Chemistry for DS...

[OneStepAtATime]

I am trying to work out our year coming up and hope someone can help out a bit.  

 

For background, DS will be going through VT for about 10 months so every two weeks we will be driving 4 hours each way to another city.  We will be skyping with the COVD on the weeks we aren't in another city.  There may be OT as well.  It is going to be a bit of a challenging year logistically since DD will be doing some things as well that will require traveling.

 

Anyway, DS wants to do chemistry very badly.  He is dysgraphic and diagnosed dyslexic and possibly ADD (working on additional evals) and has had anxiety and depression issues so I am working hard to make this a positive year for him.  He wants to learn chemistry but I am TERRIBLE at science.  He is a 2e kid and picks up concepts quickly even though input/output need scaffolding.  He does better with hands on and visual coupled with audio books.  I am very weak in science.  He needs relevance and connectivity and does great with history and historical connections.  I am hoping you all can help me come up with a fun, relevant chemistry plan for this coming year that doesn't rely on a ton of math (he is working through math and is not too, too far behind but math frustrates him at the moment because of his vision issues).  

 

Although he told me he doesn't care if it is fun, he just really wants to genuinely learn chemistry I know he will retain better if he is enjoying himself.  He does not do well with rote memorization at all.  He won't be o.k. with just some quickly demonstration type stuff.  He is going to need some depth.

[PeterPan]

The Georgia PBA videos for high school chemistry are free.  Also he could do the Hakim history of science books if there are audio.

 

Don't try too hard.  Sign him up for some Landry chem labs or something, kwim?  

 

Has he already done the easier level things like the Real Science 4 Kids levels?  Don't they have a chem 1, chem 2 kind of thing?  Regular high school chem is going to have a lot of math, unfortunately.

 

Another direction would be videos for the physical science.  There's a Conceptual Physical Science text.  You could watch the videos for the chem portion if you can find them.  

 

Has he done any Apologia texts yet?  They're written to the student and have audios available.  See if there's an Apologia Physical Science.  There's an Apologia General Science.  It's the lightest and some people who don't like it still like the others in the series.  

 

Has he done any living books on science?  I went through a stage where I REALLY wanted to learn physics.  I looked forward to it, thought it was going to unlock the mysteries of the universe...  Then I got in AP Physics and all we did the whole year was drop paper packages from virtual airplanes!  What a horrible let down.  My only conception of physics had been from A Wrinkle in Time and what they were doing in AP Physics wasn't what I wanted to do.   :lol:   So it might be good even to back up and figure out what he means by "do chemistry" and make sure that's what you're helping him do.  :D

 

Like if he wants labs, make labs happen.  He might really like audios of the Best of Science and Nature Essays series.  He might be ready for those!  Or Scientific American or something on audio.  He might like that modern application and complexity.  

Edited July 18, 2016 by OhElizabeth

[EKS]

How about Ellen McHenry's The Elements?  There is also Friendly Chemistry, though I don't have experience with it.

 

I also have a 2E son, who has dyslexia and something that looks like ADHD.  He is 20 now.  But when he was in middle/high school he needed a human to present material and make sure he understood it.  So I couldn't just hand him a textbook or expect him to watch videos and have him get it.  If you plan to homeschool your son through high school, *now* is the time to shore up your science knowledge and skills by working alongside your son as he does science.  You may be pleasantly surprised that the material isn't as difficult as you remember it to be.

Edited July 18, 2016 by EKS

[PeterPan]

I added some more to my post after you liked it.  :)

 

To me, labs are where it's at for chemistry.  I would try to get him lab experiences. Even if it's like a 2 day thing that is over the top and nothing else.  Or like maybe a science museum with once a month programs.  Or go kind of a different direction and do earth science.  There's lots of chemistry and complexity in earth science, and if he hasn't done it he might find it more intriguing than he anticipates.  It's a bit easier to bring it down and remove the (minor) math.  Weather, geology, a lot of this stuff is chuck full of chemistry!  

