Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: ACE science, Apologia, Apologia High School, biology, chemistry, CLP Biology, Elements of Faith, evolution, high school science, high school science curriculum, Highschool Science, John Tiner, labs, Master Books; Chemistry 101, Masters books, motivating kids to learn, physics, Science 101 Series, Tiner books

This topic has 59 replies, 30 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 11 months ago by missceegee.

Viewing 15 posts - 46 through 60 (of 60 total)

← 1 2 3 4

Author
Posts
November 9, 2013 at 3:48 am
jotawatt
Participant
Thank you, retrofam. I’m already trying to figure out what to use for my oldest son’s physics course next year, and am seriously considering using something like ACE or Alpha Omega, using narration instead of worksheets like you mentioned. Math isn’t a problem for him, thankfully.
Tara
November 9, 2013 at 2:14 pm
greenebalts
Participant
Our dd is loving Master Books! I skimmed the other posts and didn’t see them mentioned. They offer a variety of junior and senior high courses.

http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/2013/06/high-school-science-anatomy.html

You will see by my above post that we are not Apologia fans, though we have slodged through several of their courses. We have also used Chemistry 101 and I thought it was a great beginning course. Someone else noted you can do as little or as much with it, creating your own science program. This is so true and is part of the beauty of homeschooling 🙂 Here’s how we used Chemistry 101…

http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/2012/11/chemistry-ever-lasting.html

I also tend to agree with Shanna 😉

Blessings,
Melissa
http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/
November 9, 2013 at 5:22 pm
TailorMade
Participant
Melissa,
Your additional suggestions for Chemistry are added to my son’s folder for that subject. I am also pleased to read of your Anatomy course. I have half of the books (we love Masters Books at our house!) Things are coming together beautifully as I plan out his highschool science courses. Thanks for all the input you’ve shared!
Becca<><
November 9, 2013 at 7:08 pm
greenebalts
Participant
You’re very welcome Becca. I’m so glad someone is able to pull something useful from it 🙂

A book I bought and should’ve used, but didn’t, was The Joy of Chemistry by Cathy Cobb. I found some of my recommendations from Barb at Handbook of Nature Study and Harmony Art Mom.

