Ladies,
I just wanted to make a few comments about what I have skimmed over from this thread. Forgive me if I repeat advice already given!
I don’t think I’ve heard anyone refer to this site:
http://charlottemason.tripod.com/hisci.html
She has excellent suggestions for text-free high school science.
Everyone will have very different college experiences, but I must say that some of my college professors did things in a very CM way. Often times the exams were “blue book” and the professors handed you the book and told you to write everything you learned about the subject! Oh, how I wish I had had practice with written narrations in school.
The following is an excerpt from a letter I wrote to a CM mom who was asking how she could use Apologia with her 7th and 8th grade boys. I recently graduated my second son using the CM method all the way through. They both found textbooks boring but easy, as there was no literary language to work with and the textbooks cut straight to the facts.
Yes, I’ve been exactly where you are now and I’ve talked with many other moms in your same predicament. Mason used books in all subjects clothed in literary language until the age of 14 and research strongly supports the efficacy of this method. Now that your boys are there – now what?
Yes, I think you will need to move into some textbooks soon. I think the main thing is to keep the principles in place, while moving that direction for some subjects. Apologia, while rigorous, can help bridge that divide nicely. Certainly they will be dealing with the textbooks if they do any PSEO or when they get to college.
First of all, if you have been using CM, I think you will be pleased with how they will be able to handle this. Here are some things to keep in mind:
– Keep treating them as persons and don’t drop out of the scene.
-Instead of taking it as quickly as is suggested, take 4 weeks per chapter instead of 2. If you took 2 years to do the book, instead of 1, your eighth grader could count Physical Science as his 9th grade science course, do Biology in 10th, Chemistry in 11th and Physics in 12th. (This is the route we went with, 9th – Apologia Ph. Sc., 10th – Apologia Biology, 11th – Chem. through Northwestern.) At least start out slow until they pick up the pace themselves.
-Do the first chapter with them. Show them how to properly do the Study Guide questions. Show them how to prepare for the test. I find most moms just expect their children to “get” how to do this because that is how they were taught.
-Talk about what they are reading, just as you would a literary book.
-I had both boys, 7th and 8th, doing this together which really helped them figure things out and enjoy it more.
I hope that makes sense – it’s all I have time for now!
Ring true,
Nancy Kelly
Windom, MN
