Introduction to Organic Chemistry & Biochemistry for advanced high school students

Prerequisite for this course: Completion of either a rigorous Honors Chemistry course or an AP Chemistry course

If your student is considering pre-med in college, this would be a great elective in high school!  Organic chemistry and biochemistry in college are the courses that pre-med students struggle with the most so gaining a solid introduction to organic chemistry and biochemistry in high school will give a definite leg-up to students when taking those subjects again later in college.  This course would be an EXCELLENT course for students who may be considering a career in medicine or another professional health field.

This course will cover the basics of introductory organic chemistry and biochemistry and will be delivered as an advanced chemistry course for high school. The ability to memorize large quantities of material is essential for this course.  Time commitment is roughly 8-10 hours per week but that will vary greatly depending upon a student’s abilities and working speed. The topics covered will include:

*Introduction to Organic Chemistry: Alkanes
*Alkenes, Alkynes, and Aromatic Compounds
*Alcohols, Phenols, Thiols, and Ethers
*Aldehydes, Ketones, and Chiral Molecules
*Carboxylic Acids and Esters
*Amines and Amides
*Conformer Analysis, R/S Configuration, Mechanisms, Reaction Catalog, & Synthesis
*Carbohydrates
*Lipids
*Amino Acids and Proteins
*Enzymes and Vitamins
*Nucleic Acids and Protein Synthesis
*Metabolic Pathways for Carbohydrates
*Metabolism and Energy Production
*Metabolic Pathways for Lipids and Amino Acids

Required textbook: Karen Timberlake’s “General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry: Structures of Life” 4th edition (the study guide to accompany the textbook is a nice resource but may be difficult to find at a reasonable price – don’t worry about purchasing it if you can only find it listed for an exorbitant amount of money :)).
Required organic model kit: Molecular model kit

Currently, this course is offered without a lab component.  The types of materials needed to do organic or biochemical labs are difficult to come by for a homeschooled family.  There are a few virtual lab assignments, however, that will give students a bit of background knowledge of some of the analysis techniques for organic functional groups and for biochemical macromolecules.

The teaching of the material is done exclusively through the pre-recorded video lectures and textbook readings.  I’m always just an email away should a student require help at any time.

If you’re interested in checking out my teaching style and would like to see the video lectures for the first chapter covered, “Introduction to Organic Chemistry: Alkanes”, click here to view the chapter playlist.  If you would like to see examples from Chapter 11 of the chapter checklist, the homework assignments, and the chapter test, please click here.  If you would like to see further examples of the video lectures, here is a link to the lectures for the Organic Chemistry Supplemental Unit.

Remember – registration for the parent-graded versions of my courses is always open! Check out the info here:

Self-paced, parent-graded options


As always…  If you are interested in any of the chemistry courses on offer or have questions regarding any aspect of the courses, please don’t hesitate to contact me at clovervalleychemistry@gmail.com!