So Dang-Blasted Frustrated!

[Reefgazer]

I am no closer to choosing a chemistry program for DD than I was 5 months ago.  Everything I;ve loked at for a 7th grader is too simplistic, and high school too far beyond (math-wise).  Grrrr....

[Chrysalis Academy]

What have you looked at so far?  (I'm also thinking about middle-school chemistry . . . )

[RanchGirl]

Are you looking for suggestions?  If so, let us know what you have ruled out and what your criteria is!  Or maybe you just want to vent?

[Reefgazer]

Mr. Q (900 pages of pdf to print out?  Nope.), Real Science For Kids, ClassiQuest (I don't like the read a snippet and move on approach), Elemental Science (read a snippet and move on approach), Ellen McHenry (I'll probably wind up with this because it is in-depth and engaging, but I prefer a more experimental and hands-on approach to lab work), Apologia/BJU/A Beka (Don't want religion near my science.  It's fine elsewhere, but not near my science),  ACS Middle School Chemistry (Online for free!  But doesn't cover very many topics and won't last a semester).  I suppose I could consider Apologia junior/senior high chemistry, but I would need to be sure they didn't pack their chemistry text with anti-evolution/anti-science approaches and nonsense.    

 

I would love to get my hands on a high school chemistry book like Spectrum or Conceptual Chemistry to actually look at them and check them out, but I am not hopeful because most of the high school chemistry texts I looked at had too much math for DD (she just hasn't gotten to pre-algebra yet).

What have you looked at so far?  (I'm also thinking about middle-school chemistry . . . )

[Reefgazer]

Yes, I'm craving suggestions.  I listed below your post what I've looked at before; must have been posting while you were posting.  Let me know if you think my opinion of any of these is off-base.  I do have a beautiful book called "The Elements" as a supplement, but as lovely as it is, it won't cut it for a year's worth of chemistry.  MY DD lives science and would spend every day in experiments and readings, if she could.

Are you looking for suggestions?  If so, let us know what you have ruled out and what your criteria is!  Or maybe you just want to vent?

 

[OneStepAtATime]

What about Super Charged Science and living books?

[EmilyGF]

What type of curricula has worked well for you in the past?

[EmilyGF]

What about The Rainbow?

[Matryoshka]

Do you have a tablet?  We used Mr. Q but didn't print out the text, just the worksheets, which is much more manageable.  Dd read it on the tablet.

[zippymom]

Maybe Friendly Chemistry?

[Upward Journey]

I have to say that I found RS4K to be a pretty good fit for Middle school Chem *IF* you use the whole program, i.e. you need to use the KOG books as well.

[Matryoshka]

I have to say that I found RS4K to be a pretty good fit for Middle school Chem *IF* you use the whole program, i.e. you need to use the KOG books as well.

 

Gah, I hated those KOG books!  Tried them for older dds...

[Heather in VA]

Spectrum Chemistry definitely needs more math than your daughter has had. Rainbow, from the same company, would be more doable. Apologia would be very difficult to do secular. I'm a Christian and I find it overbearing enough that we don't use it. 

 

 

[Upward Journey]

Gah, I hated those KOG books! Tried them for older dds...

Agreeing that the KOGS are a pita. RS4K Chem would be a much easier program to use if the information, activities and questions from the KOGs were just included in the chem textbook. That said it is a well rounded program when you use them with the text.

 

I'm looking forward to going through it again next year with my middle schoolers.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, I feel your pain.  I think we will end up using McHenry's stuff, and then Mr. Q's Advanced Chemistry.  We did the RS4K middle school program . . . in 3rd grade.  It's hard to find good middle grade chemistry, I think.

[Upward Journey]

Well, I feel your pain. I think we will end up using McHenry's stuff, and then Mr. Q's Advanced Chemistry. We did the RS4K middle school program . . . in 3rd grade. It's hard to find good middle grade chemistry, I think.

The full program? With the KOGS? Not to be difficult, or to discount what you said, but I doubt that my NT children could have handled the compete program (i.e. understood and made the needed connections) in the third grade.

