Elemental Science or McHenry for Chemistry

[Cottonwood]

I thought I had my science planned out for my 7th and 8th grader (doing this subject together).  But now I'm looking at both of these programs and now I"m not sure.  I had planned on starting the year with McHenry's, The Elements material, moving on to Carbon Chemistry and supplementing with a few months of SuperchargedScience.com.

 

But it looks like Elemental Science is open and go, written for all 36 weeks, and has the 2 day a week schedule all planned out for me.  :)    

 

If you've used either or both, can you share your opinion?    And, if you used McHenry, how did you stretch it out for a full yr?

 

And, I don't see a kit for Elemental Sciences' Chemistry (Logic) course?  I'm gonna need a kit...lol

[Annabel Lee]

Have you ever used Elemental Science?  I used the logic stage biology before kits for it were offered.  I ordered the curriculum early to leave time for ordering supplies.  I was happy to find user-friendly lists that made ordering supplies easy.  The author lets you know which items you'll need to look for from a specialty science supply company & noted the ones that I'd need to order from Carolina because HST didn't have them.

 

Ellen McHenry's stuff always looks so fun, though...  is it not scheduled out very clearly?

[HSinNH]

We are using The Elements right now and are loving it, while learning a lot. We supplement with some other resources such as Exploring the World of Chemistry, Chemistry for Every Kid and The Mystery of the Periodic Table. According to McHenry, the course should only take 10-12 weeks, but it will probably be a bit longer for us with the added resources.

 

 

As for lab kits, I usually make my own. I get EVERY single thing I need for the labs (or history projects) and put it in a plastic tote so it is all ready for when I need it. Otherwise, I know things will not get done if I am constantly running to the store!

 

For the record, I think both programs are wonderful and you cannot go wrong either way. Good luck in your decision!

[....]

We're also using Ellen McHenry's The Elements.   :thumbup1:   I plan to buy Carbon Chemistry when we're finished.  

 

Even if you added Carbon Chemistry, I don't see how you could stretch it out for an entire year - unless you just did science once a week.  I have the printed version of The Elements and there's no schedule in there (that I've seen).  She has two sections - the student workbook with the reading and activities in it - and the teacher's guide, which has games, etc.  There are also printables and stuff for the games and learning the symbols on the periodic table.    

 

Also, did you know she's selling some of her curricula as printed versions on Amazon now?  (In case you're already placing an order for other stuff or you use Prime.)

[Debbie]

We used McHenry's The Elements at the beginning of this school year, over the summer I went through and broke each chapter down to 3 or 4 sections, it wasn't too hard.  I added in the ideas from the teacher book so they had something most days each week.  We worked through it rather slowly and just finished it before Christmas.  Then I got Carbon Chem and I didn't go through it the same way.  I have been assigning a chapter every other day.  THere are 11 chapters and I thought it could get us through the rest of the year, but doing a couple chapters a week, it will not.  So once we finish the book we will mostly just do some experiments and practice writing lab reports. 

My kids are 5th and 6th grades this year.  So this might be too easy for your 7th/8th graders.

[Goldilocks]

We have used Ellen McHenry's The Elements and Carbon Chemistry this year.  We take about 2 weeks to complete one chapter, doing chemistry twice a week. Day 1 the kids read the chapter and do the worksheets. Day 2 they watch any related videos on You Tube or play games from previous chapters. Day 3 and 4 we do the end of chapter activities. 

 

We have also spent some time playing around with a chemistry kit. 

 

If we finish early I will probably have them write up some essays or make a display board on topics that interested them.

[Cottonwood]

Have you ever used Elemental Science?  I used the logic stage biology before kits for it were offered.  I ordered the curriculum early to leave time for ordering supplies.  I was happy to find user-friendly lists that made ordering supplies easy.  The author lets you know which items you'll need to look for from a specialty science supply company & noted the ones that I'd need to order from Carolina because HST didn't have them.

 

Ellen McHenry's stuff always looks so fun, though...  is it not scheduled out very clearly?

 

I haven't used either of these.  I don't *think* the McHenry stuff is scheduled and that's ok because we can just stop where we stop and go to the next thing the next time, but it just didn't look like it would last the whole year through. 

 

[Cottonwood]

Thank you for the wonderful input.  I'll look on Amazon and into those other links! :)

 

Anyone want to share their Elemental Science experience?   

[TianXiaXueXiao]

I've only used Elemental for Biology and my dc loves it. I never have to prod her to do science and the work is solid. She has learned so much-stuff I didn't learn until college. The approach is consistent and the teachers manual is very helpful. Also, The Hudsons respond very quickly if you have questions.