High School Science - What do you use?

[LindaOz]

I am contemplating what to do with my 9th grader for science. She has done Apologia General and Physical, and is a few modules into Biology and she HATES IT!!!

 

Now, I'm not usually the sort of person who shops around for something else as soon as a child has a gripe - I'm a bit more of a "sorry sweetie, you don't have like it, you just have to do it and learn something in the process" kind of person.;) But this has been really ongoing, and I'm at the point where I am willing to do something different to help her gain SOME enjoyment and knowledge from a subject that she clearly hates.

 

I got out my WTM first edition last night ('cause I've loaned my third edition to a friend) and read up about logic stage science. I know she is a 9th grader and definitely rhetoric in other areas, but I thought that maybe taking a step back in science might help her out. Maybe just reading, writing reports, sketching, doing and writing up experiments etc from the books suggested there might help her out a bit. Just a bit unsure......

 

So, what do you all use for high school science, other than Apologia? Any ideas?

 

Thanks so much for reading through my bumbling post :)

[HiddenJewel]

We use DIVE with a BJU textbook.

[Mom22ns]

We're using Miller/Levine Biology from Pearson. Ds is really liking it and he is not a life science kind of guy. The online learning at successnet.com is a major bonus.

[lakerks]

What does she hate about it? Is it biology in general? Or is it something about Apologia?

 

I have the following on my shelf:

 

Apologia Biology - "chatty" as written to student; some people like it, and some can't stand it.

 

Prentice Hall Biology (Miller/Levine) - secular text - I wanted to treat the topic of evolution (and some other areas, too) differently than Apologia does

 

Biology Coloring Workbook (The Princeton Review) by I. Edward Alcamo

http://www.amazon.com/Biology-Coloring-Workbook-Workbooks/dp/0679778845/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317766777&sr=1-1

 

I also plan to incorporate some DVDs and some interesting books from the science section at the bookstore/library.

 

I hope some others will have some good suggestions for you, too.

[lakerks]

We're using Miller/Levine Biology from Pearson. Ds is really liking it and he is not a life science kind of guy. The online learning at successnet.com is a major bonus.

 

How does successnet work? (I bought my copy of Miller/Levine biology used.)

[Mom22ns]

When you purchase Miller/Levine new (the student book) you can get the online resource pack. It gives student and teacher access. You get access to the TM, and lab manual as well as lots of videos, animations, tests and more. Ds really enjoys the explanations in the videos and animations. He also prefers to read the book online than our hard copy so our hard copy is still in new condition. I like the TM and editable tests as well as the rest. It has been a great buy for us. I got the 6-year online license so I can use it with dd too.

 

I learned about it in this thread and followed Handmaiden's directions (found on page 2) to the letter. There were questions about homeschoolers getting access, but I was successful with it this past summer, so it can still be done.

[GailV]

I am contemplating what to do with my 9th grader for science. She has done Apologia General and Physical, and is a few modules into Biology and she HATES IT!!!

 

Now, I'm not usually the sort of person who shops around for something else as soon as a child has a gripe - I'm a bit more of a "sorry sweetie, you don't have like it, you just have to do it and learn something in the process" kind of person.;) But this has been really ongoing, and I'm at the point where I am willing to do something different to help her gain SOME enjoyment and knowledge from a subject that she clearly hates.

 

I got out my WTM first edition last night ('cause I've loaned my third edition to a friend) and read up about logic stage science. I know she is a 9th grader and definitely rhetoric in other areas, but I thought that maybe taking a step back in science might help her out. Maybe just reading, writing reports, sketching, doing and writing up experiments etc from the books suggested there might help her out a bit. Just a bit unsure......

 

So, what do you all use for high school science, other than Apologia? Any ideas?

 

Thanks so much for reading through my bumbling post :)

 

My dd loathed Apologia. She made it through Biology -- she was taking it at a learning center and really liked the teacher. I would've probably gone to Shepherd's Biology or else Miller/Levine.

 

For physics she's using Kinetic.

 

I've no clue what to use for chemistry.

[LindaOz]

We're using Miller/Levine Biology from Pearson. Ds is really liking it and he is not a life science kind of guy. The online learning at successnet.com is a major bonus.

