9th grade Biology help

[Kfamily]

I'm trying to get a better idea of what my dd (9th in the fall) will need to earn credit for high school biology. If anyone would help with the following questions, I would really appreciate it!

 

1. I'd like to compare Prentice Hall Biology with A Beka Biology. Would anyone be able to compare these two books. I have an older Abeka but have not seen Prentice Hall.

 

2. I need a biology that has some teacher helps with it. I'm fairly sure that the two above have some of this, but if there are other suggestions for biology, for a most likely non-science major, I'd love to look at those. I really don't care for Apologia's style so any other suggestions other than that would be fine, although I don't think she would be ready for anything like Campbell's text either. ETA: I might also be interested in Oak Meadow's syllabus for Holt Biology. Also, the texts from BJU looked good, but the biology sample chapter looked difficult (as if dd would need more math or chemistry to do well). Oddly, I've been surprised that both BJU and Kolbe use Physical Science in 9th grade. I had always thought that was a middle school science. Hmmm....

 

3. Assuming I choose one of the above texts with teacher resources, what would be important for me to include on a syllabus such as supplemental reading (living books), if any, papers, if any, writing assignments, etc. Would any of these be important for our credit for biology?

 

4. Would one high school biology class count as 1 credit or is it one with one more for a lab credit (total of 2)? I would plan on including at least some lab work and would like to have her keep a lab notebook. Is this a good idea?

 

Thanks so much for any feedback you can give me. I've never taught high school biology...:lol:

Edited March 9, 2011 by Kfamily

[AngieW in Texas]

I thought Miller&Levine's Biology textbook (Prentice Hall) was incredibly difficult. It's used mostly for honors classes around here.

 

Holt's Biology (the one that Oak Meadow uses) was much more reasonable. Their labs were pretty pathetic, so I'd go with Labpaq for labs.

 

I recommend doing chemistry before biology though. All the biology textbooks nowadays start off hard and heavy with biochemistry and that's pretty difficult if you don't have a decent chemistry background.

[Kfamily]

Thanks Angie! I keep reading this...that we should take chemistry before biology...but since dd will be taking Algebra I in 9th, I just didn't think she would be ready mathematically for chemistry in 9th. I'm getting confused...:confused:

 

I keep reading different opinions and I'm not sure what we should do for 9th grade science.

 

I thought the Oak Meadow biology looked like a good possibility. Thanks for adding in the note about the labs.

[ChristineMM]

Hello, My oldest is in grade 8. For homeschool co-op earlier this year he took a class for gr 8 & 9 using Biology by Miller & Levine (Prentice Hall). We left the co-op at the session end but the course wasn't finished yet, and I plan to follow-up at home using this text since I paid over $100 for it and have it in hand. (I wasn't involved in the decision making process for what text to use since he was taking a course at a co-op.)

 

I do not yet own the teacher manual due to the high expense. Honestly I don't know if it really is necessary to own or not.

 

I also had to buy the student workbook (which is what I used to have as questions at the back of the chapter now it is a workbook and they even tell you what page to find each answer on). I see the publishers are doing this now as another money maker, to have a consumable text and use fill in the blank instead of like we did with "write your answer as a complete sentence".

 

I also own the lab student manual, another consumable workbook.

 

(All that I bought on Amazon at a discount.)

 

A HS mom told me the publisher sells a lab CDROM but I have not looked into this yet.

 

In my town (in CT, our highly ranked high school is using) this text is used for regular biology, a full year course. Honors uses something else and AP Biology uses some other text as well.

 

A relative used this for grade 10 biology and he's graduating near the top of his class this year (in MA).

 

I have never used A Beka for anything let alone Biology, so I can't compare the two (sorry).

 

One opinion I have is they have changed biology since I was in school as there is a lot of environmental stuff in here, habitats, and current events like wanting to discuss stem cell research & if herbal medicine should be allowed for sale in health food stores. I honestly think this text has so much in it I don't know how the whole thing could be taught in one school year at school.

 

IMO this is pretty easy reading level! Seems like middle school level reading to me!

 

Here is the syllabus page for the high school course. See Biology A for the fall semester & Biology B for the spring semester. I figured this would give a very good idea of what the Miller & Levine book covers. The way the high school wrote this up is also helpful for those of us writing course descriptions for our homeschool kids using the same curriculum. We can imitate this or use it as a jumping off point.

 

 

Click the links to open the PDF files, again see Biology A and Biology B for the Prentice Hall Miller & Levine Biology text's course.

 

 

http://www2.eboard.com/eboard/servlet/BoardServlet?ACTION=NOTE_SHOW&ACTION_ON=NOTE&OBJECT_ID=1076172&SITE_NAME=barlow&BOARD_NAME=curriculumguides&SESSION_ID=muo8sasqwq2ucxb5036&TAB_ID=261657

 

I also recall getting more info from the publisher's website about this book. There was a webpage for this specific book.

 

From what I can see this is a very popular high school regular-level biology book (not honors, not AP) in USA.

 

In response to the issue of chemistry info being needed for biology see the link for the course description, this book starts out with some basic cellular biology and chemistry stuff.

 

HTH

Edited March 9, 2011 by ChristineMM

[hscherger]

Another option to look at.

 

http://scienceshepherd.com/biology.htm

 

There is a lab DVD that can be used instead of or in addition to labs.

[Kfamily]

Thank you both!

 

Very helpful!:001_smile:

[Melissa B]

I believe Kolbe considers Physical Science 8th/9th and generally recommends taking Physical in 8th and Biology in 9th if the student is college bound. The biology book they use is Prentice Hall. My dd is using Kolbe's Physical science now and plans to start Biology in January. I will say she is finding the Physical Science course challenging. :)

[Kfamily]

Thanks Melissa! I tend to think of Kolbe as my all-around back-up plan.:D So, if I'm in doubt about what to use I'll just go with Kolbe.

[elegantlion]

I would also add some biology-type literature.

 

Some of what we're planning to add for our biology are:

 

Walden

James Herriot books

King Solomon's Ring

Origin of Species

My family and other Animals

Nature Study

 

I would also look at the Great Books academy books lists and see what Great Books might fit biology.

[Kfamily]

Thanks Paula, I do want to add a little to this. I'd like to give it a CM touch, if even only a little. We have My Family and other Animals. I could find two more maybe. I've heard King Solomon's Ring is good and we will be reading Walden sometime during our high school years. I will take a look at Great Books Academy. Thanks!

[Granny_Weatherwax]

When I began to reserach Biology for my DS I googled top high schools and looked for syllabi and course websites. There are quite a few good ones out there. It was interesting to see the variety of courses and what each instructor considers to be important.

 

Here are a few of links that I found helpful:

http://www.biologycorner.com/

http://phsgirard.org/AcademicBiology.html

 

http://www.hhmi.org/

 

Have fun developing your Bio class.

[Kfamily]

Thanks Dragon Academy! These links are great and I'm saving them to favorites.

[Kfamily]

Would biology with lab be worth 1 credit? or 2 if with lab?

 

Thanks!

[Mom22ns]

Would biology with lab be worth 1 credit? or 2 if with lab?

 

Thanks!

 

1 credit for Biology with lab.

 

Here are a couple of recent threads about Biology:

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239712&highlight=biology

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238358&highlight=biology

[MamaSheep]

I'm working on putting together 9th grade biology for the fall too. Here's what I've got so far (subject to change up until the last possible moment, of course...hee hee):

 

I'm leaning strongly toward this book: http://holtmcdougal.hmhco.com/hm/detail.htm?ID=1007500000077315

I'm thinking I'll use the $20 online eEdition option. That will also (as I understand it) let us have an account at their "Class Zone" interactive materials online, which will provide us with relevant animations to watch for each chapter, as well as interactive reviews, activities, and online quizzes and "practice" tests, which I can just use as THE test for ds.

 

For labs I'm leaning strongly toward this kit from eScience Labs, which has 27 lab activities. My one hesitation with this is that although it does have one lab that introduces students to the microscope, it doesn't actually USE a microscope (I emailed them to verify this). Instead they provide images of what the student would see through the microscope if they were using one. It's not quite the same experience. But it does give me a little broader bang for my buck, and we've done a little playing around with microscopes at other times in the past, so I haven't decided how important I think it is for us this time. But the kit comes with a digital lab manual on CD and full instructions on how to do everything. They have phone and email support, and teacher manuals are available, though you have to call them to find out how to get one, and I haven't done that yet.

 

Anyway, then I would plan to supplement those labs with some dissections, and I like these zoology survey sets from Carolina Biological. I haven't decided yet if I want the 8-specimen set or the one with 10, but either would come with a dissection manual with charts and instructions and all that. You'd also want to get a dissecting pan, and a set of tools.

 

I'm also planning to have him read a couple of short, easy biographies of scientists in the fields of biology or ecology, but haven't picked those out yet.

 

Anyway, that's the plan at this point, but I'm still shopping around a bit, so :bigear:.

