:iagree: :hurray: The gift of struggle. Love it. :)

:D I do understand. I like inventing wheels, too. :) Well, not the ENTIRE content of both texts but probably pretty close. :) That's the plan, anyway. We're using the Kolbe syllabus for bio (sort of - sans the religious content) and I think it leaves out chapters 6, 29, and 33. Dd had already done the equivalent of a Reg Bio Lite in about Grade 5 or 6 so she's seen some of this before. The plan is to revisit it again as AP Bio in a few years. For Tarbuck, we're skipping chapters 14 & 15. We did an integrated science last year. It was mostly physics and chem (with a little earth/space mixed in) because I knew we'd be hitting biology hard this year. I beefed it up with additional chem topics,though, so she'd be prepared for bio this year. So for 9 and 10, we'll be into Grade 11 and 12 stuff. I think for 9 we'll be doing honours chem with the Chang book and probably astronomy with the Chiasson book. For 10, we'll do a really solid alg-based physics. She might do AP Bio in 10, as well - not sure yet. For 11 and 12, we'll focus on AP Chem and Physics. If she wants, I was thinking of putting together an Intro Organic Chem course for an elective in Grade 12. It would go beyond the O-Chem that's in high school or AP Chem. This, of course, is all subject to change. :D Because dual enrollment doesn't exist here in Canda and we also have no high school exit or university entrance exams, it's a little more nerve-wracking to get a homeschooled kid into university. Homeschooling is not nearly as common as it is in the States and many universities seem to look suspiciously on homeschoolers. For the universities that we're looking at, "mom transcripts" are NOT well received and most strongly recommend (i.e. do it or don't expect to get in) that homeschooled students go back to public school for at least for Grade 12 or take some form of distance ed courses for Grade 12 that are accredited by the province. Unfortunately, the accredited distance ed offerings in Ontario are horrible and our local high school offers exactly 2 APs - English Lit and Calc AB. Their standard offerings are... Less than stellar. I worked there. I know. ;) With no standardized exit exams, teachers can basically teach what they wish and, unless administration chooses to look in and actually see what's going on, students can graduate with, for example, Grade 12 Chem on their transcript without knowing a whole lot of chemistry. I remember a student graduating a few years ago who had taken Grade 12 Chem from my colleague. He had given her a final mark of 98%. She took first year chem at university. She failed. She told me after, "I just didn't understand what they were doing." How is that possible?!?!? If a student understood 98% of Grade 12 chem, she should have breezed through intro chem at uni. Sigh... Sorry - deep breath - rant over. What it comes down to, then, is that dd either needs to go back for Grade 12, take Grade 12 through distance ed, or get enough AP scores so that I essentially have all her grade 12 courses covered by APs - so 6 to 8 APs. She can also write the SAT test - some Canadian universities are willing to look at that score. Those are my options for her to go the STEM route to university. I'm not really willing to consider options 1 and 2 unless I have to, so that leaves option 3. Option 3 requires me to be very much "in the box". :) Actually, this wraps back around to a few thoughts I had on "out of the box" education. I think a lot of it depends on where you live (urban vs. rural) and also what country you live in. I can think of one, possibly two, universities in Canada that would accept an out-of-the-box transcript for a STEM bound student. Humanites-bound - maybe a few more. Maybe it's our conservative nature? (I don't mean conservative in the political sense or the socio-economic sense - I just mean "wary of taking risks or chances".) Canadian universities are few and far between - I think there are less than 100 country-wide - and they are very "traditional", if you know what I mean. I wonder if Europe is more like this as well? The States seems to be much more willing to "take a chance" on unconventional students. Gah. I've now lost my train of thought. Hopefully, there's something in all that that makes sense. :)

