Guest Hollow’s Chemistry in the Kitchen: Science Your Teen Will Love {and USE}

Inside: Guest Hollow Chemistry in the Kitchen is the kind of chemistry class I wish I had in high school — interesting, practical & engaging.

“When am I ever going to use algebra/calculus/ancient history?”

“Who knows? But you still need to learn it now!”

20 years ago, we all said the first line. And, today, we say the second line.

But with Guest Hollow’s Chemistry in the Kitchen? You won’t hear the first line, and you sure won’t say the second one.

This unique chemistry curriculum gives your high schooler a foundation in chemistry based on books, hands-on activities, cooking, videos, and more.  It is written for high school students, but I found it easily adaptable for an 8th grader.

(Homeschool moms often ask if younger students can use it — down to upper elementary ages. No, this really is a high school level course.  Guest Hollow’s Actions & Reactions is a great option for that age and will provide a strong foundation for high school science.)

Besides adapting it for a younger kiddo, we also had to adapt it for a kiddo who is a slow reader & has language processing disorders. A book-based curricula may not seem like a great fit for such a kiddo, I know. We had to adapt a fair amount, but she loved the program, so the effort was worth it.

Our first time though it (2018), was the first year we didn’t do history & science as a family. My oldest was in 8th grade & I wanted a science that would captivate her and could be done (mostly!) independently.

We’re preparing to do it again, this time with 10th & 8th graders. (Who eagerly enjoyed her scientific creations and asked when they’d be old enough to use Chemistry in the Kitchen.)

(If you’re looking for a more traditional science program, check out this one.)

How much time does Chemistry in the Kitchen take?

When you look at the weekly schedule, you may have a wee bit of a panic. <deep breath>

You do not have to do everything!  It is not designed for you to do everything.  The creators of Chemistry in the Kitchen even say that! It is designed for you to pick & choose based on your family.

My older son averages about six hours a week on it. That includes reading, videos, only a little bit of the student workbook, and his time in the kitchen. (He is reading most of the books.)

With my daughter, we spent less time on it each week than if we were using this as a high school chemistry credit.  Elizabeth averaged three hours a week (kitchen time, videos & about half of the reading.)

It is certainly flexible enough to use more of the curriculum if you need more hours or cut it down if you want it only for a 0.5 credit elective in culinary arts or home economics.

Must-Use Books for Guest Hollow’s Chemistry in the Kitchen

Another tiny panic may be in store for you when you look at the book list — so, so many books!

Guest Hollow helpfully ranks the resources. Books rated 1 & 2 are the most important, and 3 & 4-rated titles are skippable. That, of course, isn’t to say that you can choose to skip a #1 and use all the #4 resources. Your homeschool, your choice!

Books We Adapted

Culinary Reactions: The Everyday Chemistry of Cooking was pretty interesting.  Rather than reading the entire book, though, I chose chapters I thought she’d enjoy.  This book is rated 1, and it’s referenced in the workbook (if you use that).

We chose to read several books as audiobooks, including both volumes of What Einstein Told His Cook and Stuff Matters.

Some of the needed recipes are in both volumes of What Einstein Told His Cook. I checked out the ebooks, took screengrabs of the recipes we needed, and then returned the books.

The Elements

Since we were adapting this for an 8th grader (and dyslexic), one change we made was to purchase The Elements as large cards rather than the book.

(The author has also created a paid app with the same information, perfect for on-the-go/roadschooling.)

The cards are also easier for younger kiddos to use. Our first time using Guest Hollow’s Chemistry in the Kitchen, my boys also did chemistry (from Elemental Science), so some of our resources overlapped.

Books We Read as a Family

To help lighten the reading load AND because I enjoyed it, I read Dr. Joe & What You Didn’t Know: 177 Fascinating Questions about the Chemistry of Everyday Life aloud. It was easy enough to follow for younger kiddos, too.

Mystery of the Periodic Table and Archimedes & the Door of Science also make fantastic read-aloud books if you have elementary-aged kiddos.

