Dr. Jay Wile’s Discovering Design with Chemistry a high school level course, written for students who have completed math courses through Algebra 1. We received both the hardback student text and the softcover answer key and test booklet. These two items are the primary resources you’ll use for the class. There is an optional lab kit available that contains some of the not-so-common items needed for experiments. If you don’t purchase the kit, you can still do 27 of the 46 experiments. Speaking of experiments, there are very good instructions in the student text about setting up a lab notebook. The notebook (regular notebook with notes in it) is desirable for the course, but would also be beneficial to have around should colleges want examples of your student’s work or proof that you did the lab portion of the course.

Each of the sixteen chapters follows the same general outline. Each chapter contains reading and experiments that need to be completed. The text in each lesson contains concepts to memorize, comprehension checks (to be done while reading), and a review at the end (to be done when finished reading.) The solutions to the review are found in the answer key booklet, as are the chapter test answers.

The sixteen chapters walk your student through the fundamentals of chemistry such as the classification of matter, atomic structure, spectroscopy, chemical bonding, molecular geometry, physical change, chemical change, stoichiometry, solutions, ideal gases, acid/base chemistry, reduction/oxidation reactions, thermochemistry, thermodynamics, kinetics, and chemical equilibrium. Sound intimidating? It certainly can be! But, it doesn’t have to be. I have zero background in science, let alone chemistry, and as I worked with my daughter through the first few chapters, I found myself understanding (and possibly even enjoying) the material.

This college-prep class is designed with the independent student in mind. The teacher involvement is very minimal. In fact, if you have a super independent child, then really your only role, other than supervising experiments, might be grading the tests. Although, I don’t know if I could just supervise. Science is fun. Chemistry is crazy fun. I’m more the annoying hands-on mom who has to be told, “Mom, I’m supposed to do it.”

The text is written in a conversational tone which is always nice. Those fact and graph-laden textbooks that I had in public high school were so dry, nothing like Wile’s books. His science books are a pleasure to read. I am amazed at how much a difference writing style makes. Also per his norm, Discovering Design with Chemistry is written with a young earth/Christian tone.

As I said, my daughter and I worked through the first three chapters. When I asked her what she thought, she said, “I’m surprised how much I like this. Normally, I hate having to do science, but this is almost fun. The way that it’s written makes it seem less intimidating, and he explains things really well. The experiments are fun, and help me understand concepts better.”

There is a general rule that if your student works 45 minutes to an hour a day, then this course will be completed in one school year. However, for parents like me who like a more structured outline, there is a weekly schedule in the back of the book. Yay! The one thing I loathe about homeschooling is having to figure out how often to do how much work. Thankfully, that is not the case with this course.

The answer key and test booklet contains the answers to the reviews and tests, both of which are written into the text itself. Which means there’s nothing to rip out. I appreciate that. The less I have to keep track of, the better. There are also two semester final exams, after chapters eight and sixteen, you’ll find those in the answer key booklet. Our way of doing things was to just write the answers to comprehension questions and reviews in a notebook (not the lab notebook!) I would treat the semester finals the same way.

Throughout the course, you are shown how chemistry reveals the amazing design that exists all around us. From the details of atomic structure to the makeup of the air we breathe, chemistry shows us the marvelous handiwork of God. Dr. Wile has done an extraordinary job of taking the science of chemistry and lacing it with examples of God’s glory and evidence.

We enjoy Dr. Wile’s books. He has an obvious passion and gift for producing outstanding material in the homeschool realm. I highly recommend this chemistry course to homeschool families everywhere.

Discovering Design with Chemistry is available for $59, the answer key and test booklet is $6, or you can buy them together in a set for $65.

-Product review by Jeniffer Do Nascimento, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, May, 2017