Chemistry indecision - opinions, please!

[klmama]

In a nutshell, I dislike something about every chemistry option I have, and I'm vacillating instead of getting this decided and done.  Pretend I'm your best friend and give me your brutally honest opinion about my options, please!

Online classes are out, as we need flexibility in the schedule and want to get this done first semester through block scheduling.

I have the teacher materials and video access for the original GPB chemistry series Chemistry: A Study of Matter.  I like this because it's super clear and has note-taking pages, so dc would have to focus while he's talking.  Looking through the note pages I think some of it may be too easy for dc, though.  I can supplement using my other resources, but I'm not sure I want to use this as the main part of the course if it means hassling with finding additional material AND additional labs.  I won't really know until we get into it, though.

I own Zumdahl's World of Chemistry, but I don't think we will successfully pull off many of the labs at home, and the layout (1st ed.) really bothers dc.  

I also own Apologia's 2nd ed. chem text, which my older dc used.  Current dc prefers this layout to regular textbooks, but Wile's wordiness makes things take so. much. time.  I'm also concerned that the infamous chapter 2 will turn dc from a chem lover into a chem hater just as fast as it did my older dc.  Because of that, I'm considering buying:

Discovering Design with Chemistry, Wile's newer chemistry book, which has a better topic order.  He's still excessively wordy, though, which will make it take more time than it should.  I do like that the labs are right there in the text, though.  It seems kind of silly to buy yet another text, but maybe I should just to ensure this gets done? 

Please share your thoughts about all this.  Bluntness is fine.  I need to hop off the fence and get on with this.  Thanks.

 

 

[RootAnn]

It looks like the biggest negative to #1 is that it might be too easy. Is that a big problem? Is that the only issue or did I miss that you'll need to use something else for labs?

Seems like that should be your pick & you have two other texts to supplement with if you absolutely need to. 

[klmama]

Yes, my concern is that it may be too easy for this particular dc, who could handle an honors chem class, but doesn't have the extra time.  I will be supplementing labs. 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think you're right - if it turns out dc needs more challenge, I have other books.  If I need to purchase the newer one, Amazon will have it here in a few days. It will be ok either way.  I don't have to stress over this. 

Thanks again!  Off the science fence and on to history lectures....

[8filltheheart]

You could have him do Connie's course. She recorded it last yr and has an asynchronous option.

[Momto6inIN]

I already own Apologia 2nd ed and I'm considering buying Dr Wile' s new course too, if that makes you feel any better :)

[SanDiegoMom]

I was going to suggest Connie's course as well. http://www.clovervalleychemistry.com/ .  My son just started this course and halfway through the orientation video he exclaimed "Mom! This course is so well organized! I love it!"   Of course I had read all the previous years reviews so I knew it would go over well. 

 

[BakersDozen]

I use (and love) the GPB course but supplement it with a solid text, Crash Course videos (what would I do without CC??) and literature (Napoleon's Buttons, The Disappearing Spoon, The 13th Element). GPB may be on the lighter side but that leaves room for further exploration and reading. I also use the Illustrated Guide to... books which I have found to be fantastic for labs.

Apologia just doesn't work around here save for as a door stop or a toddler to climb on.

[klmama]

8 hours ago, BakersDozen said:

I also use the Illustrated Guide to... books which I have found to be fantastic for labs.

 

Which Illustrated Guide to... books?  Do you mean Thompson's Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments or do you mean something else?  

[mom31257]

I taught dd using the Apologia 2nd edition course, and I have taught Dr. Wile's Discovering Design in our co-op.  I really like the new course! I plan to teach it again next year.

He has put a special link in the introduction of the book that takes you to a special part of the publisher's website. For each chapter, he has compiled lots of helpful videos to support the text along with extra practice problems.  

Here is the syllabus with daily lesson plans if that will help you gauge the time involved. On co-op days, we would review the chapter and answer questions as well as perform labs. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tvIlVfM_gXgClW73E05ouS0tCO2F3bEy/view?usp=sharing

I hope this helps!

[BakersDozen]

11 hours ago, klmama said:

Which Illustrated Guide to... books?  Do you mean Thompson's Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments or do you mean something else?  

Yes, Thompson's book. I'm using the Forensic Science one this year and it is really fantastic.

[Roadrunner]

On 8/21/2019 at 4:12 PM, 8FillTheHeart said:

You could have him do Connie's course. She recorded it last yr and has an asynchronous option.

 

This would be my top choice. No question about it. 

[fourisenough]

8 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

 

This would be my top choice. No question about it. 

