Kathleen Desmarais

Thanks to our lovely postal services* here in these United States, Pandia Press has many damaged R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey books for sale at wholesale prices. We have cases of RSO Chemistry bound edition, and a few RSO Life bound and RSO Earth & Space bound that have been damaged during delivery. You can purchase these books directly from Pandia Press. See Damaged Science Book Sale page.

* Did you know that USPS is probably the only company that does not have to do the job you pay them for? Unless you pay EXTRA in the form of insurance, doing their job is completely optional. They can destroy your package—crush it, set it afire, run it over with their fleet of jeeps, steal it, lose it, or (as in my case) drop it from a height of 15 feet—and they are not in anyway responsible! You can’t even get a refund on the shipping cost, much less the value of the items. Can you imagine running your business that way?

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RSO Chemistry (level one) eBook is now available. I know RSO users have been waiting a LONG time for this one. (It was pretty cool when someone purchased one simultaneously as it was being uploaded to the site.) I really think it is worth the wait. It is for a slightly older age group than the other two RSO books. Chemistry is intended for 2nd to 5th grade. But I think it could be useful to older kids as well (I certainly learned a whole lot about chemistry just editing the book).

Chemistry is the one science that most school systems wait until high school to teach. But Blair Lee, the writer, does an amazing job of taking abstract concepts and microscopic material and turning it into something tangible, conceptual, and fun. A great portion of the book is devoted to the periodic table. Students spend several weeks learning their way around the table, studying the most common elements, and creating their own periodic tables. Right from the beginning we knew we wanted to include this in the course. Most elementary chemistry books (the few that are even available) shy away from the table, as if it is just too confusing for kids this young to grasp. What happens then is students are often intimidated when they first encounter a periodic table in high school or college. RSO students will not fear the table! That you can count on! Actually, the way Blair explains it, they may even love the table. I do! I even bought a T-shirt with the periodic table from my daughter’s favorite store, Delia’s.

Do you realize that everything (from you to planets to mice to sky scrapers) is made of some combination of the 118 elements on this table! Isn’t that amazing? I also find it completely mind-blowing that everything is made from atoms and that all atoms are made from the same three things–protons, electrons, and neutrons. And the only difference between the make up a mountain and a cat is the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons!  Just think about that one for a minute. That’s the kind of amazing stuff your kids will learn with Chemistry (one). How could you possibly wait until high school to teach them that?!

Print editions of RSO Chemistry (one) are on their way. They will be available from our vendors on March 30th.
  

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