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need science curricula (chemistry) suggestions for dd who dislikes science...


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Have you looked at http://www.beginningspublishing.com/version2/spectrum.htm

 

A couple other ideas:

 

1) does she NEED chemistry? I think sometimes we get caught up in how schools do it and forget we're homeschooling so have greater freedom. What does the college she wants to attend say? Almost every college *I* have checked out has said "3 (or 4) sciences, at least 2 from: biology, chemistry, physics, or an advanced course of these." That would allow a kid to skip chemistry if it just wasn't something they needed or wanted. Also, that is the requirement for an incoming freshman. A student that goes to community college first wouldn't necessarily need those things even. Both my kids have had/will have different science sequences. My daughter's would still have met a university requirement (and if she had made a different choice that way, we could have tweaked it more in that direction). My son's doesn't look even close to normal (horticulture for 9th grade, for example).

 

2) Another idea would be to wait for it. Depending on her math skills, this may make a LOT of sense. Does it matter if a kid takes it in 10th or 12th?

 

3) could she do chemistry-light such as one made for struggling learners? Maybe just the Chemistry part of an IPC/physical sci program? Maybe she could do it over 2 years?

 

4) if you decided she needed to do regular high school chemistry, she may need to just deal with it being hard and not liking it. IRL, we don't like everything we have to do. I was a straight A student in school and college but one day got a C in a class I really didn't enjoy. I didn't learn all that much about that subject that term, but I did learn a great deal about studying, persevering, etc. I learned more from that class I earned a C in than I had any course prior.

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This is not suitable for a kid who is headed for further science study, but it would be great for a kid who needs to know enough chemistry to understand more about how the world works. It's math light, but the concepts are meaty. (We're actually using this at the junior high level to be followed by AP level later, but it is intended to be used at the university level.)

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My dd did some misc things for chemistry. Also not a budding scientist in her...

 

* Friendly chemistry. This is real chemistry, but concepts are demonstrated in games. It's written for a co-op, IMO, but I was able to plan it out for her. It goes thru quite a bit of typical high school scope, tho not all. And the experiments were helpful but not really exposure to high school chemistry lab, so I would add to it.

 

* Rainbow Science has a chemistry portion. It's 1/2 a year for middle school, so maybe 1/4 a year intro for high school.

 

* Experiences in Chemistry is a homeschool lab program that is solid. Home Science Tools will help you put together a lab kit (Castle Heights order sheet).

 

 

 

Also, Beginnings Publishing has a Chemistry program. They are the makers of Rainbow Science. I would trust that they would be less wordy than Apologia & more experiment-based. But I haven't even looked at the program yet, so I'm just guessing.

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My middle ds will probably use Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Level 2. Queen homeschool sells Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Level 2 as part of their high school package. According to the author's blog post from July 17, 2008 "Level II Chemistry nearly meets the full requirements for high school SAT preparation and, from what I can see, I think it covers enough topics in enough detail to qualify as a high school chemistry credit." Using the chemistry info from the SAT website she lists the exact information that is not covered. We may or may not use an additional book to fill in the few concepts that not covered.

 

HTH-

Mandy

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How about high school chemistry by the Teaching Company? They have a special, extra discount sale today only:

 

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High School Level—Chemistry

by Professor Frank Cardulla, Niles North High School

Professor Frank Cardulla insists "chemistry is the easiest class in school." He winningly shows what he means by demonstrating how everyday quantitative reasoning methods that students already know can be applied to nearly all the problem-solving situations they will face in high school chemistry. These situations include problems related to density, molarity, stoichiometry, and equilibrium."

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Guest Katia

I think Timberdoodle sells a program from PAC called Integrated Physics and Chemistry. It is supposed to be very engaging without all the hard math. I've never looked at it, but have heard good things from people who have used it with their non-science major dc.

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My middle ds will probably use Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Level 2. Queen homeschool sells Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Level 2 as part of their high school package. According to the author's blog post from July 17, 2008 "Level II Chemistry nearly meets the full requirements for high school SAT preparation and, from what I can see, I think it covers enough topics in enough detail to qualify as a high school chemistry credit." Using the chemistry info from the SAT website she lists the exact information that is not covered. We may or may not use an additional book to fill in the few concepts that not covered.

 

HTH-

Mandy

 

 

Interesting. I met Dr. Keller, and asked her about this for. Dd wants to major in Biochem later. She said that RS4K2 would do for part of her Chem course. However, after looking at it, I think for a non-sciency dc, it could be enough. I think she's going to eventually write a high school Chem course (at least I hope so, and read that into something she said). There's quite a bit to that course. But be warned--you are expected to design your own experiments. She tells you what you need to find out, though, and sometimes gives hints, etc. She also gives ample room to record your data and write your conclusions.

 

We are doing that then Conceptual Chemistry for grade 9. To compensate for the lack of math with it, dd will have to do an AP Chem course or something later

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