My son wants to be homeschooled - for valid reasons - and I am looking for a good onloine Grade 8 science course for him. Any suggestions?

I don't know of any pre-fab online science courses per se; most science instruction in schools is moving away from pure textbook approaches (one source only) towards more "hands-on" approaches focusing on experimentation and design processes. The online learning resources I've encountered have been just that: tools to draw upon to teach concepts, not fully designed courses for a child to read/work their way through.

It seems to me that if you are going to be responsible for your son's homeschooling your first step is to check out what the topics are that he needs to be learning about in your home state, province or country. Most Departments of Education are posting these online nowadays. Then, to "prime the pump" with some basic information, you could take out a membership with Brainpop.com.

For the planning of some actual learning activities you could look at a resource like Curriculum Navigator at the site listed below. It helps you to plan lesson and unit activities that frequently come with some support materials that are only a click away. Once again, I don't know whether this resource will match up with what your son needs for where you are living.

1. Create an account at:
http://www3.edu.gov.mb.ca/cn/login.jsp

then

2. Click on Create Learning Experiences.

It's pretty straightforward from there on in.

Once again, your government's department of education or local school district is your most accurate resource for what your child should be learning and how they could be learning it.

Good Luck!
Let me know how it goes.

Hi there! Kept thinking about your problem and did some looking. Came up with some more info.

Found the following recommended websites in the homeschooling discussion area. (You might want to check in with people there who are used to dealing with this subject.)

http://www.sonlight.com/by-level.html

http://www.k12.com

The first one is a christian based program that seems to have programming geared to what I assume is your child's age range (12-14); it just seems a little difficult to nail down a clear grade level. The site seemed to be set up in a quite Byzantine manner, so I wasn't able to figure out whether it was set up to take just one subect at that level or whether you need to sign on for the whole program.

The second site (a secular one) was set up very clearly. However after being very clearly labeled Kindergarten to grade five, the science options are just generally labelled by broad categories:Earth Science , Life Science and Physical Science. Their recommendation for grade 8 is essentially "choose one".

I gathered from scanning your other questions that you are based in Ontario. I hadn't been clear on your location when I had first responded to your question. If you are anywhere in Canada, the Curriculum Navigator topics for grade eight science should be applicable.

Wishing you great luck,
Still hoping to hear how it goes.

Hi there!
More information.

Check out http://www.connectionsacadamy.com . They seem to have a very clear grade eight course option.

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