But I can hope.Ĭhem4Kids is a great reference site! This page focuses on the 18 most common elements, and uses them to explain the basic concepts we’ll be discussing over the next few weeks. Hopefully they help someone have fun exploring chemistry and prevent some child, somewhere from growing up to be an adult who laments the unfortunate burning of a lab partner’s hair. These are games, books, experiment kits, and more-not curriculum. I’m including a long list of resources below in case you are looking for something chemistry-related for your own homeschool. But by and large, I’m making this unit about play. We’ve read and explored in a slightly more formal way. So yes, we’ve had purposeful chemistry lessons. He’ll present his findings to his CC class tomorrow. So far, it’s working.Ĭase in point: a recent day of “wintery mix” found John Mark leafing through Junk Drawer Chemistry, and multiple explorations ensued.Ī few days later, when the longest experiment concluded, he was still every bit as enthused. Once again, I’m falling back on the tried and true: living books and experiments designed to not on explain the workings of the world in relation to chemistry, but also to ignite wonder. So how to help these younger kids get to the place where those upper levels come alive? How to introduce them to a new area of science that holds as much discovery and joy as any other, but can seem so much more on the outside? In the end, at the high school level, I decided on a combination of Khan Academy lessons and tons of living science books from the extensive and beautiful Sabbath Mood Homeschooling list. The worst was Apologia, which made me give a slow blink literally every time my high schooler needed help. The best I’ve ever used was the very first edition of Friendly Chemistry, which, back in the day, was a bundle of photocopied pages carefully written to hold the hand of a homeschooling mom as she meandered through games and hands-on activities designed to demystify the science for her kids. I’ll be honest, I find most chemistry curriculum to be, well… awful. Which was my goal with this younger batch: a familiarity with elements, atoms, and the like that opens the door to further learning and a greater understanding of the world God created. The guy can casually weave together a narrative that makes chemistry and its finer workings sound, well… approachable. For proof, check out these videos of high school-aged Mathaus explaining atomic structure, the anatomy of atoms, chemical bonds, and even skunk spray. And, naysayers take note: I seem to have also not passed on my lack of full comprehension of the topic, as well. Happily, in our own homeschool, there have been no chemistry mishaps. I’m not sure where the intimidation factor comes in, exactly, but I cannot seem to shake the sense that no matter how much I’ve learned (and how much the models have changed), part of me is still that high school sophomore seated at the long black lab table who accidentally set her lab partner’s very densely Aqua Netted bangs aflame with a too-enthusiastic twist of the bunsen burner flame control. We’re now focusing on chemistry, the one science I admit gives me that vague feeling of being in way over my head no matter how many classes I’ve taken or how many times I’ve taught it. Our new quarter began last week, and with it, a new unit of science. Purchases made through these links support our family’s work in spreading the Gospel to unreached areas.
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