 

If your children are highly gifted, then yes, I agree.

[HappyClassical]

Discovery Science Techbook (available through homeschool buyers coop) is for grades k-8... I don't know much about the scope and sequence for older grades, but I find Discovery to be a great company and it might provide what you are looking for.

[Chrysalis Academy]

The full program? With the KOGS? Not to be difficult, or to discount what you said, but I doubt that my NT children could have handled the compete program (i.e. understood and made the needed connections) in the third grade.

 

If your children are highly gifted, then yes, I agree

 

No, we just did the chemistry textbook & lab plus the Language kog.  She was afterschooling at the time, I picked her up at noon on Wednesdays and we did science.  I wasn't trying to do the full homeschool experience, just teach her some science, which her ps was failing miserably to do.

 

I'm a scientist, we're a sciency family.  She's accelerated, but not off the charts gifted.  My impression of the chemistry part of the program - which I liked very much - was that it was great for 4th-5th grades, but not what I'd consider a middle school program.  I haven't seen all the kogs, so I'm perfectly willing to accept that they flesh it out more fully.  We moved away from RS4K after that, because I didn't like the Biology (which I bought) nearly as much as the chemistry, nor was I crazy about the physics samples.

 

ETA:  at the time, the only full program was the chemistry - this was in 2011, I think.  I can see they've added a ton of materials since then.

[lewelma]

My older used IGCSE Chemistry written for the Cambridge exams.  It is a 10th grade course, but 80% of the textbook is only conceptual (as in NO math) so is not hard, and the 2 quantitative chapters are designed to be easily skipped to make it an easier course. In addition, the exams and textbooks are designed for a student to study either an easy and an advanced course, so the textbook simply blocks off (in each chapter) the material designed for the advanced course and you don't study those sections if you want to do an easier course. This way you still get a survey of all the topics in the book, but study them at a lower level. The easier course is of advanced middle school level IMHO.

 

My son liked it because it covers a very broad range of topics (including organic), and has quite a nice slant towards industry/uses (without being overdone) which makes it all seem so useful.  It has a workbook with good problems, and an instructor CD if you need it.

 

We then did our standard silly putty investigation with usually takes about a month, and my son attended a homeschool chemistry lab at the university for 9 hours one week.

 

It was a great year.

 

Ruth in NZ

 

 

 

here is the syllabus for the course

I think you can preview the textbooks here

 

 

 

X-post on the silly putty investigation:

 

Activity: The best open ended activity I have ever found for chemistry is making silly putty (like I mentioned above). Just google a basic recipe, and get 2 types of glue (blue and elmers white), borax, and corn starch. Start with the basic recipe, make up the putty, put a touch of food dye in it to differentiate each batch, and wrap in plastic. Then change one ingredient at a time while keeping everything else constant. Help her set up a bounce height test and a stretch test, and a table to record her data, and start measuring which one is better at what. It can get as complicated as she wants as she can vary 3 different variables, so the graphing can be quite complex. Real science this one, and real chemistry. Change the inputs and get a different product. But make sure she knows that borax is a poison, so should be handled with care and she needs to wash her hands after she uses it. It is standard practice in chemistry lab not to touch your face during a lab either, so remind her of that also. This investigation took my son a full month of mucking around resulting in lots of pretty colored putties!

[EndOfOrdinary]

I have not found the Apologia high school chem book to be very xreligious at all. It would have bothered me too much. I originally did not look at it for the reason that it was by a religious publisher. After striking out EVERYWHERE a friend let me borrow hers. It is not fantastic, over-the-moon perfect, but it is definitely better than the others I looked at. The math is not incredibly complex, but some Algebra background would be helpful if you want her to be completely independent.

 

I dislike the heavy handed religious quality of the Apologia middle and elementary books. I will also not use them for Biology due to the extent of the religious material. So, I hear you there. I just don't much see it in the Chem. We have covered about half the book at this point. Every three chapters you might get a sentence referencing God's creation rather than saying Earth. We did skip the section about how ozone depletion was environmental extremism. These such instances have been very easy to avoid and they are nothing my son has not already known or heard exists.

