Science question...would this work?

[lovemythree]

I know we have some time before we have to decide, but I'm never content until I've weighed all my options! If we were to place our dd11 into CTC next fall, would it be okay not to use the science scheduled and do Apologia astronomy (along with the Apologia notebook) instead? Or is there a connection between the other subjects that would affect science? I know that it is scheduled the following year in RTR, but our co-op is using Astronomy next year and my daughter is there weekly and it would just make sense to use it rather than something else. There is a possibility we will go with RTR anyway, but if we don't, I'm wondering if this route would pose any problems besides the obvious (having already done astronomy when we get to RTR). Any opinions would be appreciated! Thanks!

[chillin'inandover]

My brief response-I would leave CTC science as it is since the HOD curriculum ties history and science together. I would still do Astronomy in the co op too! The HOD CTC plans are 4 days per week so dc's 5th day would be co op day. My ds did Apologia Astronomy in his co op when he did Preparing but he will do it again in RTR because it will have been 3 years. He will have more maturity to understand at a different level when he is 11 than the first time through when he was only 8.
Also HOD science has 4 different activities each week with one activity per day, 1.Notebook page 2. Oral Narration 3 5 Questions 4 Lab experiment after each day's assignment of reading. The Apologia is only 14 weeks in a row and then it is off to the next book. You may want the RTR guide to see what HOD has for Astronomy but I wouldn't buy the notebook pages because they aren't necessary. HOD makes the Apologia real fun, students make their own notebook pages, and there are cool experiments that are successful.
If you started with CTC and then went on to RTR you could substitute Astronomy for Option #2. The directions for what to do for option #2 are in the appendix. You would still do option #1 as sceduled but just substitute Option #2 for Astronomy.

[my3sons]

I agree with chillin'andover - good thoughts there! I would use the science in CTC and do the co-op science as the fifth day. That should work well! CTC's history and science topics do correspond whenever possible, which my ds really enjoyed when we did CTC. For example, when we read about Rome in history, Wyatt learned about Galen in science (he was a doctor in the Roman empire). He also learned a lot of skills by doing CTC's science that helped him in other subject areas. For example, each week he did an oral narration on his science reading, which improved his LA skills or orally narrating. This also improved his science vocabulary immensely - using scientific terms while orally narrating really cements those words in dc's minds. He also wrote answers to five questions that were based on his science readings. This taught him many LA skills - writing well formulated complete sentences based on information from the book. One of the five questions was always something to do with Biblical application, so this had him using his Bible as a science resource as well. I liked this pointing back to the Lord as the Creator of all, and of making a conscious connection between God's greatness and science. The questions also included scientific terms, which also led to an increase of scientific words in my ds's daily working vocabulary. Notebooking once each week taught him a ton of skills - drawing, labeling, categorizing, organizing, copywork, balanced layout of ideas on blank paper, etc. The process for doing the science lab sheet really began to teach my ds to THINK like a scientist. The whole question - guess (hypothesis) - procedure (experiment) - conclusion - pretty powerful stuff. Some of our favorite memories of the science in CTC are the special themed booklets my ds got to make. His animal tracks booklet, the bird sketches booklet, and the plant sketches booklet turned out so neat. They also began to make my ds more aware of nature around him - he started looking for animal tracks and trying to identify them in the snow, hung a bird feeder on our tree outside our window and tried to identify the birds that came to feed there, and tried to find the constellations in the sky out his window at night. I wonder if I can find some pics of his CTC science? Let's see... yeah, here's a few lab sheets...


Five questions...


Plant sketches booklet...


Bird sketches booklet...


Tracks booklet...


HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

[lovemythree]

Thanks ladies, and thanks Julie for the pics! I wasn't sure how intertwined the science and history were, so your responses are very helpful.
Lindsay

[my3sons]

Glad to help!
In Christ,
Julie