Friendly Chemistry

by Joey and Lisa Hajda

Hideaway Ventures

A hefty book comes packaged with a number of card decks, charts, score sheet pad, colored fuzzy “balls,” winks, game playing pieces, and a Doo-Wop Board™—a wooden board with cups arranged for learning about atomic valences. Students learn chemistry vocabulary as well as about structures, ions, forming compounds, formulas, reactions, equations, and more. The book includes fairly extensive explanations of these basic concepts plus some problems to be solved and an answer key.

This is not a comprehensive, in-depth course, although students using this course will be exposed to all topics typically taught in a public high school chemistry course. The text part of this book is only about 250 pages of widely spaced text as compared to the typical 300-400 pages of dense type found in other textbooks. The goal of the course is to lay a foundation so that students are prepared for a freshman college level chemistry course, yet keep it from being overwhelming. Consequently, you can consider it a complete course, although it won’t be as challenging as courses such as BJUP’s or A Beka’s.

Those who want to teach a more challenging course, might introduce chemistry to their children with this “kit” at least a few years before they are ready to tackle a challenging course. They can master vocabulary and basic concepts ahead of time, which will then allow them to progress more easily and quickly through a course. Some of the games use a mixture of familiar formats such as Element Bingo, war (with the periodic table and a card deck), and a board game to work on atomic families. But some are more straightforward in requiring students to demonstrate knowledge. A certain amount of basic knowledge, which is covered in the book, is essential before students can even play the games. So you should use them as reinforcement/drill/practice tools to be used along with instruction. However, the hands-on, visual approach to learning that takes place with some of the games and activities will certainly make it easier for many students to grasp concepts, particularly valence structures.

A Parents’ and Group Leader’s Guide comes with a two-hour video. The guide features week-by-week lesson plans and lab activity instructions, presented in a three-ring binder. You are given permission to photocopy lab activity pages plus supplemental practice pages in the guide for your group.

The combo kit includes the text, manipulatives, guide, and video.