 

I pair the Apologia with Georgia Public Broadcasting Chemistry. It is no where near enough for stand alone, but works well with the Apologia. It also provides a much more straight forward approach like I received in school. The math for GPB is minor and PreA would be sufficient for everything we have seen. However it provides more problems to do than Apologia. The Apologia is pretty sparing.

 

I don't know if that helps. You are very right about the dearth of Chemistry texts which are approachable yet secular. I looked for quite some time - and am still looking. We just needed a text and this one was the lesser of the evils.

 

I found the book on Amazon for about $11. Though I have seen it even cheaper. It might be worth a shot.

[Amanda's Mommy]

We are going to do Friendly Chemistry together. I will help (a lot) with the math.  She may do it again on her own in 11th grade.

[AimeeM]

It would be VERY easy to add some more experiments to Ellen McHenry. You could easily do both Elements AND Carbon Chem in a year, with tons of additional experiments/projects.

[Upward Journey]

No, we just did the chemistry textbook & lab plus the Language kog. She was afterschooling at the time, I picked her up at noon on Wednesdays and we did science. I wasn't trying to do the full homeschool experience, just teach her some science, which her ps was failing miserably to do.

 

I'm a scientist, we're a sciency family. She's accelerated, but not off the charts gifted. My impression of the chemistry part of the program - which I liked very much - was that it was great for 4th-5th grades, but not what I'd consider a middle school program. I haven't seen all the kogs, so I'm perfectly willing to accept that they flesh it out more fully. We moved away from RS4K after that, because I didn't like the Biology (which I bought) nearly as much as the chemistry, nor was I crazy about the physics samples.

 

ETA: at the time, the only full program was the chemistry - this was in 2011, I think. I can see they've added a ton of materials since then.

Science/math family here as well. In this context what you're saying makes perfect sense. I completely agree with your Biology assessment!

 

I'm not picking on you, promise :) I just want to flesh out what I said in my previous posts, in case there are people on the fence about using this program. I think it gets the short end of the stick simply because so many people only use part of it. RS4K did themselves a disservice by not binding everything into one volume, and instead WAY overpricing the separate pieces.

 

As an example, if someone were to use the whole program this is what would be covered in Chapter 5: Acid-Base Neutralization.

 

Text: Concentration, Titration, Plotting Data, Plot of an acid-base titration

LAB: Vinegar & ammonia in the balance: An introduction to titration

Technology KOG: Stomachs, Acids, and Protons

History KOG: Analysis (Acid-base indicators & titration, the buret, pH Meter, graphing)

Philosophy KOG: Empirical Thinking, seeing patterns in the data, more graphing

Arts KOG: Neutral colors - discusses color theory, practices mixing colors & titration

Critical Thinking KOG: introduces the logical fallacy of *appeal to popularity*, evaluates the statement, "Antacids are bases that neutralize stomach acid."

Language KOG: Looks at the Greek root -cent

 

My personal feelings are that this is a great introduction to chemistry. It doesn't go into so much detail as to be overwhelming and is short enough that it keeps kids that age engaged. Most 10-14 year olds are going to have an in-depth chemistry course again in high school. STEM people are going to have it yet again (maybe more than they want ;) ) in university.

[Dmmetler]

Have you looked at Chemistry in the Community? It's a chem course designed for non-STEM focused students (so requires little math) at the high school level, created by ACS. It's been revised several times to stay within shouting distance of standards, but the primary focus is on the chemistry needed to understand day to day life, and the focus is investigations into problems/issues that actually occur in the real world. It has a LOT more organic and biochem than the typical high school course, too.

 

 

 

 

[lewelma]

Have you looked at Chemistry in the Community? It's a chem course designed for non-STEM focused students (so requires little math) at the high school level, created by ACS. It's been revised several times to stay within shouting distance of standards, but the primary focus is on the chemistry needed to understand day to day life, and the focus is investigations into problems/issues that actually occur in the real world. It has a LOT more organic and biochem than the typical high school course, too.

