Science for 7th grader using ctc?

[Kindra]

Do I need to use a different science rather than what is suggested for Creation to Christ? My daughter will be in 7th grade. Usually apologia land animals is recommended for elementary. Thanks!

[Tidbits of Learning]

For us, I would just make sure we were covering the science required in our state for middle school. That is b/c our middle school line up is 6th-physical science, 7th-life science, and 8th earth science in our state. My then 6th grader did use CTC's Land Animals and I did feel it was quite well done. We didn't add anything to it at all. Mine did transfer to a charter school for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades after using CTC. The middle school science that they jumped into was much more advanced and demanding so I would recommend looking into what the science looks like for your area and making sure during your child's middle school years that you are covering the necessary sequence and level of difficulty. I did find out here that physical science is not taken again in high school. 9th grade is meant to be Biology with Labs, 10th grade is meant to be Chemistry with Labs, 11th and 12th are meant to pursue Physics, Biology 2, or a science that interests you like Marine Biology. My dd that did CTC for 6th then jumped into the charter school missed the physical science year and so she is having to do Physical Science as a high schooler which is not the norm here. We did enjoy the science in CTC but it was not comparable to the level of difficulty of the middle school science needed to jump to Biology in 9th grade. So what I saw was that a shift has been made in middle school science to include Physical Science at a high school level of study prior to high school. Earth Science and Life Science were not covered as intensely in middle school science as the Physical Science was definitely more of a high school level study.
If I were hitting the guides at a different pace (and I will be with ds11) like you will be hitting CTC in 7th, then my goal would may be to do Apologia's General Science for 7th with their new notebooking journal that goes with it. Following in 8th grade, Apologia's Physical Science with their new notebooking journal (using now with dd's and I love it). That would be what I would do in your situation.

[Gwenny]

I would do the science in CtC as is and you could do Carrie's suggestion of using the Biology 101 Dvds. There might be some other biology type books you could add in, but I probably wouldn't. I don't pay any attention to what they are doing in the public school. I know that through the years we might not be doing the same subject as what they are doing, but we are learning many things are home that I don't think they do--we might miss a few topics that they go over, but I'm not interested so much in covering information as I am in building the skills of learning and the love and they can fill in the information along the way. I've learned so much as I've gotten older. I don't remember things I learned in junior high. I think Carrie gets everything covered in her guides.
Just another thought...

[LynnH]

I guess it depends on your reason for using CTC with a 7th grader. If it is to combine with a younger child and they are at a higher level academically then I might add something to the science in CTC. The apologia book is only used 1/2 the year so you do go through it at a faster pace then is typical for those books. Do you plan on using Rev to Rev and MTMM for 9th and 10th grade? If you have any plans to skip a guide then you could use the science from the guide you plan on skipping. If you are using CTC because that is where they place on the placement chart then I would use the science as scheduled in CTC.

[Kindra]

Hi thank you for all the suggestions! I did want to reply that my 7th grader would not be sharing with a younger sibling. My main reason for wanting her to do CTC was to study that time period of history. So that's why I was wondering if I should do something different for science ...she is a strong reader so she could probably handle more but I'm also ok with not adding more since we are already strapped for time. She is my oldest so she helps a lot with my one year old and we also have a 4 year old girl with severe developmental delays that are undiagnosed. She keeps is very busy. I don't usually go for a boxed curriculum because it seems like we always like part of it and other parts we don't like . But I feel like at this stage in our lives I need everything planned for us due to time! So I still need to decide on if CTC is rigorous enough for my 7th grader.. Especially science. Thanks!!!

[Tidbits of Learning]

My girls really enjoyed the Land Animals when we did it for 5th/6th and they enjoyed the science in HOD. My middle dd who is 12 now scored off the charts on science in testing while we were at charter school so I know it prepared her well.

[4froggies]

I would go ahead with the scheduled CTC science, give it several weeks at least, and then decide if you need to supplement. The Apologia elementary series was written for Grades K-6, but that is assuming that the parent is reading to the student. Having the student read it independently, IMO, raises the level of difficulty. There is a lot of information in the Land Animals book that I don't know as an adult!! The same goes for the other scheduled books- they are not twaddle- they are interesting, informative books, even for an adult to read.

As a mom of one just finishing her first year of high school (homeschooled) I think the most important things we can do to prepare our kids for high school level science is

- have them read well-written material independently and for good understanding
-have them be proficient at completing labs (experiments), including gathering materials independently, writing about what they have done and learned through the lab, and cleaning up afterwords independently.

These are all skills that will serve a highschooler well in science, imho. And these are all skills that HOD does a great job at including in their guides, including CTC. Hope this helps!