 

I've been trying to download the samples from this site, but when I try to register, I can't get past the section that asks for our institution. When I click on the 'search' link for institutions it just says that the link is broken or unavailable. I tried just listing 'homeschool' but that wasn't accepted either. Maybe it is because I am not in the US...??

 

How do you manage to register?

[Mom22ns]

I don't remember what I had to do, I think create an Oasis account. I did have to do an online signature on something that said I was a homeschool parent. I remember there were a couple of emails back and forth, but I can now go in and see any of the previews.

[regentrude]

For biology, I can recommend Campbell's Exploring Life with the activity CD (very science oriented DD used Concepts and Connections; Exploring Life is much gentler and easier.)

I bought the book used and added the CD; the student can use this pretty independently.

[angela in ohio]

We use DIVE with a BJU textbook.

 

Same here. :D

 

I started out using Apologia for dd with General Science, but she hated it. She said she wanted "a real science textbook." :D I looked around, read all the reviews, and we ended up with BJU. We ahe been very happy with it.

[MamaSheep]

We're using the online edition of the Holt/McDougal Biology book--partly because it's only $20(ish) which gave me more budget for lab materials. It's a standard, basic biology text. One thing ds is liking about it is that it comes with audio so he can have it read the text to him on days he doesn't feel like reading it himself. It also comes with access to online review activities, animations, and quizzes, which I like. I don't have any of the teacher materials, but so far it seems pretty self-explanatory, and the online quizzes are self-scoring so I'm just using those for grades. For our labs I got a kit from eScience Labs and it's working out very nicely too. The instructions are very clear and it has all the stuff we need already in the box, which for me this year is a big plus (except a few household items like a microwave, hot pads, and so forth). And they're all packaged up in tidy little labeled bags that say "Lab 5: The Chemistry of Life" and so forth. It seems to be an easy and effective arrangement. But it definitely teaches the scientific view of evolution, not the YE view.

[amtmcm]

Do you prefer a Biblical or secular text? Miller/Levine is secular.

 

This is my 2nd year teaching labs based on Apologia Biology at a co-op and I don't care for the conversational style. The info is fine, but the style isn't a good fit for me (some of my students love it - so it just depends).

 

My own DD will be taking Biology next year and we'll use a BJU text w/ DIVE. I have the DIVE CD and have skimmed through it and what I've seen is excellent. It looks like we can print out the DIVE "workbook" which will include all labs and review questions. Also included are lectures, Lab Demos, quizzes, tests and answer keys. So all I need is the text book (any edition) and the $50 DIVE CD and we're done (I already have lab equipment). No need to buy BJU teacher guides, tests or lab manual - DIVE provides their own.

Edited October 5, 2011 by amtmcm

[Elise]

We are using Miller-Levine (with the Kolbe syllabus) and are also doing Thinkwell as a supplement. It's a lot of info, but so far it is going really well. For labs, we are doing Quality Science labs.

[Rhonda in TX]

We're using BJU with their DVDs. Neither one of my kids like Apologia.

[tex-mex]

I used ABEKA Biology along with many other various resources. One website I loved for powerpoint presentations, worksheets for labs, and links was Biology Junction:

 

http://www.biologyjunction.com/

 

Her pig dissection was far better than the ABEKA lab. I would incorporate other activities into the Biology unit. For example, if the unit was focused on sexual reproduction, I'd refer to a book on sex (more aligned to our religious POV) and go over it with son. For cardiovascular system/blood types, we'd do a blood typing kit from Home Science Tools. We also incorporated CPR into this class as we studied the heart and lung system with a free class taught at our local fire station via the American Red Cross. Many ideas like this for my teen who finds worksheets boring. He loved the hands-on labs! HTH

[LindaOz]

Do you prefer a Biblical or secular text? Miller/Levine is secular.

 

This is my 2nd year teaching labs based on Apologia Biology at a co-op and I don't care for the conversational style. The info is fine, but the style isn't a good fit for me (some of my students love it - so it just depends).