 

I own Chem in the Community, and I *really* like it.  I could not implement it, though, because it requires you to do labs with equipment I don't have. And the labs are integral to the discovery approach.  But if you have the basics of a chem lab, I think it is the BEST program out there. The American Chemistry Society knew what they were doing.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Reefgazer]

:ohmy: Holy Shmokes on the cost!

What about Super Charged Science and living books?

[Reefgazer]

My kid likes to read, likes complex scientific experiments and discussion of those experiments, and enjoys putting together lab reports making connections between ideas.  She loved Ellen McHenry and so did I, but I added on to create extensive lab work as a supplement and I am afraid I will be too busy and wiped out next year to do that well (DS is being homeschooled for the first time ever, and he can be...a....err...a "handful").   If I had all my time to devote to her, that's what I would do, and it's still on the table, if I can't find something with extensive lab activities that is open-and-go.

What type of curricula has worked well for you in the past?

 

[Reefgazer]

This looks intriguing!  I had never heard of them before.  Have you used this, and if so, what is your critique of it?

What about The Rainbow?

 

[Reefgazer]

I don't have a tablet, and we roll old-school because we prefer paper.  We probably need to come into this century, LOL!

Do you have a tablet?  We used Mr. Q but didn't print out the text, just the worksheets, which is much more manageable.  Dd read it on the tablet.

 

[Reefgazer]

This is helpful.  Now I know not to chase Spectrum down; Rainbow does seem to be a better fit, as best I can tell from the website.

 

I was at the HEAV convention this past week and was so pre-occupied and busy, I didn't get a chance to look at Apologia.  I should qualify my "not wanting religion around my science".  I actually don't mind Bible verses on every page or flapping about God's creation, I just really can't stomach the lame attempts to discredit scientific methodology, evolution, and the ever-present digs at all things science. 

 

 

Spectrum Chemistry definitely needs more math than your daughter has had. Rainbow, from the same company, would be more doable. Apologia would be very difficult to do secular. I'm a Christian and I find it overbearing enough that we don't use it. 

 

[Reefgazer]

I don't think digital programs are for us; I'd have to print stuff out and DD seems to prefer that also.  It looks like a decent program, though.

Discovery Science Techbook (available through homeschool buyers coop) is for grades k-8... I don't know much about the scope and sequence for older grades, but I find Discovery to be a great company and it might provide what you are looking for.

 

[Matryoshka]

I don't have a tablet, and we roll old-school because we prefer paper.  We probably need to come into this century, LOL!

 

LOL - Dh won the tablet at some work thing he went to - I was so excited because so much is coming out as PDFs these days, and I can't read a book off the laptop - at least not more than a page or two at a time...

 

[Reefgazer]

This just might work for us also!  I couldn't find pages to check out in Amazon, so I might visit our local friendly homeschool store to see if they have it IRL to look at.  Actually, for $20, I can get a used older edition and it would probably be worth it.

 

Are labs included in the book, are they in a separate book, or do you cobble labs and materials together on your own?  Are the labs substantial and worthwhile? 

 

ETA:  Duh, nevermind....I just saw your links.

My older used IGCSE Chemistry written for the Cambridge exams.  It is a 10th grade course, but 80% of the textbook is only conceptual (as in NO math) so is not hard, and the 2 quantitative chapters are designed to be easily skipped to make it an easier course. In addition, the exams and textbooks are designed for a student to study either an easy and an advanced course, so the textbook simply blocks off (in each chapter) the material designed for the advanced course and you don't study those sections if you want to do an easier course. This way you still get a survey of all the topics in the book, but study them at a lower level. The easier course is of advanced middle school level IMHO.

 

My son liked it because it covers a very broad range of topics (including organic), and has quite a nice slant towards industry/uses (without being overdone) which makes it all seem so useful.  It has a workbook with good problems, and an instructor CD if you need it.

 

We then did our standard silly putty investigation with usually takes about a month, and my son attended a homeschool chemistry lab at the university for 9 hours one week.

 

It was a great year.