As a bit of an aside, Ontario has integrated science for Grades 9 and 10. If folks aren't adverse to using Canadian resources :P, here are some links: This is a text for Grade 9 Academic Science (students who are 4-year university-bound take this): http://www.mcgrawhill.ca/school/products/0070726892/on+science+9+academic+student+resource/ There is a table of contents you can peruse and samples of both the text and the student workbook you can check out. Here's a link to buy it at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/ON-Science-9-Leesa-Blake/dp/0070726892/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389885228&sr=8-1&keywords=9780070726895 In Grade 9 Science, there are 4 strands that are each given equal time: Biology - Sustainable Ecosystems Chemistry - Atoms, Elements, and Compounds Earth & Space Science - The Study of the Universe Physics - The Characteristics of Electricity This is a text for Grade 10 Academic Science: http://www.mcgrawhill.ca/school/products/9780070722224/on+science+10+student+edition/ Here are some links to purchase: http://www.alibris.com/search/books/isbn/9780070722224 http://www.biblio.com/9780070722224 The 4 strands in Grade 10 Science are: Biology - Tissues, Organs, and Systems of Living Things Chemistry - Chemical Reactions Earth & Space Science - Climate Change Physics - Light and Geometric Optics Grade 9 and 10 Science are also offered as Applied courses. Those would be for students who are headed to trade schools or two-year college programs. They are more practical and less theoretical. After Grades 9 and 10, students would move on to 11 and 12 sciences. Biology, chemistry, and physics are each offered as a Grade 11 course and then as a Grade 12 course. Grade 11 would be sort of the equivalent of the first half of an honours course and Grade 12 would be the second half. Students in Ontario almost always have more than one science course per year in grades 11 and 12. A STEM bound student would have bio, chem, and physics in Grade 11 and bio, chem, and physics again in Grade 12. They could also take Environmental Science or Geology as electives in Grades 11 or 12. This could mean 4 out of their required 8 courses in a year would be science. It also helps IMMENSELY to keep ALL of the science fresh in the student's mind - right up to when he/she leaves to go to university. Just thought I'd share some of the links. Maybe folks looking for integrated sciences for Grades 9 and 10 don't have to reinvent the wheel after all. :) One of the course I'm teaching this semester at the college is Instructional Methods: Math. We were just discussing this the other day. The term used in the text is "productive struggle". I liked it. :) Productive struggle is always beneficial and I wish more students now-a-days were allowed to experience it instead of having a well-meaning adult "step in front of" the struggle. Non-productive struggle is virtually never beneficial - that's when we need to step in front of the struggle and give some assistance. Just some thoughts for today. Now I need to go back to course prep. ;)

There's the new curriculum guide that Peace Hill Press just came out with to go along with "History of the Ancient World": http://peacehillpress.com/history-geography/study-and-teaching-guide-for-the-history-of-the-ancient-world/ I think they're planning on coming out with study guides for all of the "History of ... World" books eventually. That might be a good high school-level alternative to "The Story of the World". :)

Thanks, Ruth!

BTW, Ruth - do you have a link to your other thread about books to teach writing? Pretty please? :)

:bigear: :)

There are a number of different incarnations of Zumdahl, aren't there? I can't, off the top of my head, remember if "Introductory Chemistry" is the one that's meant to match up with Reg Chem or Honours Chem. The only Zumdahl I own is the one for AP Chem so I'm afraid I can't be of much help. Just wanted to jog the memory of other folks who are more familiar with all the Zumdahl texts and could give more info. :) In general, a student wanting to do the equivalent of a Reg Chem course would need Alg 1. A student wanting to do the equivalent of an Honours Chem course would need (probably) Alg 2 - although depending on the course, the student might be able to get by with Alg 1 and some supplementary math instruction on things like logs, natural logs, etc. when those skills come up for various Honours Chem topics. The student's level of math education may dictate, more than anything else, whether you choose to use a Zumdahl text in Grade 8.

It's currently -5C with a windchill of -11C!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!! I know what you're sayin', swellmomma. Back on Wednesday, the daily highs were finally starting to move up into the -20C range and everyone here was commenting on how warm it felt. I was outside with no mitts or gloves on and it felt fine. It's all relative, man... All relative. ;)

This looks great - thanks, Adam and the ACS! One small caveat - this program and the resources are meant to supplement a teacher's existing curriculum. There isn't enough information in the PDF alone for the student to complete the labs and analysis - the program supposes that there is another source of information for the student (knowledgeable teacher or parent, good text, etc.). I just didn't want anyone to think that it was a stand-alone program and then be disappointed when it didn't work out that way. :)

When hubby got up this morning, the needle on the circular outdoor thermometer had gone past the lowest temp (-40C or -40F - the two scales come together at that point) and had almost gone back around to +50C on the warm side of the thermometer. As I'm preeeeeetty sure it wasn't +50C this morning, either the thermometer is broken or that's how it responds when you fall off the cold side. :D The Environment Canada website said it was -43C this morning - without windchill. Luckily, there usually isn't much wind when it gets that cold. Unluckily, exposed skin freezes in about 5 minutes at that temp. I kind of think one has to be born to it. My husband grew up in western Manitoba and I grew up in Northwestern Ontario - this is just what winter feels like. You just kind of... ignore it after awhile. We don't spend a lot of time outside unless it warms up to around -25C or so - we just go out, feed all the animals, make sure everyone has food, water, and shelter and no one is shivering, and come back in. If you're moving around outside instead of just standing or sitting, it's a lot easier to stay warm. For clothing... You have to accept that - if you want to stay truly warm - fashion can no longer be a consideration. :) You can be fashionable and freeze or you can dress like an arctic explorer and be warm. Never, never cheap out on outerwear. Growing up here, I always remember my mom building in the cost of good quality outerwear into her yearly budget - it's NOT cheap. Warmth also has to trump looks on your house. Sealable plastic over the windows if the house doesn't have at least good quality, double-pane windows. Money probably goes towards a high-end furnace before a kitchen or bathroom gets redone. :) It's supposed to warm up after tonight. Current temp is -33C and -39C with windchill. Tomorrow's high is -10C!!!!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!! Of course the warming trend is bringing an Alberta clipper (or I should say the Alberta clipper is bringing a warming trend) so we'll get a big dump of snow. At -10C, I can be outside with just a fleece jacket on as long as it's not windy. Again - born to it. :) (P.S. Don't get me wrong. The endless days of -40C tend to drain a person. But as Canadians, our national pastime is complaining about the weather. If we didn't have all of this cold to complain about, we'd complain about the snow. Or the lack of snow. Or the wind. Or the lack of wind. You get the picture. ;))