[PeterPan]

Agreeing with Kai on the maturity and difficulty with videos.  My dd did the GA PBS Chem, and she spent a LOT of time watching, backing up, rewatching.  It took a LOT of self-monitoring and a LOT of time.  

 

I think it helps to think about what kind of local resources you have.  I don't remember/know where you live, but I have the impression it's far from me.  Some of those places have a lot of geology, and geology involves chemistry and gets really intricate.  There could be astronomy, same gig.  Or weather stations.  Like see what you can hook him up with, with real people doing real things in real detail. It will be more intriguing to him.

[OneStepAtATime]

Thanks for the suggestions!  I really appreciate it!  And yes, I intend to learn alongside him.  Honestly, I would rather not homeschool High School for this child.  He is already ahead of me in so many areas.  At the same time where we are currently living there is no school that will fit well for him so I may not have a choice.   :)

 

I agree, he needs a person to work with him.  He needs the interaction.  He is very social and does much better with others to interact with plus he needs help to stay on task when he gets distracted or bored.  So far I have not found ANY local classes.  We did try a local co-op science class and he liked the teacher but he was so bored.  She admitted that he was grasping concepts so quickly that he really needed something a lot more advanced than what she had to offer.  Unfortunately, the local museum is a joke compared to larger cities.  They try but...  

 

I was hoping maybe on-line live classes would help but Landry did not work for DS.  He got really, really frustrated with how slow the class would progress.  Lots of side discussions that many times were not directly related to science.  He loves discussions but he felt that if he was only going to be in a class once a week that the class should be more productive.  He wanted them to stay focused and cover more ground.  (DD, on the other hand, has done well with Landry for things like Art History.).  Same issue with history classes for DS.  He wants depth and relevance and staying on task.  

 

We did the Apologia Chemistry and Physics book but it was elementary level and he wanted more.  Also, we are not YE so there were issues with that.  DS got irritated with the YE references.

 

I will continue to try for something local to add into the mix.  Maybe even a local tutor...they could tutor all three of us...

Edited July 18, 2016 by OneStepAtATime

[OneStepAtATime]

I was wondering about the Physical Science for this maybe...

 

http://www.conceptualacademy.com/node/42251#onlinecourses

 

http://learnscience.academy/faq/

Edited July 18, 2016 by OneStepAtATime

[OneStepAtATime]

Any other resources or suggestions from anyone?  I don't do well creating science on the fly so I will try to find something I can follow and add to but I am actually looking forward to learning with DS.  

 

DD will be continuing her Integrated Chemistry and Physics from this past year since we didn't really even get half way so I think some things could be combined.  We were using Plato learning for part of that but ran into some issues with the math component. 

[Arcadia]

I am thinking a lab kit and a local tutor might work. For a kid that get concepts fast, and wants to ask and be answered, a one to one tutor would work much better. You and your daughter can just "tag a long" and learn what you can.

[Guest2]

Would Spectrum Chemistry be a good fit? My husband has an advanced degree in chem, and was pretty impressed by the content. It might be worth checking out. We really liked it. I could understand the text with my nonexistent chem background.

 

Sorry, I misread your post. I was thinking your son finished the high school chemistry and the high school physics, not the class that combined the two. Ok, what about Rainbow science from the same company? http://beginningspublishing.com/version2/rainbow.htm

We haven't used this one, but it has excellent reviews on WTM. Rechecking it, you may want to find out if there is religious content to make sure it agrees with your view. I don't recall it being an issue in chem.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Silver Brook

[PeterPan]

Yes, yes, Rainbow Science!!!  It's good stuff!  Some people from the boards who sent multiple kids to MIT used it.  Or maybe it was Spectrum (the follow-up program) that they used?  Anyways, that's a good suggestion!  I like that.  Like I'm gonna file that away in my that could work for ds pile.  :D

[geodob]

Perhaps you could make use of your own chemistry laboratory, and take him into the kitchen?