 

Ruth in NZ

 

 

 

here is the syllabus for the course

I think you can preview the textbooks here

 

 

 

X-post on the silly putty investigation:

 

Activity: The best open ended activity I have ever found for chemistry is making silly putty (like I mentioned above). Just google a basic recipe, and get 2 types of glue (blue and elmers white), borax, and corn starch. Start with the basic recipe, make up the putty, put a touch of food dye in it to differentiate each batch, and wrap in plastic. Then change one ingredient at a time while keeping everything else constant. Help her set up a bounce height test and a stretch test, and a table to record her data, and start measuring which one is better at what. It can get as complicated as she wants as she can vary 3 different variables, so the graphing can be quite complex. Real science this one, and real chemistry. Change the inputs and get a different product. But make sure she knows that borax is a poison, so should be handled with care and she needs to wash her hands after she uses it. It is standard practice in chemistry lab not to touch your face during a lab either, so remind her of that also. This investigation took my son a full month of mucking around resulting in lots of pretty colored putties!

 

[Reefgazer]

I've never heard of this; off to check it out!

I have not found the Apologia high school chem book to be very xreligious at all. It would have bothered me too much. I originally did not look at it for the reason that it was by a religious publisher. After striking out EVERYWHERE a friend let me borrow hers. It is not fantastic, over-the-moon perfect, but it is definitely better than the others I looked at. The math is not incredibly complex, but some Algebra background would be helpful if you want her to be completely independent.

I dislike the heavy handed religious quality of the Apologia middle and elementary books. I will also not use them for Biology due to the extent of the religious material. So, I hear you there. I just don't much see it in the Chem. We have covered about half the book at this point. Every three chapters you might get a sentence referencing God's creation rather than saying Earth. We did skip the section about how ozone depletion was environmental extremism. These such instances have been very easy to avoid and they are nothing my son has not already known or heard exists.

I pair the Apologia with Georgia Public Broadcasting Chemistry. It is no where near enough for stand alone, but works well with the Apologia. It also provides a much more straight forward approach like I received in school. The math for GPB is minor and PreA would be sufficient for everything we have seen. However it provides more problems to do than Apologia. The Apologia is pretty sparing.

I don't know if that helps. You are very right about the dearth of Chemistry texts which are approachable yet secular. I looked for quite some time - and am still looking. We just needed a text and this one was the lesser of the evils.

I found the book on Amazon for about $11. Though I have seen it even cheaper. It might be worth a shot.

 

[Reefgazer]

That's what I was thinking.  But I still want to chase down leads so that I can kind of open-and-go and not add to anything, because when I start tinkering with anything, ay-yi-yi.....it gets really elaborate and out of control and I just know I won't have the time for that next year.  Heck, it's going to take me all next fall to catch up with everything I neglected this year, LOL!

It would be VERY easy to add some more experiments to Ellen McHenry. You could easily do both Elements AND Carbon Chem in a year, with tons of additional experiments/projects.

 

[Reefgazer]

When I tried to look at the program in its entirety at the convention, this is what I found.  Even at the convention, all the components were not present for examination, so it was impossible to get a sense of what it really is about.  The pieces I saw were unimpressive.

Science/math family here as well. In this context what you're saying makes perfect sense. I completely agree with your Biology assessment!

I'm not picking on you, promise :) I just want to flesh out what I said in my previous posts, in case there are people on the fence about using this program. I think it gets the short end of the stick simply because so many people only use part of it. RS4K did themselves a disservice by not binding everything into one volume, and instead WAY overpricing the separate pieces.

As an example, if someone were to use the whole program this is what would be covered in Chapter 5: Acid-Base Neutralization.

Text: Concentration, Titration, Plotting Data, Plot of an acid-base titration
LAB: Vinegar & ammonia in the balance: An introduction to titration
Technology KOG: Stomachs, Acids, and Protons
History KOG: Analysis (Acid-base indicators & titration, the buret, pH Meter, graphing)
Philosophy KOG: Empirical Thinking, seeing patterns in the data, more graphing
Arts KOG: Neutral colors - discusses color theory, practices mixing colors & titration
Critical Thinking KOG: introduces the logical fallacy of *appeal to popularity*, evaluates the statement, "Antacids are bases that neutralize stomach acid."
Language KOG: Looks at the Greek root -cent

My personal feelings are that this is a great introduction to chemistry. It doesn't go into so much detail as to be overwhelming and is short enough that it keeps kids that age engaged. Most 10-14 year olds are going to have an in-depth chemistry course again in high school. STEM people are going to have it yet again (maybe more than they want ;) ) in university.

