Chemistry - The Monkey on My Back

I have struggled with this course from the beginning. I have agonized over the content, the goals, the mechanics, the expense, the abstractness, and the frustration of labs that do not go as they should. I've thrown money and books at it and it still is a beast that won't be tamed.

I will forever look back on this science course as the single worst failure of our high school experience.

There I said it.

Failure on my part to wrap my brain around exactly what we needed to do to make it ours.

A friend said that I should just get the Apologia text and use it and forget it. Does she not know me better than that? Can she not see that I am not the "hand over the text" sort of mom? Besides, I already own the Apologia Chemistry book and have had it on the shelf since my oldest son used it five years ago when I did just hand over the text and leave it at that.

Here are my issues with the Apologia Chemistry text:

• The labs are either boring or we have done a variation of them in the past. They seem like exercises and not like "real" science.
• The text is very math oriented.
• The text does not inspire much thought or curiosity. There is a distinct lack of passion about anything.

So when is "good enough" good enough?

My husband (the ever great sounding board) and I laid out all the options over the winter break. He had me explain what the boys were getting out of the materials we were using. He had me voice the frustrations I had with the way the course was turning out for the boys. Lastly, he had me list what I would do if I could change anything.

You know what....I decided the biggest stumbling block that I had was the "what if" thinking I was going through. My dear husband shed light on my faulty thinking and made me give voice to the failings I was living under.

• What if I wasn't offering the right materials?
• What if there was something better out there?
• What if I should have sought out somewhere a chemistry course outside the home?
• What if I missed something that would be a glaring hole?
• What if we should have just skipped chemistry all together and done something else?

So where did I arrive at thinking that I was supposed to know all the answers and be the filler of minds? I have trained these boys better than that over the last few years. Get back to the basics Barb!

• Offer excellent materials.
• Make them ask questions.
• Point them to answers when needed.
• Provide opportunities for exploring.
• Have them respond in some way.

With those points firmly fixed in my brain (and on paper), I set out to make a few changes.

We will be adding:
Apologia Chemistry- not the full-blown course but select modules as determined by the video series we are using (see below).
Disappearing Spoon- sort of a free read.
The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry- this is heavy-duty and we will be only using about six of the experiments from this book because of expense and lack of time. 

We will be keeping:
The Joy of Chemistry - applying to modules in Apologia as they fit together.
The Elements-Visual Periodic Table - our favorite book of the year.
The Teaching Company - High School Chemistry DVD course -this is intense and well done. Way too much as a supplement. 

I am in the process of building a Squidoo lens for high school chemistry that has lots of resources gathered into one place. You can view all the resources and ideas and links I have used this year so far:
Chemistry for High Schoolers

I will keep you informed of the progress we are making in a few weeks. I am already feeling a little more successful with this course even if it is not exactly the way I would wish it to be for my boys.

Better than "good enough".

Barb-Harmony Art Mom