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Guest julieanne

I was just wondering if anyone has used Fascinating Education for chemistry, & what you thought of it? I think it looks interesting, but want to make sure that it would be challenging enough for highschool.

Thanks.

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I was just wondering if anyone has used Fascinating Education for chemistry, & what you thought of it? I think it looks interesting, but want to make sure that it would be challenging enough for highschool.

Thanks.

 

I don't have hands-on knowledge of it - maybe someone who does can chime in?

 

I listed it at the beginning of this thread as "Basic Regular Chemistry".  I chose that designation just based on the course outline and the samples on the website so I could be mistaken and someone else may disagree with me. :)  By "Basic Regular Chemistry", I mean that the course would probably be acceptable on a high school transcript as a science course but it would not be an adequate course for a student who was going into science, engineering, or any health care field.  It would be slightly more difficult than a middle school chemistry course but not as difficult as a standard Regular Chemistry course in high school.

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Guest chemteach

Just wondering if anyone has found materials/textbooks that present chemistry in a more classical approach? By this I mean not the usual high school textbook which tells students what we know, and then has students solve problems.


 


I'm working on developing a text & curriculum that develops chemistry concepts using evidence and logic, and situates the material within a narrative. For example, instead of simply telling students that atoms exist and then describing atoms, the text forces students to go through the process of developing evidence for the existence of atoms. It is how do we know what we know, instead of this is what we know. This approach is very much oriented towards developing conceptual understanding before doing all the skill based work. 


 


Does this sound like something that people would be interested in using to help their kids learn chemistry?


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Just wondering if anyone has found materials/textbooks that present chemistry in a more classical approach? By this I mean not the usual high school textbook which tells students what we know, and then has students solve problems.

 

I'm working on developing a text & curriculum that develops chemistry concepts using evidence and logic, and situates the material within a narrative. For example, instead of simply telling students that atoms exist and then describing atoms, the text forces students to go through the process of developing evidence for the existence of atoms. It is how do we know what we know, instead of this is what we know. This approach is very much oriented towards developing conceptual understanding before doing all the skill based work. 

 

Does this sound like something that people would be interested in using to help their kids learn chemistry?

 

 

None of my kids would have been or are interested in studying chemistry this way, but its a cool idea. It's though, though, since most kids have been taught about atoms from the time they are very young.

 

There is a Conceptual Chemistry out there that does teach Chemistry conceptually, just not developing the evidence. Most of us turn to textbooks for Chemistry, particularly in high school, but it will be interesting to see if you get any takers.

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Just wondering if anyone has found materials/textbooks that present chemistry in a more classical approach? By this I mean not the usual high school textbook which tells students what we know, and then has students solve problems.

 

I'm working on developing a text & curriculum that develops chemistry concepts using evidence and logic, and situates the material within a narrative. For example, instead of simply telling students that atoms exist and then describing atoms, the text forces students to go through the process of developing evidence for the existence of atoms. It is how do we know what we know, instead of this is what we know. This approach is very much oriented towards developing conceptual understanding before doing all the skill based work. 

 

Does this sound like something that people would be interested in using to help their kids learn chemistry?

 

 

I'm not strong in science, so I can't even imagine how a high schooler would develop evidence for the existence of atoms and so on. Do you have any specific examples if what the discovery/evidence approach would look like? 

 

My concern would be that it sounds time-consuming, and there is a tremendous amount of material to cover. I don't see it working for a high school course, except for very selective examples. Maybe it would work better as an earlier course, having the discovery, concept based work in middle school to set the stage? 

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Adding this.  I responded to a post on another thread about a Glencoe chem text (Glencoe Chemistry: Matter and Change (2005)) and in Googling, found some online resources to go with it.  I just copied my response on the other thread because I'm lazy. :D  Here it is:

 

I found this site:
Is that the textbook you have?
 