 

My own DD will be taking Biology next year and we'll use a BJU text w/ DIVE. I have the DIVE CD and have skimmed through it and what I've seen is excellent. It looks like we can print out the DIVE "workbook" which will include all labs and review questions. Also included are lectures, Lab Demos, quizzes, tests and answer keys. So all I need is the text book (any edition) and the $50 DIVE CD and we're done (I already have lab equipment). No need to buy BJU teacher guides, tests or lab manual - DIVE provides their own.

 

I guess I would probably prefer Biblical but it is not absolutely essential at this stage.

 

So, are the DIVE Cds put out by BJU or Apologia? If they are Apologia, is this it? https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=38

 

If Apologia, how does that fit in with the BJU science courses?

 

Sorry for my ignorance, just wondering.....

[Susan C.]

Dd really liked doing Apologia Biology with Virtual Homeschool Group. She loved Mrs. Moore. I don't know if they have any openings, here is the website: virtualhomeschoolgroup.com

 

Chemistry, ugh, but we survived Apologia. If I had another dc I would try Conceptual Chemistry.

 

Dd is doing Apologia Adv. Biology and wasn't thrilled..... ds (college) got his anatomy book out and dd loves it. She might do that instead. I don't care, just get 'er done!!!

 

Again, if I had more dc, I would look at other options. I am at the end, but do have the haunting feeling that some of my selections were killer.... Apologia does have rabbit trails and for anatomy, does go into a lot of depth. For a non-science, non-medical student, it is a lot.

[amtmcm]

I guess I would probably prefer Biblical but it is not absolutely essential at this stage.

 

So, are the DIVE Cds put out by BJU or Apologia? If they are Apologia, is this it? https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=38

 

If Apologia, how does that fit in with the BJU science courses?

 

Sorry for my ignorance, just wondering.....

 

Here's the website for DIVE: http://www.diveintomath.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?display=home

 

Click on "Syllabus Index" on the left side to see how DIVE coordinates with BJU. I bought my CD from Christianbook.com, but I think you can buy DIVE from all the typical homeschool providers.

[mom31257]

:bigear:

[Kareni]

My teen never took Biology. She did:

 

9th: Conceptual Physical Science (with Hewitt's book)

10th: Chemistry (Ebbing) with the MicroChem Kit for lab

11th: a full year of Geology with labs at the local community college

12th: Environmental Science at the community college

 

If we were to have done Biology at home, I was attracted to High School Biology Resources by Jamie McMillin. (Make sure you Click Here at the bottom of the page for full details.)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[blossom12]

I have been researching biology for months and finally arrived at Campbell's Concepts and Connections. It is one step down from the big Campbell biology book that the high schools use for AP Biology. It is a college-level text that is used for non science majors whereas the big Campbell is used for Bio majors. But don't let that fool you; this program is plenty rigorous. Just so you can identify it, it has a picture of a ring-tailed lemur on the cover. Older versions have a picture of a leopard on the cover. My version is for 2012.

 

I bought the student text, the teacher's guide, and the student workbook. The student text is about 23-25 pages per chapter. There is an outline at the end of each chapter. The teacher's guide has a more detailed outline of each chapter as well and suggestions for getting the student to understand the material. The student handbook is immensely helpful. There are worksheets, multiple choice test questions and essay questions. Answers are at the back of the student guide for the worksheets as well as the test and essay questions.

 

Where this program really shines is with the online component. It is called MasteringBiology.com. It has BioFlix which is a series of videos to watch. There are also audio lectures for each chapter, online quizzes, further explanations of the text, etc. It is really more than anyone could actually use, but if you are stuck on something or really want to get more in depth with a subject, it is a treasure trove. If you buy the right version of the student text, a password is included and gives you access to MasteringBiolgy.com for two years at which point you will have to pay $20 to renew.

 

Oh, yes, I know exactly what you are going through trying to manuever through the maze that is the Pearson Website. You have hit a commercialized bureaucracy aimed at the United States public school system in its purest form. I am sure that those in the school system feel right at home when they enter this site! You have to get a Oasis account. You need to tell them that you are a homeschooler. They are concerned that kids/college students will get access to the test bank and teacher materials so you have to verify that you are teaching your own kids. Once you get clearance, you can see examples of chapters and purchase materials all through this Oasis account. This only took one day to get and it's not that bad--it is just a very large website geared at a very large government entity.

