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leanne maree
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| Posted: Aug 28 2010 at 1:51am | IP Logged
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Hi all,
I am asking for some advice about choosing a Science program.
We have been using Apologia in the earlier grades and now my DD12 is ready to use there General Science, but I am reconsidering ( I have bought the complete General science package),
I was thinking maybe the CHC science curriculum.
could I have some help ladies.
Leanne
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Leanne
Loving wife to Dermot and Adoring mother to Louise, Kristie, Kieran & Brid
http://leannemaree.blogspot.com/
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Babs
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| Posted: Sept 02 2010 at 2:35pm | IP Logged
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Bumping as I would be interested in hearing suggestions also - for DS12.
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Erin
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Leanne
I have been using our first science program the last couple of years (Singapore Science) which whilst it is good is also very much a text book. After years of a CM education it is completely different for my teens and not the best fit, for some more than others it is not working.
The children have discovered they like text books if they are living text books, such as John Hudson Tiner's books (Young Earth viewpoint) but these are very hard to find.
Have you read Jen and Theresa's plans for science? Very doable. Xavier (13) has just finished his dreaded text for the year (yah!) and I've decided to create his own program. I'll either use the Board of Studies syllabuses for ideas or just use the table of contents in the text book for ideas and branch out from there.
Currently for the rest of this term he has designed his own science project. Xavier is very keen on nature, his plan is to take 30 pictures of various mammals and birds, and present these pictures with a mini fact file on each bird/animal. So far he has managed to capture photos of; kangaroos, a wallaby, magpies, butcher bird, and wood ducks. 30 may be too ambitious unless he enlarges his project to include insects.
I'm sorry I can't say, "use this, it is wonderful" it just doesn't appear that simple for me at least.
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leanne maree
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| Posted: Sept 02 2010 at 7:36pm | IP Logged
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Thank you Ladies,
I am still open to your thoughts. Thanks for those who have expressed theres so far. Very valuable
Erin, I have looked at the john Hudson Tiner's books, and I liked some of what I saw.
I then began questioning using Apologia, particularly in the high school years. )And I know this has been explored in a whole different thread)
I have seen the CHC curriculum and I was after some input about it.
I was wondering, have i missed a good Catholic Curriculum.?
I suppose that tightens up the enquiry,
Leanne 
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Leanne
Loving wife to Dermot and Adoring mother to Louise, Kristie, Kieran & Brid
http://leannemaree.blogspot.com/
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ALmom
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| Posted: Sept 04 2010 at 3:48pm | IP Logged
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What is covered in general science?
By the time we figured out what to do with youngers in science, I had high schoolers trying to do science. I went through the highschooler's text and then purchased science kits for those topics. I found textbooks either too agenda driven or too disorganized. I liked Behold and See but we did it with very young children - reading and then interspersing with plenty of hands on. I've never seen anything for older children but heard they were developing something.
I would also recommend the series: Growing up With Science and a variety of enticing, real books around but this is not a textbook General Science type thing in terms of what a classroom science class would look like.
I am not sure yet which courses Mr. Baruzzini has finished but my highschooler and I are really liking his Biology. I know he has an Astronomy course. I find it makes more sense to focus on something more deeply rather than try to do a sweeping survey of everything.
With my youngers, the more hands on, the more they could dig into it in practical ways, the better. We followed interests somewhat, and did a whole lot in applied science and technology figuring out how things worked. So we investigated motion, electricity, sound, waves and how a plane works (so you touch on lift, and so forth. We also studied plenty of simple machines - they made a bunch, too. We also covered quite a bit of chemistry and earth science. Also, gardening led into an investigation into topics in botany. We hope to round out with some investigation into other life science this year while my oldest takes Biology. Oh and somewhere in there we did some investigation into rockets, rocket propellants (I did not make this one up or design a curriculum - only discoverd it was already part of the curriculum when ds told me things while watching a movie about Homer Hickum  ) Somehow this also led into astronomy and we pulled out the telescope and some books we had around and NASA pictures. Somewhere in there, they investigated the weapons of different wars - science behind how they worked which lead to trying to experiment with ballasts on a homemade submarine. We have a book on animal tracks and .... I do not plan science for my youngers, really I don't. I simply order books in areas of gap or interest - often picking them up cheaply.
From all my desperate science posts, you will know that I am not a scienc person so take what I say with a large grain of salt - BUT the only people who have liked science and excelled in it in my house have been the folks who have explored real, hands on type things. I have texts around and they tend to use those to look things up if they need or want to. Now, what I don't know is whether or not things would have worked in my house without the particular passion of one child?
Honestly, I looked everywhere for a solid, Catholic presentation of science or even an unbiased, cover the basics science to provide a foundation. Things were either unbelievably biased or disorganized and hard to follow. If you find something, please share it.
I am waiting to purchase the book form of Mr Baruzzini's blog about life science for younger children. You might check out and see if there are any books he is selling that might fit your bill. Personally, that is your best hope other than a make your own.
Janet
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Aagot
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Have you looked at NOEO Science?
http://www.noeoscience.com/
Aagot
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mom2mpr
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I used NOEO Biology 2(adding in Bio 1 experiments) this past year for ds who is 12 and dd who is a young, maturity wise, 7. Both enjoyed it and I did occasionally get lower level books to read to dd from the library about different topics. She LOVED the Usborne quicklinks to videos and games. I do think they both learned a lot and we did have fun.
They give you heads ups in the Teacher Guide about things you might want to review before doing it with your child-creation and "life" science stuff--and I appreciated that.
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Teachin'Mine2
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I wish I had known about Apologia years ago. We started last year with physical science and have found their texts to be excellent. JMO
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amarytbc
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I like the CHC Life Science if that is what you are referring to. It's ugly with crowded pages and is dry and generally disappointing to look at, but it is a quick and efficient study that lends itself to collections, sketching and outside reading if desired (we don't in with junior high science). We didn't like Apologia General Science because it was too wordy. I use a Classical Approach with the book, so they begin a lesson by making flash cards to memorize the words in bold print. Great preparation for high school and college science where a lot of memory work is necessary. After reading the lesson, I have the child add the diagrams to their science lesson book and pictures of collections that they make when suggested in the lesson. Some lessons offer suggestions for experiments, but with most of my children we skipped those and they spent the extra time playing mindless computer games. Nyet, just wanted to see if you read this far. Usually by that age my children have done enough experiments, so junior high is more of a time for filling in conceptual gaps and teaching them how to study more challenging material in high school. You can check out samples of the Life Science on Seton's site. Mary Daly's book that CHC sells are excellent for critical thinking and discussions. Depending on the child I use it when covering Life Science in junior high or Biology in high school.
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leanne maree
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| Posted: Sept 12 2010 at 10:27pm | IP Logged
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Thank you ladies, your input in greatly appreciated.
I am enjoying your posts
leanne
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Leanne
Loving wife to Dermot and Adoring mother to Louise, Kristie, Kieran & Brid
http://leannemaree.blogspot.com/
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leanne maree
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| Posted: Sept 15 2010 at 9:57pm | IP Logged
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We are looking very seriously at what CHC offers, particularly the universe in our hands. DD is 12 is this a good fit for her age ???
And also life science looks like it may fit us as well.
We will be spicing up with living books as well.
??? any further suggestions
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Leanne
Loving wife to Dermot and Adoring mother to Louise, Kristie, Kieran & Brid
http://leannemaree.blogspot.com/
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Help with Science program
