Okay… maybe not ALL science is UNfriendly despite my high school experiences (yes, I was indeedy that poor pathetic student who tried to blow up the science lab.. only in my case, it was that I started an OH SO small, COMPLETELY over-reacted to TEENIE TINY fire.. sheesh… it’s not like I KNEW that container couldn’t be left open… *sigh*).

*ahem!*

Yes, back to FRIENDLY sciences… Joey and Lisa Hajda has written a course called just that, “[1] FRIENDLY Chemistry“. Why knew? With learning games, skits, stories, and of course EXPERIMENTS… Joey and Lisa have taken high school chemistry, a subject I absolutely fear, and made into something that is actually FUN, exciting (not that the fire in chem lab wasn’t… but this is a much less stressful exciting.. *grin*), and the most important thing… MEMORABLE.

The course consists of a Teacher’s binder and a Student binder (notebook), and a game board and some chips. There are “getting to know you” games suitable for introducing this to a co-op of homeschoolers (and even in your little homeschool setting, you might be surprised what you learn about your kids!), a sneaky sack game, and even a game to demonstrate the importance of clear communication (that can’t be bad, right?). By lesson 10 you are baking a cake to demonstrate “atomic radius” (okay, seriously? We never got to eat cake in chemistry when *I* was in school.. that might have changed the whole direction of my education *grin*) and in the next lesson, you are doing drama to learn chemistry! MAN! This is *not* your typical chemistry course!!!

The course is broken down into 32 lessons… perfect for a year long weekly co-op or even just a one year highschool chemistry credit for your homeschooled student. To get both the teacher (absolutely necessary for the chemistry challenged mom like me!) and student notebooks for $135 (includes free shipping to U.S. addresses), which might seem like a high-ish cost, but when you factor in the “painless” part.. this course is worth twice that… at least (and besides, these books are both huge, over three HUNDRED pages each!) And besides, where else are you gonna learn to teach chemistry using SMORES?!?! Sheesh.

So.. if you have a highschooler who simply needs a highschool credit in chemistry but is not “interested” in the subject as a career…. why not check out [2] Friendly Chemistry. And while you are there, could you drop them a note and ask them to create a “painless” Biology course next?

[3]

Blessings!

ps, maybe that is the best part of homeschooling… getting to learn it all over again, and hopefully this time you *don’t* blow up the science lab.

As a review blogger,  I am provided a free copy of the book, curriculum or product to test and use in order to write an honest review. I receive no other compensation and the opinions I share are my own and not influenced by the company in question.