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Advanced Honors Chemistry (w. lab)

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Online for the 2024-2025 School Year

Teacher: Connie Schwartz

Email: clovervalleychemistry@gmail.com


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Advanced Honors Chemistry for homeschooled students

Registration for the 2024-2025 academic year is now open!

PLEASE DO NOT PAY TUITION UNTIL YOU HAVE SUBMITTED YOUR APPLICATION AND HEARD BACK FROM ME!

You are also welcome to contact me at clovervalleychemistry@gmail.com to discuss other options for chemistry - either less rigorous options or self-paced, parent-graded options.

Prerequisites for this course:

*Students must be in 9th through 12th grade (or aged 14-18).  Students younger than this (pre-highschool) may be considered on a case-by-case basis.  Younger students (and students who don't require the very high level of rigor in this course) would probably be more comfortable in one of my other courses.  Please contact me for details.

*Completion of a rigorous Honors Algebra 1 course with a grade of at least a B+ (taking Honors Algebra 2 concurrently is a good idea)

*Very solid study skills and a good work ethic – my course is very demanding and moves very quickly. :) Students should have exceptional time management skills, be highly organized, and be capable of/be willing to take notes while watching video lectures and while doing textbook readings.  All the executive function types of skills are vital for success in my Honors Chemistry course.

It is HIGHLY recommended that you have your student complete the following placement pre-test before registering for Advanced Honors Chemistry. It is not mandatory but will give you a good indication if your student has the math and word problem solving skills needed for Advanced Honors Chemistry. In particular, success on the last question (the short answer question) is a good indicator that your student is ready for the challenges of Advanced Honors Chemistry.

Placement pre-test link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfW0O2FdSW0CZmLrc2q9xKzxLCmDsJpqxlU94HgXtSPUY1niw/viewform

Sample teaching videos and examples of content:

If you’re interested in checking out my teaching style and would like to see the video lectures for the first chapter covered, “Introduction to Chemistry”, click here to view the chapter playlist.  If you would like to see examples from Chapter 1 of the chapter checklist, the homework assignments, and the chapter test, please click here.  If you would like to see further examples of the video lectures, here is a link to the lectures for Chapter 4, “Reactions in Aqueous Solutions”.

Who Should Apply:

This course will give a solid base for further study in chemistry – either in an AP Chemistry course or an introductory chemistry course at college or university – and is taught at the level of a challenging honors or pre-AP type chemistry course.  It is intended for students who plan on majoring in a physical science STEM program at college or university (particularly chemistry/physics/chemical or materials engineering) and the course will be VERY rigorous.  The course will cover the standard introductory chemistry topics, along with a mathematical treatment where appropriate, and will also cover organic chemistry and biochemistry in a more expansive fashion than is usually found in honors chemistry courses.  The time commitment is roughly 10-12 hours per week but that will vary greatly depending upon a student’s abilities and working speed.  The topics covered will include:

*The Scientific Method & Chemistry Math Skills

*Physical & Chemical Properties of Matter

*Atoms, Molecules, & Ions

*Moles & Stoichiometry

*Reactions in Aqueous Solutions

*Gases

*Energy Relationships in Chemical Reactions

*The Electronic Structure of Atoms

*The Periodic Table

*Chemical Bonding

*Intermolecular Forces

*Physical Properties of Solutions

*Chemical Kinetics

*Chemical Equilibrium

*Acids & Bases

*Redox Reactions & Electrochemistry

*Introduction to Organic Chemistry & Polymers

How To Apply:

Registration for the 2024-2025 academic year is now open!

You are also welcome to contact me at clovervalleychemistry@gmail.com to discuss other options for chemistry - either less rigorous options or self-paced, parent-graded options.

Tuition:

The Advanced Honors Chemistry course is a 36 week course and the tuition fee for 2024-2025 is $699.

