Choosing chem class--PH, Spectrum, Thinkwell--please advise!

[hoosiermom]

Hi All,

 

I'm new to the forums but have certainly learned a lot. I know chemistry has been discussed a lot and I've read thru many old posts. But I would appreciate any advice you could give me. I'm trying to choose a chem curriculum for my dd for next year (she'll be in 9th). We've hs'ed for 4 yrs and I don't think I've ever had this much trouble choosing a program.

 

Dd is a very science-y, tech type. She did Apologia physical science in 7th and Apologia biology in 8th and made A's fairly easily. We're looking for something other than Apologia for chem. She's finishing Dolciani Alg 1 as an 8th-grader. (I'm a math teacher so we've got the math part of chem covered).

 

I've already purchased The Teaching Company high school chem course as a supplement--I understand that this is more the math part of chem. After much research, I believe these are my three options (in no particular order):

 

1. Spectrum

2. Thinkwell--I would use the chem LabPaq as well; if I understand this program correctly, there's no additional text needed???

3. Prentice Hall (2005)--I would probably purchase the syllabus, answer key, and online access from Kolbe, as well as use the virtual lab CD and the chem LabPaq for hands-on labs

 

Thus far, dd's favorite science curriculum has been RS4K, esp. chem. She basically did Apologia physical science on her own (w/ help from dh for labs). Biology has been in a co-op where basically only labs were done (she did the rest on her own). I took gen chem in college . . . many years ago. . . and don't necessarily have the time to re-take chem w/ her given my other responsibilities, altho I will be available for grading and review.

 

I guess what I'm saying is I need something fairly rigorous in case she continues down the science path, and I need it to be "user-friendly" and not incredibly time-consuming for me. I expect her to take physics in 10th, followed by another chem class (possibly CC) in 11th.

 

Not sure why this decision is stressing me out more so than others. I'm probably way over-thinking this, but I would very much appreciate advice and pros/cons from those of you who have used the programs on my list.

 

Many, many thanks for any advice!

 

Cathy

[8filltheheart]

Hi All,

 

I'm new to the forums but have certainly learned a lot. I know chemistry has been discussed a lot and I've read thru many old posts. But I would appreciate any advice you could give me. I'm trying to choose a chem curriculum for my dd for next year (she'll be in 9th). We've hs'ed for 4 yrs and I don't think I've ever had this much trouble choosing a program.

 

Dd is a very science-y, tech type. She did Apologia physical science in 7th and Apologia biology in 8th and made A's fairly easily. We're looking for something other than Apologia for chem. She's finishing Dolciani Alg 1 as an 8th-grader. (I'm a math teacher so we've got the math part of chem covered).

 

I've already purchased The Teaching Company high school chem course as a supplement--I understand that this is more the math part of chem. After much research, I believe these are my three options (in no particular order):

 

1. Spectrum

2. Thinkwell--I would use the chem LabPaq as well; if I understand this program correctly, there's no additional text needed???

3. Prentice Hall (2005)--I would probably purchase the syllabus, answer key, and online access from Kolbe, as well as use the virtual lab CD and the chem LabPaq for hands-on labs

 

Thus far, dd's favorite science curriculum has been RS4K, esp. chem. She basically did Apologia physical science on her own (w/ help from dh for labs). Biology has been in a co-op where basically only labs were done (she did the rest on her own). I took gen chem in college . . . many years ago. . . and don't necessarily have the time to re-take chem w/ her given my other responsibilities, altho I will be available for grading and review.

 

I guess what I'm saying is I need something fairly rigorous in case she continues down the science path, and I need it to be "user-friendly" and not incredibly time-consuming for me. I expect her to take physics in 10th, followed by another chem class (possibly CC) in 11th.

 

Not sure why this decision is stressing me out more so than others. I'm probably way over-thinking this, but I would very much appreciate advice and pros/cons from those of you who have used the programs on my list.

 

Many, many thanks for any advice!

 

Cathy

 

Hi Cathy,

 

My dd is using Kolbe's chem right now. It is a very solid program, though we haven't used the online access stuff since the beginning of the yr. We couldn't figure out how to find what we were supposed to and she really didn't feel we needed to spend gobs of time trying to figure it out. She also used the program in conjunction with TC's chemistry.

 

That said, I just ordered Spectrum this week for my ds to use next yr. He is definitely a science and math guy, but Spectrum is less reading and more nuts and bolts and he is a very slow reader. I purchased it based on Kathy in Richmond's recommendation.

