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middle school science
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I will have a 1st grader(7 yrs old) a 6th grader and an 8th grader next year. We’ve done Apologia pretty much every year. We are burnt out on it. The 8th grader hates science. We’ve taken a break from the notebooks and just did the text book and experiments. I even included this years in our coop for experiments together, they still hate it. I know what is listed on the SCM site for science schedules, but I think we need something different. I want to have something that includes all 3 kids, since the youngest isn’t reading and the other two aren’t going to do it independently.
A video curriculum would be great.
I recently ran across CuriosityStream and thought we could possibly filter through whatever catches their interest, watch the videos, and then expand on them with written narrations, video narrations/presentations or some type of science report. Would this work? Is it enough??? Would I be doing them a disservice? Will this not be good in the long run for the 8th grader?
Here’s what we’ve done so far:
Considering Gods creation
Apologia zoology 1
zoology 2
Atronomy
Chemistry & Physics ( we probably won’t finish the last few chapters)
It depends on what your 8th grader’ s future plans are- college?
If college prep, I would start biology in 8th grade for highschool credit. Friendly Biology is one option.
If a struggling learner and not college prep, I may do science all together.
I am not sure what subject area you want to focus on, which would make a difference for living book suggestions. You could put together a mix of resources for family with additional work for your 8th grader, like extra reading, experiments and narrations. What are your science plans for high school? You want to make sure your 8th grader will be prepared for that.
Our family liked the Physics 101 DVD set this year for grades 6 & 9. I am not sure about your first grader with it though. They also have Biology 101 & Chemistry 101 we plan to use in the future.
Other dvd sets we liked as a family are Your Backyard Birds and their new one on the Monarch Butterfly. They are each an hour long plus bonus material. High quality for an independent film. Highly recommend.
For other nature, we always liked BBC Blue Planet and Planet Earth DVD sets. But there are occasional comments about the age of the earth. Excellent video footage. For creation -based check on Nature of God sets on Hawaii/Ocean Adventures and Great Lakes / Wilderness Discoveries. Creation Proclaims has 4 dvds about animals, recommended for ages 8+.
My son has enjoyed reading through the Wonders of Creation series from Master Books the past few years. They offer various topics. He did written narrations with these.
So you could schedule a day a week for each:
1. Video
2. Nature Study with journal/sketch book or museum/nature center field trips and local/state/national parks for visitors center, hikes, programs. Seasonally you could garden, pick berries, fruit, pumpkins, etc. in your area.
3. Experiment
4. Reading (living books, picture books, biographies, nature lore) as a family or independent reading
5. Extra for 8th grader
@retrofam she’s only 13(14 in July) but wants to be a pastry chef & own her own business.
As far as college goes, we’re thinking some kind of dual credits through highschool and then culinary school.
I’m not sure I’d put her in the struggling learner category, but she struggles because she doesn’t want to learn. She is NOT the kid who loves school by any means! LOL Once she decides to learn something however, there is no stopping her and she picks it up quickly.
@wings2fly I’m not sure I really have a plan for high school!!! I just want to be sure we hit all the requirements for graduation. (insert panic here)
I thought about doing general science or biology through Apologia next year with all 3 kids, BUT can I count that for my 6th grader or will he have to do it again or similar in a few years for high school? Also, as stated above, they really don’t want to do Apologia again.
I do like the schedule layout you gave though.
I would have your 8th grader do biology for highschool credit. When she gets to Chemistry, Friendly Chemistry has kitchen labs.
Whatever you decide to use for your 8th grader, you want it to be independent work. She needs to take on the responsibility of getting her work done timely and to the best of her ability, even if it is uninteresting or she doesn’t feel like doing it. For high school, more of her work will be independent of the family work because it should be at a higher level. So you want her to be prepared for that. You might also have to help her in learning to take notes, study for a test, and how to take a test with short answers and essay questions (which she may not have done in a CM education).
Apologia General Science and Physical Science texts are written to the student and have labs and tests. These can be used for 8th or 9th grade. Depending on your high school plans, she could work through a high school program over two years for 8th and 9th grade for 2-3 days per week, along with the family science you have in mind to do together the other days. It is my understanding that the high school credit for high school level work is given in the year the coursework is completed.
The 101 dvd sets are high school level, though not so much college prep. You can print the pdf pages for worksheets and tests and lab work for your 8th grader/high schooler.
Also, I do think you have a good idea to add in some videos, nature study, field trips, and living books to make science more interesting for her. We have also used knex science kits for bridges and simple machines that were fun. They also have a DNA knex model for biology. But for high school and college, she will need to know how to study independently from a textbook and do lab work with a lab notebook on her own (which also prepares for keeping good records in owning your own business – quite an experiment in itself!).
Check on the science requirements for the culinary school and then work backwards to see what she needs for high school. Then see what she needs in 8th grade to prepare for the high school work. I think nature study and science field trips should still be a part of their high school science – maybe one day per week. It keeps their interest up and they make connections from book learning to creation. The time outdoors helps calm those teenage emotions, too. 🙂
@wings2fly Yes, I was just talking to my husband about how we watched a free 30 min video from curiositystream on how animals see and she was so into it. I only wanted to watch a few minutes to see what the videos were like and she insisted on the whole thing. Later I found that she had gone out to dinner with her biodad and told him all kinds of things she learned about the different eyes in the animals and how they work.
So, maybe video series is the way to go.
That’s great! It is so exciting to see them get excited about learning. So now you know that videos should be a component of your science plans. Just be sure to balance that with helping her be prepared for the work ahead.
Have you looked at Answers In Genesis site?
I tried some of the Middle School Science books and they worked for us.
Here are the links:
Upper Grades: https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/gods-design-science-curriculum-2016/?sku=13-1-071 (this link just shows the full selection, so you can pick and choose at the bottom of their page)
Younger Grades: https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/gods-design-beginners-life-complete-set/?sku=13-1-069
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