Deece in MN Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 (edited) I am having the worse time trying to pull together science for my 14yo ds. We were going to start with biology so I bought Campbell's Biology used and Biology: The Science of Life from Teaching Co.. Ds started it and it is a bit much for him right now. It is mostly the Campbell book that is tough, but when I go over it with him it is better, but it takes so long this way that it will probably take 1 1/2 - 2 years to go through the book and watch the videos. So, I thought we could come back to this in a year or two. I thought we would do chemistry and placed an order for Spectrum Chemistry. It was about 3 weeks after placing the order (with no contact from them in any way) that I sent a couple follow up emails (again they did not respond to them) so I canceled the order because I didn't want to waste any more time (once I canceled the order they contacted me). So, then I bought the Joy of Science series from Amazon and also ordered the Milestones in Science kit to go with it. I know this isn't a rigorous course, but we needed something and ds wasn't interested in anything else. Well, I canceled the Milestones in Science order because it still hasn't shipped and I ordered it over 4 weeks ago. Now that I have wasted all this time I am back to not knowing what to do. I was looking at Conceptual Physics because I have the book (student book 3rd ed), but I don't have the TM/solutions manual or anything lab/experiment wise to go with it. I am not sure what all I would need to go in this direction. I don't want to spend a lot of money on anything because of what I have already spent, but am willing to spend what I need to get something going, if that makes sense. :) What should I do? Ds was interested in the Chemistry, but the lack of response from the company annoyed me. We do hs secularly and I would prefer our science from that perspective, but I am willing to use religious based materials if they are good and will fit the bill. So, I have the biology stuff, Conceptual Physics, the Joy of Science and a whole bunch of random science supplies (beakers, alcohol burner, test tubes, piping, etc.) from over the years. I need something with some hands-on because ds would like that (I would prefer some type of lab manual or book with experiments rather than having to pull them together myself). He doesn't care what I pick at this point. Oh, we do want to prepare him for college, but he doesn't know what direction he wants to go so I don't know if we should do heavy science or what. Any thoughts or suggestions? Sorry this is so long and thanks for reading. :) ETA: I just wanted to say that the reason I chose Campbells is that I had the Teaching Co. lecture first and that is the text that is recommended. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but was hoping we could work with it. We were using the lectures as the base and reading the chapters that went with the lecture. The chapters are long and ds had a hard time staying focused for that much reading on a topic he isn't overly interested in. So, it isn't so much that he doesn't get the material, it is just not very interesting to him and so he has to force himself through it. It was my mistake to do this and I don't want to approach science this way. I want it to be interesting so that he gets something out of it. I am hoping the right program will light a spark in him to want to know more. Does that make sense? Thanks for letting me ramble a bit. :) Edited January 16, 2009 by Deece in MN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ria Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Deece, Joy of Science isn't a science course per se...it's really just a easily-read history of science. I would never consider it to be a science course, only a nice read. I'd take a look at Singapore Science. Their Interactive Science course is amazing. It's inexpensive but much more engaging and detailed than any other science course for middle school I've ever seen. You can see their products at http://www.singaporemath.com If you really want to go into biology, at this point I'd get Apologia...with a very rigorous schedule you could finish up by the end of the summer. Ria (former science teacher) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deece in MN Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 Deece, Joy of Science isn't a science course per se...it's really just a easily-read history of science. I would never consider it to be a science course, only a nice read. I'd take a look at Singapore Science. Their Interactive Science course is amazing. It's inexpensive but much more engaging and detailed than any other science course for middle school I've ever seen. You can see their products at http://www.singaporemath.com If you really want to go into biology, at this point I'd get Apologia...with a very rigorous schedule you could finish up by the end of the summer. Ria (former science teacher) Thanks, Ria. I know the Joy of Science isn't a course. I was thinking of giving 1/2 credit for a history of science survey elective or something like that (including the experiments and some additional writing/reports, etc.). Doing this would mean that he wouldn't have an official science credit this year though which is why I really feel we need to do something else. Would the Singapore program be high school credit worthy? Thanks for the suggestions. I am sort of keeping Apologia at the bottom of the list as a back-up if I can't come up with anything else. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 It is working well for my artsy 9th grade daughter. I plan (I think) to use Campbell's but it is tough-- works for some 9th graders, but usually better for older students. It can also take the fun out of biology for some students - lots of vocab and memorization. I've actually been thinking hard about how to structure biology for next year (possibly) or the next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 the 2nd edition of Conceptual Chem is pretty cheap on half.com, and you should get it pretty quick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deece in MN Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 the 2nd edition of Conceptual Chem is pretty cheap on half.com, and you should get it pretty quick! Thanks! What else do you do with this? I have a chem. set that I purchased a couple years ago that we haven't done anything with. Would you add that or just go through the book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mooooom Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 It wouldn't be very expensive to purchase the TOPS books and there is very little additional stuff to purchase, as they try to use household mat'ls as much as possible. We have been through Sound, Light and are halfway through Electricity. I know we have Heat and Magnetism to also go through. There is also a series on Annenberg.org "The Mechanical Universe" that we are adding to it (we don't get the math part at all - but its very enjoyable anyway). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deece in MN Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 It wouldn't be very expensive to purchase the TOPS books and there is very little additional stuff to purchase, as they try to use household mat'ls as much as possible. We have been through Sound, Light and are halfway through Electricity. I know we have Heat and Magnetism to also go through. There is also a series on Annenberg.org "The Mechanical Universe" that we are adding to it (we don't get the math part at all - but its very enjoyable anyway). Thanks, I hadn't thought about TOPS books for lab work. I will have to check into that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Conceptual Chemistry has one or two demonstrations in each chapter that are easy to do at home. I also look for stuff online to supplement. I don't think a freshman needs to do advanced Chem labs with "real lab equipment" unless they have a real interest in it. My objective is to provide enough chemistry concepts without the math bogging things down at this stage. I'm also trying to do chemistry with everyone (1st grade through 9th). The middlers are using the Prentice Hall Explorer materials, and I do my best to correlate it so that the demonstrations make sense to the younger kids too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April in CA Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 (edited) Hi Deece, If you are still interested in doing biology, I would suggest Biology: Exploring Life, published by prentice Hall, written by Campbell (along with others) It is designed to be a first year bio course, and it has a wonderful on-line component (can also do this with a CD-rom) that really is fun and extends the learning. My 14 yo freshman is using this and enjoying it. We do the chapter reviews as tests since the test bank was $200 (out of my range for just one class!). For labs, we do some of the labs from the accompanying lab manual, some from Apologia, and some form on -line sources. HOpe this helps! Blessings, April Edited January 16, 2009 by April in CA misspelled name! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deece in MN Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 Thanks for all the suggestions. I talked to my ds and he said he would like to do Physics. At first dh and I were looking at this: http://www.scienceforhighschool.com/ The Physical Science program would be $110 (including lab equipment) and I was having a hard time with that. I talked with dh and we decided to work through Conceptual Physics since we already have it. I don't have a TM or lab manual for it, so I will be pulling together some experiments on my own. I am going to sit down with the book over the weekend to get familiar with it so I will be a little better prepared. :) Anyway, just thought I would post an update. Thanks, again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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