suit a home environment or is it clear from the textbook what the main jist of the practicals is? Again, I've only had these for two days now, but I would get the practicals just to see what they're doing. You'll know what the topic is in the text, but I think the labs are really well set-up for encouraging kids to think on their feet. So even the ones we don't do, or that I replace with something else, I want to see, just so I can match that as well as possible. And really, a lot of the Biology and Physics (and even about half of the Chemistry) aren't that bad. DH was looking over my shoulder at the biology and commented that we'd be torturing a lot of houseplants next year. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lorna Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Thank you, that's just what I needed to hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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