About Our Courses

Many homeschoolers ask us questions about how to use our curriculum. Some common questions are:

1) What course should I use for my student?
2) What books and equipment will I need?
3) How much should my student do each day?
4) How should I assign grades?
5) Do I have to do the lab experiments?
6) What should the lab write-ups look like?
7) I (the parent) don't know anything about chemistry (or physics or biology). How can I possibly do this at home?
8) Help me! I'm completely overwhelmed!

First, take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Relax. Pray. Now, to answer your questions:

1) What course should I use for my student?

As far as course placement goes, please see "About Our Courses" for course sequencing information. Also, here are a couple of additional guidelines:

-- YOU know your student and his/her abilities best.
-- Our courses do not have science prerequisites until you reach the advanced courses.
-- It's okay to start right into biology, or chemistry, or physics, IF your student is ready for that course.

As always, we're happy to discuss your individual situation with you and make a recommendation for course placement.

2) What books and equipment will I need?

Our courses come as 2-book sets which include a hardbound student text and a softbound solutions and tests manual. However, you may also purchase the books individually. Book sets and indivudal books are priced accordingly. Lab equipment is comprised of household items or a set that you purchase. The lab equipment and your different options for each course are described throughout this website. If something doesn't make sense to you, call us at 888-524-4724.

3) How much should my student do each day?

We deliberately chose not to include daily lessons in our curriculum, in order to allow maximum flexibility for the student working at his or her own pace.

If you REALLY WANT the structure of lessons, we recommend that you first look at the table of contents of each book. You will see that each book has 16 modules. If you work through each module in 2 weeks, you will complete the course in 32 weeks, which fits nicely into a "typical" school year with a little time to spare. To break it down further, if you do science every day for 5 weekdays, you have 10 work days available in 2 weeks. Do the reading, on your own problems, and experiments on days 1-7, review and do the study guide (or review questions + practice problems) on days 8-9, and take the test on day 10. This puts an emphasis on review and reinforcement of concepts. Flex this schedule when necessary to work on harder concepts, review problem areas, or to move on faster through the curriculum.

Now, this is a suggestion and not a mandate! Some students work through a course in a semester, while others need 2 years to master the material. Don't let your schedule rule YOU, use the time needed to learn the material well, and then move on. Remember, it's okay to do it differently. That's the beauty of homeschooling!

4) How should I assign grades?

There is helpful information about grading at the beginning of the solutions and tests manual in the "Teacher's Notes" section, under "Pedagogy of the Text", part (3). This curriculum was written based on a grading scale of A=90-100, B=80-89, C=70-79, D=60-69, F=59 or below. Partial credit is allowed.

5) Do I have to do the lab experiments?

Laboratory experiments, properly done, help to reinforce concepts learned through reading. They are also especially helpful for the student who is a kinesthetic learner (one who learns best by doing and touching.) However, they are not absolutely necessary. Scientific concepts can be learned without doing labs at this level of learning. On the other hand, students who intend to go to college will need the lab credits for college admission. Once again, this is one of the perks of homeschooling -- you decide what is best for your student. We included labs designed specifically so that you could do them at home with minimal equipment, and they are written to make them easy to do or skip if you so choose. [As scientists, we naturally have a pro-experiment bias!]

6) What should the lab write-ups look like?

Ah, the infamous lab write-up. You wouldn't believe the questions we receive about this topic. Some people want to have informal oral reports discussing experiments, while others want dissertations. Once again, relax. There is no need for the 20 page experiment report. There is a discussion of lab reports at the front of the student textbook under "Student Notes" in the "Experiments" section. Once the experiment is completed, the student should already have data and any calculations in his/her lab notebook. As is stated in the books, "The write-up should be a brief discussion of what was done and what was learned. You should not write a step-by-step procedure. Instead, write a brief summary that will allow someone who has never read the text to understand what you did and what you learned." The complexity of the experiment and the resulting depth of the discussion should naturally increase as the student progresses into higher level courses. If you're still stumped, you can find samples of laboratory writeups by clicking on "support" and choosing "knowledgebase search." If you search on the keywords "sample lab," you will find samples for lab writeups for each course.

7) I (the parent) don't know anything about chemistry (or physics or biology). How can I possibly do this at home?

We wrote this curriculum just for you and your student. It is designed with the idea that the student is on his or her own with the course. This means that all of the explanation that a teacher would normally give orally in class has to be included in the book, step by step. This is also why the course is written conversationally, to make the student feel like someone is speaking directly to him or her. If you want to work with the student and work through the course too, that's great. If questions come up that you can't answer, we provide a free question and answer service. There's information in the front of the student textbook telling you how to reach us. Really, you can do this.

8) Help me! I'm completely overwhelmed!

This would be a good time to go back to the top of the page and take a deep breath, relax, and pray. Although we can't help you with your errands and laundry, we can help you with science.