Friendly Chemistry ~ A Timberdoodle Review

Friendly Chemistry counts as one credit towards graduation as a standard high school science course. Among the components of the course are a Student Edition book and Student Workbook, as well as a Manipulative Set that is a set of flashcards your student can cut out and use. The course also provides online access to an overview of each chapter, as well as help with all chemistry-related calculations. There are two volumes in the Teacher Set. Also included is the Annotated Solution Book. I received the Teacher Set, the Annotated Solutions, the Manipulative Set, and Friendly Chemistry Video Lessons for this review.

My 15-year-old daughter has been working through Friendly Chemistry since last fall and has made steady progress.

Volume 1

Lesson 1: Meet Chemistry

Lesson 2: Moving in a Little Closer

Lesson 3: The Arrangement of Electrons in Atoms

Lesson 4: Applying Quantum Mechanics

Lesson 5: Learning to Code: Orbital Notation

Lesson 6: Electronic Configuration Notation

Lesson 7: Electron Dot Notation

Lesson 8: Relating Electron Arrangement to Reactivity 

Lesson 9: Another Trend of the Period Table: Ionization Energy

Lesson 10: The Final Trend of the Periodic Table: Atom Size 

Lesson 11: Ion Formation

Lesson 12: Determining Charges on Ions

Lesson 13: Forming Compounds from Ions

Lesson 14: Learning Slightly More Complex Ions

Lesson 15: Making Compounds with Polyatomic Ions

Lesson 16: Introducing the Mole

Volume 2

Lesson 17: Finding Formula Weights

Lesson 18: Finding the Percent Composition of Compounds

Lesson 19: Writing Empirical Formulas 

Lesson 20: Putting Compounds into Reactions

Lesson 21: Balancing Chemical Reactions

Lesson 22: Introduction to Stoichiometry

Lesson 23: Predicting Grams of Product

Lesson 24: Predicting Grams of Product from Grams of Reactant

Lesson 25: Do I Have Enough Reactant

Lesson 26: Mixing Compounds with Water to Make Solutions

Lesson 27: Incorporating Molarity into Stoichiometric Problems

Lesson 28: Determining the Needed Amount of a Solution to Perform a Reaction

Lesson 29: Properties of Gases and How Gases can be Measured in Reactions

Lesson 30: How Changing Temperatures Affect Gases

Lesson 31: How Changing Pressures Affect Gases

Lesson 32: The Combined Gas Laws

Let's check out a lesson.

Lesson 8: Relating Electron Arrangement to Reactivity. Using electron dot notation, students are asked to write the electron dot notations for a list of elements along with their electron configuration. On the following pages, they discuss groups and families on the periodic table. There are similarities between elements within a column on the periodic table, just like in a family. The Sodium Family, Noble Gas Family, Halogen Family, Oxygen Family, and Calcium Family are discussed next. For each element in these families, students write the electron configuration and electron dot notation.Following this, the students study the Periodic Table and the location of the families. Following are two pages devoted to the Element Family Practice. Students are given the element and must write the electron dot notation and the element family it belongs to. The lesson ends with a test.

Manipulative Set

My daughter struggles with Functional Processing Disorder, which makes learning more difficult for her. Previous years' science textbooks required a lot of reading, memorization, and chapter questions. In my daughter's opinion, Friendly Chemistry teaches the concepts without busy work and with more work that cements the concepts. With Friendly Chemistry, she can see a building block approach and logic she has not seen in other science courses. In general, the curriculum is a great fit for her. 

I recommend this curriculum.