Science in the junior and senior high school grades

Let me first explain, in this section, what is common in many of the public and private schools. Life Science is often taught in the 7th grade (this includes drug and alcohol, sex, and AIDS education), Earth science is for 8th graders, Introductory Physical Science is sometimes taught to 9th graders, Biology is studied in the 10th with Chemistry in the 11th, and Physics in 12th. Often students who finish these courses early or who are in Running Start are able to take college level courses during their junior and senior years in high school.

My focus changes when the students enter the secondary grade years. First, I will mention when I teach certain courses; then I will discuss how. Life Science is an "elementary" biology course; so I tell parents to cover the sensitive and sometimes controversial topics of drugs, alcohol, sex, and AIDS (which are important issues); but to then go on the Earth Science in 7th grade. Even if 1 ½ years are spent doing a very thorough job in this subject, we are still a year ahead of what the public schools are doing. The student can then begin the Biology course sometime during their 8th grade year. Again, even if we spend 1 ½ years on this subject, we are still on-course with what the students would be learning if attending a public school. Chemistry and Physics can then be taught in the 11th or 12th grades. Some students choose to take the lab science courses in the public high school; and in Washington, schools MUST allow the students to come in as a part-time student. Others study these subjects in the homeschooling environment either on their own, or take a telecourse or a video course. Some homeschooled students re-enter the public high school as a junior so they can take part in a Running Start Program and get a diploma from their high school. Others finish their high school requirements early and go on to college.

I choose to move completely away from the textbook on the junior and senior high school level. I have developed my own earth science and biology programs using the USBORNE Books, the Dorling Kindersley books, videos, reproducibles, and trade books. This has proven to be much more interesting for students than the typical procedure of "read the book, answer the questions, and take the test" mentality that is so prevalent in many schools. Students can really delve into topics and read very interesting materials. Students do research and write a lot in the content areas.