Chemistry in one semester?

[LanaTron]

My ds18 is a senior in high school this year.  He has completed NOEO Chemistry III (which I am calling "intro to chem" on his transcript), and Miller-Levine Biology.  He has also taken Physical Geology and Historical Geology at community college.  After he took Physical Geology this past spring, he has fallen in love with rocks, and wants to be a geologist.  

 

SO, now that he wants a major in a science field, I feel like he needs another science course, both for his transcript and for his general preparedness.  Without boring you with the long explanation as to why, he cannot take chem (or physics for that matter) at the community college.  Is it totally crazy for me to try to get him to do a basic h.s. chem course in one semester at home?

 

I'm thinking of using a course like AOP Life Pacs, and purchasing the corresponding chemistry lab kit through Home Science Tools.  I'm thinking of offering the labs at our co-op, and having it be a 2 hour class.  So, my ds would do the Life Pacs on Monday-Wednesday, plus Friday, and have Chem Labs on Thursdays.  I'm expecting this to take about 2 hours/day, 5 days/week.  Does that sound right?

 

Would this work?  Is there another curriculum that might work better, i.e. should I get something more basic than LifePacs?  Or should I just forget chemistry altogether and let him enroll in the next Geology class in the series, Environmental Geology?

 

Here's an idea of the rest of his workload: 

1. At community college, he'll take English Composition II, U.S. Government, and Band, Brass Choir, and private horn lessons.  The music stuff doesn't take much time outside of class, but he is in class approximately 7 hours/week, depending on whether the director calls his part for rehearsal or not.
2. At home, he'll be doing French (Tell Me More) and math.  For math, we're having to remediate his Alg 2 skills (no fault of his), and working on Pre-Calc, too.  That's another whole long story, but he'll be using Math U See at this point.

I will greatly appreciate any thoughts or comments.  Thank you!

[PeterPan]

I don't know anything about NOE III to know what it's equivalent to, but you might like to look at the Georgia PBS chemistry class that's available online for free.  Solid, free, somewhat fun.  Did I mention free?  Dd is using it and does it quite happily.  It takes her longer than the short videos imply, because there's a MOUNTAIN of pages you print out to go with them. She watches a bit, pauses to digest, writes, plays some more... Then yes, add labs, and in our case we're adding reading.  I may or may not have shared the list.  

 

Disappearing Spoon

Napoleon’s Buttons

Mad Science

Periodic Table (Primo Levi)

Elements of Murder

The 13th Element

Joy of Chemistry

Crime Scene Chemistry

Sweetness at the Bottom of a Pie

Periodic Tales along with The Elements and The Elements Vault

essays from Best of American Science and Nature Writing 2008-2011

 

Of course your plan is fine too.  This just gives you another option.  For labs, I have the BJU lab book and the Illustrated Home Guide, and I just picked a list from them. A kit from HST sounds like a very sane idea. For that reading, some of the books are quite sophisticated.  I would have no qualms suggesting them to a senior.  Some made my dd blanche, lol.  That Primo Levi book is very wow.

 

[In The Great White North]

He certainly can do chemistry in one semester.  Several people have mentioned doing Apologia Chemistry first semester and Advanced Chemistry second semester.  

 

He is 18 and will be in college next year.  One semester of college chemistry is equal to one year of high school chemistry (roughly).  I've seen a college that does trimesters, effectively putting the entire year of college chem into the spring semester (which they call two trimesters but is shorter than the high school semester).  So it's definitely possible to get through a high school chem program in one semester.

 

I'm not familiar with Lifepacs.  Besides the Georgia program, there are several Opencourseware or Coursera options.  

 

If he's interested in transferring those cc credits, you might want to check with the colleges he is applying to.  Credits in your major are harder to get accepted as transfer credits.  Check with both admissions and the geology department, as admission may accept the courses but the geology department not count them toward his major (ie, they would count as electives)

[kiana]

Another option could be doing chemistry over the spring and summer semesters.

[Jen in NY]

Just thinking out loud....

 

Since he's interested in pursuing more advanced science studies in the future, I wonder if it might be worth his time to spend the extra effort in a math course at the community college this coming spring. For all the physics, chem, and CS courses my dd's have taken math fluency has been absolutely crucial. It might make all of his science classes easier in the long run.

 

How neat that he's found something to throw himself into! That's really great.

[LanaTron]

Thank you very much for this suggestion!  I can't believe the videos and worksheets, etc. are all free.  I'm definitely going to put this at the top of my list of choices.  

 

Do the lab sheets that go with the videos correspond to a lab the student watches on the video or one he performs himself?

 

 

I don't know anything about NOE III to know what it's equivalent to, but you might like to look at the Georgia PBS chemistry class that's available online for free.  Solid, free, somewhat fun.  Did I mention free?  Dd is using it and does it quite happily.  It takes her longer than the short videos imply, because there's a MOUNTAIN of pages you print out to go with them. She watches a bit, pauses to digest, writes, plays some more... Then yes, add labs, and in our case we're adding reading.  I may or may not have shared the list.  

