Supplies for the BOOK – Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments (IMPORTANT NOTE: The CK01A Standard/Honors Home School Chemistry Laboratory Kit is put together by the same author and is very different from the book. In my opinion, it is better than most boxed chemistry sets, but it is not the same as the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments. Buying this set will NOT give you the chemicals or the supplies needed to the book Illustrated Guide.) I’ve been teaching from this book to groups of students in my garage since 2009 and I’ve taken many students completely through the book. Probably the easiest way to buy supplies for this book is to buy the sets put together by Elemental Scientific or at least use these lists as your list of needed supplies. If you go to the Elemental Scientific website and look under chemistry sets, these are listed. I’ll give my comments below. If you already own some of the supplies or chemicals, you can buy everything individually based on these supply lists. I do not know if these sets have been discounted as a set. The Basic Chemical Set ($44) – If you are going to the effort of buying everything else, I’d go ahead and buy the Standard Set as it includes all these chemicals. http://www.elementalscientific.net/store/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=37 The Standard Chemical Set ($77) – Includes all the chemicals in the basic set and many more. This is a great set to get you started. http://www.elementalscientific.net/store/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=34 The Advanced Chemical set ($115) – This set only includes the advanced chemicals. To do labs with these chemical you would need both this set and the standard set of chemicals. You could easily start with the standard set and later purchase this if you want to do more. Some of the more advanced labs are a lot of fun. http://www.elementalscientific.net/store/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=36 Note: These chemical sets are for one student. If you have a second student, you don’t necessarily have to buy ALL of the chemicals again. Some of the chemicals are used in large quantities by one student. For other chemicals, one ounce is enough for many students. Glassware set ($104) – This is a great list, but I would modify it a little. http://www.elementalscientific.net/store/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=38 I would not buy the 100ml or 500ml Erlenmyer flasks. You do need the two 250ml flasks for one lab and then they can be used anytime you need these flasks even if the book calls for a 100ml flask. You never need the 500ml flask for student chemistry – only if you were doing more experiments on a larger scale. I’d not buy the 1ml Mohr’s pipette – just use the 10ml pipette or a graduated cylinder. This is not a critical measurement in any of these labs. I’d leave out the spot plate and just use a watchglass instead. You don’t need capillary tubes for the Illlustrated Guide. I would consider buying six 150 ml beakers rather than just three. You will need the burette (and burette brush) only if you are doing the advanced labs. I do think the titration labs using the burette are great labs. I buy all my glassware from Home Science Tools. I find their prices to be better on glassware and their customer service is way better. I do like the Mohr’s pipette from Elemental Scientific better than HST, but that is the only exception. Hardware Set ($127) – This is a great list, but a few things are missing. Again, if you’ve done any chemistry, you may already have some of these supplies. Personally, I’ve bought everything on this list, but I’ve compared prices between HST and Elemental Scientific. I was also buying for more than one student so that may have influenced my decisions. I LIKE all my hardware bought from Elemental Scientific. http://www.elementalscientific.net/store/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=35 Other things you need (this list is off the top of my head and may not be complete): Goggles, apron, chemical gloves (don’t use basic disposable gloves) Balance Hotplate and/or gas burner (I use both a single portable electric burner from Walmart as well as a Coleman camp stove). An alcohol burner does not get hot enough for all labs. Digital Multimeter – needed to do electrochemistry labs (If you are skipping these labs, then you also don’t need the electrodes and test lead with alligator clips.) Storage bottles for solutions as you mix them up. These can be bottles from around the house, but I have bought a bunch from HST. pH meter – for acid/base labs; you can substitute pH paper but I prefer the pH meter for these labs. Calorimeter (optional) – the book tells how to do the labs with Styrofoam cups or a calorimeter Laser pointer needed for one lab (chp 18) Digital thermometer (optional) – nice to have Acetone Lighter fluid Vinegar (this is 1 M acetic acid) Household ammonia Other various things such as matches, Styrofoam cups, etc. When thinking of how to store chemicals note that glacial acetic acid freezes at 62 degrees F. A Note about Elemental Scientific: I started with the forewarning on the bottom of this page by the author about Elemental Scientific. http://www.homechemlab.com/sources.html I generally buy all my glassware from HST and all my chemicals from Elemental Scientific. I think how they do some of their business is poor, but I like their prices. Elemental Scientific is hard to contact. Years ago, I had no luck contacting them. Over the past two years they have been easy for me to contact. I’m not sure if this means they are improving. The initial order usually takes several weeks. Once it was shipped within a week, always within a month. Usually something is backordered for up to three months. The actual shipping charges are not always the same as what is listed on the website when I check out. The charges may change up or down by about 10% in my experience. It is also a hassle to navigate their website and annoying that I cannot save my cart. Hope this helps in your adventures with chemistry lab.

I also recommend AoPS for what you Re looking for.

My middle school boys know more science than most everyone, and they have never had a text before high school level. I tell them they have to read science of their choosing or else I'll assign something - it's never difficult to get them to choose something sciency to read and they learn much more when following their interests.

I'm interested also.

I also love Art of Problem Solving, but agree that it is not for most students. It teaches proofs as a paragraph explanation style rather than two column proofs that some people are looking for.

I think reading non-fiction is fine. BUT, I also allow my kids to pick books off my shelves or the library shelves and sometimes they want me to read books that are not my favorites. What happens when JR goes to a friend's home and plays with Thomas the Tank Engine trains and then discovers that there are also Thomas books. (or any other senario). My advice is to love him and decide day by day, month by month what is the best for him - you'll figure out what works best in YOUR home for YOUR family and it may or may not look like what others do.

