Science scope and sequence

[Tarheel Heather]

I will have a 6th grader in the fall, and I have been trying to plan out general goals for middle and high school. I have never been a planner but am seeing that I need to, and having something to follow and some goals that we need go by. As for science, I was looking at Apologia.

6th/7th general
8th biology
9th chem
10th physics
11th advanced bio
12 advanced chem

Is this okay? Does Adv. Physics need to be in there somewhere?

Where do I find out more about credits? I have no idea as far as credits for what.

What else is available for science? Help!

Thanks!

[Cathy]

with science. Math drives science.

How come you skipped Apologia's Physical Science?

You can see their scope and sequence at their home page. Here's one for a college prep:

6th Gen Sci
7th Phys Sci
8th Biology
9th Chemistry
10th Physics
11th Advanced biology, chemistry, or physics
12th Another advanced course like Marine Biology

Having typed that, realize that a student can use Gen Sci and Phys Sci simply as readers, getting comfortable with the topics, and do experiments as desired (add a chem set for a great Christmas present!) In other words, while the student is beefing up efforts in math and perhaps foreign language in middle school, put science on a back burner and bring it forward to "cook" during high school.

You can do Gen Sci anytime in 6th, 7th, or 8th. Same with Physical science. One does not depends upon the other.

Physical Science can count as a high school course if you do all the work.

Each course counts as one credit. One course of study for a student slower in math could be:
9th Physical Science
10th Biology
11th Chemistry
12th Physics

Dr Wile believes that all kids should take the basic three-biology, chemistry, physics--before they can say they don't like science! Most kids should be able to do them.

Credit depends on where you're headed. We did Apologia biology with a different lab book, dissected critters, did microscope work, and completed about 2/3 of the lab book with our first student (now 26). She took biology in college and still did well with lab.

Dr. Wile and Dr Arthur Robinson (of the Robinson Curriculum--a chemist) believe that high school labs aren't very useful. So if you want to streamline, expose student to the coursework (Apologia experiment answers are in the text anyway and often are predictable but fun!) and do some virtual labs and whip through the material in order to get to the advanced courses.

We found that our Calc kid still couldn't jump into Apologia's Advanced Physics book; it presupposes the basic physics book and that takes time to read/think through.

Bottom line: 150 hours of study--text, tests, vocabulary, projects or experiments--equals one course credit. A student can get credit for basic course (w/o lab). A student can also get credit for basic course and ALSO lab (note it in the course description). Completing the book can award credit. (A lot of schools don't complete their books!)

AND REALIZE colleges like to see students with lab work BUT if they can whip through the basic coursework at home, then they can take advanced courses with lab or do cc lab stuff for their transcript.

Hope I didn't confuse you!

Cathy