 

We are currently five chapters into Campbell's Concepts and Connections and what does dd think? It is hard, but she enjoys it immensely and feels very challenged. She says she is learning a ton. It is the subject that she spends the most time on per day, but she does so because she likes the program. She is working toward taking the Biology SAT in the spring and feels that this will get her there. She wants to pursue a writing career and has no aspirations to be a bio major or do any science in college whatsoever. So for this Language Arts heavy student, she likes it. As a side note, I would not even attempt this course if you have never touched Biology on a middle school level before. It definitely assumes a basic understanding of the natural world.

 

HTH!! :D

 

blossom12

 

DD, 14 R&S 9, BTB Spanish, Wheelock's Latin, Wordly Wise 9, Ervin Reading Comp, History Odyssey/Early Modern, Chalkdust Algebra I, piano, community theater.

 

DS, 11 R&S 6, Henle Latin, Hey Andrew Greek, Wordly Wise 6, Ervin Reading Comp, SOTW, Saxon 8/7, NOEO Chemistry II, piano, community theater

 

DD, 6 FLL, Spectrum Spelling, HWT, SOTW, Singapore 2A/2B, NOEO Biology I, piano

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I have been researching biology for months and finally arrived at Campbell's Concepts and Connections. It is one step down from the big Campbell biology book that the high schools use for AP Biology. It is a college-level text that is used for non science majors whereas the big Campbell is used for Bio majors. But don't let that fool you; this program is plenty rigorous. Just so you can identify it, it has a picture of a ring-tailed lemur on the cover. Older versions have a picture of a leopard on the cover. My version is for 2012.

 

I bought the student text, the teacher's guide, and the student workbook. The student text is about 23-25 pages per chapter. There is an outline at the end of each chapter. The teacher's guide has a more detailed outline of each chapter as well and suggestions for getting the student to understand the material. The student handbook is immensely helpful. There are worksheets, multiple choice test questions and essay questions. Answers are at the back of the student guide for the worksheets as well as the test and essay questions.

 

Where this program really shines is with the online component. It is called MasteringBiology.com. It has BioFlix which is a series of videos to watch. There are also audio lectures for each chapter, online quizzes, further explanations of the text, etc. It is really more than anyone could actually use, but if you are stuck on something or really want to get more in depth with a subject, it is a treasure trove. If you buy the right version of the student text, a password is included and gives you access to MasteringBiolgy.com for two years at which point you will have to pay $20 to renew.

 

Oh, yes, I know exactly what you are going through trying to manuever through the maze that is the Pearson Website. You have hit a commercialized bureaucracy aimed at the United States public school system in its purest form. I am sure that those in the school system feel right at home when they enter this site! You have to get a Oasis account. You need to tell them that you are a homeschooler. They are concerned that kids/college students will get access to the test bank and teacher materials so you have to verify that you are teaching your own kids. Once you get clearance, you can see examples of chapters and purchase materials all through this Oasis account. This only took one day to get and it's not that bad--it is just a very large website geared at a very large government entity.

 

We are currently five chapters into Campbell's Concepts and Connections and what does dd think? It is hard, but she enjoys it immensely and feels very challenged. She says she is learning a ton. It is the subject that she spends the most time on per day, but she does so because she likes the program. She is working toward taking the Biology SAT in the spring and feels that this will get her there. She wants to pursue a writing career and has no aspirations to be a bio major or do any science in college whatsoever. So for this Language Arts heavy student, she likes it. As a side note, I would not even attempt this course if you have never touched Biology on a middle school level before. It definitely assumes a basic understanding of the natural world.

 

HTH!! :D

 

blossom12

 

DD, 14 R&S 9, BTB Spanish, Wheelock's Latin, Wordly Wise 9, Ervin Reading Comp, History Odyssey/Early Modern, Chalkdust Algebra I, piano, community theater.

 

DS, 11 R&S 6, Henle Latin, Hey Andrew Greek, Wordly Wise 6, Ervin Reading Comp, SOTW, Saxon 8/7, NOEO Chemistry II, piano, community theater

 

DD, 6 FLL, Spectrum Spelling, HWT, SOTW, Singapore 2A/2B, NOEO Biology I, piano

 

 

Blossom12,

Would you tell us what you use for labs? Also, since biology takes the most time, how do you schedule it/ how much time does your student spend on it?

