Middle School Science

Homeschool Review Crew

We struggle with science in our homeschool.  It’s not a subject I enjoy teaching for some reason.  I was excited to be on this review though because I knew this would make teaching middle school Science fun and relatively easy.  Exploring Creation with General Science, 3rd Edition from Apologia is our newest review.  It teaches middle school science focusing on creation from a Biblical worldview.  We received the textbook, one student notebook, and the tests/solutions packet. 

About the Curriculum

This curriculum was created with 7th graders in mind.  It’s made to allow a smooth transition from elementary to high school gearing them into learning more towards taking the ACT and using different areas of their brains.  I did find with my two who are going into a specific curriculum this year that there really is a lack of curriculum that does this easing them into high school.  It’s like you have the easy stuff and then boom you’re expected to rise to the challenge of high school with no preparation.

Within this curriculum, you’re going to find subjects such as astronomy, meteorology, oceanography, earth study, geology, paleontology, and environmental science.  So a vast array of topics.  But don’t worry, Apologia is our favorite science curriculum because they know how to cover things well in a short amount of time, but also because they approach all subjects from a Biblical viewpoint.

The Textbook

A textbook is vital.  This cannot be skipped over.  We have a physical one which can be shared among students as they each have their own workbook to use. 

There is going to be daily readings from the textbook and most of your information is going to come straight from this.  Also within the textbooks are dig deeper type sections, extra thoughts, and questions to help them map out and summarize/review what they’re learning.  I love this!

Student Workbook

The student workbook covers a lot of ground. It has the daily lesson plans,  daily detailed assignment schedule, pages for notes, On Your Own questions, various pages for notes and record-keeping on experiments, and Creation Connection Pages.

Creation Connection pages are unique and something I think is very neat.  It allows your child to record their reflections on their intellectual, emotional, and spiritual thoughts regarding the activities.  Way to make them dig down and think deeper! 

I love that they’re responsible for their own assignments.  It tells them what they need to do and then they need to do it.  It’s not just me saying okay today we’re doing x, y, z.  This is them being responsible for their own stuff.  Definitely a big step!

Tests and Solutions

This section is really self-explanatory.  You have the tests.  They take the tests.  You have the solutions.  And then you grade the tests.  They give you helpful hints and tips for grading and how to assign grades.  Which is nice for me since I tend to wonder about whether I’m grading things appropriately or not. 

Additional resources

There are additional resources available from Apologia to enhance this curriculum.  Those are the audiobook and audio download on MP3.  Both provide the textbook being read in a recording.  This is great if you have an auditory learner and don’t want to read the book out loud to them. Both the CD and MP3 are currently available on the Apologia site.  

The last resource is a video lesson set.  This comes on a thumb drive.  Basically, it’s the author, who is also a marine biologist, teaching the lessons and doing the experiments.  Lots of extra stuff that you’re not going to get in your home like on location videos, etc.  It’s a supplement though and definitely not needed to use the curriculum but something that will enhance the learning of your children.

I would like to purchase the video lesson set some time as I think that would be wonderful to have to go with the curriculum to free me up a bit as “teacher”.  With a large family sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day to physically teach and make sure your children are learning all they should so I’ve been turning to some videos at a time to teach subjects for me with some of the older children. 

I am using this new middle school Science curriculum with my two junior high girls.  One is 14 and one will be 13 in a few weeks.  I bought a second student notebook so they can work through together.  Another thing to buy per student, which I did purchase, is the test booklets.  We’re doing a bit of a unique plan with this due to their uniqueness.

So.  Here’s my uniqueness coming through!

How We’re Using

I am designating time for each child to read through the textbook on their own.  Then we gather the three of us together.  I go over what they’re supposed to have read.  Basically, I paraphrase all that they’ve read and chat about it with them for a bit. We talk about the dig deeper and the on your owns.  

Then they each do their notebooks.  For this part, we separate.

They don’t look at each others’ books, but if I stop to chat with one about a question they don’t understand the other will write what I chat with the first about without thinking up their own answer.  So this just works better for us and takes that temptation away.  

Note.  The above is the textbook.  It has a study guide at the end of each module to help go over what they should be learning.  I have them do this and answer on a separate piece of paper.  Then we go over the answers together and I ask them why they chose which one.  It helps me understand why they might have gotten it wrong which then helps me to clear up their thinking to help them get the right answer. 

Experiments are done together. Mainly because I’m not an experiment type of person.  They’re not my thing.  I don’t enjoy doing them.  So I help them do them together.  Some experiments are better with a partner anyway and it’s always fun to have someone to chat about them with.

My other children normally watch the experiments too.  I tell them they aren’t supposed to help so technically they’re not doing the experiments but they are getting to watch and glean which is nice. 

Tests are done in different spaces.  We do them at the same time so they can’t chat about what is on it before both have taken their tests.  For example,  one might sit at the table while another sits at a desk in a different room.  Our house is pretty small but we have managed to put desks in two of the bedrooms so that really helps me for this type of thing. 

Middle School Science Grades

Okay.  So my almost 13-year-old is being assigned to 7th grade this year.  Next year she will do a second middle school year.  I’ll find a different science for her next year.  Currently, I’m looking at the Apologia Physical Science set that is geared to middle school.  It’s a second edition so I’m not sure it’s been updated to be quite as focused on the high school transition, but it seems the logical choice.  

My 14-year-old will go into high school next year so this will be her formal junior high science class.  Next year she will use an appropriate freshman science curriculum.  It can be overwhelming sometimes making sure you get the right choices!  I really love the on your own sections of the textbook for her.  They really help her get some of the concepts. 

Apologia is great science.  I have loved using it and we will be finishing up this curriculum.  We have used other products from Apologia before and can’t say enough good things.  I love that it can be tweaked and adjusted for special needs.  

Both of the girls using this middle school science curriculum have RAD which affects their attention span and how they learn.  This is why I sometimes do things a little differently or add other things to curriculums to make sure they’re getting the key points.  For this curriculum it means us having our chat session every day to make sure they’re understanding and getting the key points.

I have been following the lesson plan apologia sets out and we’re using this four days a week.  Day five is for use when there is something we need to dig deeper on so that they understand it.  I want to make sure they feel ready for the tests and also I want to make sure they really are understanding and getting this foundation built.  

My Thoughts

We loved Apologia for elementary years.  I really didn’t think it could get better.  This middle school science curriculum is amazing though!  It challenges in different ways than the elementary curriculum while still allowing them to have some breathing space.  We have not used their high school curriculum yet so I can’t speak to how it compares.

I love that they teach how to take good notes through suggestions of what might help and what they might need to recall. This is going to be a skill they need for high school and beyond for sure.  It’s a key skill even for adults sometimes.

So in summary, we love Apologia, we recommend Apologia, and we’re very grateful that we have access to their books for our schooling.  They’ve saved my kid’s science wise because we know if left to my own devices they’d be super proficient on nature walks and not very proficient at anything else.  

Learn More

Learn more about Apologia and their newest curriculum, Exploring Creation with General Science, 3rd Edition, by reading all of the Crew reviews that are linked up on the Main Blog Post over on the Crew blog.  We’re all reviewing the same curriculum for middle school Science so I’m sure you’ll find many different thoughts and viewpoints.  You can also find more about Apologia by visiting them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.