What does it mean to be prepared for high school science?

[LanaTron]

Hi, this is my first time over here...I'm more often on the K-8 boards.

So, is being "prepared" for high school science about concepts or about a skill set? My thinking is this: a student who is pretty good at the skills of reading, thinking, and writing will be able to do high school science just fine, even if that student didn't learn a lot of science concepts in middle school. In other words, if a student has the skills to learn the concepts, he or she will be able to do so in high school.

We have been using My World Science; I teach all four dc together, but I add in higher level reading for my two older kids. My eldest is a reluctant writer, so I haven't pushed much writing in science just yet. I do plan on having him do more sceince related writing in 7th and 8th, though.

I am trying to decide if I can continue to teach all my kids with MWS...are the concepts in a K-5 curriculum enough, if I'm having my ds do reading and writing that are middle school level? Or do I need to find him a middle school science course, or look for something else that I can teach all grades with?

I hope I am being clear...and I truly appreciate any thoughts or ideas!

[Michelle in MO]

high school science and math preparation for high school and college science. You might read those first and check them out.

I'm not familiar with MWS, although I've heard of it. However, for middle school science preparation, I would recommend Bob Jones University's science courses. We did BJU 6 (in 5th grade) and Life Science 7 for 6th grade. I've also heard very good things about BJU's 8th grade Earth Science course. You might try those. They are very thorough.

We used Apologia for 7th grade on up because it was more self-teaching. I doubt if either of my older two girls will go into a science-related field; if they were, I might think differently. However, I think that especially Apologia's Biology and Chemistry included far more thorough instruction than I ever received in high school! (I realize that may not be saying too much---maybe my h.s. wasn't that great!)

The two things I would stress would be math and solid reading skills. I think with those two basic skills in place, your children can go just about anywhere with science. On one of the threads about science, a couple of the moms strongly urge solid math skills. You might read through those threads.

Good luck with your decision!

[8FillTheHeart]

My POV about elementary and middle school science is that it is simply about exposure, creating a love of science, and nurturing observational skills. I don't ever test my kids in science during those yrs until 8th grade and that is about learning study skills, not about learning the science.

[LisaNY]

So, is being "prepared" for high school science about concepts or about a skill set? My thinking is this: a student who is pretty good at the skills of reading, thinking, and writing will be able to do high school science just fine, even if that student didn't learn a lot of science concepts in middle school. In other words, if a student has the skills to learn the concepts, he or she will be able to do so in high school.

That has proven sufficient enough for my dd to get high 90's in ps for 10th and 11th gr. Biology and Chemistry. We did pretty basic science through elmentary/middle school, and did Apologia General and most of Physical. She didn't consider science her strongest subject, so imagine her surprise when she excelled at it in high school. :001_smile:

[LanaTron]

OK, thanks. I had looked for existing threads, but they all seemed about pre-engineering students, so I didn't read them. I'll look again.

[LanaTron]

Sorry, I was trying to reply to Michelle.

[Jean in Wisc]

Some children "fall" into high school science and land on their feet. Others need to have had a "dress rehearsal". LOL!

My eldest did hands-on approach to science through 8th grade--it was a discovery approach and not a study & memorize approach. When she got to the intense high school text that required her to read, memorize, and regurgitate, it was a hard step. My next two had a high school style textbook in junior high so that they could start memorizing terms, learn to study for tests, and learn how to identify the concepts she would need to know. My 2nd one did better in memorizing all the gazillion biology terms because he had already done several of them in his junior high years--having to learn 50 some terms in 2 weeks can be a disaster for some children!

So to me, preparing for high school science means they cover the basic knowledge base for each class they will have in high school. They memorize some of the terms they will need to know. They take tests so that their learning how to take a science test does not show up as part of the high school grade on their transcript. Then when they get to high school, the work is easier and they are going to be able to do the work in less time with more comprehension.

I like to choose the series of science books that I use in high school early so that I can start them in that series in junior high. Then they know exactly what is going to be required of them.

J

[LanaTron]

Ah...that is a good idea, to decide which books we're going to use and figure out what he needs to do now to be ready for that. I'll have to ponder this a bit.