BJU Life Science as "Biology" followed by BJU or Campbell's Bio as "Advanced Bio"?

[Christy B]

Dd currently wants to pursue nursing; she has a wonderful opportunity for a co-op class this year that will be very lab-intensive, using BJUP's Life Science 7 and Tiner's History of Medicine. My original thought was to sign her up for the class (taught by a wonderful nurse) and have her use the BJUP or Abeka Biology text at home (just take advantage of the class for the discussion and labs).

 

Then I got a peek at the BJUP Life Science book -- it's quite comprehensive. In fact, I could be wrong, but it looks to me to be much more comprehensive than the Abeka 10th grade biology text (which was what I've been planning to use for biology). Most, if not all, of the material in the BJU Life Science text is going to be new information (or at least a new depth of information).

 

Would I be really off the beam if I had dd use the BJU 7 this year and called it biology, followed by a more advanced text in 11th or 12th grade? Or a CC dual enrollment class in 11th or 12th grade? I know that I had both Bio and Advanced Bio on my high school transcript (my faculty advisor got a big chuckle out of an English major whose science credits outnumbered her English credits).

 

My original plan was to do this sequence of science: Environmental, Biology, Chemistry, Anatomy & Physiology. For a student who is pursuing a science/medical plan of study, would it look okay on the transcript to have Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Advanced Bio/Anatomy & Physiology? Or is there another way to line up the classes? I realize Environmental isn't a mandatory credit, we just love it and I refuse to take it out of the line up altogether.

 

Could we do Environmental Science and Anatomy & Physiology as "electives"? Does it look really odd to have more than one science a year on a transcript?

[Christy B]

I can't get my edit function to work; I should add that this is for a 9th grader who excels in science. And, I plan to add the IEW Life Science writing program to whatever textbook we choose, since her writing skills are VERY weak, and she needs to learn how to write science papers, etc.

[Julie in GA]

Others may be able to speak to this issue more knowledgeably, but I believe you need to have labs (microscope work, dissection, etc.) done and turned in in order to give credit for a true "lab science."

 

I too have the BJU Life Science book, and I agree with you that it's quite comprehensive. I think you could make it work if you add some labwork. (Maybe get a microscope kit and/or disscetion kit from Home Science Tools?)

 

HTH,

[Janice in NJ]

We have used both courses via the DVD option: the life-science course in junior high and the biology course at the high-school level.

 

If your daughter is strong in the sciences, I see no compelling reason to have her do anything but a high-school-level course in high school. There is more reading, the labs are more difficult, and the tests are harder. It's not outrageously hard or anything. My kids had to learn to study more, but they both earned A's in the class.

 

I would recommend that you have her take the Biology course. She will be well-prepared to take an advanced biology course later on.

 

Peace,

Janice

Edited May 8, 2009 by Janice in NJ

[Christy B]

Others may be able to speak to this issue more knowledgeably, but I believe you need to have labs (microscope work, dissection, etc.) done and turned in in order to give credit for a true "lab science."

 

I too have the BJU Life Science book, and I agree with you that it's quite comprehensive. I think you could make it work if you add some labwork. (Maybe get a microscope kit and/or disscetion kit from Home Science Tools?)

 

HTH,

 

Right, that's my whole point in wanting her to participate in this co-op class -- the labs will include dissection, microscope work, the whole nine yards. My understanding is that they will do textbook work at home, but the class time will be primarily labs (with much more equipment and more expert instruction than what she would get at home). Even though the class is using Life Science, I am positive that the labs will be far beyond what we could ever do at home on the kitchen counter.

[Christy B]

We have used both courses via the DVD option: the life-science course in junior high and the biology course at the high-school level.

 

If your daughter is strong in the sciences, I see no compelling reason to have her do anything but a high-school-level course in high school. There is more reading, the labs are more difficult, and the tests are harder. It's not outrageously hard or anything. My kids had to learn to study more, but they both earned A's in the class.

 

I would recommend that you have her take the Biology course. She will be well-prepared to take an advanced biology course later on.

 

Peace,

Janice

 

Well, that was my first inclination -- to have her enjoy the opportunity to do the group labs with a gifted teacher, but to do a "true" high school level text (and extra labs and writing) at home. And, even though NC is very flexible, I would feel more confident *knowing* that our text is high school level. The labs will be more than adequate, and I will add more on the weeks that she doesn't have class (we will start our school in July, and this class won't start until September).

 

The teacher has already said that she can participate in the discussion and labs and use her own text; I'll just line up textbook as best as I can to match up to their scope and sequence (maybe I should use the BJUP Biology text? would that line up better than the Abeka?). I can schedule her tests so that they fall on the same class day as this group; she can just take it with her.

 

I certainly want to make sure she's doing high school level work; I also don't mind admitting that this teacher is going to be able to give her a much richer lab experience than she would get a home, so I'm willing to do some extra planning to make this work. But, I do agree that she should use a high school level text (even though I am still convinced that the BJU 7 is better than anything she'd get in our local school).

[hose]

I haven't looked at the BJU 7 text very closely, but my inclination would be to do the class with the BJU 7 text (plus the great labs and extras) and call it "Intro. to Biology", and then another year pick up BJU's Biology or Apologia's Advanced Biology and call it "Advanced Biology". (Actually, I would lean towards BJU just because it encompasses more... perhapes even use the DIVE CDs as they are considered honors level courses.) In other words, I like your original plan; I would just alter the title and make sure to supplement. What are your goals for her? Is the knowledge learned more important than the transcript descriptions? Or do you just want to check a box, so to speak? (I do realize there are times when we just need to jump through the hoops, but is this one of those times?) I personally would utilize the great teacher along the with corresponding curriculum (while you can!), knowing that a useful foundation was being laid for further Biology studies. But that's just me... :) And yes, you can have more than one science credit per year. Lots of people do.

[momtotkbb]

We used the BJU Life Sci for dd in 7th grade --Life Sci is what is taught here in the public and most private schools in 7th. We did the majority of labs including the dissection kit from HomeTrainingTools While I agree it was an in-depth course I truly feel it is Jr.High level and not high school. My oldest took Honors Bio and AP Bio in public school and the BJU Life Sci course was not as complete, rigorous, etc. as his high school course work. So, I guess I would be inclined, if I were in your shoes, to let dd take the co-op class and then do the Bio high school text of your choice at home maybe adding in any labs that appear lacking from the Life Sci text.

[amtmcm]

My DD is in 8th grade using BJU Life Science. If I end up graduating her early, I'm considering exactly the same thing you're considering..... calling this Biology and then using an AP text in high school and calling it Advanced or AP Biology.

 

I compared the Life Science text to Apologia Biology and they match up very similarly. I believe the Apologia text goes into a little more biochemistry, but the BJU Life Science text includes MUCH better labs. The labs are awesome! I'd jump at signing her up to do them with a knowledgable teacher. I bought the DVD for the labs for $109 and it's worth every penny. There are 77 labs and Mrs. Vick discusses and demonstrates every single one of them.

 

I even had my 10 year old watch Mrs. Vick's demo on how to handle and use a microscope before letting her use it.

 

In BJU Life Science we'll dissect a worm, frog and cow's heart. Apologia Biology dissects a worm, frog, fish and crayfish. Not too different.... I bought the worm and frog to dissect at home, but I'll let Mrs. Vick demo the cow's heart and call it done.

 

Anyway, if you feel like you need to have her use a high school text on the side, that should be fine. And the labs in the Life Science should be plenty for the lab component of a Biology class.