The authors have incredible credentials that you just wouldn't believe. Also, they are homeschooling parents to 10 kids of their own. Joey and Lisa Hajda are enthusiastic and they know how to share complex information in a simplified way. This 32 chapter course contains the equivalent of most Chemistry I and Chemistry II programs. The instructions stick to more common household items, reinforcing the fact that chemistry is all around us and part of our daily lives.
The program includes a Teacher's manual and a Student's manual, each in a 3-ring binder. Very homemade and simple, but I usually have the binding cut off of our workbooks and have them hole-punched for a binder anyway. This didn't bother me. I was a little discouraged when we began chapter one because it really seemed to be written for a large group, class, or co-op. We adapted lessons to fit our 2 students, but many games wouldn't work for only one child.
More edits need to be made before I could recommend this wholeheartedly. Lesson 2's Test refers to the "simplist" forms of matter. I misspell plenty of words on this blog, so I'm not pointing fingers, just giving an example. #10 on the same test shows the author's subtle sense of humor (not distracting, but clever) when it asks for the element name represented by the symbol K. Options are: A. Krypton, B. Krypton, C. Pottassium, D. Potassium. Krypton being listed twice is another edit-in-waiting, I'm assuming. These errors truly are mild and not distracting. But sometimes the references have been off. Lesson 3 in the student text begins by saying "In lesson 4 we discussed....." but it means lesson 2. Lesson 4 says "Remember in chapter 5 where we discussed...." but it means lesson 3. Also in lesson 4, it says "So, we return to our example of Carbon...." when carbon was never mentioned but Helium instead. When mentioned, helium was listed with an atomic number of 1. That would be the number for Hydrogen not Helium. There have been several more, but this sums them up well enough.
With better editing, I think Friendly Chemistry is an excellent program that takes the student deep into chemistry with a hands-on approach that my kids LOVE. This picture is a fun experiment from early in the book, identifying powders.
We have enjoyed many aspects of this book, but as the book is at the moment, I think it's too pricey. From the website:"Most high school students can use the student edition of Friendly Chemistry to teach themselves chemistry, it's that clearly written. Each lesson builds upon the previous lesson with concepts reinforced again and again. A student working alone, however, will need access to the teacher's edition for solutions to worksheets in the student edition as well as for tests."
"Retail cost for one student edition is $75.00 (330pp, ring-bound). Retail cost for the teacher's edition is $60.00 (300pp, ring-bound). Shipping to US addresses is FREE!"
$60.00 for a high school answer key is pricey. But the time and materials involved with creating this books is pricey, too. I wonder if the authors wouldn't have better success with a publishing site such as lulu.com, offering it as a download or an optional print version.
There was quite a bit more information than just an answer key in the teacher's edition, but not in a format for independent study. It's not in a format convenient for the teacher either: the text in it is written to the teacher. It will say "Tell your students that quantum mechanics is a systematic way to....." rather than just reading "Quantum mechanics is a systematic way to...." I cannot memorize everything needing to be said and I cannot sit down with the kids and read silently, skimming to find the parts I'm supposed to share out loud. Instead, I highlight the parts I'm supposed to share so that we can sit down and go over the teacher's guide as a read-aloud. If a high school student were to do this independently, he wouldn't need to read "tell the student" either. And he wouldn't be able to complete any of the games.
I'm torn. It's just editing and layout that I have a problem with. The teaching is incredible. Truly. We will continue with this later, but I look forward to seeing an improved design.
4 comments:
Hey...I was curious was ages this was geared for?
I only took one chemistry class in high school and learned absolutely nothing. I paid no attention and let my lab partner do all of the experiments. I have no idea how I passed. As a matter of fact, I remember only one thing...
I was drinking Mt. Dew while walking into class one day and my chemistry teacher stopped me and said, "You know, it's much healthier for your teeth if you quickly drink that in one sitting, instead of sipping on it all day long."
I rolled my eyes, sighed, and said, "I won't drink it in your class." (What can I say, I was a teenager.)
He replied, "I don't care if you drink it my class. I'm just telling you, its not good for your teeth." :o)
Boy, we are SWAMPED with reviews right now, huh?
Oops - I should have mentioned ages in the review. It's geared toward high school/upper middle school. My boys were okay with it, but I had to take it slow.
i loved mrs. p too! what a fantastic lady.
yay! i will be trying the olive oil when we get home tonight. the dr. at urgent care told me to put hydrocortisone ointment and vaseline on her eczema. it went away in a day and it was pretty bad to begin with, hence the trip to urgent care. it's a pain to keep her little face covered in the stuff though, it gets on everything! aveeno baby eczema lotion seems to be keeping it at bay for now.
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