TC - Chemistry videos w/ Spectrum

[Blossom'sGirl]

I am leaning towards using Spectrum chemistry next year with my 10th grader.  I have been reading all the chemistry threads with great interest and think a lecture component may add to this course.  I have only seen the TOC for these lectures and not an actual sample so I am wondering if these are more conceptual or mathematical and if they would be redundant with Spectrum and Bridge math.

 

I am also open to other suggestions as long as they are not too pricey.  I am still saving for both of my guys science.

 

TIA

[regentrude]

Let me preface my comment by saying that, of all several dozens of TC lectures I own, chemistry was the only severe disappointment.

The TC chemistry lectures focus strongly on mathematical problem solving. The first three lectures have no content other than "chemistry is not hard and intimidating". The next few are conceptual and mainly stuff like atoms etc, which most kids know from middle school; my DD ended up skipping large portions of these lectures. The stoichiometry problem solving in the following lectures was very thorough, but seemed geared towards remedial students; we felt treated like morons. It was painstakingly slow, and we abandoned the course because it did not fit our needs.

 

 I consider Khan Academy vastly superior.

[Blossom'sGirl]

That's good to know ,regentrude, especially since Khan Academy is free.  Since you said you own so many of the TC courses, what do you, or anyone who wants to comment, think of the Algebra 2 lectures?  

[regentrude]

  Since you said you own so many of the TC courses, what do you, or anyone who wants to comment, think of the Algebra 2 lectures?  

 

Sorry, I don't have any of their math lectures.

[TheApprentice]

We'll probably go with Khan Academy videos to supplement, but only if needed. Ds's load is big, and if he's not understanding Spectrum's explanations, we'll turn to Khan Academy, otherwise I'll not have him do one more thing.

[Julie in MN]

We used some Khan with Spectrum.  Especially the electron configurations, which we felt were really helpful to add to the text (and preferred Khan's method, actually). 

 

For me, TTC is a good preview or a supplement for easier or maybe more typical classrooms.  And Khan for us is mostly a search for topics as we go when we want more info.  I wasn't able to match up our TTC videos or other Khans alongside Spectrum, but maybe others would do better at it.

 

Julie

[SailorMom]

I see a lot of value in the first lectures of the series. DH and I were happy with the emphasis the teacher placed on really understanding the material and not just trying to survive the next test. I've only watched the first 4 lectures, and they are very basic, and I wouldn't pay full price for the series. That said - for the $25 I did pay, I think they are well worth the money, and could be a good start to our year.

[JanetC]

I just did youtube searches when the last chapters of the book got complicated and almost always turned up something short and to the point, with an extra example problem or a different angle on the explanation. 

 

I didn't do it for every chapter, just when things were a bit tricky or I thought the explanation in Spectrum needed a bit more filling in.  

[Dicentra]

There are also the Crash Course chemistry videos on YouTube for free:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPHzzYuWy6fYEaX9mQQ8oGr

I like his sense of humour but others may not. ;)