How is this different from the Physical Science topic?

Physical Science covers a broader mix of matter, energy and chemical change. Physics Basics stays with motion, forces, Newton's laws, energy transfer and simple machines, and goes further into calculation and graph work in those areas.

My child can plug numbers into the speed formula but freezes on word problems. Can this help?

Yes - that gap is usually about identifying which quantity is which in a sentence, not about arithmetic. Sessions spend time on pulling the given values out of a problem, deciding what is being asked, and choosing the equation before any numbers are used.

Does this cover the physics needed for 8th grade science tests?

It covers the motion, force and energy content that appears in most middle school curricula, including graph interpretation and Newton's laws. Evelyn is not affiliated with any exam board, so it is worth checking your school's specific unit list.

Are there experiments or is it all discussion?

Sessions are spoken, so they focus on reasoning through scenarios and calculations. Evelyn can suggest simple things to try at home - timing a toy car down a ramp, or a paperclip pendulum - and then discuss the results in the next session.

Physics Basics

Middle School (6-8) · Science

Physics Basics for grades 6-8 is about describing and predicting motion: how fast something moves, what makes it speed up or change direction, and how forces and energy transfer between objects. Sessions work through speed and acceleration calculations, force diagrams, Newton's three laws, and the kinetic-potential energy trade-off, using everyday examples like a ball rolling down a ramp, a car braking, or a book resting on a table. Evelyn talks through problems out loud with the student, asking them to predict what happens before doing the arithmetic, then checking whether the prediction matched.

Start a session on Physics Basics

What this covers

Calculating speed, average speed and acceleration from distance and time, and keeping units straight (m/s, km/h, m/sance-time and speed-time graphs)
Reading and sketching distance-time and speed-time graphs, including what a flat line versus a steep line means
Identifying the forces acting on an object, drawing simple force arrows, and finding the net force when forces act along the same line
Applying Newton's three laws to familiar situations: seatbelts, a rocket, a tug-of-war, walking on ice
Tracing energy changes between gravitational potential, kinetic and thermal energy for pendulums, ramps and falling objects
Working with simple machines - levers, pulleys, inclined planes - and why they change the force needed but not the work done

Where learners get stuck

Believing a moving object must have a force pushing it forward: Everyday experience always includes friction, so things do stop when you stop pushing. Students generalise this into 'motion needs force' rather than 'changing motion needs force', which then breaks Newton's first law.
Treating speed and acceleration as the same idea: Both are described casually as 'fast' in ordinary speech. A student will say a car at a steady 100 km/h is 'accelerating a lot' because the number is big, missing that acceleration is about how quickly the speed changes.
Thinking heavier objects always fall faster, or that the action-reaction pair acts on the same object: Air resistance makes feathers genuinely fall slowly, confirming the wrong rule. For Newton's third law, students pair the two forces on one object and then conclude nothing can ever move, because they haven't separated 'forces on the box' from 'forces the box exerts'.

What a session looks like

A typical 25-45 minute session starts with a quick check of a prior idea - say, defining net force - then moves into one situation examined in depth, such as a skateboarder rolling to a stop. Evelyn asks the student to name the forces, predict the motion, then set up the calculation, prompting rather than supplying the next step. Numbers are kept small enough to handle mentally or on paper so attention stays on the physics. Sessions usually close with the student explaining one law or relationship back in their own words.

Helpful to know first

Comfort with multiplication, division and decimals, since speed and acceleration are calculated by dividing
Ability to rearrange a simple equation such as d = v x t to solve for a different variable, or willingness to practise this
Reading points off a basic line graph and describing whether a line is rising, falling or flat
Familiarity with metric units of length and time

Questions

How is this different from the Physical Science topic?: Physical Science covers a broader mix of matter, energy and chemical change. Physics Basics stays with motion, forces, Newton's laws, energy transfer and simple machines, and goes further into calculation and graph work in those areas.
My child can plug numbers into the speed formula but freezes on word problems. Can this help?: Yes - that gap is usually about identifying which quantity is which in a sentence, not about arithmetic. Sessions spend time on pulling the given values out of a problem, deciding what is being asked, and choosing the equation before any numbers are used.
Does this cover the physics needed for 8th grade science tests?: It covers the motion, force and energy content that appears in most middle school curricula, including graph interpretation and Newton's laws. Evelyn is not affiliated with any exam board, so it is worth checking your school's specific unit list.
Are there experiments or is it all discussion?: Sessions are spoken, so they focus on reasoning through scenarios and calculations. Evelyn can suggest simple things to try at home - timing a toy car down a ramp, or a paperclip pendulum - and then discuss the results in the next session.