If it is, I'd say that it's probably honours level.  There is mathematical treatment of rates and equilibrium which is usually reserved for honours chem courses.  I couldn't look inside the online student text (needed a password) but the site I linked above does have online quizzes and chapter tests available without a password so I took a look at a few of those.  They weren't the most difficult equilibrium or kinetics problems I've seen but there was mathematical treatment of those topics.
 
The site linked above is great, if you plan on using that text.  In addition to the free online quizzes and chapter tests, it also has online standardized test prep, a free math handbook to prepare students for the math needed in chemistry, and weblinks, "problems of the week", and online activity links for each chapter.  I think I'm going to add all of this to the pinned chem thread. :)  Thanks for the find!
 
Here's a direct link to the PDF for the math handbook, if anyone is interested:
 
ETA:  It's got a vocab puzzle maker, too!  I haven't downloaded it so I don't know if it works but I thought that was kind of neat. :)  Here's the link:
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Hi, I'm new to this forum and mostly a lurker and not a poster.  Anyhow, I was going to make a personal message about Chang Chemistry but I can email anybody until I post at least one post, so here it is!

 

I'm thinking of having Ds do Chang chemistry next year and possibly the AP exam.  He'll be in 10th grade and has done some middle school and elementary chem.   The math is no problem as he will be taking Calculus (and I have a PhD in theoretical math).  Anyhow, I'm looking for lots of support material as I'm not a chemist.  I've found Tang's website and the Quality Science Labs microchem kit, I've got the teachers annotated 9th edition, and can get the student guides, and various AP chem videos.  What I'd like is assessment material.  I'd rather not make my own.  Any suggestions?

 

Thanks, 

Lea

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What I'd like is assessment material.  I'd rather not make my own.  Any suggestions?

 

Welcome, Lea.

 

You might consider picking up a (not the latest edition thus inexpensive) copy of another AP level Chemistry text and an accompanying solutions manual.  You could probably compose your own tests/quizzes from the problems in the other text.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Stopping in to update. My boys, 9th & 11th grade, have diligently worked through Zumdahl's World of Chemistry. My college aged daughter has been taken Chem I & II at the same time (Thank you, Jesus!).Boys have (gulped) enjoyed the text and found the Great Courses dvd's a huge help. They've utilized some YouTube videos when further explanation was needed and sister wasn't home. Labs, however, have been a bit disappointing. Quality Science Labs Microchem kit was simply too small to observe real results. 

 

Looking ahead to Physics and Biology......

 

Shalom,

Teresa

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Guest Evelyn

Looking for chemistry class for my bright, performing arts, rising junior.  Considering community college but have know idea about the quality, difficulty, or level of engagement. Main reason for is for ease (get it done) and labs all taken care-of and VALIDATION for transcripts. (She'll be applying to selective schools.) She isn't thrilled about CC. 

 

Anyone with experience on CC chemistry? Do students even get to do a lot of labs?   Since I'm involved with my daughter's AP English and Honors US History, I'd rather not be dealing with chemistry experiments.  So the homeschool class would need to be very self-directed.

 

Finally, does anyone have knowledge of how these home study courses are received by the college admissions of selective schools?

 

Thanks.

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Looking for chemistry class for my bright, performing arts, rising junior.  Considering community college but have know idea about the quality, difficulty, or level of engagement. Main reason for is for ease (get it done) and labs all taken care-of and VALIDATION for transcripts. (She'll be applying to selective schools.) She isn't thrilled about CC. 

 

Anyone with experience on CC chemistry? Do students even get to do a lot of labs?   Since I'm involved with my daughter's AP English and Honors US History, I'd rather not be dealing with chemistry experiments.  So the homeschool class would need to be very self-directed.

 

Finally, does anyone have knowledge of how these home study courses are received by the college admissions of selective schools?

 

Thanks.