 

Disappearing Spoon

Napoleon’s Buttons

Mad Science

Periodic Table (Primo Levi)

Elements of Murder

The 13th Element

Joy of Chemistry

Crime Scene Chemistry

Sweetness at the Bottom of a Pie

Periodic Tales along with The Elements and The Elements Vault

essays from Best of American Science and Nature Writing 2008-2011

 

Of course your plan is fine too.  This just gives you another option.  For labs, I have the BJU lab book and the Illustrated Home Guide, and I just picked a list from them. A kit from HST sounds like a very sane idea. For that reading, some of the books are quite sophisticated.  I would have no qualms suggesting them to a senior.  Some made my dd blanche, lol.  That Primo Levi book is very wow.

 

[LanaTron]

I think that would be overload. Especially with those college courses. But hey, I say try it. If he doesn't finish in the allotted time you can continue.

 

Yes, that is my fear.  We can't continue past May, as he will be working at Scout camp all summer.  And I need him to graduate by the end of May, so I don't loose my mind.   :willy_nilly:

 

Thank you for your comments!  I think we will end up going for it.  I have found a Scout grandma that I know who has taken many chem courses in her lifetime, and my son's gf was the #1 student in her honors chem class.  So, I think we will be able to get help when we need it.  And if he doesn't quite finish... I'll just give him credit for what he did and call it a day.

[LanaTron]

He certainly can do chemistry in one semester.  Several people have mentioned doing Apologia Chemistry first semester and Advanced Chemistry second semester.  

 

He is 18 and will be in college next year.  One semester of college chemistry is equal to one year of high school chemistry (roughly).  I've seen a college that does trimesters, effectively putting the entire year of college chem into the spring semester (which they call two trimesters but is shorter than the high school semester).  So it's definitely possible to get through a high school chem program in one semester.

 

I'm not familiar with Lifepacs.  Besides the Georgia program, there are several Opencourseware or Coursera options.  

 

If he's interested in transferring those cc credits, you might want to check with the colleges he is applying to.  Credits in your major are harder to get accepted as transfer credits.  Check with both admissions and the geology department, as admission may accept the courses but the geology department not count them toward his major (ie, they would count as electives)

 

Yes, what you said about 1 high school year = 1 college semester is why I am thinking this should work.  He's pretty bright, too.

 

For a whole lot of reasons, I'm sort of operating in survival mode right now, so I don't really have it in me to worry about whether the courses transfer or not.  I know that if he goes to any other public school in Texas, they will transfer.  Private or out-of-state, maybe or maybe not.  I'm not too concerned about him having to repeat a course if it doesn't transfer.  I had him do cc courses for reasons other than earning college credit.

 

Thank you for your thoughts and encouragement!

[LanaTron]

Just thinking out loud....

 

Since he's interested in pursuing more advanced science studies in the future, I wonder if it might be worth his time to spend the extra effort in a math course at the community college this coming spring. For all the physics, chem, and CS courses my dd's have taken math fluency has been absolutely crucial. It might make all of his science classes easier in the long run.

 

How neat that he's found something to throw himself into! That's really great.

 

Thanks for the idea!  It is certainly something I will consider!

 

I wasn't a science major, but I know that what you are saying is true about math fluency.  That's part of why I'm backing up, and having him go through Alg 2 again using MUS, which is very clear and straightforward in my experience.  I think he'll be able to go through it pretty quickly, because he does have at least partial mastery of many ALG 2 topics, and then we'll see how far I can get him through a pre-calc or Trig course, probably using MUS again.  

 

But what you have said makes me realize that if something falls of the plate a little (and, let's be real, it usually does at my house), the chem can fall before the math.

[kiana]

But what you have said makes me realize that if something falls of the plate a little (and, let's be real, it usually does at my house), the chem can fall before the math.

 

Indeed it can.

 

The math that killed the other students in my college chemistry classes was basic algebra and unit conversions. The unit conversions were especially key, so if he has not done a lot of these already (I have no idea what NOEO III covers), I would try very hard to cover the relevant chapters of a chemistry text. I would see absolutely no problem with doing only part of a chemistry textbook and giving him credits based on how much he completed. If he has already had lab sciences (not sure if the CC courses covered labs) I would be less concerned about getting in more chemistry labs than in making sure his foundational math skills were there.

[LanaTron]

Indeed it can.

 

The math that killed the other students in my college chemistry classes was basic algebra and unit conversions. The unit conversions were especially key, so if he has not done a lot of these already (I have no idea what NOEO III covers), I would try very hard to cover the relevant chapters of a chemistry text. I would see absolutely no problem with doing only part of a chemistry textbook and giving him credits based on how much he completed. If he has already had lab sciences (not sure if the CC courses covered labs) I would be less concerned about getting in more chemistry labs than in making sure his foundational math skills were there.

 

Thank you so much for this.  It gives me a different perspective, and one that makes sense and makes it all seem less overwhelming.