Are you intimidated to teach high school science courses in your homeschool? Don’t be! Journey Homeschool Academy has got you covered!
Atoms, and moles, and molecules, oh my! High school chemistry can be more scary than a walk through the Haunted Forest in the Wizard of Oz! The thought of teaching chemistry can bring out the cowardly lion in most of us. Don’t believe in the spooks of Chemistry, give up, and turn around, though. Repeat after me – “There’s no place like home(school), there’s no place like home(school), there’s no place like home(school).”
Disclaimer: I am not paid or compensated in any way to write this review. The thoughts and opinions are my own. This review contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small compensation on purchases at no extra cost to you. For more details, see my disclosure policy.
What is Experience Chemistry?
Experience Chemistry Level C from Journey Homeschool Academy is an “engaging, hands-on science that practically teaches itself”! It is a 35 week, full credit, lab-science high school chemistry course, that is all online…and also a mouthful to say! Each week students download their student packet which includes lesson outlines and lab instructions. Students “experience chemistry” in four simple steps: watch two video lessons, take a quiz, complete an optional reading assignment, and finally, complete the lab assignment. Let’s take a quick look at each of the four steps.
- Video lessons average 25 minutes each. The quality is amazing, the tone is conversational, and the information and graphics are that of a well-produced documentary. Very watchable for teens! Students pay attention, because as they watch, they are taking notes on the outlined note taking pages.
- After viewing the videos, students take a self-graded comprehension quiz. The quizzes are self-graded with a minimum passing grade of 70%. The quizzes can be reset, however, the four quarterly exams that cannot be. Those scores are final.
- Complete the assigned reading and questions from Conceptual Chemistry. This is optional, but highly recommended.
- View the lab video and complete the hands-on lab. Students will write a lab report for each lab.
How to use Experience Chemistry
The platform is extremely user-friendly. One of the best I’ve used, really. The teacher and student have their own dashboards. First, you will download and print the student guidebook and lab book for the course. There is also an option to purchase the guides already printed and spiral bound. The student is now able to simply click the first lesson for access to the videos, quiz, readings and research questions, lab video, and assignment. After each segment is complete, just check the box. That’s it! The next lesson is unlocked and the student can move on. There is also a progress circle to see how far the student has come in the course. The parent dashboard allows you to follow their progress, view quiz and exam scores, and access the answer keys.
New this year are homework help videos. While navigating the course is easy, the content – well, not so much. It is a college prep, honor’s level chemistry course. I have not viewed the homework help videos, as that was not available when my daughter took this the first year it was offered. I can imagine it’s like having a private tutor to help with the thick, sticky parts of chemistry.
Experience Chemistry Labs
What’s a chemistry course without labs? Experience Chemistry has 26 hands-on labs, and students are expected to complete at least 15 of them. Labs can get expensive, and there are a couple of options to alleviate some of the cost. There are labs that require easily obtainable lab supplies, as well as supplemental lab demo videos, when you are not able to perform the experiment yourself. You can find out more about the supplies and cost here. Of course, you can order lab supplies a la carte. I did purchase the lab kit, and there are several chemicals left over to use with another student, so you could possibly get two years out of it. Hands-on is always ideal, however, students can still greatly benefit from the course by watching the demos and writing the lab reports.
What did we think of Experience Chemistry?
There are so many things to like about Experience Chemistry. The big one is that I don’t have to teach it! I have a science background, and worked for several years in a laboratory environment, however, this is one course I was happy to hand over to Luke and Tricia! Another big one is that chemistry is taught with a biblical worldview. I feel it is critical for today’s youth, and is a missing link in today’s world. Last, I like that the student can “own the course”, meaning they can see what has to be done for the week, and can choose to view both videos in a day if needed, save lab work for Friday, or whatever suits their schedule. At this point some teens have jobs, so while this is a rigorous course, it is also flexible.
Journey Homeschool Academy offers solid, engaging, and quality science courses for all grade levels. Astronomy, earth science, physics, biology and more! Be sure to check out my review of the high school biology course – that was our first course, and you can see, I’m a repeat customer!
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