Thank you so much for your offer. I may take you up on it. I presented my class at our meeting tonight. It will be 2 or 3 weeks before I know if parents want the Apologia curriculum "as is" or are wanting more (and willing to pay more for lab supplies.) Cost seems to be a big deciding factor with this group.

I understand. I didn't realize the two things were that different. I do have a place at co-op to store lab equipment so it doesn't need to be transported back and forth.

I haven't had any parents ask me for honors specifically. There is one parent who was not satisfied with Apologia but she is okay with it if I use a more complete lab with the Apologia curriculum. That is what I am trying to do as it seems like a good compromise. I am not aware of an honors requirement for health profession students but I haven't looked into it either. When I was in college as a pre-vet major(20 some years ago), honors was not required (although that is what I took in high school.)

Thank you to everyone who has replied. It is helpful. I wish I had posted this thread earlier as I had to commit to using Apologia at our meeting tonight. I presented the idea of doing a more involved lab and the parents will vote on what they want. I may be coming up with my own "beefed up" lab if the Illustrated Guide doesn't end up working.

Can you tell me why you don't think the Illustrated Guide would work? I was looking at this which is a smaller set of select labs from the Illustrated Guide. Do the experiments just take too long? I will take a look at the other book you recommended too. Thank you for your input.

I am new to this forum but I found a wonderful post by Dicentra that has sent my head spinning as I prepare for next year. I have volunteered to teach chemistry for my co-op. In the past, Exploring Creation with Chemistry was used. I have one mom who would like me to use a different curriculum so I am trying to see what is feasible for our group. My concern...I have 30 weeks to teach the course with only one class per week that is 2 hours long. The students will be expected to work at home (of course) but what can I reasonably accomplish with this time restriction? I have looked at the Illustrated Guide as a possibility for labs but how much time do most of those labs take? The Apologia is workable with our time frame although 30 weeks is a little short even for that one. I looked at this site https://sites.google.com/site/letsnotburnthehousedown/home for lesson plans and, based on another thread, decided I could stop after Chapter 15 in Zumdahl if I wanted just a regular Chem course rather than honors but I am wondering how much lab and class time are needed with this lesson plan. I'm not sure we have enough time. Bottom line: I would love recommendations for my class. I would like to teach a chemistry class that is solid enough for college-bound kids but not honors level. It seems like we have many students who are headed into health professions. Thank you so much for any help you can give me! Deb