Is 3rd grade chem meaty enough to do for 1.25 years?

[kalanamak]

We are tiring of the stars and planets. I'd like to move onto chem. We both love experiments, and I have had college chem, orgo, and biochem. I have Atoms and Molecules I-III and REAL SCi Od Chem I.

 

Or does chem got old mid-year??

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[kalanamak]

:bigear:

 

No one with a one sentence opinion on 3rd grade chem and whether a year is too much or too little time to do it?

 

How about a one liner to entertain you while you think:

 

When marriage in outlawed, only outlaws will have inlaws.

[coffeefreak]

You know, we've never been able to follow TWTM suggestions for science, because we get so tired of the one topic. We've jumped around so much, I had to write out every type of science we've done to figure out what to do next year! I think, if you're tired of Astronomy, you'll do Chemistry for a semester and grow tired of that too. It's no biggie, just go with the flow when it comes to science. It's one of those topics you can switch up and come back to (or pick a topic according to your child's interests).

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

[coffeefreak]

Oh, and BTW, Love your joke :lol:. In my dh's family, I'm known as an "out-law." They are a VERY tight family unit :lol:

[abbeyej]

Honestly... Um... Who cares? :D If you're sick of astronomy, move on to chemistry. So what if some time between February and June of next year, you find yourself sick of chemistry? You can just move on to something else that sounds interesting! :)

 

Really, you're doing early elementary. If your son is interested and learning about various science topics, reading, experimenting, exploring... That's great. The WTM approach to elementary science is one of many ways to organize your approach to science, but much as I love WTM, I am pretty unconvinced by their approach to elementary science. At least the "one topic per year" thing. It sounds like you guys have given astronomy and earth science almost a whole year. Great. Now do something else that sounds interesting! If you decide, in November, that you really, desperately, want to read about electricity and do some experiments and build a circuit board... Well, why not? Or if, come March, you want to learn everything there is to know about worms? Go for it. :)

 

I sound like an unschooler now. ;) And I'm not. Not really. But when it comes to science and history with very young ones? I don't think the specific topic or order of topics matters nearly as much as the habit of studying and exploring, reading about, writing... All of the organization will come into play later. For now? Do what inspires you both! (I, um, don't feel the same when it comes to basic skill subjects -- I don't think one can drop reading or pick and choose math topics at whim -- but for content? in early elementary? yeah...)

 

So there. :) I took too many sentences, huh?

 

Maybe chemistry *will* last you 1.25 years. :) That'd be fine. But it's fine too if it doesn't. :)

[kalanamak]

 

Maybe chemistry *will* last you 1.25 years. :) That'd be fine. But it's fine too if it doesn't. :)

 

I'd like to plan things out a bit. If everyone gets sick of chem 6 months into it, I will try to hit the most important concepts, so as to not lose steam half way through, with some topics untouched.

 

There is method to my madness, as my mother often quoted.

[plain jane]

I think it really depends on the child and parent. We did chemistry for a full year this year and LOVED it. There's so much to do and so many hands-on experiments.

 

We used RSO Chem I as our spine, read the books from the NOEO reading list (and did written narrations on them), we read and did the questions from Exploring the World of Chemistry, then we added in Ellen McHenry's The Elements. We're getting ready to get going with McHenry's Carbon Chemistry to round off the year.

 

On top of the above, I added in TONS of experiment books: Fuzz, Bubble and Flash, Atoms & Molecules, Starting With Science: Solids, Liquids, and Gases, Janice VanCleave books. We did almost all of Fizz, Bubble, and Flash but picked and chose from the other books as a lot of the experiments were repeats. :)

 

We had an absolute blast this year. I had a hard time figuring out how to fit all that chemistry into one year. :tongue_smilie:

 

By FAR our favorites were McHenry's The Elements (am sure we'll love Carbon Chemistry too) and Fizz, Bubble, and Flash.

 

And to answer your question, most definitely there is enough in chemistry for the younger grades to hold their interest for over one year. No time for boredom here!

Edited May 1, 2010 by plain jane

[JudoMom]

In my world Chemistry never gets old.

[plain jane]

In my world Chemistry never gets old.

 

:iagree::iagree: You can make it so incredibly fun! This was our best year of science yet!

[jkwynn]

I really needed to read some of these posts about science today. I sometimes get so wrapped up in what we're 'supposed' to do next, that I forget who's in charge here, lol.

 

I also like to have things fairly planned out, or at least have an outline to go by - but science is the one subject that we just don't plan as methodically, and I needed the reminder that it's ok.

 

Thanks!:001_wub: