At Back-to-School night every year I make only one request of parents; please don't tell your child that Chemistry was your worst subject or that you hated it the most. Every year I have parents tell me "Too late".
If you've already made this type of statement, all is not lost. Please consider the following: Chemistry is not intuitive or easy for everyone. On the other hand, some students actually surprise themselves and their parents by doing better than they would ever have predicted. Please allow for that possibility with your child.
I don't expect you to have gone to Harvard Medical School and graduated Magna Cum Laude. I think it's actually probably better for your child if you don't have the background to "help". Better for your relationship with your child, better for your child's independence and better for your time constraints. (if you have no time constraints, please feel free to call me and I'll let you come wash equipment in my laboratory any old time ;-)
There are, however, some useful things that you can do with and for your child. Check his or her notebook from time to time. Even if you have never taken a Chemistry class in your life you can tell if your child is organized. This is one of the biggest requirements in a course like Chemistry.
You should be able to look at your child's notebook and see clear evidence of notes that are understandable to you. I tell students all the time that a measure of a good definition or good notes is that someone who has never taken Chemistry can read them and understand the concept that is being covered. If you can't read it or you can't understand it, your child's notes are not adequate.
Can your child point to what is being done in class currently? Can you see all the dated daily warm-ups--including answers and work? If not, encourage your child to be more complete with his/her work. Just knowing that you will be double-checking is likely to have your child be more conscientious about the work.
That being said, you should also be empowering your child to be as independent as possible about all of the courses that he or she is taking. If your child is focusing on "College Preparatory" courses in order to attend college, high school is the time for him or her to begin to develop the skills and habits that will be successful in college. Remind your student that he or she should be keeping current with the work every day. One of the best things your child can do is check out the calendar to be prepared for any tests or quizzes that are scheduled.
If your child is struggling with the course, encourage him or her to get help immediately. Does your child have friends who are taking Chemistry and doing well? Working with them is a great idea. Has your child come in during support or before or after school to see me for help? Often working one-on-one provides more insight than a classroom setting. If necessary, you may need to get a tutor for your student.
If you hire a tutor for your student, please be sure that the tutor is useful. Ask your child if he or she feels more confident after the tutor leaves. Don't keep using a tutor if there is not a clear and immediate or nearly immediate improvement in your child's performance. Please do not assume that someone's impressive background means that they are good at tutoring. Be very skeptical if the tutor is teaching your child "tricks" for getting around good old fashioned hard work. I have had numerous students who learned a trick from a tutor without understanding how or why it worked and they ended up doing poorly on tests and homework assignments because the trick only works in some cases.
If you have a tutor, please refer them to this website, the syllabus and the calendar so they know what will be covered in class.
Chemistry is a class that is dependent upon consistent effort. What students learn in September will be built on for the entire year. In June we will still be using dimensional analysis, significant figures, etcetera. For this reason, it is important that your child get a good grasp of each concept as it comes and that you do not wait if your child is struggling.
Despite the fact that this is an important class, I would also ask that you help your child keep it in perspective. If he or she is not destined to be the next Marie or Pierre Curie (good thing, since they died rather awfully) your student can still learn a lot from the course. If your child fails a test or assignment, help him or her to see what could be done differently another time to have a more successful result. No matter what they major in in college, or what they end up in as a career, all people fail at some point. It's not failing that is really the problem, it's how we each deal with it.