Chemistry is my biggest fear when it comes to homeschooling my high school student. I can honestly tell you that I was horrible at Chemistry back in high school. I remember feeling so lost in this class and completely in over my head. So, as I think of teaching my son Chemistry, I have absolutely dreaded it until now. I was recently sent a copy of General Chemistry 2nd Edition Book. Resource CD, and the Solution Manual from Novare Science & Math to review and I was really hoping it would help me with my Chemistry anxiety.

Novare Science & Math, created by John D. Mays, is on a mission to change how our students look at science. They promote a teaching philosophy based on the core principles of Mastery, Integration, and Kingdom Perspective. Their goal is to teach our students to master the material in their textbooks by focusing the scope of their curriculum. This enables the students to learn the material at a deeper level because they are not only learning mew material, but also consistently reviewing the material they have previously learned. Novare Science & Math also highly encourages the integration of math and science because they believe that both subjects complement each other. They also integrate writing into their curriculum by encouraging students to write full sentences and paragraphs in their homework and tests. Finally, they approach their textbooks from a Kingdom perspective because they are a Christian company that believes God created our world and everything in it so we cannot leave God out of science.

The General Chemistry set I received is recommended for students in 11^th grade or students that are taking Algebra II. This textbook teaches students about measurements, atoms, atomic structure, chemical bonding, the Periodic Law, and more. This textbook features 12 chapters, a glossary, answers to selected chapter questions, appendices with reference data, and an index. The chapters begin with an interesting fact and then it lists the objectives of the chapter. Then each chapter is broken down into topics and each topic has sub-topics.  This makes the reading manageable and easy to plan out for lesson planning. There are study questions at the end of each chapter where your student is encouraged to write out full sentences for answers and to check their grammar and spelling in their answers. You can divide the questions up to answer each day after your student reads about that topic. Or if your students prefer, they can answer the questions all at once after they have read the chapter. Each chapter includes pictures, useful charts, necessary formulas, and examples of problems with their solution, so the student can see how the problems should be solved.

The resource CD contains a quiz bank, quiz keys, an exam bank, exam keys, semester exams, and semester exam keys. It is easy to pop into your computer's disk drive and print off the quiz or exam you need. The Solution Manual I received contains the answers for any problem in the book that requires any computation. The best part about this manual is that it shows the answer in a step by step form which is exactly how I ask my son to answer any problems where he has to calculate an answer. I like to see his work so I can see what step went wrong if he got an answer wrong. This solution manual is perfect for that because I can compare the answer and his work side-by-side. The materials I received can be purchased for $168 on the Novare Science & Math website.

This is the first Chemistry textbook where I feel like I understand what it is being explained. It does a really good job of breaking down the concepts into manageable parts and because of it I am not finding the Periodic Table as scary as it once was. I think having the text narrowed down to the important concepts and taking out the fluff has really helped prepare me to teach Chemistry and helps students be able to understand it. I also appreciate the way this textbook teaches students to solve the problems and that it has multiple examples of how to do the work within each chapter. I would recommend this curriculum for teaching your high school student General Chemistry if you want a clear, concise, and to the point Chemistry course for your student.

-Product review by Cassandra Holdeman, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January, 2018