What "textbook" curriculum to pair with Ellen McHenry's "The Elements" for middle school chemistry (7th grade)?

[pitterpatter]

While I like the idea of Ellen McHenry's "The Elements," I'm finding it a little messy to plan, particularly in regard to all the video and activity extras (yes, I have Otter's chemistry schedule downloaded). I know from past experience that this type of curriculum gets really stressful/impossible to implement when real life hits. (We have several unpredictable family health issues to contend with.) As a result, I'm not sure we'll get to "Carbon Chemistry." I would also like to pair "The Elements" with a more traditional "textbook" approach to ensure chemistry gets done in entirety this year if/when life turns hectic.

Can anyone recommend a mostly independently "textbook" curriculum to pair with "The Elements" for a 7th grader? It doesn't have to align with "The Elements"...just something that can be completed when "The Elements" get relegated to the back burner. If all goes well, we'll complete it after McHenry.

After combing through the archives, I've come up with following two options.

Exploring the World of Chemistry by Tiner with the Memoria Press supplements <-- Has anyone used Master Books's Survey of Science History & Concepts Teacher's Guide with Tiner? Wait, does this just contain copies of the questions already in the books? Hmm.
Christian Kids Explore Chemistry by Bright Ideas Press

Is one better/meatier than the other? Any other recommendations? Middle School Chemistry is out, as I don't want the headache of piecing it all together.

Edited June 2, 2019 by pitterpatter

[Slache]

Chemistry 101 is a DVD workbook approach that many use in middle school. I plan on it but have not held it in my hands.

[pitterpatter]

Thanks for posting! I wonder whether I could weave in the videos with "The Elements" and chuck the McHenry YouTube playlist.

1 hour ago, Slache said:

Chemistry 101 is a DVD workbook approach that many use in middle school. I plan on it but have not held it in my hands.

 

[Slache]

10 minutes ago, pitterpatter said:

Thanks for posting! I wonder whether I could weave in the videos with "The Elements" and chuck the McHenry YouTube playlist.

I plan on using Elements in a very basic way and then 101 completely. I will add anything relevant from Elements to our ANKI deck so all definitions and concepts will be memorized before high school.

[mumto2]

Maybe some of the individual topics from the Georgia Public Broadcasting course http://www.gpb.org/chemistry-study-of-matter/students/chemistry/semester1 would be useful.  You can print the worksheets/note taking  but need to buy the answers unless you are in Georgia.  I just watched myself and graded.

[pitterpatter]

I think I need to reevaluate. I was originally going to use "The Elements" (and possibly "Carbon Chemistry") as our primary chemistry resource(s), but after scheduling it all out paper, I'm already starting to dread it. I think I need to step back to something a little more open-and-go as our primary so I don't feel like we have to do absolutely everything in McHenry.

[BusyMom5]

What about the Science Explorers series?  They are cheap on Amazon, middle school level.  I have 2 chemistry ones that we used with RSO Chem 1 last year.  There are also a few Science Fusion middle school workbooks that might work.

[pitterpatter]

I wish I would have known about the Science Explorer series last year. We tried using Science Fusion for earth sciences and it was a hot mess. I bought the online subscription along with the student workbook and teacher's guide. Never again. Lol! Granted, it may have worked out okay if I would have only used the workbook and ignored the gazillion other pieces. At first, I was really excited about all of the lab possibilities, but they turned out to be repetitive, some didn't' work, and others took way too long. The experience really set us back time wise.

I wish there was a way to see inside the Science Explorer books. I can catch a glimpse on eBay, but that's about it.

10 hours ago, BusyMom5 said:

What about the Science Explorers series?  They are cheap on Amazon, middle school level.  I have 2 chemistry ones that we used with RSO Chem 1 last year.  There are also a few Science Fusion middle school workbooks that might work.

 

[pitterpatter]

I ended up buying the $5.99 PDF/eBook version of Exploring the World of Chemistry via the Master Books site. It's definitely more of a historical overview than applied chemistry. Would it, plus the Chemistry 101 DVDs, and the primary pages of The Elements and maybe Carbon Chemistry be enough? I think I might need a chemistry kit too, though. Ugh. I'm making things more complex, I think.

[cintinative]

This doesn't meet your requirements for "open and go" but we just did Middle School Chemistry by ACS and I really thought it was well done. it is free. Unfortunately it is teacher intensive in that it is pretty much all hands-on experiments.  After we did Middle School Chemistry we did Carbon Chemistry by McHenry.  In comparison, the "experiments" in McHenry were boring.  I ended up skipping the last two chapters worth of activities since we had done lots of science between these two curriculum and Forensic Science at co-op.

 

 

[Gretchen in NO. CA]

What about Real Science 4 kids? They have a middle school chemistry. I'm thinking about doing that with my daughter and I have McHenry's Elements so that might be a good combo.

[Slache]

On 6/3/2019 at 5:25 AM, pitterpatter said:

I ended up buying the $5.99 PDF/eBook version of Exploring the World of Chemistry via the Master Books site. It's definitely more of a historical overview than applied chemistry. Would it, plus the Chemistry 101 DVDs, and the primary pages of The Elements and maybe Carbon Chemistry be enough? I think I might need a chemistry kit too, though. Ugh. I'm making things more complex, I think.

This is overkill. I would do 101 or Christian Kids, possibly do some Elements if you have time, skip Carbon and assign Exploring as independent reading.

101 and Christian Kids are complete. They don't need anything added. But I'm a spaz. I think you can relate. I don't see Carbon as adding anything enriching to it. I see it as a 101/Christian Kids alternative that is not open and go.

[Slache]

Or...

Start Elements with the intention of doing it completely. If it falls through and you wind up just doing 101 or Christian Kids then you still have used a full curriculum. I believe that both 101 and Christian Kids can be done in two days a week. If that is the case then you can play the games from Elements one day a week.

Still assign The World of Chemistry as independent reading. It's a good book. It's a good series.

[mmasc]

We used the Tiner text combined with the Elements for oldest ds in 7th. We used it where ds read the chapter and then I asked him the end of chapter questions in the Tiner book. Then I read and went over the Elements together with him and his younger sibling. They watched the YouTube videos whenever it was convenient. I thought it worked out pretty well, but I’m not a heavy hitter with textbook science, so ymmv. 

[pitterpatter]

Thank you, everyone! I ended up purchasing The Elements, the Tiner book, and the Chem 101 DVDs. I reworked my McHenry schedule and cut many of the extras that were stressing me out. I figure Chem 101 will cover most of the topics on her YouTube playlist and then some. I'm going to purchase a few chemistry games (periodic table flashcards, Chemistry Fluxx, and maybe Science Ninjas) on Amazon to replace some of the McHenry games that weren't really going to work for us. I feel better. If we end up with extra time, I'll add in Carbon Chemistry at the end.