Textbook Required:

Chang, Raymond, and Kenneth A. Goldsby. General Chemistry: the Essential Concepts. McGraw-Hill, 2014.  ISBN: 978-0073402758.

http://a.co/arIMpf7

You may also consider purchasing the text in loose-leaf format, as it is sometimes less expensive:

http://a.co/iQgkjLz

If you prefer to rent an ebook version, you can find it here.

We won’t be using any of the online materials so you do not need to purchase a book with an internet code.

Lab Kit Required:

The kit we will be using is the Standard MicroChem Kit 2nd edition from Quality Science Labs:

http://www.qualitysciencelabs.com/chemistry-labs/microchem-kit-standard-2nd-edition/

It’s recommended that you order the lab kit at least 4 weeks before the start of the course.

Technical Requirements:

*Internet connection with the ability to stream video lectures

*Ability to scan documents into PDF or JPEG format and to email the uploaded documents

*Access to a webcam is NOT required – the live “office hour” sessions will be audio and/or text-based

You will also need a scientific calculator.  There is no need to purchase an expensive graphing calculator.  As long as your calculator has the ability to handle scientific notation and to calculate logarithms and natural logarithms, then it will be fine.

Course Schedule:

The schedule for 2024-2025 is for courses to begin on August 19, 2024 and end on May 18, 2025 with a day off for Canadian Thanksgiving (Oct. 14, 2024), two days off for US Thanksgiving (Nov. 28-29, 2024), two weeks off from Dec. 23/24-Jan. 5/25, and one week off from Mar. 10-14, 2025. We will also take off most other holidays. Because of the asynchronous nature of the teaching lectures, families who don’t wish to take time off at these times of the year can work through and work ahead in order to take alternate holidays.

Course Structure and Delivery:

The course will be broken down into units based on topics in chemistry and/or chapters in the textbook.  The concepts in the individual units will be taught through a combination of textbook readings and prerecorded teaching lectures with accompanying handouts based on the Power Point slides from the lecture so that the students may follow along and take notes.  Because the videos are prerecorded, the students can pause them, go back and re-watch sections, and even re-watch the entire video as many times as they need to.  This allows students to move at their own pace through the lectures within each unit.  There will also be optional live “office hours” twice per week where I will be available to answer student questions so that students are able to get help in real time.  These “office hour” sessions will be recorded so that they can be viewed afterwards.  I’m also always just an email away should a student require help at any time.

The live “office hour” times for Advanced Honors Chemistry are Monday / Thursday from 11am-12pm Eastern Time.  Attendance at these office hours is not mandatory for students.  The teaching of the material is done exclusively through the pre-recorded video lectures and textbook readings.  The “office hour” times are simply to give students a chance to get help in real time.

Each unit will be assessed through a combination of homework assignments, unit/chapter tests, and/or labs.  There will be a midterm exam and a final exam for the course.

Synchronous aspects of the courses:

*set start and end dates

*due dates for each chapter block

*live "office hour" times

Asynchronous aspects of the courses:

*scheduling of textbook readings is flexible

*prerecorded lectures can be watched at any time with as many breaks or pauses as needed

*assignments/labs/tests can be submitted on a flexible basis anytime during the time allotted for the chapter block

About Me:

Hi there!  I’m a teacher with over 25 years of teaching, tutoring, and homeschooling experience.  I obtained both my Bachelor of Science (Chemistry with a major in Organic Chemistry) degree and my Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, MB.  I’m registered with the Ontario College of Teachers (where all certified teachers must complete a S. A. Prevention Program) and have a Secondary Honors Specialist designation in Chemistry as well as training in providing an Advanced Placement Chemistry program.  In past, I have taught for both the Rainy River District School Board and Confederation College – Rainy River Campus.  My daughter was homeschooled from Grade 2 through to Grade 12 and we loved the flexibility and freedom it allowed.  Teaching chemistry is my passion – I love to help students understand the wonderful world of chemistry!

Mrs. S

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