If you are looking at CC chemistry check http://www.ratemyprofessors.com

 

A local homeschool group is offering a chemistry course near me this fall and a friend thought I might be interested since she knew Ds needed chemistry this year.  After checking reviews there is no way I would register Ds for her class.  She is a teacher at our local Cc and gets very bad reviews.  I have not had good experiences at the particular co-op, so my guard is up whenever they are providing a class anyway.  I'm probably going to send him about 30 mins north of me to a much better teacher who has taught at one of our state universities.  I've looked at all of her labs and the student notebooks and Ds and I met her and we both like her.  I'd suggest scheduling a meeting with a prospective teacher if you are looking at a local class for homeschoolers.  Ask a lot of questions to find out the seriousness of the class, what is done with kids who are discipline problems, if the teacher is available for extra help, etc.  With a CC class, I'd ask around to see if any local homeschoolers have recommendations.  I'd also keep in mind the students taking the class, since their experience may be completely different than your Dc's depending on their interests and abilities.  One of the local families I know has great recommendations for CC classes, but I have to remind myself that their kids all have math/science interests and abilities, and my Ds is more a humanities type.  They may have vastly different experiences with the same teacher.

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Looking for chemistry class for my bright, performing arts, rising junior.  Considering community college but have know idea about the quality, difficulty, or level of engagement. Main reason for is for ease (get it done) and labs all taken care-of and VALIDATION for transcripts. (She'll be applying to selective schools.) She isn't thrilled about CC. 

 

Anyone with experience on CC chemistry? Do students even get to do a lot of labs?   Since I'm involved with my daughter's AP English and Honors US History, I'd rather not be dealing with chemistry experiments.  So the homeschool class would need to be very self-directed.

 

Finally, does anyone have knowledge of how these home study courses are received by the college admissions of selective schools?

 

Thanks.

 

CCs vary widely, so you really need to check out your local one specifically.

 

Unfortunately, the same applies for college admissions; it varies from place to place. I do know that I have seen quite a few posts stating that some schools do have a pretty high bar for high school lab sciences. I know that plans can change, but I would check with her current 4-6 top choices specifically. 

 

You also might want to check any local universities. I had no interest in DE at the local CC for my dd, but found out by happenstance that one of the universities also has a program. I'm pretty involved in the local home school community, and I had never heard of this! This school was pretty hostile to home schoolers applying for regular admission just a few short years ago, so I never imagined they would now not only have a DE program, but one that is h/s friendly. 

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Review of CK12 Chemistry:

 

Background:  I have a bachlors in Chemical Engineering and worked as a lab rat in college.

 

As of the current edition, I can not recommend this text.  I am working though the last chapter and I have been frustrated with many errors in the text and answer key.  Since this is a second edition, some material was moved from chapter to chapter but the questions and test were not updated so material in Chapter 14 test was not presented until Chapter 15.  I had to pretake the test to make sure the questions were appropriate and cut and add questions.

 

Several of the linked materials were broken or difficult to get to.  The formatting was not printer friendly.

 

I have a friend who teaches Chemistry from Apologia in a co op so I was able to compare notes with her.  CK 12 covers a number of topics not covered in Apologia.  This can be a disadvantage since covering the whole books can get overwhelming.  My friend deemed several topic too advanced for a high school text.  (She taught high school chemistry before having kids.)

 

If a revised edition and a lesson plan was released, I  would consider this book again.  Unless you have a very strong background in chemistry, this is not the text for you.

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Adding this.  I responded to a post on another thread about a Glencoe chem text (Glencoe Chemistry: Matter and Change (2005)) and in Googling, found some online resources to go with it.  I just copied my response on the other thread because I'm lazy. :D  Here it is:

 

I found this site:
Is that the textbook you have?
 
If it is, I'd say that it's probably honours level.  There is mathematical treatment of rates and equilibrium which is usually reserved for honours chem courses.  I couldn't look inside the online student text (needed a password) but the site I linked above does have online quizzes and chapter tests available without a password so I took a look at a few of those.  They weren't the most difficult equilibrium or kinetics problems I've seen but there was mathematical treatment of those topics.
 
