Thursday, October 30, 2008

Singing the praises of

The Elements by Ellen McHenry. I first heard about this science curriculum last spring from Lorna at Socks and Books. She often commented on it on the WTM boards and that's how I found this and her wonderful blog.

Noach did the sample chapter at the end of last school year and then continued with the rest this fall. We have enjoyed it. Currently we are in the process of painting a periodic table onto a pillowcase. Noach is not fond of crafts so it is a slow process. We have had difficulty finding glow-in-the-dark paints for the radioactive elements, but there is one more store to try.

Here it is. A work in progress.

Doing high school level chemistry, Shoshie is using Chemistry Matters from Singapore this year. I found their explanation of atomic structure to be inadequate and unclear and so did she. Thus she is reading several chapters of The Elements this week and next. Yesterday I heard her exclaim, "Oh, that's what a valence electron is." Noach responded, "Yeah, you didn't know that?"
PRM

2 comments:

Ruskin said...

Wonderful pillowcase! I hope you have some luck getting the glow-in-the-dark pens.
I have had lots of 'Oh, I see' moments with The Elements and now Carbon Chemistry. The children have learned concepts so easily that I always considered complex.I wish more science materials could be presented like this.

Ruth in NC said...

I have really been impressed with The Elements. I also have Carbon Chemistry to follow.