Chemistry and Geometry decisions

[jclinton]

DD will be starting 10th grade next year.  She is most likely going to end up in a STEM career - loves biology.  She's very motivated and does her work mostly independently.  I am looking for a video based program - I was thinking Dr. Callahan with Jacob's Geometry but have seen Geometry a Guided Inquiry as well which has lessons available.  This year she did Lial Algebra and it worked really well.  What are your thoughts, pros/cons of Jacobs and Guided Inquiry - can you compare the two?  Another option would be an online course which uses Holt Geometry with a "live" teacher.

For chemistry I was looking at Apologia (but I HATE Apologia biology and don't feel it really is rigorous enough and I'm hoping that isn't the case with chemistry - please say it's not) as it has the DVD lectures associated with it.  Is Apologia rigorous enough for a child that will most likely go on to college and a career in sciences?  I was also looking at Prentice Hall chemistry but there's no video lessons - would DIVE work with this? be too much? 

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

JoAnne

[Dicentra]

I don't have any personal experience with Apologia but you could check out the pinned chemistry thread at the top of this forum for other ideas.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/453617-homeschool-high-school-chemistry/

 

If your dd is planning on a STEM career, I would think you'd want to be looking at an honours chem:

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/453617-homeschool-high-school-chemistry/?p=4680556

 

DIVE is a video program that's meant to be used alongside a text (from what I understand).  Here's what the website says about using DIVE with the Apologia text:

"Apologia is great for those who enjoy longer, descriptive reading assignments. However, it is important to note that about 6 weeks of topics typically included in a high school Chemistry course, is in the Apologia Advanced Chemistry text. During these weeks, Apologia students will need to either read from the advanced text or use the provided internet links to complete their reading online."  It sounds like you'd need to own both the first Apologia chem text and the Advanced Chem one.  DIVE can be paired with the online DIVE chem text which is free: "DIVE Chemistry Internet Textbook - Weekly reading assignments can be completed using our free Internet Textbook, which is a chart with links to specific websites to complete required reading assignments. Designed by Dr. Shormann, the Internet Textbook does an excellent job of preparing students for the lectures. Because it is online, we can include graphics and animations and we can update it anytime to include the latest scientific information."

 

There is also a wonderful pinned thread on high school math options: :)

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/542418-homeschool-high-school-math/

 

Here's the geometry post:

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/542418-homeschool-high-school-math/?do=findComment&comment=6191107

[EKS]

If your daughter did well with Lial, and if it was because everything was spelled out very clearly (which is the reason why Lial is so great!), Jacobs 3rd edition may not be a good fit.  I don't know what Dr Callahan does to support Jacobs, but we did it with Derek Owens, and I still ended up doing a lot of teaching and developing of problem sets.

[HollyDay]

My oldest used BJU chemistry with DIVE cdroms.  I'm thinking youngest will use Zumdahl.  There aren't a lot of chemistry options out there specifically for homeschool. 

[jclinton]

Thanks ladies.  I'm considering using an online class through homeschool connections as I don't think I honestly have the time to teach it properly.

JoAnne