The site linked above is great, if you plan on using that text.  In addition to the free online quizzes and chapter tests, it also has online standardized test prep, a free math handbook to prepare students for the math needed in chemistry, and weblinks, "problems of the week", and online activity links for each chapter.  I think I'm going to add all of this to the pinned chem thread. :)  Thanks for the find!
 
Here's a direct link to the PDF for the math handbook, if anyone is interested:
 
ETA:  It's got a vocab puzzle maker, too!  I haven't downloaded it so I don't know if it works but I thought that was kind of neat. :)  Here's the link:

 

so helpful, esp. the math link for us!

 

thank you!

ann

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Can anyone tell me if there is a Chemistry course for highschool that is like Apologia, but not Apologia? By that I mean with all the colourful pics, the logic questions, the experiments, and the "non-dry" approach .... but without the young earth parts? I love Apologia but my son is asking for an alternative without YEC. So I'm looking for the course that is MOST LIKE Apologia ... if that's possible. 

 

Thanks

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I still don't think there is a full, complete box like Apologia.  I think that's why so many folks go with Apologia even if it doesn't mesh with their worldview - it's just seems so easy to open and go.  If anyone else knows of an open-and-go alternative, I hope they chime in!

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I still don't think there is a full, complete box like Apologia.  I think that's why so many folks go with Apologia even if it doesn't mesh with their worldview - it's just seems so easy to open and go.  If anyone else knows of an open-and-go alternative, I hope they chime in!

 

Spectrum Chemistry is all in one box, with a reasonably colorful textbook and use of informal language.  It is mostly secular, with some Christian bits, but not young earth.  The textbook is mostly open-and-go:  We did end up having to find some youtube supplements here and there towards the end.  The labs need to be read in advance to figure out how long they will take in your schedule -- they vary from an hour to all day.  The kit is "all in a box" -- including things like a pencil to take notes and paper towels to clean up.  Just add (distilled) water.  Email support from the company if you are having problems is very good. 

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I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this course called the Accelerated/Enriched Chemistry Course, by Mark Rosengarten, www.markrosengarten.com. There is an extensive list of free videos and worksheets which he labels honors. You have to purchase the answer key. I am going to have DS watch a few of the videos to see if he likes them and if they are helpful. We would probably use them as a supplement, but depending how worthwhile they seem we may watch more of them and do some of the worksheets, or just skip it as we can't really watch and use all of the huge number of chemistry resources out there. I am curious though if it would be considered a full chemistry course if you added labs.

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I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this course called the Accelerated/Enriched Chemistry Course, by Mark Rosengarten, www.markrosengarten.com. There is an extensive list of free videos and worksheets which he labels honors. You have to purchase the answer key. I am going to have DS watch a few of the videos to see if he likes them and if they are helpful. We would probably use them as a supplement, but depending how worthwhile they seem we may watch more of them and do some of the worksheets, or just skip it as we can't really watch and use all of the huge number of chemistry resources out there. I am curious though if it would be considered a full chemistry course if you added labs.

 

I took a quick peek at the website and his chem packets look good.  I didn't look at the videos.  I think if you could match it up with a lab program, you'd have a pretty good high school chem course.

 

Maybe someone who has used the course can weigh in?

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Connie, what do the Ontario schools use for Chem 11 & 12? Is it the Nelson Chem, as I think is the case in most of western Canada? What do you think of those books, if you are familiar with them?

 

Thanks!

 

(No need to answer if you are busy with Christmas preparations! I can bug you again in the New Year!)

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Connie, what do the Ontario schools use for Chem 11 & 12? Is it the Nelson Chem, as I think is the case in most of western Canada? What do you think of those books, if you are familiar with them?

 

Thanks!

 

(No need to answer if you are busy with Christmas preparations! I can bug you again in the New Year!)