 

[Reefgazer]

I haven't, but I will, since it has 2 fans on this thread.  :)  I looked at the ACS website and liked what I saw, but I only looked at the middle school resources, so I need to check this out also.

Have you looked at Chemistry in the Community? It's a chem course designed for non-STEM focused students (so requires little math) at the high school level, created by ACS. It's been revised several times to stay within shouting distance of standards, but the primary focus is on the chemistry needed to understand day to day life, and the focus is investigations into problems/issues that actually occur in the real world. It has a LOT more organic and biochem than the typical high school course, too.

 

[Heather in VA]

Have you thought about doing a Physical Science program and then starting High school level courses next year? PHysical Science used to be a high school course but is not any longer and typically does not require the level of math that high school chem and Physics do. 

[Reefgazer]

Yes, that's something that's been vaguely brewing around in my head for a while, also.  Any recommendations?

Have you thought about doing a Physical Science program and then starting High school level courses next year? PHysical Science used to be a high school course but is not any longer and typically does not require the level of math that high school chem and Physics do. 

 

[Heather in VA]

Yes, that's something that's been vaguely brewing around in my head for a while, also.  Any recommendations?

 

Well that depends on how 'non-religious' you need it to be. As I said, we are Christians but I steer away from programs that make 'Young Earth' the central issue of all things. We have used DIVE science in the past and like it. My oldest used it for Chemistry and Biology. She's now getting As in college as a nursing major. The program is a Christian program but we didn't find it overly so, especially in Chemistry. Also it allows you to either use it along side an "internet textbook' or your choice of textbook. For Biology we chose a secular college text (Campbell). 

 

All that said - we have not used the Integrated Chem and Physics program so I can't vouch for it personally.  Their first choices for accompanying texts are their "Internet Textbook' or BJU. BJU is very good but obviously religious. They also provide syllabi for CPO and Prentice Hall as other secular options. From what Ive seen the Internet text is pretty secular. 

[Dmmetler]

I haven't, but I will, since it has 2 fans on this thread.  :)  I looked at the ACS website and liked what I saw, but I only looked at the middle school resources, so I need to check this out also.

 

ACS has a lot of good resources. Chemistry in Community is a textbook designed for the high school market, and is designed to provide the chemistry that people in the field feel that the general public really NEEDS to know and understand. Which makes it both a good chem course for younger students who are ready for higher level knowledge, but aren't ready for a traditional chem course yet, and for non-STEM students for whom being able to evaluate media claims is more important than being able to balance equations.

 

I do agree that it requires having some lab access and lab knowledge going in, since it's written for the PS setting, and if you can get the teacher's manual, it's a big help in adapting the lab for the home setting. Unfortunately, the teacher's manual is much harder to come by.

 

I'd suggest getting ChemMatters, too.

 

http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters.html

[lewelma]

ACS has a lot of good resources. Chemistry in Community is a textbook designed for the high school market, and is designed to provide the chemistry that people in the field feel that the general public really NEEDS to know and understand. Which makes it both a good chem course for younger students who are ready for higher level knowledge, but aren't ready for a traditional chem course yet, and for non-STEM students for whom being able to evaluate media claims is more important than being able to balance equations.

 

I do agree that it requires having some lab access and lab knowledge going in, since it's written for the PS setting, and if you can get the teacher's manual, it's a big help in adapting the lab for the home setting. Unfortunately, the teacher's manual is much harder to come by.

 

I'd suggest getting ChemMatters, too.

 

http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters.html

 

Have you used it?  My younger would love it in a few years.  I wonder how much equipment you actually need to buy.  Does the teacher's Manual lay it out?

