CC biology -has anyone done this without hs biology first?

[TravelingChris]

Hi all,

 

I am trying to decide what my dd should take in CC and what I want to have her do at home. THe CC is very close to our house (a little over 1 mile away) so it will take her less than 1/2 hour to walk there. I am still waiting for co-op choices so all I know she will be doing right now is ALg 2 with CD, Government and Econ with the co-op class I am teaching (though she has enough government time already that she will only need to read the text and prepare for class to get her half credit in that, econ will be new), US History part 2, and Spanish. SHe needs English, Biology, and a half credit of some other science. SHe would like to take another psych class. I don't like teaching biology. I like teaching chemistry but standard bio bores me. I was enthused about teaching it until she decided she may want to be a medical doctor. THat means she needs heavy duty bio and that bores me. SO now I am thinking about having her do it in CC. Understanding that CCs are different in degree of difficulty, has anyone had their child take bio at the CC instead of high school bio? How did that work out?

[Kareni]

I have no first hand experience with Biology; however, one thing I would consider is whether the class you are considering is a Biology class for non-science majors or science majors. The typical non-science major class would assume very little prior knowledge. A class for majors might not expect much prior knowledge; however, it would be operating at a much deeper level and at a faster, more challenging pace.

 

Food for thought.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Denise in Florida]

My daughter took General Biology for Non-Science Majors at the Community College. She also took Intro to Chemistry, they recommended this class rather than Chem 1 for students who had not completed 2 years of High School Chemistry. My daughter had no problem with either course, she did not feel that she needed prior Bio or Chem experience.

 

Both teachers assured her she would have been fine in Bio 1 or Chem 1.

 

All of the colleges to which we applied had admission requirements of 3 years science with at least 2 labs. Both of these courses were acceptable. In fact, she is hoping they will fulfill her college core course requirements also. :001_huh: She is very interested in Math and Music but cannot stand Science.

 

My younger DD is more science oriented. I hope to have her take Biology 1 and 2 at CC.

[Ellie]

It was no problem for my dd.

[Catherine]

As a tenth grader, my ds took "High School Chemistry in One Semester" at local CC. It was his first CC experience. It was IMO and his too, a total flop. Disclaimer:ds is pretty science-oriented, bright, but not brilliant. This class was so beyond easy, he learned almost nothing new at all. There were weekly "tests" of 10 multiple choice questions. They spent the first month covering almost nothing but scientific notation.

 

The lab was a little better, the teacher was stronger and challenged him a tiny bit more. We were both disappointed because he left a good math-science high school to homeschool, and he would have had a far better, more challenging and comprehensive chem class there.

 

If I had known, I would have petitioned to have him to straight into the college level class. I'm pretty sure he could have handled it and he would have had a far better experience. Disclaimer-I think this particular CC has few homeschoolers, and caters to career-changers who have been out of school for a long time. So many of their students are people who may have once dropped out of HS, gotten GEDs, worked for years and then decided to advance their careers-so, hard working but not highly educated people. I do know I was shocked to hear from ds that many of his fellow students were really struggling with the class. They were all, he reported, far older than him (not just college age).