 

Hi ES,

 

Last time I checked, the local high school was still using the Nelson texts.  It's not my favourite text for high school chem but it's also not the worst I've ever seen. :)  I haven't looked at the Trillium List recently but there used to be a text choice on the list that was put out by McGraw-Hill - I think it was just called "Chemistry" (like they all seem to be ;) ).  When the high school first reviewed texts for adoption when the new curriculum came out, my vote was for the McGraw-Hill text but the school decided to go with Nelson since Nelson was what was chosen for the other science courses.

 

If you've got access to a Nelson text, you could give it to your student and ask what he/she thinks of the writing style.  I don't know if Nelson allows homeschooler access to its instructor resources - I'm not sure anyone has ever tried. :)

 

Hope that helps!

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Thank you very much, that does help! I was looking at our provincial curriculum documents and not seeing any of the books listed earlier in this thread--and just wondering how the Nelson book on our approved list might compare. If you had thought it blew everything else out of the water, then I would have just bought that.

 

It sounds like it's time to try to track down some cheap copies of a few different things and just see what we like the best. I've also been thinking of having a look at the IB Chem books, and maybe the IGCSE/A level ones as well, so lots to look at!

 

Thanks again--and merry Christmas, too!

 

Emerald

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I am intrigued by Chemistry for Accelerated Students by John D. Mays (Novare Science and Math).  "It is designed for honors students who are taking Algebra II simultaneously." I found it through a mention on the boards, but I haven't seen anyone say that they have used it.

 

There is also General Chemistry (on-level) and lots of support materials for both the honors and the on-level texts.

 

I already bought The Student Lab Report Handbook.  There are no samples of the Chemistry Experiments for High School at Home on the web site, but I emailed the author and he promptly sent me a sample.

 

 

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I am intrigued by Chemistry for Accelerated Students by John D. Mays (Novare Science and Math).  "It is designed for honors students who are taking Algebra II simultaneously." I found it through a mention on the boards, but I haven't seen anyone say that they have used it.

 

There is also General Chemistry (on-level) and lots of support materials for both the honors and the on-level texts.

 

I already bought The Student Lab Report Handbook.  There are no samples of the Chemistry Experiments for High School at Home on the web site, but I emailed the author and he promptly sent me a sample.

We're won't be going into Chemistry for another couple of years, but I was very thankful for this thread!!  Novare Science has also intrigued me.  From the samples, I like the colored pictures and diagrams...that is what a chemistry text should look like. 

 

I'd really be interested as well if others have used it and what they've thought of it.  I think I may have found Novare through one the the Latin schools.  If anything we can somehow ask the parents how it went!!

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I'm starting to think I should just create secular-friendly box kits for the sciences myself. There is no way I would ever use the Apologia kits because we're not YEC (I'm a biologist with a very broad background in several other scientific fields), and I love the curriculum we're using (BFSU), but I know a lot of people really want a class-in-a-box for science. I'll have to put some serious thought into it, but if I decide to do this I would likely start with high school level science because I'm going to need that for DS anyway.

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I'm starting to think I should just create secular-friendly box kits for the sciences myself. There is no way I would ever use the Apologia kits because we're not YEC (I'm a biologist with a very broad background in several other scientific fields), and I love the curriculum we're using (BFSU), but I know a lot of people really want a class-in-a-box for science. I'll have to put some serious thought into it, but if I decide to do this I would likely start with high school level science because I'm going to need that for DS anyway.

 

I've thought about it MANY times, April. :)  What keeps me from going ahead and doing it is the small market share (or, at least, what I think would be a small market share).  I just don't know that I could sell enough copies/boxes to balance out the hundreds of hours I'd probably put into creating it.  Plus, right now, I don't have the time. :D  Maybe once dd is graduated and I'm no longer teaching at the college... ;)

 

I think if someone else wants to give it a go, though, it would be HIGHLY appreciated. :)  Go for it!

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  • 7 months later...