Personally, I'd keep my kids home. That said, it is an important skill to be able to present an arguement and debate. Are they split and told to argue the side assigned or are they told to argue their beliefs?

I wouldn't worry too much about structured learning and the order you are teaching. I would just keep teaching as the opportunity arrives and do lots of play. Build cardboard houses, work puzzles, draw, go outside, read lots of books - teach through whatever you are doing. Don't stop teaching math/reading, but don't worry if is going fast or slow.

It's not designed for a co-op and it's dvd based (also available online), but you might look at Discovering Music. http://www.professorcarol.com/discovering-music/

This kind of thing drives me crazy and you are not unreasonable for not wanting to stop therapy. As a parent, I am fortunate to have good insurance and have never been asked to stop therapy for the reasons given above. There should be ongoing evaluations to determine if he continues to need therapy, but I don't think the insurance company should make the medical decisions. As a physician, I had to deal with this lots as many insurance companies.Sometimes I could call and write letters documenting the need for therapy, but other times I just felt like I was hitting my head on a wall trying to get my patients the services they needed. If I were you I'd keep calling the insurance/doctor and try to get services. As to whether to stop therapy you have to consider the pros and cons both financial and medical and decide what risks you are willing to take.

Some are specific to a group, I don't remember off the top of my head which ones. I love Mystery Disease and it could be done at home or in a group.

I'll second that it is good to stand out. I also am a physician. I took the route of chemical engineering to medical school and my application was "brutally honest". It sure didn't sound like anyone else's application. I got one of two huge scholarships to a class of 200 students and I was told it was because I wasn't just like everyone esle. High school matters for the purpose of doing well in college. College matters a lot. Being yourself and following your passions go a long way in developing you as a person.

I've thought about switching my second to Forester's Algebra. He sometimes works in Forester's when he gets bogged down in AoPS, but so far AoPS is becoming progressively more of a fit for him.

Besides all the basics, like fractions, decimals, percents, be sure she knows exponents, negative numbers, order of operations, and how to handle negative numbers in order of operations.

If you want more info on the Illusatrated Guide to Home Chemistry Labs, I have been teaching from this text since it came out and I've taken a number of students through the text. Feel free to pm me. In some other thread I compared my impressions of the Tang labs to similar labs in Illustrated Guide. I'm not sure how to link it to this thread.

My upcoming 9th grader has asked to continue doing math and physics over the summer. This is because this is his passion. At the moment, however, it looks as if computer programming may take over some of that time. I don't assign him work, but expect him not to waste all his time. I encourage working on a project of passion, or just reading whatever he wants and learning bridge design wtih popsicle sticks, etc. I look for something "worthwhile" to be done with his time, but it certainly doesn't have to be toward making him look better. In the long run, it is molding who he is as a person.

A lot of kids have trouble with the transition to AoPS - often with prealgebra skills of exponents, negative numbers, order of operations. Once you get used to the style of AoPS, I think it doesn't get markedly harder until much later in the book. The challenging problems and sections (marked with a star) are often more difficult, but it sounds like he's off to a great start. I would consider adding Alcumus (the free online learning system). The videos may or may not be helpful at further explaining things - I think it is fine to not do the vidoes if he understands.

Could someone link the FAQ. I'm also hvaing trouble finding them. Thanks.

I use AoPS, but Saxon is one of the few programs that I've seen that doesn't seem to water down the problems. I can't speak to how well it is taught and I know many don't like their style, but it looks like solid math to me. Ultimately, the question is if you student can apply the math to new problems found in other math/science programs.

I agree with the above posters. AoPS is the most rigorous progam I know of, but it is certainly not for everyone. I'd encourage him to do as much math as he's capable, but I'd be careful not to push him in over his head. Does HE love math? Does he want to be challenged? Does he get overly frustrated by a complex problem in which he doesn't obviously see the answer? Alcumus is a great way to see what type of problems AoPS has. You can set it to only give algebra problems or other varieties as well. Saxon is a respectable program. Sometimes it is better not to "fix" what isn't broken. I'd do some exploring on the AoPS site and check out alcumus. Just because someone recommends rigourous, doesn't necessarily mean you are doing your son a disservice sticking with what works (which may be plenty rigourous).

I talked to the local dyslexic center and asked who they referred their complicated patients.

I liked using Excellence in Literature for myself. There are some samples that you can download and try out for free. I like the direction given for going in different directions based on a piece of literature.

Strong algebra skills and understanding how to manipulate units is necessary to do well in chemistry. This would be my main focus in preparing for chemistry.

Mathcounts has lots of problem sets, but also has club resources. I picked and choose my favorite from several years worth of mathcounts stuff and taught a group of kids in co-op a fun math class. At the beginning of the schoolyear, you can sign up with mathcounts and they will send you the resources for free. Many are also available to download off their site.

Thinking Physics as well as many of the other books look great. Amazon is going to like me buying all these books. :closedeyes: Some of the books, I'll have to ask my boys if it sounds good - others I'll just buy and they'll read because they are in they can't ignore a good book. The Physics of Star Trek we just dug out and gave to the boys as they have been watching Star Trek recently. I'll have to take a look at the MIT lecture vidoes. Sounds like something I'd like as well. Keep the ideas coming.