[blossom12]

Sweet Home Alabama,

 

"Biology Labs" is my current research project! My plan is to keep it simple, to doing 10 labs or less throughout the year.

 

Right now I am looking at:

 

http://www.biologyjunction.com/#biology II

 

http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/labbench/index.html

 

http://www.biologylab.awlonline.com/

 

There are also some good labs that can be obtained from companies for dissections--North Carolina comes to mind.

 

Also the MasteringBio.com site has things to watch.

 

I am no bio major, but we get through it and approach it by telling ourselves we are going to learn as much as we can. I keep telling DH that if I had done this course in high school I would have been a bio major--it is that inspiring!

 

As to scheduling, we definitely need a solid hour every Monday, Tuesday, and Wenesday to read the material. She will then spend about a 1/2 hour each of those days doing the worksheets and/or going to the MasteringBiology site for clarification. Thursdays she spends taking the online quizzes at the MasteringBiology site and studying the chapter on her own. She also takes the practice test on Thursday that is at the end of the chapter in the book and we go over the answers--maybe an hour doing that. On Friday she takes the two tests (about 20 multiple choice for each test) that are in the Student Guide and she answers 6 out of the possible 12 essays for these two tests. This takes about an hour to take the tests and 1/2 hour to go over the answers. Then she dances around the room doing the happy dance and shouting, "I'm done with that chapter!! Yay!" :hurray: It is more work than she has ever known for any subject, but she is managing and feels an enormous sense of accomplishment at the end of each week.

 

This course is not about wrote memorization. They expect that. It goes one step further and has you apply what you've learned and assumes that you understand multiple concepts when answering test questions and writing essays.

 

 

blossom12

 

DD, 14 R&S 9, BTB Spanish, Wheelock's Latin, Wordly Wise 9, Ervin Reading Comp, History Odyssey/Early Modern, Chalkdust Algebra I, Campbell's Biology Concepts and Connections, piano, community theater.

 

DS, 11 R&S 6, Henle Latin, Hey Andrew Greek, Wordly Wise 6, Ervin Reading Comp, SOTW, Saxon 8/7, NOEO Chemistry II, piano, community theater

 

DD, 6 FLL, Spectrum Spelling, HWT, SOTW, Singapore 2A/2B, NOEO Biology I, piano

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Sweet Home Alabama,

 

"Biology Labs" is my current research project! My plan is to keep it simple, to doing 10 labs or less throughout the year.

 

Right now I am looking at:

 

http://www.biologyjunction.com/#biology II

 

http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/labbench/index.html

 

http://www.biologylab.awlonline.com/

 

There are also some good labs that can be obtained from companies for dissections--North Carolina comes to mind.

 

Also the MasteringBio.com site has things to watch.

 

I am no bio major, but we get through it and approach it by telling ourselves we are going to learn as much as we can. I keep telling DH that if I had done this course in high school I would have been a bio major--it is that inspiring!

 

As to scheduling, we definitely need a solid hour every Monday, Tuesday, and Wenesday to read the material. She will then spend about a 1/2 hour each of those days doing the worksheets and/or going to the MasteringBiology site for clarification. Thursdays she spends taking the online quizzes at the MasteringBiology site and studying the chapter on her own. She also takes the practice test on Thursday that is at the end of the chapter in the book and we go over the answers--maybe an hour doing that. On Friday she takes the two tests (about 20 multiple choice for each test) that are in the Student Guide and she answers 6 out of the possible 12 essays for these two tests. This takes about an hour to take the tests and 1/2 hour to go over the answers. Then she dances around the room doing the happy dance and shouting, "I'm done with that chapter!! Yay!" :hurray: It is more work than she has ever known for any subject, but she is managing and feels an enormous sense of accomplishment at the end of each week.

 

This course is not about wrote memorization. They expect that. It goes one step further and has you apply what you've learned and assumes that you understand multiple concepts when answering test questions and writing essays.

