Jump to content

Menu

If you are using ACS' Middle School Chemistry


Recommended Posts

Are you printing the entire thing out?

 

This website has great prices on black and white printing -- less than $20 for the entire thing. But, some of the photos are in color.

 

I was thinking of having the whole thing printed in B&W and then printing off the activity sheets from my own printer.

 

What is/has everyone else doing/done?

 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you printing the entire thing out?

 

This website has great prices on black and white printing -- less than $20 for the entire thing. But, some of the photos are in color.

 

I was thinking of having the whole thing printed in B&W and then printing off the activity sheets from my own printer.

 

What is/has everyone else doing/done?

 

Thanks!

 

As of now, I am planning to print out the lessons as we go.

 

Kim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you printing the entire thing out?

 

This website has great prices on black and white printing -- less than $20 for the entire thing. But, some of the photos are in color.

 

I was thinking of having the whole thing printed in B&W and then printing off the activity sheets from my own printer.

 

What is/has everyone else doing/done?

 

Thanks!

 

Which website?

 

Could you have the kids look at the color pages online while doing the activity sheets?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which website?

 

Could you have the kids look at the color pages online while doing the activity sheets?

 

Bestvaluecopy.com

 

I chose to order one black and white metal-spiral bound copy for $25 shipped. I know that makes it not free, but I wanted the ease of reading it without needing my laptop. I will just note if I think the kids would benefit from seeing a color diagram, and use the laptop or print those individually. I also like making notes next to things when I need to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm leaning towards using this program next year too. Are you going to supplement it with something else? Or does it look complete enough for a year of middle school science? My DD will be in 6th grade. :bigear:

 

I work better with a hard-copy text so once I settle on my plan, I will also purchase the B&W copy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm leaning towards using this program next year too. Are you going to supplement it with something else? Or does it look complete enough for a year of middle school science? My DD will be in 6th grade. :bigear:

 

I work better with a hard-copy text so once I settle on my plan, I will also purchase the B&W copy.

 

I'm starting with Ellen McHenry's Elements, then this, then Carbon Chemistry if we have time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not going to print the entire thing out. I can't remember all the parts right now, but I'm just going to print out some of it and read the rest online. So I think it is the student part I'll be printing out (the activity sheets and something else, I think).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm starting with Ellen McHenry's Elements, then this, then Carbon Chemistry if we have time.

 

Thanks! The Elements looks great. I love all the games it shows. Now I need to rethink what to do with my younger two. It lists this program for ages 8-13. It would be great for my other two (or maybe just DS9) use this too. I had been planning to use RSO Chem with them. Decisions, decisions....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used Elements when my son was younger. It is a great program, but I found it difficult to use. There aren't really discrete lessons. It is a lot of reading and I ended up just sort of stopping mid chapter, when I got tired of reading it to him. There are lots of games to play and songs etc but hardly any experiments. Many of the games and plays etc are more geared towards a co-op situation. My son was fairly disappointed. He wants chemistry to involve a good amount of things blowing up. Honestly, I think there was ONE experiment in the whole thing. But, my memory of it is fuzzy now, so that might not be correct.

 

Elements seems mostly focused on memorizing the periodic table. There is also a good discussion on the structure of the atom and on the different kind of molecular bonds. There isn't much hands on work. I felt like I spent most of my time just reading it to him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This seems like a good assessment of what I have seen looking through it. That is why I am pairing it with the heavily lab focused Middle School Chemistry by ACS. Every lesson involves a lab. I wanted a very friendly introduction to the periodic table, their elements, etc. prior to high school. The Carbon Chemistry, I assume, is set up the same way.

 

I used Elements when my son was younger. It is a great program, but I found it difficult to use. There aren't really discrete lessons. It is a lot of reading and I ended up just sort of stopping mid chapter, when I got tired of reading it to him. There are lots of games to play and songs etc but hardly any experiments. Many of the games and plays etc are more geared towards a co-op situation. My son was fairly disappointed. He wants chemistry to involve a good amount of things blowing up. Honestly, I think there was ONE experiment in the whole thing. But, my memory of it is fuzzy now, so that might not be correct.

 

Elements seems mostly focused on memorizing the periodic table. There is also a good discussion on the structure of the atom and on the different kind of molecular bonds. There isn't much hands on work. I felt like I spent most of my time just reading it to him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This seems like a good assessment of what I have seen looking through it. That is why I am pairing it with the heavily lab focused Middle School Chemistry by ACS. Every lesson involves a lab. I wanted a very friendly introduction to the periodic table, their elements, etc. prior to high school. The Carbon Chemistry, I assume, is set up the same way.

 

I think the Elements, ACS, and Carbon Chemistry if there's time would be a great year of chem.

 

I had the same experience as PP with The Elements - not enough hands-on for my dd, who promptly forgot we even did the program. :glare: However, I think there's a lot of great content in it - my friend's ds did The Elements and memorized the whole periodic table for fun and loved the games and it really launched him into a love of chemistry. Ah, how different kids are...

 

I think if I had followed The Elements up with ACS for the hands-on portion, it would've balanced it out really well and made her remember what she learned in the Elements. ACS seems more like light reading and lots of hands-on and video demonstration - a good complement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Redsquirrel, thanks for the BTDT review. Looks like I'll do what I so often do and spend some time this summer with both programs and write up a schedule combining them. Maybe a few weeks of Elements, then a few experiments, back to Elements and so forth. I'll also highlight the lessons that my younger ones can participate in.

 

Dawn, thanks again for suggesting to add Elements.:001_smile: i wonder if there will ever come a time, when I'll have a summer that won't be spent tweaking or combining plans...;) not that i mind....I love curriculum!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...