 

If you decide to go the PH route, I would be willing to sell everything, though she won't be finished until after the June SAT II. She did just say that she highlighted the text and crossed out the #s on the problems as she finished them in the student lessons. (She wrote her answers in a notebook, just crossed of the #s.)

[sbaloue]

I was just over at www.cbd.com, and they have Singapore Chemistry Matters. This is by the same company that makes Singaport Math. I tried to find more information about it online, but so far I have not been able to. Anyway, there are samples at CBD. This is just another option for you to consider. I hope this helps.:001_smile:

[Michelle in AL]

My dd will be using Thinkwell, which is equivalent on their website to college chem, so I assume it's rigorous. I liked all the samples and the instructor seems interesting and seems to explain concepts well.

 

I asked on here about Thinkwell and someone responded that their son did it without any assistance and no other text is needed.

[8filltheheart]

Michelle,

 

My dh, a chemical engineer, watched the Thinkwell videos online for me last yr when we were making our decision and he said that they are not introductory chemistry but more like advanced chemistry.

 

HTH

[hoosiermom]

Can anyone help w/ the level of Thinkwell's chem program?

 

When I go to the web-site, I can only access 4 demo videos. All are from the first chapter, so that makes it hard to judge the difficulty of the entire curriculum. The titles of the chapters indicate to me that it gets pretty deep.

 

My specialty is math, so I looked at their algebra--they call it "intermediate"--which they say is 8th/9th grade Alg I. However, the last 3 chapters are usually taught in Alg II, not Alg I.

 

For our first high school chem class, I do want rigorous--but not necessarily college level. I do like the presentation in the 4 demo videos, but I want to make sure we don't get in over our heads.

 

Cathy

[AngieW in Texas]

My current plan is to use Prentice Hall Chemistry with the Teaching Company Chemistry videos. I will probably use LabPaqs for experiments.

 

I used Spectrum Chemistry for my oldest and wasn't especially happy with it. There just wasn't a lot to the program. It was only about 300 pages and had plenty of pictures and whitespace. My dd was easily able to do the work each week in less than 1 hour (not counting the lab) and she isn't a science-y person.

[Heather in VA]

I wasn't terribly thrilled with Spectrum either. Part way through the year I bought the DIVE CDs to beef it up and much prefer those - although I wish they had more text choices for their syllabus like they do for Biology. We'll be using their Biology next year with Campbell. My dd still read the Spectrum book and did the labs but thought the info in the DIVE lectures was deeper and more effective.

 

Heather

[Liza Q]

I have the Teaching Co. dvds as well. My daughter will be doing the labs at our local Christian School and I will pick up whichever text they are using. They will tell me in June, I guess ,and it will probably be BJU, based on what they used for biology. I have no idea how I am going to line it all up :001_huh:

[Mad Jenny Flint]

We'll be using a cd we obtained through GA public broadcasting called Chemistry: Matter ?? I can't remember the rest of the title. Someone mentioned it on these boards, and I love her for it. It is wonderful because it goes well together with the Discovery Streaming videos by the same name that we get for free in GA. The CD cost $20 and also has a physics course on it. Together with the Teaching Co. DVD's and a used Chem. text (I think it's Holt)- again too lazy to get up and look, I think it will make a decent course. Putting the labs together should be relatively easy, too, since there are supply lists on the CD for the GPB course.

[SusanAR]

Here is a helpful syllabus I found this last year which uses the PH book:

 

http://www.smes.org/classes/chemistry/firstyear/index.htm

 

 

I also ordered the syllabus from Kolbe, but IMO, it didn't have enough assessments. FWIW, decided on BJU with videos. I compared it to PH and found them to be at the same level.

[hoosiermom]

Thank you for that link.

 

Could you give me an idea what the Kolbe parent material did contain?

 

Did it have answers for the assigned problems from textbook? And was it just answers or worked-out solutions?

 

There are on-line assessments on the Prentice-Hall web-site, so I thought I might use those to supplement the assessments from Kolbe.

 

Thanks for the info--all of this is very helpful.

 

Cathy

[SusanAR]

Thank you for that link.

 

Could you give me an idea what the Kolbe parent material did contain?

 

Did it have answers for the assigned problems from textbook? And was it just answers or worked-out solutions?

 

There are on-line assessments on the Prentice-Hall web-site, so I thought I might use those to supplement the assessments from Kolbe.

 

Thanks for the info--all of this is very helpful.

 

Cathy

 

I only have the syllabus ( I ordered it to evaluate the course) which contains weekly plans, two quizzes/answers, and six exams/answers.

 

They do offer an "answer key with ChemASAP student online access"

 

S