This has been amazingly helpful to me! Thanks for all the hard work, Dicentra, and comments, everyone. My ninth grader has been doing labs alongside the Great Courses DVD lectures, but I knew it was not anywhere near a full course. I've chosen to do Dr. Tang's honors chemistry with the Chang textbook after reading through everything. If anyone has tips for using it, I'd love to hear them!

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Found this.

 

"With significant funding from the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, we have created studio-quality video segments based on Chem 1A, a traditional large-enrollment general chemistry course offered by the College of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.

 

The material is particularly suited to undergraduate science majors and high school students preparing for AP chemistry. High school or community college teachers can also adopt lecture videos or demonstration segments to suit their classroom needs."

 

http://echem1a.cchem.berkeley.edu/

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Just starting to look into this - planning ahead for next year.

I'm really surprised to see the various curriculums and discussion about them being 'christian' or 'YEC' oriented.  How does this even come up in a chem class?  Biology I can see - evolution and all...but chemistry?  

 

Is there really something that appears in the actual thread of the class, or do the theology-influenced texts just have little anecdotes here and there that are only tangentially related to the science?  I am just not seeing how this has any bearing on Chemistry.  What have I missed?

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Just starting to look into this - planning ahead for next year.

I'm really surprised to see the various curriculums and discussion about them being 'christian' or 'YEC' oriented.  How does this even come up in a chem class?  Biology I can see - evolution and all...but chemistry?  

 

Is there really something that appears in the actual thread of the class, or do the theology-influenced texts just have little anecdotes here and there that are only tangentially related to the science?  I am just not seeing how this has any bearing on Chemistry.  What have I missed?

 

This is a quote from my intro post for this thread:

"I thought about leaving out the "Secular/Christian" category - it usually doesn't make much difference in terms of content for chemistry - but I thought folks might like to know anyway so I put it in. When I say "Christian", I'm usually meaning Protestant Christian unless I state otherwise."

 

I think some curriculae are of the anecdote type - brief mentions here and there of "This is how "x" works - isn't it cool God made it this way?" kind of thing.  Some others happen to be from religious publishers but make no mention of religion.  As I stated in the intro post, I included the category because I thought folks would want as much info as possible when making decisions. I included the category in the pinned Homeschool High School Physics thread for the same reason. :)

 

The only topic where a YEC view point would cause real problems would be in a unit on nuclear chemistry and half-lives.  Radiometric dating data would be difficult to reconcile with a young earth, I would think.  That's the only topic I can think of in high school chemistry where there might be an issue.

 

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Just starting to look into this - planning ahead for next year.

I'm really surprised to see the various curriculums and discussion about them being 'christian' or 'YEC' oriented. How does this even come up in a chem class? Biology I can see - evolution and all...but chemistry?

 

In general, a Christian curriculum will see the periodic table as a way to understand God's design for the universe.

 

We used Spectrum chemistry in a secular fashion. A couple examples of the things that were definitely Christian:

 

British Chemists were awesome because they were Christian and knew that God had a design for the world.

 

DNA is too complicated to form without the intervention of a Creator.

 

It also has a bit of conservative politics, mentioning that "global warming is speculative."

 

But, we used the book in a secular fashion. These things were skip-able (or look up a web page with other perspectives) bits and pieces that did not keep us from doing the chemistry part of the book. Balancing chemical equations is balancing chemical equations, etc.

 

However, for some vendors, the authors go out of their way to work the Bible in everywhere and it would not be secular friendly. You just have to get a sample chapter and see.

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It also has a bit of conservative politics, mentioning that "global warming is speculative."

 

Good to know.

 

I think an unsupported stmt of that magnitude would be enough to damage the credibility of a science text for my DC.  Sounds like we'll stick to the secular texts and just avoid the issue.

 

thanks.

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I think an unsupported stmt of that magnitude would be enough to damage the credibility of a science text for my DC. Sounds like we'll stick to the secular texts and just avoid the issue.

