7a-science options

[Mom2mthj]

There are no MP plans for earth science that I am aware of. We approximately followed the pacing on the CD.

[tanya]

We don't have Earth science plans yet. We don't do it at HLS in Louisville, but I will be in Indy for teacher training on Thurs. and I'll see if Cindy Davis has used it at HLS there. Maybe she can help us out.

Tanya

[Cindy in Indy]

So far, the Earth Science teacher at HLS-Indy has not shared his lesson plans. Perhaps Tanya will be able to persuade him to do so when she is with us this week.

[Beorn]

So far, the Earth Science teacher at HLS-Indy has not shared his lesson plans. Perhaps Tanya will be able to persuade him to do so when she is with us this week.

I have a feeling that tanya will work her curricula guru magic / art of persuasion and win the day.

[tanya]

Beorn,

I am on it! I will go "Far over the misty mountains cold, To dungeons deep and caverns old ... to find [y]our long-forgotten" earth science plans.

Tanya

[Beorn]

Beorn,

I am on it! I will go "Far over the misty mountains cold, To dungeons deep and caverns old ... to find [y]our long-forgotten" earth science plans.

Tanya

We're just trying to make it through our first day of Kindergarten over here. But yes, I love the quote. See you do love The Hobbit. And I'll see you in about seven years about those Earth Science lessons.

[Fireweed Prep]

I'm super glad to see that there is already a "flow chart" for those wanting their kids on a more advanced science track. Love when I don't have to reinvent the wheel!

[jejegreer]

This post is really interesting. I have been sincerely struggling with what to do for school this year because so much of what you do in 7th and 8th grade determines what your child can do in high school. The college that my oldest wants to attend requires a minimum of 4 years of high school level science with lab. There is just no way to throw a 9th grader to the wolves, so to speak, without having done any lab science work before. I am still leaning towards doing Apologia General Science, but now I am definitely going to research the Novare option as well.

[Mary]

Well, I feel terrible!

I was working on Earth Science lesson plans awhile back and then didn't finish. (I got to week 16) My issue is that I can't beta test them on my kids because we are so topsy-turvy with illness and medical travel that I have taken to teaching both Earth and Physical Science a little differently. We start in the late summer, to give plenty of time, and we also work on some Saturdays and during some holiday breaks. This means we take more than the prescribed 30-something weeks to complete a book. If you need a scapegoat, you can go ahead and use me...though I am SURE HLS Indy has ES lesson plans!

Novare does include a schedule for both courses on the resource CD, which you could certainly use. I found that it did sometimes cram an awful lot of information in a short time. We found breaking it down a bit helped, as did removing a chapter or two. For example, we moved climate change to the summertime, as well as one other (I'm spacing it right now - my coffee has failed me).

I absolutely LOVE Novare science and the kids really know their stuff. Because it is a mastery approach and any information learned in previous chapters is fair game, my kids are motivated to make their flashcards and constantly review major concepts. I also like that Mr. Mays uses enough of a narrative approach to make the subject engaging while still maintaining a very solid textbook full of good information without being overwhelmed with fact bubbles and other unnecessary distractions.

We have also used the labs associated with these texts (purchased from Home Science Tools) and have found them to be very straightforward and not overwhelming for the homeschool parent. Because cost and comfort level can be issues, we do not complete every experiment. I went through and read each experiment offered in the texts, weighing the cost of the materials, my comfort with the kids conducting each one in my kitchen, and the odds this would come in handy for future science classes, and chose accordingly.

We treat science the same way we treat literature and history - we round robin read and discuss material before the kids go off to do their homework. I happen to really enjoy science, so this works for us. If you have a student who will be working more independently, be sure to sit down with him/her and go over the expectations before that first quiz comes along. Answers are all expected in full sentences (unless noted) and there are no multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank options - they are all short-answer or essay questions. The kids need to know their definitions and explanations! This was a bit of a shock to my kids at first, but now it's totally fine.

I hope this was helpful to someone out there in cyberspace.

[JodiSue]

Also, if it helps anyone, MPOA offers an Earth Science class and they state in the course description they only cover chapters 1-2, 4-7, and 12-14. The chapters they omit are more due to subject matter rather than time, but I thought it might be helpful info for anyone trying to fit the text into a traditional school year. (disclaimer, I'm just going by the course description; this is what my 7th grader will be taking this year, so I don't have any personal experience with it).