Another vote for Connie’s CVC! My DD was doing it last night while sitting next to me on the couch. I just keep thinking how organized and well-thought out the whole course is (and how glad I am that she’s teaching it rather than me)!

[klmama]

Those of you who have done the Clover Valley Chemistry honor course, how many hours per week has your dc actually spent on it?  Since we're trying to block schedule this, we need double time for it every day.  Also, do you think it would still be worth it if you had all of the correcting to do?  

[8filltheheart]

17 minutes ago, klmama said:

Those of you who have done the Clover Valley Chemistry honor course, how many hours per week has your dc actually spent on it?  Since we're trying to block schedule this, we need double time for it every day.  Also, do you think it would still be worth it if you had all of the correcting to do?  

I wouldn't do the honor's course double time.  I would look at the regular course.  Her honor's course is pretty time-intensive, so it would consume way too much time per day IMHO for someone wanting to cover the content quickly.  I don't think the grading would be all that difficult if she offers complete solutions.

 

[klmama]

Thanks, that's what I thought. I think I'll have to pass on CVC.  I'd still like dc to cover the topics covered in her honors course, but I need to fit our time frame.  It looks like we should be able to cover most of the topics with the GPB course.  I'll supplement as needed.

[caayenne]

1 hour ago, klmama said:

Those of you who have done the Clover Valley Chemistry honor course, how many hours per week has your dc actually spent on it?  Since we're trying to block schedule this, we need double time for it every day.  Also, do you think it would still be worth it if you had all of the correcting to do?  

I was just coming on here to do a detailed review of the parent-graded Honors course, but I thought I’d reply to you first. My son and I had the unique opportunity to beta-test Connie’s course starting in late January, as we had stalled out on doing a textbook-based course (he wasn’t retaining anything), and he is about to take his final (hopefully on Monday!). He worked for approximately 2 hours a day, watching a lecture, reading the text, and then completing some problems plus the homework pages. On days where the lecture was extra long (some of them are over an hour long for a single section of the text), he would sometimes need a second day to complete the problems and homework, but this was rare. He would then take a day for review and a day to take the chapter test, so most chapters were completed in less than the two weeks that Connie schedules. I just added it up, and including last week, which was completely used to review for the final, he spent 28 weeks on the course. So I don’t know for sure if you could finish it by Christmas, but I am sure you could be done by Spring Break. We also did not do all of the labs, as we had already done some in the fall, but you could just do as many as you have time for. She schedules around a lab per chapter on average, so about one every two weeks would probably work.

The grading was not bad at all! If I kept up with it, it usually just took me a couple of minutes to grade a homework assignment, and maybe ten minutes to grade a test. Very doable for sure. My involvement in the course was mostly in a support role, although I did watch quite a few lectures, as they were very interesting. Connie is a fantastic teacher! My son has taken a few dual credit classes at our local 4-year university, and he said that “Mrs. S” was more interesting, better at explaining, and funnier than his professors! Her course is super well-organized, with chapter checklists and everything all laid out in order. I really enjoyed navigating the course site, and my son could easily print out his own work if I needed him to. Connie was literally putting the course together as we used it, but everything was so organized that we never had a single problem.

The only drawback of taking the course as parent-graded was that we didn’t have additional online help from Connie, but in general we were fine. I did get into a habit of studying with my son on his test review days, as I wanted to make sure that he really knew the material. The tests are quite challenging, so I had my son “teach” me the material to prepare. Basically, we would go back through all of the homework assignments, and he would explain how he got the answers to each question or problem. Then we would hit the end-of-chapter concepts list and go over anything he hadn’t already taught me. He only did additional problems if there was a concept he was having trouble with. This took us about two hours for each test, and he got A’s on all but two.

My son and I have been thrilled with this course, and I highly recommend it! He just started his freshman-level Biology (for science majors, so not an easy course) this week, and they are starting with the Chemistry of Life. So far, he has known every single thing his professor has said, so I feel certain that he is prepared for college chemistry and college science in general!

 

Edited August 24, 2019 by caayenne

[klmama]

Hmmm....  you all are so persuasive!  It must be really good.  I wonder if we really need to do chemistry as a block first semester.  I'll look at that again and some time later today I'll wade through her sample videos more thoroughly and think about it some more. 

 

[katilac]

On 8/24/2019 at 12:32 PM, klmama said:

Hmmm....  you all are so persuasive!  It must be really good.  I wonder if we really need to do chemistry as a block first semester.  I'll look at that again and some time later today I'll wade through her sample videos more thoroughly and think about it some more. 

Strictly my opinion, but I think chemistry is one of the very worst classes to block schedule. There is SO MUCH information coming at you!