http://harmonyfinearts.org/homeschool-curriculum/

Blessings,
Melissa
http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/
November 10, 2013 at 12:22 am
TailorMade
Participant
Adding to my notes!!! ;0)
November 10, 2013 at 12:33 am
jotawatt
Participant
I’ve not heard of Master Books before. I’ll have to look into that! Everyone, please keep your ideas and links coming!
November 11, 2013 at 5:39 pm
Shanna
Participant
My oldest enjoyed MasterBooks also.
May 30, 2014 at 10:26 pm
Portia
Member
for a great articulation on this subject.
http://www.jeanniesjournal.com/2007/06/apologias-high-school-science-courses.html
if an educated discussion on evolution needs to be addressed for college bound students:
Don’t Check Your Brains At The Door by Josh McDowell
It Just Couldn’t Happen by Lawrence O Richards
Both of these books address the grammar of The Theory of Evolution. In order to have a more practical debate and platform to address God-at-the-center, we each need to be well versed and educated to define both sides in conversation and to write exam essays. Thus, when we share the beautiful-mystery-of-God-side, we may be heard as having a valid persuasion. We need not compromise our beliefs in doing so.
August 27, 2014 at 2:32 am
hlmckinney7
Participant
I am so glad to have found this thread. I thought my children would LOVE Apologia last year, but none of them did. Figuring out what my 8th grader will do for Science (starting in a few short days!) is the last detail left undone….I keep feeling pressured to go back to the Apologia route, but keep coming back to wondering how much he really gets out of it — it does seem like he memorized for the tests. He had done History of Medicine by John Hudson Tiner at his private school, prior to coming home for homeschooling…and he LOVED it. All last year, he kept asking why Science couldn’t be like that — interesting and he learned a lot, without all the details and labs (he was not a fan of all the labs of Apologia).
I have felt the tension of both sides — do I make him push through again this year and all remaining years with Apologia even though I believe it is squeezing any love for Science right out of him? I keep coming back to Masters books and all the options they provide for middle school and high school — they all look so fascinating. This thread comfirms it for me! I’m going that route. I will make this page a favorite and revisit it in the future to investigate the wonderful options I saw for Chemistry, too.
Thank you, ladies!
August 27, 2014 at 3:17 pm
kerby
Participant
It’s refreshing to hear my own thoughts coming from so many others.
I have been looking at Friendly Chemistry and was wondering if anyone else has any experience or knowledge about it.
I have the 101 series videos for both Bio and Chem. Bio was easy to beef up, add to, etc in many, many ways but I’ve been having a really tough time finding materials to do the same to the Chem. I’m going to check out the site mentioned above and also recheck Masterbooks. Maybe they’ll have something else besides just Tiner’s for Chem.
K
August 28, 2014 at 12:28 am
hlmckinney7
Participant
Kerby, I talked to a rep (James) at Masters Books today, and he confirmed that high school students need to complete both Chemistry and Physics from outside sources — he suggested AIG’s “101” series. Masters Books, however, does have a high school level Biology course — called “PreMed” or something to that effect. As for 7-9th grade, he suggested the Tiner books, saying they provide a solid foundation for high school Science. They do have optional labs/kits, too — just not an overwhelming amount. It sounds like doing 4 Tiner books per school year would not be too much to take on. Other resources to supplement Tiner’s Chemistry book would be “Elements of Faith Vol 1,” which contains a periodic table of some sort. Sorry, I haven’t looked these things up since my conversation with him — I’m just going by my notes. I’ve also heard from a few trustworthy sources, including here by SCM that “The Mystery of the Periodic Table” is an excellent book to support Chemistry, as well as “Caryy On Mr Bowditch” to support Physics.
By the way, he also said that Masters Books is currently considering (or working on?) curriculum to offer high school Chemistry and Physics, so to check back in coming years. That doesn’t help you for this year, but anyone who reads this in the future should check the Masters Books website.http://www.nlpg.com/imprint/master-books 
Interestingly, I have learned this week that some people think that non-vector Introductory Physics is best learned PRIOR to Chemistry and even Biology, which is not the typical high school order….just something to consider for High school sciences. I heard this from a well-versed Math and Science teacher.
August 28, 2014 at 1:50 am
hlmckinney7
Participant
http://www.nlpg.com/homeschool/middle-school/elements-of-faith-vol-1 
I referred to this in my previous post as a supplement to Chemistry, as suggested by the Masters Book rep I spoke with today. I think it looks great. By the way, he said there is a Vol. 1, but currently there is no Vol. 2.
Also, I need to correct my previous post where I said that Carry On, Mr Bowditch is a good supplement to Physics…it’s actually a good supplement to EARTH SCIENCES.
August 28, 2014 at 8:57 am
Shellyjl
Participant
Wow, found this thread at 3:30 a.m. this morning, on the eve (or morn!) of sitting down and figuring out what we are doing for science this coming 9th grade year! I am waffling — we do not have a strong basis at this time in general science, but I avoided Apologia for middle school because I felt the approach would stifle any potential interest my daughter might have. Probably wrong thinking on my part, but it is what it is and here we are!
I am appreciating these comments and helps, ladies, though this thread started two years ago! Keep them coming.
August 28, 2014 at 11:42 am
mwinchester
Member
Science really is a hard nut to crack unless you’ve tuned them in to science from an early age. I had a lot of trouble getting DS into it because by the time you’re in 8th or 9th grade, all the curriculum speaks to you is a lot of theory and words that confuse you. The daughter had a better time because she grew up at the time when we were starting to do science experiments at home to get DS into it so she LOVES science. She’s always building stuff. I think the right approach is to pick a curriculum that matches your child’s learning technique and then look for supplementary resources and also plan outings where they can discover science in practice rather than just theory!
Some great Science Resource Blogs, YouTubers and Pinterest Boards –
http://www.science-sparks.com/ – A site with a lot of experiments and videos using scientific technique in everyday actvities.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEB92E275F78C7301 – Minute Physics Youtube Channel whose tagline is “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Hope this adds to this amazing thread full of help!

May 19, 2015 at 7:20 am
missceegee
Participant
I just read Review: Novare Science and Math in an email to me from Barefoot Meandering. I can’t find it online to link it, but it made me think of this old thread. I only know what this review said, but thought it worthy of mentioning. http://novarescienceandmath.com/catalog/physical-science/nsm-physical-science/