Using chemicals combinations bought at the supermarket?

 

 

 

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Perhaps you could make use of your own chemistry laboratory, and take him into the kitchen?

Using chemicals combinations bought at the supermarket?

We have done some chemistry stuff in the kitchen but he wants connectivity, structure and clear plans.  He likes seeing the big picture and relevance.  In fact, he sees the world like a ton of threads of connection.  He hates learning something as an isolated thing.  I think that is why he loves history so much.  I am hoping to find something that shows those threads as related to science.  He has phenomenal narrative memory so stories work well.  What's weird is he didn't really like The Disappearing Spoon.  He also likes clear expectations and consistency and he likes to see that there is a beginning, a middle and an end to a program.  Not that he would think that once he had done Chemistry in Middle school that would be the end of it.  He might even want to continue in more depth, at a higher level right away.  He just does better if things aren't nebulous and random.

[OneStepAtATime]

Would Spectrum Chemistry be a good fit? My husband has an advanced degree in chem, and was pretty impressed by the content. It might be worth checking out. We really liked it. I could understand the text with my nonexistent chem background.

 

Sorry, I misread your post. I was thinking your son finished the high school chemistry and the high school physics, not the class that combined the two. Ok, what about Rainbow science from the same company? http://beginningspublishing.com/version2/rainbow.htm

We haven't used this one, but it has excellent reviews on WTM. Rechecking it, you may want to find out if there is religious content to make sure it agrees with your view. I don't recall it being an issue in chem.

Actually, he was following along with DD as she did the combined high school stuff but she hasn't finished it and he got bored.  He was also really struggling with anxiety and depression so science got dropped altogether for a while.  He really wants to tackle a lot of science this year, though.

 

Yes, yes, Rainbow Science!!!  It's good stuff!  Some people from the boards who sent multiple kids to MIT used it.  Or maybe it was Spectrum (the follow-up program) that they used?  Anyways, that's a good suggestion!  I like that.  Like I'm gonna file that away in my that could work for ds pile.   :D

 

 

Is this what you all mean?  

 

https://beginningspublishing.com/version2/rainbow.htm

[OneStepAtATime]

Actually, the Rainbow site looks really cool.  I am delving deeper into it right now...

[OneStepAtATime]

Is Rainbow Science secular?  Christian?  YE?  OE?  I can't tell at a glance...

 

ETA:  Never mind.  I read the Cathy Duffy review.  Christian but does not reference YE or OE. That is fine for me.   However, apparently it does sort of try to undermine evolutionary theory which is an issue for me.  How easy would it be to address that and still use the program?  It does look really great.

Edited July 20, 2016 by OneStepAtATime

[PeterPan]

It's chemistry, my lands.  Skip anything you don't like.  Look at how clearly the pages are laid out.  It comes with a kit.  It's written to the student.  Incredibly doable.

[OneStepAtATime]

It's chemistry, my lands.  Skip anything you don't like.  Look at how clearly the pages are laid out.  It comes with a kit.  It's written to the student.  Incredibly doable.

It honestly looks really great.  Pricey, but I have some books I am selling to a friend that would cover most of the cost.

[Arcadia]

It honestly looks really great. Pricey, but I have some books I am selling to a friend that would cover most of the cost.

Old thread on rainbow science

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/375502-help-from-stem-minded-parents-on-rainbow-science/

[OneStepAtATime]

Old thread on rainbow science

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/375502-help-from-stem-minded-parents-on-rainbow-science/

Oh thanks!  I appreciate the link.   :)

[Guest2]

Glad you found the info! Your DS probably could do the Chem, if he has the math. That is our sticking point this year.

 

My younger kids loved being involved with the labs for Chemistry, so I imagine the Rainbow Science labs meant for their ages would be good. I loved the book for Chem. It was colorful, short and sweet. It had the perfect mix for me of a bit of infomality without going overboard. Apologia can sometimes be so conversational that I get too bored and drift off. It is pricey,but you can use it over two years. I think most of the cost is for those amazing labs.