And the Books We Modified

We swapped Pandora’s Lunchbox for Better than Homemade. My daughter needed it for her history anyway & since Pandora’s had to do with processed food, I thought this was a decent replacement. It doesn’t go into the science, really, but Pandora’s Lunchbox was more detailed than I thought she’d enjoy anyway.

(In the second go-round of using this curriculum, I’ll include Pandora’s Lunchbox. Better than Homemade has been read MULTIPLE times by my middle kiddo already, plus he loves to read.)

For Napoleon’s Buttons & Taste, I had her read at a slower pace and picked a few chapters but not the entire book.

The narrator’s accent + the new content, made Stuff Matters difficult for her to listen to on her own. We listened to it in the car, and then I’d summarize it for her. Not only did she benefit, but so did I. Win, win!

Salt looked rather dry for my kiddo, so I swapped it for the Science of Spice + a few videos about the history of salt. No, they aren’t at all an equivalent swap. But she got a brief overview of how history has been impacted by salt, along with some additional science, in a beautiful book that was approachable and engaging.

We skipped right over Louis Pasteur, Uncle Tungsten & Radioactive. Find a couple of good biography videos instead & call it good.

There isn’t a text book?

No, really isn’t a textbook. I promise you, though, that your student will have such varied and interesting reading material that you won’t miss it. There are so many reading assignments that you’ll wonder where you’d even fit in time with a text book.

Do I have to buy all of these books?  That’s a lot of $$!

It is very easy to do this program in a low-cost manner.  We were able to obtain nearly every book through our library and interlibrary loan.  You’ll also find used books for sale in their Facebook group.

(Besides the recipe ingredients, there was nothing else we needed to purchase.  Many of the recipes were perfect for dinner, so we incorporated them into our menu plans.)

I would recommend buying two books that are used all year long.

• The Elements (cards or book)
• Dr. Joe & What You Didn’t Know

All the other books we obtained from the library, either in print or through Libby or Hoopla.

(Use this Chrome extension to easily find books from your library.)

The Most Underrated Homeschool Website

Buying used is a great way to save $$ in your homeschool, but who wants to search multiple used book sites to find a match and the best price?

Add All takes the work out of it by searching for you.

Enter a title or author, Add All searches on more than a dozen sites, and then returns the price + shipping.

Is this a college prep course? Maybe.

Ask this question to parents, and you’ll get a variety of answers.

It doesn’t contain higher level math typically found in a high school chemistry course. As is, this course might not be the best choice. To beef it up, though, a popular option is to add Khan Academy’s chemistry to teach chemistry equations. Crash Course Chemistry, Life of Fred Chemistry, and Balancing Chemical Equations are also popular.

Other moms, including those with kiddos in STEM majors, argue that students’ understanding of foundational chemistry is strong enough with this program to prepare them for college-level science.

Highlights from Chemistry in the Kitchen

• One of our favorite recipes, by far, was the butter cookies.  We combined them with the lemon curd recipe, and I’d HIGHLY suggest you do the same.  Oh, just the thought makes my mouth water.
• The Influenza 1918 video was one of her favorite videos of the year.
• She found the gummy bear osmosis lab to be a lot of fun.  The questions in the lab were good, and it didn’t feel like it was just busy work.
• The Facebook group for Chemistry in the Kitchen users is an absolute must! You’ll find additional resources, adaptations, and more.
• Spicy chocolate crinkle monster cookies were really good with vanilla ice cream.
• The Ted-Ed videos were a must.  We used the online quizzes that went along with them.

Other Things We Added In

• The Mystery of Matter
• Molecular Model Kit
• Good Eats episodes
• Serving Up Science (10-minute shows from PBS)

Wondriums Shows (formerly The Great Courses)

Why Bookshop.org?

Half-Price Books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon. They just can’t compete with the feeling of walking into a local bookstore. Their prices may be better, but the experiences just don’t compare.

Shopping on Bookshop.org is the next best thing. You get the convenience of shopping online while supporting your favorite independent bookstores.

When you shop on Bookshop.org, you choose your favorite bookstore & a portion of your purchase goes straight to that little shop that sets aside books they know your kiddos will love, always has quirky & interesting books up front, and the smell that only a bookstore can provide.

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