 

I love how each chapter revolves around a problem in the media, like fish kills happening in the local stream.  And then it teaches you all the chemistry you need to learn to evaluate the media claims.  It is just such a unique way of doing a real chemistry class.  It is definitely a textbook; not a 'living' book. 

[lewelma]

This just might work for us also!  I couldn't find pages to check out in Amazon, so I might visit our local friendly homeschool store to see if they have it IRL to look at.  Actually, for $20, I can get a used older edition and it would probably be worth it.

 

Are labs included in the book, are they in a separate book, or do you cobble labs and materials together on your own?  Are the labs substantial and worthwhile? 

 

ETA:  Duh, nevermind....I just saw your links.

 

The labs are laid out in the teacher's manual.  But I outsourced the standard labs and then just ran my silly putty investigation.  This way my son got plenty of lab time but I did not have to set up a lab in my very small home.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Chris in VA]

I think I still have McHenry's Elements here on my shelf, if you want to borrow it.

I also printed out that free ACS course, along with the sheet that lists what you need to do the labs.

 

I have leftover Apologia equipment, too.

 

I know you are somewhere in VA. If you'd want to borrow or look thru, you are welcome to.

PM me if you want.

[Reefgazer]

I'm in Norfolk.  Are you close by?  Are you selling and looking to get rid of the Apologia equipment?  I actually have lots of chemistry stuff, but I know I don't have all.

I think I still have McHenry's Elements here on my shelf, if you want to borrow it.

I also printed out that free ACS course, along with the sheet that lists what you need to do the labs.

 

I have leftover Apologia equipment, too.

 

I know you are somewhere in VA. If you'd want to borrow or look thru, you are welcome to.

PM me if you want.

 

[Reefgazer]

The more I've thought about it, the more I am leaning towards this option.  I also like the IGSCE chemistry test, so I have pretty much narrowed it down to these two pathways.

It would be VERY easy to add some more experiments to Ellen McHenry. You could easily do both Elements AND Carbon Chem in a year, with tons of additional experiments/projects.

 

[Lori D.]

Probably coming in too late to this party to be of any real help, BUT… you might find some ideas in this thread on the high school board, posted by someone looking for a gentle non-mathy chemistry so a younger student could do it along with an older high school student: Easy Chemistry Options. (Links to some great visual supplements and tutorials, too!)

 

From that thread, secular options include:

- Chemistry Power Basics (Walch Publishing) -- labs; text & workbook; essentials of high school (content) at below-level readability

- Friendly Chemistry -- text & lab guide in a gentler, more basic format

- The Story of Science (Hakim) -- integrated -- mostly physics & chemistry history/lit.-based; text & workbooks; no labs

- 2 Prentice Hall's Science Explorer texts:

Chemical Interactions (atoms & bonding, chemical reactions, acid/base/solutions, carbon chemistry)

Chemical Building Blocks (matter, solid/liquid/gas, elements/periodic table, exploring materials)

 

None of these have go-along kits, but the TOPS units of Analysis, Solutions would work for middle school, and possible Oxidation (although that one is a bit more advanced), and aren't too hard to match up with whatever text you're using.

 

I would probably not recommend Conceptual Chemistry for middle school, unless the student is very strong and interested in the sciences, and/or you the parent are really strong at teaching the sciences. CC was written as an intro-level overview of Chemistry for college; the chapters on atomic structure were way more than what is needed at a middle school level, and there is a chapter on chemical equations and stoichiometry, and another on mole that involves more math than what most middle schoolers are probably ready for. Just our experience… You can check out the free videos and the free worksheets and teacher resources on the website to get a feel for if your middle schooler would be up for CC or not.

 

BEST of luck in finding the best chem fit for your middle schoolers! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[mysticmomma]

What's a kog?

[Arcadia]

What's a kog?

It's a Real Science 4 Kids workbook. Explanation in publisher link

http://www.gravitaspublications.com/kogs

[Ewe Mama]

Have you looked at GuestHollow's free chemistry curriculum? It incorporates a slew of different resources, including Ellen McHenry and The Elements book by Gray that you mentioned up thread. I will add in some TOPS experiment units pertaining to chemistry for more hands on fun.