EppieJ Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Hello! I'm in the market for a good Biology/Life Science curriculum for my 8th grade son (for next year). Any recommendations? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 BJU Distance Learning Life Science {online or DVD. the labs are done on the screen. look under 7th grade} Science Shephard Life Science K12 Independent Advanced Life Science Oak Meadow Life Science {look under 7th grade, I believe} I'm sure ABeka Books has one, too. A nice go-along is www.frogguts.com. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 My 9th grader has been using Biology by Miller-Levine with the dragonfly cover since January-ish. You can find it fairly cheap on used book sites. DS/9th is very much a humanities kid and STEM can be his kryptonite. I'd expect the average 8th grader would do okay with this text. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EppieJ Posted May 7, 2014 Author Share Posted May 7, 2014 Thanks for your replies! I'll look into these. Keep the suggestions coming! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EppieJ Posted May 7, 2014 Author Share Posted May 7, 2014 Thanks for your replies! I'll look into these. Keep the suggestions coming! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EppieJ Posted May 7, 2014 Author Share Posted May 7, 2014 Thanks for your replies! I'll look into these. Keep the suggestions coming! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 I have no first hand experience with it, but this plan of study has always looked appealing to me:Teaching Biology by Jamie McMillin. The resources used are listed here and include Hoagland's The Way Life Works: The Science Lover's Illustrated Guide to How Life Grows, Develops, Reproduces, and Gets Along. Or there's this plan from Quarks and Quirks which uses a different Hoagland book, namely Exploring the Way Life Works: The Science of Biology. Regards, Kareni 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Well, we haven't actually used it yet, but if you don't mind secular, Science Fusion Middle School level Module A, B, and C would cover Middle School Biology. It has a work text so the student reads the textbook and writes answers directly into it. Makes for a great reference source later on. Very visual and seems well laid out. There are real labs you can do and on-line virtual labs. Teacher's Manual is digital. There is also a pacing guide. We are going to start it over the summer (Module A) and work slowly through the material as we have time. There are two Units in each module and roughly 15 lessons per Module with the lessons divided roughly equally between each Unit. Each Lesson apparently takes about a week to complete if you were doing science 5 days a week, sometimes less, sometimes more maybe. Since we don't do science every day, we are starting in the summer and taking more time to complete it all. I am sending the link to the Science Fusion Homeschool part of the site. I have a friend using it at a lower grade level and they love it. http://www.hmhco.com/shop/education-curriculum/science/homeschool/sciencefusion-homeschool/shop-now We intend to add in our own videos off youtube/netflix/etc. and some additional readings but it looks pretty good for Middle School level just as is. My DD is not currently a big science buff but she independently picked up the text and started reading through it as soon as it arrived. She thinks it looks really interesting and is excited to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 We have been using Science Shepherd Life Science and I would definitely recommend it. It is very thorough and we've learned a lot ( sorry can't get it to unbold). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 We have been using Science Shepherd Life Science and I would definitely recommend it. It is very thorough and we've learned a lot ( sorry can't get it to unbold). Would you mind sharing why you like the Science Shepherd, how it compares to Apologia, assuming you know and if you would use if with a 6th grader? Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 I cooked up my own biology class with awesome labs for the year (I teach biology at a local college and have access to good general biology ideas), but by the end of the year, I was exhausted and bought Ellen McHenry's Botany and it was fantastic! I recommend her work highly. She also has a "Cells" curriculum that looks excellent. She has lots of freebies on her website, if you want to try them out. To be honest, I have not found another pre-published curriculum that I like besides McHenry; the others I've seen are disjointed, uninspiring, or juvenile and simple. ETA: I also think the program laid out in the Quirks and Quarks link, above, is excellent, but may be a bit much for an 8th grader, depending on their science bent (or lack of a science bent). But the ideas they are top-notch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauphin Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 So if you were starting with Ellen McHenry's cells & Botany, what would you want to see added for a full biology course at middle school level? What about 9th grade Biology? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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