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chemistry for the non-science high schooler
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Any advice on curriculum for the child who needs to take Chemistry but not necessarily needing an AP tupe course? My son is a bright student, but not science/math led. He has no interest in a career in engineering, other sciences, or medicine. I don’t want to over stress him or give him too much in Chemistry when I could put more emphasis on literature, history, and politics which are his interests. I think that rules out Apologia Chemistry. We are doing the Biology this year and getting thru it , but dont want to go that route next year. Any thoughts?
You could check out this recent thread on Chemistry:
http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/chemistry-with-little-math
Some ideas are mentioned in that thread. We are using Friendly Chemistry this year and I share about that in that same thread.
Hope that helps! 🙂
Chemistry 101 will likely teach him to love science. That’s worth a lot in my book. That’s what happened with my kids. They thought they didn’t like science…and then Wes came into our lives! Now my hope is that My third child who has been along for the ride with the 101 Series, will be interested in doing science at a higher level. We’ll see…
The Mystery of the Periodic Table gives a great overview of the men and discoveries behind the table of elements and how it’s put together. It might be a nice addition to your line-up of books.
I put together a custom program from the thread that Mrs. K referenced. We are using books such as Napoleon’s Buttons. My dd was already using ACE labs and continues to, so our plan to finish her year is books then she will look at ACE Pace topics and read and narrate on the ones needed. We will do term essay exams also. She was bored with textbook chemistry and now really enjoying the suggested books.
For my next student, I will use ACE text with narration and labs, Chemistry 101, various books such as Napoleon’s Buttons, and term essay exams. Hopefully we will have time to squeeze that all in.
I am excited to have found living chemistry books. Thanks all!
Noeo Chemistry uses the book The Mystery of the Periodic Table along with other living books. We are using their Chem II set right now (last year we did Bio II). I’ve always been very pleased with their curriculum because of the ease of use for the student and the parent.
Great advice, ladies. Thank you. I love that there are books out there for the sciences that add in history and other topics. I really like Napoleon’s Buttons and The Mystery of the Periodic Table. Our local high school has them read the Disappearing Spoon, but I like the other choices better. We also will use Tiner’s The World of Chemistry as an extra. We really enjoyed The World of Medicine.
One question for retrofam- Are you saying that your student will read the ACE text and narrate but not do the workbook and test that comes with it?
Hi, Benita. Yes, that is what we are doing now. My older boys used the worksheets and tests but it didn’t work well for them. I feel that my kids will retain plenty the CM way:)
jawgee – Are you using Noeo Chemistry II with high schoolers?
No, I’m using Chem II with a middle schooler. Level III is for high schoolers. I wanted to mention Noeo, though, because this is our second year using them and we plan to continue next year with Physics (II or III, I haven’t decided yet.)
I’m not really interested in Chemistry, but this curriculum has brought back some of the fun that I remember from high school Chem.
jawgee,
I’m glad you mentioned Noeo. Have you used the Level III yet? I’m just curious as to what you think about it as a high school level course.No, I haven’t used Noeo for high school yet. I’m very pleased with the courses I’ve used so far, though, and I am expecting the same quailty with their Level III courses.
Keep in mind that there is a difference between learning about chemistry and actually learning chemistry itself. A living book or Chemistry 101 approach is learning about chemistry. To actually learn chemistry, the student will need learn proper terminology and do chemical equations.
This may or may not be important, depending on your goals. But it might be a stretch to include only learning about chemistry as a chemistry credit at the high school level.
I would like to enourage those of you with students who are not inclined to science or math to not be afraid to try some of these subjects. There are many branches of math and science that are vastly different. For example, a child who doesn’t like biology may love physics because they are so different. In the same way, those who didn’t like algebra might take a liking to it in chemistry because it is put to practical use.
Higher level science and math can be useful for everyone, even those not going into fields that require those skills. Studying those subjectcs instills reasoning, logic, organization of steps, and critical thinking.
Good point, Doug. We will be learning Chemistry next year with our current Biology group. The other teaching mom and I have been designing our own curriculum using bits of what we like here and there. We actually just discussed today the part about learning about vs. learning chemistry. We plan to try to combine some of both into something that works for our group. Great insight. Thanks for confirming that piece of it for us.
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