Chemistry
By : admin

“Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood.”

-Marie Curie

Welcome to our Chemistry homeschool unit! This page should serve as a guide for you if you are teaching your 4th-8th grade students or children all about elements, atoms, and molecules! If you are unfamiliar with what a unit study is, or how it works, I recommend you read my post about it here.

I designed this chemistry homeschool unit for my own children, however many of the activities could be adapted to a school environment as well. At the bottom of the page, you can find a find a suggested schedule and list of supplies to make things easier for you. The material I have posted can be done in a week, or you can stretch it out into two weeks.

Books

Books for this unit vary from some of the other units I have put together. Normally, I would find a literature chapter book to go along with unit. While I’m sure there are options for this, they are fewer and far between. The two chapter books I have listed do read a bit more like a textbook than a novel.

If you have younger students, please consider reading one of the graphic novels or the shorter books listed below the picture. Some of the books have YouTube video links if I could locate them. Please screen all books and videos for age appropriateness.

  • Cool Chemistry Concoctions by Joe Rhatigan
  • The Complete Periodic Table by Basher Science (They have several books on chemistry – these are great visual aides)
  • DK Eyewitness Chemistry
  • The Mystery of the Periodic Table by Benjamin Wiker
  • The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Keen (A novel for ages 10+, they also have a young reader’s version – please screen first)

Graphic Novels

  • Science Ninja’s Valence Chemistry Trilogy by Nathan Schreiber
  • The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry by Larry Gonick
  • Animated Science: The Periodic Table by John Farndon

Books for Younger Learners

The Atom

The first step to understanding chemistry is to learn about the most basic building block of chemistry. Here are some videos to consider when learning about or reviewing the basics of an atom. Then, after watching the videos, have your students draw and label and atom.

Videos:

After watching one of the video, draw an atom and label the following parts: 
1. Nucleus
2. Protons
3. Neutrons
4. Electrons

For students in middle school, have them select and create several models of atoms from elements on the periodic table. They should look at the periodic table to determine the number of protons, then use the atomic mass to subtract the protons and find out the number of neutrons. For electrons, they should use the same number as the number of protons. I had my middle school girls create or draw models of 4 different atoms.

As a lead in to a lesson on the periodic table – there is a great hands on activity and game that students can play to familiarize themselves with the different atoms on the table. This game is free and it was short and entertaining. The link to the activity is here. PDF of the element cards here.

The Periodic Table of Elements

The next step to learning about chemistry is to understand the periodic table. Your student will learn that elements are not just randomly arranged on the table, there is a reason behind the different groupings. They will also learn what atomic number means. If you are able to get access, I recommend watching the video by Generation Genius on the periodic table. If don’t have a subscription, there are usually 5 videos included for free with each email address. Listed below are other video links if you are unable to stream the GG one.

Videos:

This link is a great free resource on the Periodic Table if you’d like to complete and lab/worksheet. There is also an online game that can be played to review elements. https://assets.acs.org/v3.0/acs-bootstrap/images/simulations/chapter4/lesson2/periodic-table-challenge

Modeling Molecules & Chemical Reactions

Another excellent hands on way to teach students about chemical bonds, is through creating and disassembling chemical molecules. For this, we purchased an inexpensive molecule kit from amazon. If you don’t desire to purchase anything, molecules can be modeling with simple supplies, such as colored marshmallows and toothpicks.

Have your kids (or students) demonstrate building some different types of molecules. If you are using marshmallows, each of the marshmallows should represent the following: Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon, Sodium, Aluminum, Copper, Silver, Iodide, Potassium, Lead, and Chloride. Some common molecules you have have them build are:

  • H20 (water)
  • NH3 (Ammonia)
  • H2o2 (hydrogen peroxide)
  • CH4 (methane)
  • NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide)
  • NaCl (Salt – Sodium Chloride)

Once they have that down, you can have your kids (students) show the main types of chemical reactions by using a molecule kit or marshmallows and toothpicks. Use this video for reference. As you go through the video, pause it periodically to have students show the various types of chemical reactions with their kit or marshmallows.