:hurray:

Just bumping again in case anyone is doing the mid-year curriculum panic. :)

How fun! Definitely helmets - I'd say for everyone if you have them and everyone is a first time skater. Go easy and go slow. As GGardner said, something to lean on and push is a good idea - just make sure it's stable and slides well. :) When one first learns to skate, it's a shuffling kind of motion with your feet - like you're walking on really slippery ice. When you gain a little more confidence, you can start to glide a bit - remember to push back and sideways with your skates to push off. If you try to push straight back, it won't work. :) If you have figure skates as opposed to hockey skates, be aware of the toe picks - nothing sends you flying onto your face faster than having your toe picks catch the ice unexpectedly. Wrist injuries are probably more likely than hand or finger injuries. When you fall forward, the instinct is to put your hands out to break your fall. If you have wrist braces like they use for roller blading, you could use those. Sorry - don't mean to be scaring you! Ice skating is wonderful! Have a blast!

We live in the same general climate - the highs for the next few days doesn't go above the -20C range and the lows for the next few nights are all around -40C with any windchill making it even colder. I might be in the minority but I don't find Bogs to be warm at all. They do OK down to around -15C - any colder than that and my feet are freezing. I have some older Sorel boots that I'm not sure they sell anymore - they're called Sorel Glaciers and they're rated to -100C. The company also changed hands around 10 years ago and the Sorel boots they make now are not nearly as well-made and warm as the older ones. My feet have never been cold in my older Sorels but the sole on them must be about 2 to 3 inches thick and the boot liner is around an inch thick and made of themal felt. They must weigh around 5 pounds each - not exactly made for running or moving quickly. :) I don't find Kamiks to be that great either but, again, that might just be me. Baffin boots are quite warm. I think you've already gotten the best advice - make sure ANY boots are on the looser side and wear multiple layers of socks. Make sure they're good quality socks that will wick sweat away from your foot. If your feet get wet from sweating, they'll start to get cold. It really is a science :) - you have to keep your feet warm enough but not so warm they sweat and if they do sweat, you have to make sure to keep the moisture away from your skin. The sock liners are a great idea - I think mine are from MEC (if you're in Canada) but you should be able to find them other places. I've found that most boots advertised as "winter" boots aren't referring to our kinds of winter. :)

Some thoughts from the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=1834 Here's the pertinent bit: It could be that a microwave will not heat up the liquid evenly. This is especially noticeable with some microwave ovens without a turn table. Another thing to notice is that when liquids are heated in a sauce pan and then transferred into a bowl, the outermost edge becomes the colder (probably due to convection of the container (bowl). The opposite is true of microwaved liquids which are always hotter around the edge. So while they seem to be the same temperature initially, the microwaved liquid will cool faster than the coffee pot because the centre of the microwaved liquid being colder; will help cool the edge which is what is felt. Many instructions for microwaved food and liquids will always advise for "standing time". This is to allow for equilibrium. :)

I make my tea either in my insulated tea pot or my thermal carafe and then pour small cups throughout the day. ONLY tea can go in the thermal carafe, though, and DH knows this (he's the coffee drinker). Tea made in carafes that have had coffee in them - EVEN ONCE - is just nasty. Blech. :)

Here's a link to a post in the HS Chem group: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/475939-chemistry-for-afterschoolers/?p=5008077 There might be some suggestions there. :)

