High School Chemistry help....GPB (or others) - How did you do it?

[Keep the Faith]

We are facing Chemistry next year (ugh!) I am trying to find a basic regular chemistry course (college prep) and would like to have a video lecture component with it.

 

I have been reading about the GPB Chemistry and am very interested in it. How do you implement this course? I've read about having to purchase the teacher materials CD. Is this all that is needed to make this a complete course or do you need to add a textbook? If so, which one(s) would work with it?

 

Now about labs...what is the best way to go? I need some that are doable at home without having to purchase a lot of special equipment. I have read about kits, but I don't know which ones are the best for our needs.

 

ALTERNATE PLAN:

I am also considering Apologia. I don't really care for the conversational tone or the lack of "wow" factor to the books. I have never used them, however. I've thought about using DIVE or RWT with it.

 

I don't have any experience with chemistry. Please help!! I would really appreciate hearing from the hive!

[AngieW in Texas]

What I would recommend

 

conceptual - Conceptual Chemistry by Suchowski

regular high school - Zumdahl's World of Chemistry

honors high school - Tro's Introductory Chemistry

 

I have only actually used Tro's so far, but I will be using Conceptual Chemistry next year.

 

If you only have one student, then your best bet is to choose something that has a complete lab kit. Trying to buy all the supplies separately is too expensive for just one or two students. I used Prentice Hall Small Scale Chemistry Labs, but I was setting up labs for 7 students, so I had some economy of scale going on. I still spent more on the labs than what I charged, but I had plenty of chemicals left over that I'm going to reuse this year. When I teach the class again in the fall, I won't have to spend very much on the labs.

[Dicentra]

Have you looked at this?

http://www.trivedich...chool-chemistry

I don't have any experience with it personally but it was one of the curricula I came across and listed on the big Chem thread. From the website:

 

 

Home school chemistry is made easier with this interactive, multi-media DVD covering the entire high school chemistry curriculum. The DVD features thorough and complete explanations of concepts, equations and derivations in a style homeschool students can understand. There are interactive problem sets with step-by-step guidance to help you learn how to get the right solution. It never leaves you without an answer.

Concepts are presented as text tutorial with mutable audio accompaniment. Built in resources include HD video demonstrations, glossary, calculator, notepad, formulas and interactive periodic tables. It’s the only homeschool chemistry study guide you need. No internet connection required.

 

I don't think it has a lab component (unless it has video labs on the DVD) but you could match up the topics with labs from The Home Scientist reg chem kit. The lab manual is downloadable and free and the kit is available at this link:

http://www.thehomescientist.com/kits/CK01B/ck01b-main.html

[anne1456]

I am using ck12.org for a chemistry textbook to go with the GPB videos. I don't think you have to have a text, but I like having one. Ck12 definitely covers more than the GPB videos, so we skip some stuff. I have my co-op class all set up on a moodle website, send me a pm and I will tell you how to access it and you can see how I organize it. I agree for labs with just one child you want to go with a chemistry kit, it will be cheaper than trying to put it together yourself.

 

Anne

[HollyDay]

We used BJU Chemistry a couple years ago, so it was not the newest edition. I also used the DIVE cdrom. There is a microchem kit that has a syllabus coordinating lessons with BJU.

[Keep the Faith]

Thank you to all who responded! I will look into your suggestions. I really appreciate your help.

 

If anyone else reads this and has anything to add, I would appreciate hearing from you also!

[Joan in GE]

It's Swiss testing time next week, well part of it, so I'm not on much these days...

 

We use a mixture of books - but you could email GPB and ask them which books were used to produce the program. I did that for physics (results on a past thread).

 

I haven't found a lab program that fits perfectly...I would definitely do more labs than what are done on the videos...We used Illustrated Guide for some (but some require fancy equipment that we didn't buy), the Swiss chem book for others, and I will be able to tell you more at the end of the year :-)

 

Just FYI - I don't think GPB is a complete college prep. It is 'basics'...Dd has filled in with some TC lectures when things weren't well explained in GPB and we're using other books. But it is an introduction...If you look at the one Chemistry thread by Dicentra you can ideas about introducing chemistry prior to doing the nomenclature, etc...

 

Joan