AO Year 9 Science

We are so sorry, but a full version of the new science for AO Year 9 isn't going to be ready for a debut when we had hoped. We have hit a few glitches. However, do not despair, we have some ideas for you! (Links for the suggested resources are on our website) 

Option 1:
While a full new science for AO year 9 would be ideal, sometimes we have to settle for 'good enough.' We formerly recommended Apologia, and using a standard biology text this year is still a viable option. Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology, CK-12 (which is free for Kindle) are two choices. Using a biology text and doing the labs is a traditional school approach which is 'good enough.'

Option 2: Help us by providing feedback on Year 9's science and reviewing other science books:
Illustrated Guide to Home Biology by Thompson: For a more living science approach, plan to use a standard biology text along with The Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments and spread it out over the next four years. On the Illustrated Guide to Home Biology website, the authors have kindly provided a key matching up experiments to the corresponding pages in several popular biology texts, including Apologia, CK-12, and Bob Jones:
"The lab sessions in Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments are easy to coordinate with the lecture material in any standard homeschool biology text, including the two texts we recommend, Miller and Levine Biology and CK-12 Biology."
Miller and Levine Biology correlation (pdf)
CK-12 Biology correlation (pdf)
Biology, 4th edition (Bob Jones University Press) correlation
Exploring Creation with Biology, 2nd edition (Apologia) correlation" (pdf)

You, the parent, will definitely want to read the introduction to the Illustrated Guide to Home Biology, and happily if you go to Amazon and read the free sample provided, the intro is included (if you have younger children, say, years 7-8 especially, you should read the intro in the free sample as well. It will help you overall).

Other books:
Signs and Seasons by Jay Ryan - continue from previous years, Ch 6-Epilogue, and do the observations.
Great Astronomers by R.S. Ball - continue from previous years, reading the chapters on Flamsteed and Laplace where they fit historically.
The Microbe Hunters, by Paul de Kruif only the chapter on Spallanzani this year where he fits historically.

Body by Design: An Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Body by Alan L. Gillen we suggest scheduling this for Term 1.

First Studies of Plant Life, by George Francis Atkinson - Continue from last year (pages and experiments to be announced)

Longitude by Dava Sobel - assign as Geography; we suggest term one. There is also a movie which some of us have enjoyed. We don't ordinarily recommend movies, but the upper years can be hard and crunched for time.

The Periodic Kingdom by P.W. Atkins
Reactions: The Private Life of Atoms by Peter Atkins - If you want a Lite year, just use The Periodic Kingdom. Key experiments to the material in these books (see below).

The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry by Thompson, with experiments matched to topics in the chapters of the Atkins books OR Chemistry for the Logic Stage. Link These books may or may not be in our final line-up later, but if they are, Chemistry for the Logic Stage would probably be used just for Year 9, as a transitional book, and the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry would be spread out over at least 2 of the higher years.

Optional: The Biology Coloring Book by Robert Griffin and Cinthea Vadala
Gray's Anatomy Coloring Book by Freddy Stark

Keeping a lab book for high school science is truly not optional. See the free foreword samples provided at Amazon for the Home Biology and Home Chemistry books for more information on lab-books for science.

If we use Illustrated Home Chemistry, for most students we would plan the following experiments (and corresponding chapters in a basic chemistry text) over 2-4 years
Illustrated home chemistry:

separating mixtures
solubility and solutions
colligative properties of solutions
intro to chemical reactions and stoichiometry
reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions
acid-base chemistry
chemical kinetics
chemical equilibrium and le chatelier's principle
gas chemistry
thermochemistry and calorimetry
electrochemistry
photochemistry
colloids and suspensions
qualitative analysis
quantitative analysis
synthesis of useful compounds
forensic chemistry

Your young scholars who want an AP course, or are interested in science fields will want to do more.

Those using the Illustrated Home Biology book for this year will want to do these 15 experiments (and read the corresponding chapters in a text):

building and observing microcosms
observing succession in aquarium microcosms
observing the effects of pollution on microcosms
acids, bases, and buffers
carbohydrates and lipids
proteins, enzymes, and vitamins
coacervates
extracting, isolating, and visualizing dna
build a gel electrophoresis apparatus
simulated dna separation by gel electrophoresis
chlorophyll and photosynthesis
investigating osmosis
investigating cell division
sampling plant populations in a community
observing the effect of rhizobia on plant growth
air pollution testing
soil and water pollution testing
exploring mendelian genetics
observing specialized eukaryotic cells
preparing culturing media
culturing bacteria
investigating bacterial antibiotic sensitivity
investigating protista
investigating fungi
investigating simple plants: mosses and ferns
investigating seed plants
investigating porifera and cnidaria
investigating platyhelminthes, nematoda, and annelida
investigating arthropods
investigating vertebrate tissues

If you are working with us on testing year 9's living science program, we would be spreading the above labs over 3 or 4 years, recommending additional labs for those who want AP science or are interested in science fields.

We regret a settled year 9 is not ready for release, but we have an invitation which may also help. We need to test the above year, as well as read and preview some other books for consideration. We invite those willing to use the above living science program this year and test it out together, asking questions, sharing ideas, problems you discover, offering support, suggestions, advice and so on. We could also use a few people who would not be using year 9, but are willing to help us preview books and offer suggestions in a private subforum. If you are part of a curriculum creation team for another curriculum, please understand that is a conflict of interest. We'd love to hear your ideas about a great science book, but we'd prefer you shared them here in the open area of the forum.

If you would be interested, please let us know you would like to join us in a private forum for this purpose, and explain why ('I'm testing year 9 with my students; I love science and AO and want to help and I have time to read and review. . .' 'I have a degree in a science field and want to help. . .' ).

This will be a working group. Our purpose is to support members trying out year 9's science and to build the living science program for AO, so we will be periodically removing inactive members from the private science group. We understand (believe me, we really understand) that sometimes real life means we cannot complete what we wanted to complete, so if something urgent arises that prevents your participation, we will understand and lift you and your family up in prayer during one of our Advisory prayer meetings.

Thanks for reading!

This page can be accessed on our website at http://www.amblesideonline.org/Year9Science.shtml

Everyone needs to hear this! Lynn Bruce made us all laugh and cry as she talked about the heart of AO. Get your copy fast, while the price is low, or if you come by later, it's worth the cost.

Would you like to hear Karen Glass talk about narration and synthetic thinking? Come get her talk from the TX conference! AO's birthday month is over, but we'll say that the jubilee year continues. Plus, we just have a tradition now. The download will cost $.99 for the first 24 hours after release, and then the price will go up.

We're going out of order and offering Anne White's plenary next in honor of a big event: Minds More Awake, one of Anne's books, is a year old! And remember? July is AO's birthday month. So, this weekend we have two deals for you: the Kindle version of Anne's book is free and her talk is available for $.99.