Christian Kids Explore Chemistry

Chemistry.  Does this word strike fear in your heart?  :)  Chemistry is the only subject I ever failed in high school.  Perhaps if I had been introduced to chemistry with Christian Kids Explore Chemistry in my younger years it wouldn't have seemed so foreign to me. Christian Kids Explore Chemistry is a science curriculum for grades 4-8 in the Christian Kids Explore Series from Bright Ideas Press and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to review it.

There are four books in this series written for elementary and junior high students.  Christian Kids Explore Chemistry, now in its 2nd edition, comes with a brand new resource CD that includes daily lesson plans, materials lists, all the reproducibles you need and even a bonus literature study guide for the book, Piece of the Mountain, a story about the life of Blaise Pascal.  Reproducibles include coloring pages, unit reviews, follow-up questions for each lesson and activity charts.

Christian Kids Explore Chemistry is a 385 page, black and white, paperback textbook that provides 30 lessons in 5 units.  Read the Table of Contents or view Sample Pages.  You will find hands on activities such as making model atoms, breaking covalent bonds and making gas expand.  There are Chemistry terms, notations and rules, unit reviews, coloring pages and a supplemental book list.

a sample page showing clear, easy to read text with bold vocabulary words
within the text and definitions in the margin

We were introduced to this series this year and completed Christian Kids Explore Biology a few weeks ago.  I am really enjoying the series and plan to purchase the other 2 books that I don't have when we are done with Chemistry.

Each lesson is not too long making it easy to teach and not overwhelming to the student.  I read it aloud to my children but older students could certainly do this by themselves.  The vocabulary words are defined within the text AND in the margins of the lessons making it easy for students to find the words they need to define with each lesson. There is a glossary as well that students can use if they prefer. The detailed lesson plans give you 2 days of work for each week making it easy to double up for the week if you wish to cover 2 books in a year (which is my plan for next year.)  We will finish Chemistry and move on the Physics.

Lesson plans include memory work including a scripture verse (which can also be used as copy work), review, reading, discussion, vocabulary, hands on activities and supplemental reading.

Vocabulary words are placed on index cards for easy review or you can use a notebook.  We are using blank notebooking pages for vocabulary at this time.

In the supplemental reading section, you will find a list of books by unit that you can purchase or order from your library.  I have had no problem getting the books through our library system.  The lessons also have a weekly reading from the Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia.  I have enjoyed using this beautiful book for the Chemistry lessons but be warned it is full of evolutionary content which I did not like when using the Biology book.

By the end of the first unit my reluctant 12 year old son told me he likes this.  High praise from him indeed!

Ryan and Emma learning the difference between mixtures and compounds.

Getting it all down on paper

You can purchase Christian Kids Explore Chemistry for $39.95 at Bright Ideas Press.  This includes the Bright Ideas Press also carries Illuminations full curriculum, history and geography resources and more.  I LOVE Bright Ideas Press and highly recommend them!

Information on the other CKE books:
Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space (grades 3-6) $34.95
Christian Kids Explore Biology (grades 3-6) $34.95
Christian Kids Explore Physics (grades 4-8) $39.95 (new 2nd edition)

Read what others are saying about the Christian Kids Explore series on the TOS crew blog. All 4 books in this series are being reviewed.  Feel free to ask questions if you have any.

disclaimer: I received a free pdf copy of Christian Kids Explore Chemistry along with a digital copy of CKEC supplements in exchange for an honest review.

Write with WORLD

Write with WORLD is a brand new writing curriculum for middle school students from the publishers of God's World News and WORLD magazine.  I'm sure many would agree that writing is one of the hardest subjects to teach (and to learn).  I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review this curriculum for the TOS crew. Write with WORLD is for students in grades 6-9 but could also be used with high school students without a lot of writing experience.