If you’d like to go even more in depth on chemical reactions. This website shows all of the main types of chemical reactions with videos to go with each types. This is very detailed and recommended for middle school or high school.

Chemistry Projects

chemistry homeschool unit

With just a few simple supplies (and a glass graduated cylinder – I ordered one for about $7 from Amazon) you can investigate the properties of water and oil and have a little fun as well. In this project, you can test how water interacts with glass. Gather a few simple supplies:

  • water
  • oil
  • food coloring,
  • glass graduated cylinder (not plastic). In a pinch you could try a glass jar or other cylinder, but I’m not sure the results would be the same.
  • Isopropyl alcohol
  • pipette
  • salt (optional)

Start by pouring a set amount of water into the cylinder. This will depend on what size you have, but in our case it was 5ml. Take a look closely at where the water meets the glass. You’ll notice the water “dips” down in the center. The water adheres so strongly to the glass, that is tries to crawl up the sides of the glass cylinder, leaving a dip called a meniscus in the middle! Try the same thing with oil, and you’ll notice the opposite reaction – the oil repels the glass, and the center of the oil will curve upwards, attempting to escape the glass.

Expand this Experiment:

Now for the fun – a little side activity on density. When doing this experiment, my children were in 6th and 7th grade and had a basic understanding of density. If you’re kids do not, you’ll want to explain that water is denser than oil, which is denser than isopropyl alcohol. Now set them free with some food coloring and a pipette to explore this principle on their own. My daughter (10 at the time) enjoyed coloring the different layers, and then pushing a pipette of oil into the bottom, and watching the bubbles rise up like a lava lamp.

If you need a tutorial, try out this video! (He also uses salt if you have that handy)

Chemistry Homeschool Unit Game

Lastly, we ordered a great game from amazon to compliment our chemistry homeschool unit. This game provides the perfect combination of education with fun. It’s all about bonding! Collect element cards to make molecules. Then, you can react the molecules to gather more points.

The title of the game is Valence Plus, and it’s made by Science Ninjas. They also have a graphic novel book series.

Although the box says 8+, eight years old may be a bit young. My 10 & 12 year old girls enjoyed playing this game as a family. The first time around required some set up and patience, but once we got the instructions down, it’s been a fun activity (even when not doing school).

Chemistry Homeschool Unit Wrap Up

That wraps it up for our chemistry homeschool unit! See below for suggested schedule and supplies. If you have any local science museums that have displays or classes on chemistry, I highly recommend looking around to find one.

Another great resource for chemistry is from the American Chemistry Society, which has an entire free unit, with model simulations and printable worksheets. Also, if you need a suggestion for a chemistry curriculum for this age – we also expanded on this short lesson and used the “Focus on Chemistry” series to spend another 10 weeks on this topic.

For more science activities, don’t miss our unit on Plants, Flowers, and Seeds.

Suggested Chemistry Unit Schedule

  • Monday: Read one of the books, watch a video about atoms, draw and label and atom, play the periodic table hands on game.
  • Tuesday: Watch a video about the periodic table, complete the worksheet, read in the books, and play the online periodic table game.
  • Wednesday: Practice making molecules, learn about ionic and covalent bonding, and review the parts of an atom.
  • Thursday: Read in the books, do a hands on investigation on the properties of water and density.
  • Friday: Learn about chemical reactions. Practice modeling them with your kit and complete a lab project. Play Valence Plus (if you’re able to get it)

Suggested Supply List:

  • oil
  • water
  • food coloring
  • glass graduated cylinder
  • pipette or eye dropper
  • Isopropyl alcohol
  • molecule modeling kit or colored marshmallows and toothpicks
  • Valence Plus chemistry game (optional)

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