9th grade biology books--I need help sorting them out

[MamaSheep]

Ok, I've been reading through some past threads about Biology books and now my head is spinning with all the discussion of the Campbell family of books with lions and iguanas and dragonflies and macrobiology and microbiology and so forth, and I'm even more confused than when I started. I think I need help.

 

I am in the beginning stages of figuring out science for next year at my house, and leaning in the direction of biology. I'm looking for a good spine for a secular 9th grade biology course and am thinking that a public school textbook will probably be my best option there, but am willing to consider other books for a spine if there's a better option. Could someone give me a rundown on all these Cambell books, what the differences are and what level they are for? And if there are other Biology textbooks (or other spines) I should be looking at, could you point me in those directions also? Thanks!!

[April in CA]

Hi Amy,

The Campbell biology text that we used last year for 9th grade bio was Biology: Exploring Life, published by Prentice Hall. Campbell is one of the authors, and the book has a big iguana eye on the cover. It is meant for the first high-school level bio class a student takes. It is very secular! Some chapters seem to address topics from an evolutionary point of view even when it seems to be overkill (in my opinion) However, the book is engaging and the language is accessible to a good reader. There is a lot of information - 36 chapters! I thought the treatment of genetics was good.

 

We used the Chapter Reviews as tests, since the test bank was out of our price range. The answers to the chap reviews are in the Teacher's Edition, which I found to be necessary. We were able to adapt several of the labs found in the Lab Manual for home use, since we have a good bit of lab equipment and I didn't mind buying extra supplies. Some were not adaptable, but I found substitutes from other sources. We only used the student edition of the Lab Manual, since I have done labs before and didn't feel the need for the Teacher's Edition of the Lab Manual (although it would have come in handy a few times)

 

If you use this program, be sure to get the CD of Learning Activities or arrange to get on-line access to them. These activities are fun, but, more importantly, they are an integral part of the learning experience.

 

Finally, as Christians, we felt that it was important to present many points of view on origins. So, we also watched several videos that present the Intelligent Design POV as well as materials from Answers in Genesis which present the literal, young-earth creationist point of view to counterbalance all the evolution presented in the textbook.

 

For us, Biology: Exploring Life was a good choice for our younger son. Hope this is helpful to you.

Blessings,

April

[MamaSheep]

Thanks, April, this is good info to know. I wonder if you could tell me what kind of lab equipment might be needed for the labs?

[MamaSheep]

And does anyone know anything useful about the new PH biology book by Miller & Levine with the parrot on the front? Can anyone compare/contrast with the Cambell books?

[VBCaroline]

Amy,

If you write out lesson plans, I'd love the opportunity to purchase them from you again! I love having our PHSE Physical Science and labs planned out with your guide.

Caroline

[MamaSheep]

Amy,

If you write out lesson plans, I'd love the opportunity to purchase them from you again! I love having our PHSE Physical Science and labs planned out with your guide.

Caroline

 

Oh I'm glad to hear that. I was just yesterday wondering how it was going for you. I'm sorry it's taking so long for the notebook page disk, I've run into a problem with the files not running properly on some of the setups we tested it on and we're trying to figure out why and if we can fix it or if we just need to spell out the system requirements a certain way. But in the mean time we had to start school up, and dh (my computer geek) has to finish a paying project for one of his clients before he can help me with this. Sigh...at least you have them in the book.

 

I am definitely thinking of making another course guide for biology like the one for physical science. That's one of the reasons I'm trying to get an early start on selecting materials. Also, I'd like to run some of the materials past some family members over the holidays. My dad's a retired research biologist (used to work in Yellowstone Park), for example, and my youngest brother is in medical school, so their opinions will be helpful when it comes to evaluating materials on plants, animals, and human anatomy. So I would kind of like to have a book or two and some lab stuff to run by them before Thanksgiving and Christmas hit because it's a lot easier to run things by them in person than long distance.

[AngieW in Texas]

I'm using Holt Biology.

 

I used the Miller and Levine Biology textbook published by Prentice Hall for my oldest, but it was way more difficult than I was looking for. I found out later that it is mostly used for honors level biology classes. I sold that thing as soon as we were done with it.

 

Holt is going much better. It does go heavy into biochemistry right at the beginning, but all the biology textbooks seem to do that now. I thought the explanation of cellular respiration in Holt Biology was easier to understand, although the videos that I'm linking below helped the most.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9zMe7361uM - photosynthesis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Biq1xo-1eyo - cellular respiration

 

I bought Oak Meadow's syllabus and teacher manual since they use this book and I wanted plans that were already laid out.

 

OM schedules all 43 chapters of the book. I have the Holt teacher edition. It has 7 different plans for working through the book, depending on what you want to concentrate on. They use anywhere from 23 up to 37 chapters. I don't know if we're going to do the entire book or not at this point. I can't see us keeping up with the schedule that OM laid out. The chapter on cellular respiration was a real bear. We've spent 4 weeks on what OM scheduled for the first 3 weeks.