Write with WORLD aims to produce young writers who love writing, can write effectively, and intelligently share ideas, beliefs, and their worldview. We hope to support a generation of young believers who aspire to use their writing skills in the service of God's Kingdom and explain effectively the reasons for their beliefs.  -from the website

On the website, the publishers answer the question, "Why a different writing curriculum?" with these 5 reasons:

1) Persistent poor writing among those entering college
2) Existing curricula are often focused on mechanics and remediation
3) Christians need to be heard in this era of conflicting worldviews
4) Profusion of new media, in which anyone can be a content creator
5) Today's sophisticated media and messages demand that students be discerning message consumers

Click here to read more on each of the 5 reasons.

Write with WORLD is divided into 4 Units of 4 Lessons each. Each lesson is divided into 5 Capsules.  I thought the lessons provided just enough work for each day so that the student is learning and not feeling completely overwhelmed.   I wish there was a timeline of how to space out the lessons to make this a 1 year curriculum.  There are 16 lessons (5 days each).  In my mind when I see 5 sections I figure one per day but at that rate the book will be finished in 16 weeks.  I hadn't really paid attention to the total number of lessons so I guess we can slow the pace down and spend more time on each lesson.  I plan to continue using Write with WORLD.  Our school year is winding down and I'd like to save this to do next year so we will probably pick it up again full force in the fall.

This is what is covered in Year One:

INTRODUCTION

UNIT #1: DEVELOPING CRITICAL READERS

Lesson 1: Reading Images and Advertisements
Lesson 2: Comparative Reading: Sentences
Lesson 3: Comparative and Critical Reading: Paragraphs
Lesson 4: Critical Reading: Essays

UNIT#2: DEVELOPING WRITERS: BUILDING BLOCKS AND BIOGRAPHY

Lesson 1: The Paragraph
Lesson 2: Composing and Linking Sentences
Lesson 3: Creating Focus and Arranging Ideas
Lesson 4: Linking Paragraphs: Transitions and Logic

UNIT #3: WRITING AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Lesson 1: Reporting Facts
Lesson 2: Creating Character
Lesson 3: Developing Ideas with Specificity
Lesson 4: Writing Autobiography

UNIT #4: CRAFTING NARRATIVES

Lesson 1: Developing a Point of View
Lesson 2: Showing vs. Telling
Lesson 3: Narrative with a Purpose
Lesson 4: Writing a Fictional Narrative

Click here and scroll down to see year 2.

The teacher's book is identical to the student book only it has wide margins with teaching tips throughout and plenty for space for your own notes. The text is NON-consumable. Students keep their work in a notebook.  With a large family, I love non-consumable curriculum.  See this sample of the first lesson. (In this first chapter there are pictures that pertain to the lesson.  Future lessons do not contain any photographs.)

The Teacher edition is on top.
You can see the  wide margin and teacher's notes.

Write with WORLD also incorporates the top 20 grammar errors made by U.S. college students. You can see what these are here. (again scroll down)  I love "whole" learning where grammar is incorporated into writing. (Spend 5 minutes on Facebook or message boards and you will see these errors over and over again.) Students also learn vocabulary and then at the end of the lesson take those vocabulary words and have to choose an appropriate synonym using a thesaurus.  

Note that this curriculum is loosely connected to WORLD magazine and God's World News which are referenced in the book but not necessary for use.  I plan to order them though.  I meant to this year and somehow forgot.  

This curriculum is decidedly Christian and teaches children to write with a purpose and to write with a worldview.  Of course we all have a worldview. I want my children to write to the glory of God and I think this curriculum will help them to do that.

You can pre-order Write with WORLD for $95 per year, or $165 when both years are purchased together.  Year one will be available to ship this summer. Purchase will include access to a user website coming this fall that will "provide online publishing opportunities, as well as additional writing subjects to constantly freshen and augment what is in the textbooks."

Read what others are saying about Write with WORLD on the TOS crew blog.


disclaimer: I received a free copy of  year one of Write with World  in exchange for an honest review.