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Hi all,

Our plan A for next year's science has fallen through. My son will be a high school freshman and needs his first year of science. We could do Biology, but I'm interested in doing something more in keeping with the spirit of RTR, since that is the guide he will be using. Since that guide uses Earth Science I would like to try to work with this. Our long range plan looks good for sciences with labs, so this is not a priority. My boys have all really liked the HOD method of science. What are some ideas for beefing it up?

I ran across these threads for starters, but I would like some other ideas:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7240
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6595#p48200

If we can pull this together our high school science plan will be:
Freshman: Earth Science
Sophomore: Biology w/ lab
Junior: Chemistry w/ lab
Senior: Physics w/ lab

I might be totally off in left field here. The links you had share some wonderful ideas of how to beef up the science in RTR for High School. If you are looking for something else, then here is an idea. What about having your ds read more about some of the great scientists that are studied? I'm thinking perhaps reading more about Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton. If possible perhaps reading translations of their original works, On Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres by Copernicus, Epitome of Copernican Astronomy & Harmonies of the World by Kepler, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo, The Principia by Newton. I'm sure all of those would be way too much and the reading level might still be a bit much for a freshman, but they might be worth a look. I haven't read any of these yet, but since I started reading Exploring the World of Physics and some of John Hudson Tiner's other books, I have been wanting to delve deeper and read some of the original works by some of these scientists. It's just a thought if you are looking for a way to study the same people but take it up a level.

Florence,

Another possibility would be to do the Physical Science Advanced Kit from Revival to Revolution as that would fit within the high school credit with lab and wouldn't require any beefing up. You could just do the Advanced Kit without the inventors' study, if you didn't want to purchase the Revival to Revolution guide (since you'll already be doing RTR). Or, you could do the whole inventors study with the kit, if you didn't mind purchasing the Rev2Rev guide. Anyway, just a thought that would require less beefing up.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie,

Thank you for that idea! My stumbling block is he is doing physical science at present as an 8th grader, so I'm thinking that physical science is probably not the best direction for him next year. Or is the advanced physical science kit a real step-up from 8th grade (apologia) physical science?

Florence,

I agree that if your son is doing Apologia Physical Science, then another year of physical science is likely not needed. I tend to lean toward either physical science, or integrated chemistry and physics, or biology for the freshman year of high school, as these are the most typical science routes for freshman.

Beefing up Earth Science gets a bit more tricky, as I haven't looked into that enough to give a good recommendation. Patty gave some great suggestions about making the Earth Science more high school level by reading some of the scientists' original works. Depending on which works you had your son read, this would definitely be one way to do it!

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie,

I'm "remembering" that your oldest is doing integrated chemistry and physics this year. I love the look of the pacworks books by Tiner. And you'll be doing a biology course next year. What science courses are on the radar for his junior and senior year? I'm trying to figure our what our options are, if we do biology or integrated chemistry and physics as a freshman course.

Florence,

For my oldest son, our plan at this point is to do pacworks Biology for his sophomore year, along with Castle Heights labs. I will likely also use pacworks Anatomy and Physiology too in that same year, which will allow me to give a full credit for Bio. and then .5 of a credit for anatomy and physiology. Plus, with the labwork, it will be a lab science.

My son has thoroughly enjoyed the pacworks Integrated Physics and Chemistry this year. I had him do it along with Exploration Education's Advanced Physical Science lab for the lab part (doing only days 4-5 of the labs each week along with the Integrated Physics and Chemistry on days 1-3, as he'd already done the EE Standard Version before which encompassed days 1-3 each week when he did it during a previous school year).

We'll likely plan on Chemistry for his junior year (leaning in the Rainbow Science direction right now for that) and Physics his senior year (leaning in the Kinetic Books and virtual lab direction for that right now). Of course, our plans for our oldest are subject to change as we research more, and what my oldest son uses isn't always what ends up in our curriculum as he is our poor test child!

Blessings,
Carrie