 

Now I want to go buy something. Hmmm ..school supplies should be on sale.

Edited July 20, 2016 by Silver Brook

[OneStepAtATime]

Bumping to remind myself to ask another question later but I need to check on something first...:)

[MyLittleBears]

I've been looking at Noeo Chemistry. It looks really good and the chem 3 is targeted for 7-9 grade.  Trying to compare it to Rainbow. 

[OneStepAtATime]

Will go check that one out, too.

 

I am actually looking for a local tutor as well.  Not having a ton of luck at the moment but I am still looking.  Anyone have suggestions for good questions to ask a tutor?  I have never hired a science tutor before.  The tutors we hired were all for reading issues with dyslexic kids or the math teacher at the school my kids used to attend.  I assume they would need to come to my house, especially for science.  I would like to maybe provide the material and the spine so I have some idea of the quality but maybe tutors have their own.  

[Kanin]

This is probably too easy for him, but the American Chemical Society has an AMAZING (!!!) FREE, complete chemistry course for middle-schoolers. There are lesson plans, reading pages, experiments, worksheets, all that you can download for free. The material is really clear, simple but not dumbed-down, and the experiments are super fun.  :laugh:

 

http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/

 

If it's too easy for him, maybe he could go through the chapters/experiments this summer so when he does HS chemistry, he'll feel more prepared.

 

The experiments in this program are so cool, maybe he would enjoy working them out on his own, and then sharing them with his family :)

 

I am also science challenged, and I could handle this one :D

[Arcadia]

I assume they would need to come to my house, especially for science. I would like to maybe provide the material and the spine so I have some idea of the quality but maybe tutors have their own.

Due to homeowners insurance, most would prefer your place for science unless they are already running group science classes at their home.

 

Materials wise, we have found it easy to discuss with tutors. They may want to borrow your copy to look over if the curriculum is unfamiliar. Most are very familiar with public school textbooks.

[MerryAtHope]

If I can encourage you as someone for whom science is also not a strength, teaching a child for whom it IS a strength...don't let this scare you from going through this with your son. In fact, I think you can turn this into a real positive. Learn with him (read to him as necessary, look for opportunities to do experiments both at home and through any local programs you can find--another adult who is strong in chemistry, once a month experiment days with dad, etc...). Let your son be the expert in this area. Ask questions and have HIM explain things to YOU. For kids with learning struggles, it's such a boon for them to recognize that they have a strength and that they can help someone else. My dd has done science fairs for years, and has had to learn a lot from talking with others, researching, reading, and so forth. I always help her strengthen her reports and her presentation skills by asking her questions. If she can teach it to me, she can explain it clearly to a judge, LOL! 

[OneStepAtATime]

If I can encourage you as someone for whom science is also not a strength, teaching a child for whom it IS a strength...don't let this scare you from going through this with your son. In fact, I think you can turn this into a real positive. Learn with him (read to him as necessary, look for opportunities to do experiments both at home and through any local programs you can find--another adult who is strong in chemistry, once a month experiment days with dad, etc...). Let your son be the expert in this area. Ask questions and have HIM explain things to YOU. For kids with learning struggles, it's such a boon for them to recognize that they have a strength and that they can help someone else. My dd has done science fairs for years, and has had to learn a lot from talking with others, researching, reading, and so forth. I always help her strengthen her reports and her presentation skills by asking her questions. If she can teach it to me, she can explain it clearly to a judge, LOL! 

Wow, good point.  He loves to explain things.  My knowledge of the Greeks and Romans went up 10 fold when he started getting interested in that period of history...and I had honestly never really paid much attention to what was happening with the Germans in Africa during WWII until DS became fascinated by Erwin Rommel.  I love learning from and with him.  (The 4 hour WWII documentary marathon he had me sit through nearly did me in, though, LOL).