Science: Ages 12 - 14
The Rainbow
Author: Dr. Durell Dobbins
Publisher: Beginnings Publishing House
For more information or to order: www.beginningspublishing.com

Let's face it, for most of us, the older our children get the more intimidating subjects like science become.  The middle school years in particular is a time when our students are desiring more independence in their learning, yet we know they still need guidance and oversight.  The Rainbow meets the needs of both students and moms, by providing a delightfully written, solid science program that fosters independence and requires very little prep time or previous knowledge from the parent.

A homeschool dad, who also happens to hold several science degrees, including a Ph.D. in Microbial Ecology, created The Rainbow.  Written from a decidedly Christian perspective, The Rainbow is a two-year course covering, (in order) physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science.  Each year's program is designed to take 32 weeks, allowing for flexibility in scheduling.  The first year covers physics and chemistry; the second year focuses primarily on biology with 10 weeks devoted to  earth science.  The suggested plan of study is two reading days followed by a third day dedicated to lab work. 

We were so excited to receive the complete program, including lab kits, for both years of instruction.  As we unpacked the boxes my sons and I were amazed at the amount and quality of both durable and consumable materials provided.  If you have found yourself frustrated at "never getting to the hands-on part of your curriculum", you won't have that problem with The Rainbow!  The complete program consists of a softbound student textbook to be used over two years, a teacher's manual (appropriately called the Teacher's Helper - but more on that in a bit!), home lab books - one for each year, and ALL of the required lab materials.  I emphasize ALL, because, other than a gallon of distilled water, everything else is included and labeled in the lab kits. 

The Rainbow's textbook is colorful and extremely well written.  The author uses a conversational tone and colorful, sometimes wacky, illustrations to guide the reader toward understanding.  The lessons are short, usually only two pages and conclude with a few "exercises" - questions to be answered orally or in writing.  I am impressed with way Dr. Dobbins has taken material that would fill several pages in another text, and condensed it to such an understandable and brief lesson.  Please understand that, although the lessons are extremely readable for junior high kids, the topics are not watered down and the material remains sufficiently challenging for the student.  In fact, I believe the biology section covered in Year Two, could be considered for high school credit.  Those students pursuing a career that reliesheavily on the study of life sciences would need a more rigorous, advanced biology course sometime before high school graduation.  Based on my experience, I think the ideal time to start The Rainbow is in 7th grade.

You may be reading this review and wondering, "But, how much time do I have to spend teaching this program?"  The answer is, "Very little!"  I mentioned before the teachers manual, titled "Teacher's Helper".  This is perhaps my favorite part of the whole program.  It allows mom to understand what their child should be learning and discuss the material with them, without having to read the entire lesson themselves.  This format allows the student to have the independence they crave at this age, while allowing you to provide just the right amount of guidance.  On the days your student has been reading from their textbook, you will find a brief outline of the lesson's purpose, an explanation of the concepts covered and clearly written concise answers to the questions in the "exercises" section.  By the way, I really like the term "exercises" because these questions are not just fill-in-the-blank, but rather they require the student to use critical thinking and provide a way for you (and your child) to show that they have understood the concept(s) instead of just memorizing facts.  In other words, the questions require the student to "exercise" their brain!  On laboratory days, the author provides a brief explanation of what your child did in the lab, what should have happened, (this helps you be sure the experiment went as planned) the "why" behind the experiment and, of course, answers for any questions posed in the book.

After two days of reading lessons in the textbook, it is time for hands-on learning.  On this day your student will turn to their coil-bound Home Laboratory workbook, find the lab that corresponds to their textbook lessons, and then follow the author's clear, step-by-step instructions for carrying out their experiments.  As a busy homeschool mom, it is thrilling for me to watch my son gather his supplies, conduct his lab and then follow the final instruction from Dr. Dobbins, "Please clean up after yourself."  Also, because each of the four areas of science covered in The Rainbow are color-coded, and with the system of study (read two days, lab on the third), your student will be able to move through the program with little or no scheduling on your part.  There is no doubt that purchasing the lab kits from the author does increase the cost of the program significantly.  Although you could conceivably find and purchase the materials used in the labs, you will save yourself a ton of time and money by purchasing the kits.  There are two sets of supplies for each year, one consists of durable items that can be reused, another smaller kit contains items that can not be reused, such as stickers, items to be dissected, pre-measured substances, etc.  Of course, when you are ready to use the program with another child, you will only need to purchase the consumable lab kit and a lab workbook.  The lab kits and workbooks can be purchased separately at the beginning of each of the two years, thus cutting down on the initial monetary outlay.

As part of the packaging for The Rainbow, the author provides a paper titled "Parent Fortification".  This paper seeks to aid the parent in understanding the author's position regarding faith in God and how it relates to the study of science.  He also reminds us that our students can study all of science and still remain steadfast in their faith.  When speaking of this program and its slogan "True Science", Dr. Dobbins explains, "If this is True Science, it's because it yields to the scriptures in every respect."  While yielding to scripture as it speaks directly to matters of science, Dr. Dobbins also believes that we must not overstep our bounds where it does not clearly speak.  Therefore, he uses a cautious tone when addressing various controversial issues such as evolution and the age of the earth.  He reminds us that none of us were there to observe these beginnings and various scientific theories of both creationists and secular scientists have been disproven over and over again.  An example of how Dr. Dobbins handles certain topics is found in the introduction to the Biology section of the textbook, which states, "In this text we will attempt to teach the general theory of evolution because a good education in the sciences requires it.  We present it as a theory - a working model into which scientific data are fitted - but which we ourselves do not accept." (page 136)

The Rainbow is truly an excellent science course for junior high students.  Its clear teaching, conversational tone and ease of use make it a dream curriculum for both children and their parents.  I give it my highest recommendation! 

Making the grade: A++
Cost: $254 for Year 1 (Two-year text, Lab workbook, all supplies for Year 1), $143 for Year 2 (Lab workbook, all supplies for Yr. 2)
Value for your homeschool dollar: 10