Thought I'd share this recipe. It's not fancy but it does have chocolate and peanut butter in it. :) I've seen other versions of this recipe made with corn flakes but I figure if I make it with a mixture of bran flakes and All Bran cereal, at least it's got a fair amount of fibre in it. Plus it's easy. :) 2/3 cup brown sugar (I use the really dark brown Demerara brown sugar) 6 tbsp. corn syrup 4 tbsp. peanut butter 1 tbsp. melted butter 1 tsp. vanilla Combine above ingredients well in a large bowl. Add 4 cups of bran flakes (or 2 cups bran flakes and 2 cups All Bran cereal (yeah – the stuff that looks like little twigs)) and mix well. Press into greased or parchment paper lined 9"x13" pan. Bake at 375F for 5 minutes. Combine 8 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate and 2/3 cup of peanut butter either in a double-boiler or in a microwave safe bowl. Melt together. Pour/spread chocolate and peanut butter mixture over base. Cool overnight in the fridge. Cut into small squares. You can use either smooth or crunchy peanut butter - it doesn't matter. You could use any kind of crunchy base, I suppose - crushed pretzels might be good. I didn't specify how to melt the chocolate and peanut butter 'cause I figured folks would know how to do that but I will add a bit of a warning - DO NOT heat too much! You don't need to heat the mixture until it's completely melted. I only heat it on high in the microwave for about a minute and then take it out and stir it until all the chocolate is melted. If you heat chocolate too long, it will become grainy - bleh. If you're using a double-boiler instead of the microwave, you're on your own - I always had more luck melting chocolate in the microwave than over boiling water. As an added bonus, you could melt a little extra chocolate and peanut butter together and then pour it over ice cream to eat because you have to wait for the squares to cool overnight before you can eat them and OBVIOUSLY one needs something to tide oneself over. :)

Not often. Of course I don't often enter contests or raffles because I figure I never win anyway so maybe it's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. :D I did once win one of those ceramic Christmas trees at a senior's function that I went to with my Grandma when I was around 10 or so. You know - the kind where you put a light bulb in the base and then you put little coloured plastic "light bulbs" or decorations in all the little holes in the tree so the light shines through them? Yeah - one of those. :D I also won a set of 3 large, standing-type decorative finials in pink, yellow, and mint green from Country Sampler magazine once. Except they're kind of ugly and don't really go with the colours in my house. Plus I had to pay shipping costs to Canada so I think I ended up paying about 50 bucks for them in shipping. They're in my basement in a box. On the plus side, they're quite heavy and could come in handy someday as a weapon to clock someone with. :)

Just saw this, SM3! I'll take a shot. :) First thing, though - I'm assuming you meant to say amount of sodium metal, not zinc metal, in the question above otherwise the whole thing makes no sense. ;) I got an answer of 0.318g of sodium metal. Is that what you and ds got? Before you can use the ideal gas law, you have to use Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures. When you collect a gas over water, part of the pressure inside the container is due to water vapour so you have to correct for that. As long as you are measuring your total pressure in the same units as the correction factor you have for water vapour, it's just a simple subtraction. So for your question: 1.00 atm - 0.313 atm = 0.687 atm The reason for the subtraction is because when you use the ideal gas law, the "P" you need is the pressure due to the hydrogen gas alone, not the pressure due to hydrogen gas plus water vapour - hence the need to subtract out the pressure due to water vapour. Once you have the pressure of hydrogen gas alone, you can use the ideal gas law to calculate the moles of hydrogen gas. Make sure that you convert your volume of gas to litres and your temperature to Kelvin. Also make sure you use the correct value of R for your pressure units - in this case, you should be using 0.0821 L*atm/K*mol. Rearrange the ideal gas law, plug in the numbers, and you should get 0.00691 mol of hydrogen gas. Use stoichiometry to determine the moles of Na metal and you should get 0.01382 mol of Na. Convert to a mass using the atomic mass of Na and you should get 0.318 g. (Note: I was playing kind of fast and loose here with sig figs so your answer may be slightly different than mine. :)) Does that help, SM3?

Calculating reaction kinetics and equilibria don't usually show up in Reg Chem so if you're considering a Reg Chem course, then Alg 2 probably isn't needed. As Regentrude pointed out, pH calculation does require a very minimal knowledge of logs but at a very, very superficial level - I routinely give students a 10 minute lesson on how to calculate pH and then how to calculate the inverse (if you have the pH and need the hydrogen ion concentration) and they seem to do fine with that. They don't really understand why they're doing what they're doing but they can still do the calculations. If you're considering Honours Chem or AP Chem, then I would wait until the student has Alg 2. A student will struggle mightily, I would think, with some of the more complicated equilibrium problems if they don't have more advanced algebra skills. Just my thoughts, though. :)

If you could possibly scan in the whole question, I could tell you if their answer is correct or not. :) Without seeing the question, I can tell you that an exponent of 2 would be needed on that term if the compound that it's referring to has a coefficient of 2 in the balanced chemical equation. Does that help?

Agreed, Crimson Wife. I just wanted to make sure that someone didn't see the title of the course on his website and dismiss it out of hand because they thought that it would be too difficult or the equivalent of AP Chem. :)

I like ironing. Yes, really. ETA: I suppose since this is supposed to be an opinion thread, I should change my statement to "I think ironing is fun and relaxing." :)