[Kfamily]

Thank you both!

 

Debbie, thanks for those links. I will be reading through those. And one credit for biology with lab. Thanks!:001_smile:

 

Amy, thanks for sharing what you're doing for biology. I hadn't even researched lab kits and dissecting kits, although I did plan on adding this too. Thank you for linking what you've found for this. I'd love to see your final plan when you get there. I'll share mine too, but I further behind in this. :D

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I'm working on putting together 9th grade biology for the fall too. Here's what I've got so far (subject to change up until the last possible moment, of course...hee hee):

 

I'm leaning strongly toward this book: http://holtmcdougal.hmhco.com/hm/detail.htm?ID=1007500000077315

I'm thinking I'll use the $20 online eEdition option. That will also (as I understand it) let us have an account at their "Class Zone" interactive materials online, which will provide us with relevant animations to watch for each chapter, as well as interactive reviews, activities, and online quizzes and "practice" tests, which I can just use as THE test for ds.

 

For labs I'm leaning strongly toward this kit from eScience Labs, which has 27 lab activities. My one hesitation with this is that although it does have one lab that introduces students to the microscope, it doesn't actually USE a microscope (I emailed them to verify this). Instead they provide images of what the student would see through the microscope if they were using one. It's not quite the same experience. But it does give me a little broader bang for my buck, and we've done a little playing around with microscopes at other times in the past, so I haven't decided how important I think it is for us this time. But the kit comes with a digital lab manual on CD and full instructions on how to do everything. They have phone and email support, and teacher manuals are available, though you have to call them to find out how to get one, and I haven't done that yet.

 

Anyway, then I would plan to supplement those labs with some dissections, and I like these zoology survey sets from Carolina Biological. I haven't decided yet if I want the 8-specimen set or the one with 10, but either would come with a dissection manual with charts and instructions and all that. You'd also want to get a dissecting pan, and a set of tools.

 

I'm also planning to have him read a couple of short, easy biographies of scientists in the fields of biology or ecology, but haven't picked those out yet.

 

Anyway, that's the plan at this point, but I'm still shopping around a bit, so :bigear:.

 

 

 

Amy, is this the same textbook that Oak Meadow uses in their high school biology?

[angela in ohio]

I cna't ocmment on the spcific materials you are asking about, but we are doing Biology this year...

 

I think Physical Science is like Algebra. Some do it in 8th grade, and some do it in high school.

 

We do labs as part of the 1 credit for Biology.

[Kfamily]

Thanks Angela! I'm leaning towards Kolbe's syllabus with the Prentice Hall Biology text. I would require labs and a lab notebook. I would be adding dissection as part of the lab work. That's about all I've worked out so far...:lol: I would like to add some supplemental reading and perhaps some writing. I would love to add some TTC dvds, but we'll see how this all turns out.

 

My main concern is that while we are doing a very light coverage of Physical Science this may not be enough. Dd will be going into Biology with Algebra 1 being taught the same year and only light coverage of the physical sciences. This is why I keep struggling with what to do for science in 9th grade. I've considered Earth Science to ensure that Biology is completed after Algebra 1 is complete, or even doing Conceptual Chemistry to boost her background here and allowing our Biology to be even more meaningful.

Edited March 20, 2011 by Kfamily

[stephanier.1765]

I found The Nature of Life: Readings in Biology to have been a great addition to our study of Biology this year.

[Kfamily]

Thanks Stephanie! I really like this! I think I may add this one.

[MamaSheep]

Amy, is this the same textbook that Oak Meadow uses in their high school biology?

 

I'm not sure. I couldn't find a place at Oak Meadow that gave a photo or ISBN number for the book they use. It definitely looks like it could be the same book, though. I will admit I'm a little leary of Oak Meadow at the moment; I bought their 2nd grade package for my dd last year and it was such an abysmally bad fit for us that I was left scrambling a couple of months into the school year trying to get new materials after wasting all that money.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I'm not sure. I couldn't find a place at Oak Meadow that gave a photo or ISBN number for the book they use. It definitely looks like it could be the same book, though. I will admit I'm a little leary of Oak Meadow at the moment; I bought their 2nd grade package for my dd last year and it was such an abysmally bad fit for us that I was left scrambling a couple of months into the school year trying to get new materials after wasting all that money.

 

 

 

I can't remember the post, but I read recently that the lower grades at Oak Meadow are not as good as the upper grades. Maybe do a search on Oak Meadow Biology and see if you find comments to confirm this.