.

I chose this curriculum because it has a very do-able number of lessons and a solid, complete lab kit, but my kids got sick of the textbook, and would have preferred a more standard treatment (even the secular content is presented in an informal style).

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Any suggested outlines for General Chemistry: The Essential Concepts by Raymond Chang ?  The comments suggest:

"VERY rigourous honours course, would not suggest attempting to complete the entire text"l

 

I'm not sure what to leave out.

Also, any opinions on taking this concurrently w/ Alg2?  (AoPS for both Alg1 & Alg2, if that matters).

 

This is for a 9th grader.  Needs to be enough to enable AP bio in 10th.  The plan is that he'll take AP Chem in 11th - so he'll see this again - but would like him to go into that w/ a decent background so it's not 100% new.

 

 

 

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I am intrigued by Chemistry for Accelerated Students by John D. Mays (Novare Science and Math).  "It is designed for honors students who are taking Algebra II simultaneously." I found it through a mention on the boards, but I haven't seen anyone say that they have used it.

 

There is also General Chemistry (on-level) and lots of support materials for both the honors and the on-level texts.

 

I already bought The Student Lab Report Handbook.  There are no samples of the Chemistry Experiments for High School at Home on the web site, but I emailed the author and he promptly sent me a sample.

 

Wow! Thanks for mentioning these. I've been muddling around in Chemistry threads for awhile now and this has caught my interest. I'm going to be keeping an ear out for reviews. . .

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Any suggested outlines for General Chemistry: The Essential Concepts by Raymond Chang ?  The comments suggest:

"VERY rigourous honours course, would not suggest attempting to complete the entire text"l

 

I'm not sure what to leave out.

Also, any opinions on taking this concurrently w/ Alg2?  (AoPS for both Alg1 & Alg2, if that matters).

 

This is for a 9th grader.  Needs to be enough to enable AP bio in 10th.  The plan is that he'll take AP Chem in 11th - so he'll see this again - but would like him to go into that w/ a decent background so it's not 100% new.

 

This is a resource that a number of folks have used to give a framework for using the Chang Gen Chem text:

http://www.doctortang.com/Honour%20Chemistry/units.htm

 

The Doctor Tang site also has some worksheets, assignments, practice tests, practice exams, and labs to go along with the text.  It's a fantastic resource.  He also has stuff for other chem courses as well as some math courses.  Here is his main page:

http://www.doctortang.com/index.htm

 

If you look at which chapters are covered by Tang's schedule for the Chang text, they are:

Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.1, 10.2, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.6, 12.7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, & 21.

He doesn't cover the more complicated last half of Chap 10 (hybridization of bonds), Chap 11 (Organic Chem), the middle part of Chap 12 (bonding in solids), Chap 18 (more heavy-duty thermodynamics than the quick intro in Chap 6), Chap 20 (coordination compounds), or Chap 22 (polymers and a bit of biochem).

 

In terms of math skills required for what is covered, the student would need to have good algebra skills (be able to manipulate equations with 3 or more variables and solve for any given variable), know how to calculate simple base 10 logs and anti-logs, set up and solve ratios, work with natural logarithms, and solve a quadratic equation using the quadratic formula.  If the student is OK with those math skills, then his math is fine for using the Chang text for chem.

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I tutored a student in Seton's chemistry course, and the text compared a chemical reaction to the transubstantiation of the bread and wine at mass. 

 

I wish I were kidding. 

 

that makes no sense - not even from a religious prospective.  I thought a central tennet of transubstantiation was that the substence was transformed, but the accidents (meaning everything physically observable) were not.  I'm not religious, but I think if I was I'd object to that on the grounds that it's comparing something sacred, holy, and miraculous to a mechanical process that's mundane and completely quantifiable.  I don't think we (the collective we that is humanity) do ourselves any favors on either the science or theology fronts by insisting that they must convolve on all topics.

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