 

 

blossom12

 

DD, 14 R&S 9, BTB Spanish, Wheelock's Latin, Wordly Wise 9, Ervin Reading Comp, History Odyssey/Early Modern, Chalkdust Algebra I, Campbell's Biology Concepts and Connections, piano, community theater.

 

DS, 11 R&S 6, Henle Latin, Hey Andrew Greek, Wordly Wise 6, Ervin Reading Comp, SOTW, Saxon 8/7, NOEO Chemistry II, piano, community theater

 

DD, 6 FLL, Spectrum Spelling, HWT, SOTW, Singapore 2A/2B, NOEO Biology I, piano

 

 

Blossom12, thank you so much! It really sounds like you have found a biology that works for you. I hope you find a lab that you equally enjoy! I REALLY don't want to be the "teacher" for biology. We used Bob Jones Life Science in 7th grade which was a huge success. I'm sure it was an excellent prep for high school biology. Bob Jones high school biology would be great as a follow-up, but I'd like to avoid the expense of renting the DVD. Many use DIVE, but I think my dd would find this quite dull.

 

Does MasteringBiology take the place of a teacher? You mentioned that you bought the teacher's edition. How much do you really TEACH? Once you bought all the pieces of the curriculum, how difficult was it to organize it and truly implement it? At this point, it sounds like you have all the "bugs" worked out and all is running smoothly.

[blossom12]

Does MasteringBiology take the place of a teacher? You mentioned that you bought the teacher's edition. How much do you really TEACH? Once you bought all the pieces of the curriculum, how difficult was it to organize it and truly implement it? At this point, it sounds like you have all the "bugs" worked out and all is running smoothly.

 

Well...MasteringBiology is designed to be supplemental to the text and/or teaching. There are online audio classes for most chapters. I am currently "teaching" (i.e., reading) the text to her just so she can get her sea legs. The plan is to let her go solo along with the website once she feels confident enough. If I had just said, "Here's the course, have at it!" she would have had a meltdown. To be honest with you, she is the one using the teacher's manual more than I am because it takes the very difficult text and breaks it down into more manageable outlines. She says that she would be lost without the teacher's manual.

 

If you intend to use the tests in the student guide, they will be challenging. We are finding that the best way to approach these tests is for me to go over the "concepts" that I identify for her in the tests and this guides her preparation better for taking them. So as far as test prep is concerned, I am involved and I don't see that changing.

 

So, to answer your question--once I got all the pieces together for this curriculum, the most difficult part was trying to figure out WHAT to use because there is so much to choose from in the MasteringBiology component. And this is what we came up with. She must read the text. She must use the online flashcards. She must attempt most of the questions at the end of the chapter. She must do the worksheets in the student guide and she must take the two tests that go with the chapter in the student guide. This is all spread out over 5 days for the most part--except for the very abstract biochemistry. Man, it is fascinating, but tough!! Had to tack on a few extra days to get through that one! :banghead:

 

Latest decision--going to use Quizlet more where appropriate.

 

HTH!!

 

 

blossom12

 

DD, 14 R&S 9, BTB Spanish, Wheelock's Latin, Wordly Wise 9, Ervin Reading Comp, History Odyssey/Early Modern, Chalkdust Algebra I, Campbell's Biology Concepts and Connections, piano, community theater.

 

DS, 11 R&S 6, Henle Latin, Hey Andrew Greek, Wordly Wise 6, Ervin Reading Comp, SOTW, Saxon 8/7, NOEO Chemistry II, piano, community theater

 

DD, 6 FLL, Spectrum Spelling, HWT, SOTW, Singapore 2A/2B, NOEO Biology I, piano

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Well...MasteringBiology is designed to be supplemental to the text and/or teaching. There are online audio classes for most chapters. I am currently "teaching" (i.e., reading) the text to her just so she can get her sea legs. The plan is to let her go solo along with the website once she feels confident enough. If I had just said, "Here's the course, have at it!" she would have had a meltdown. To be honest with you, she is the one using the teacher's manual more than I am because it takes the very difficult text and breaks it down into more manageable outlines. She says that she would be lost without the teacher's manual.

 

If you intend to use the tests in the student guide, they will be challenging. We are finding that the best way to approach these tests is for me to go over the "concepts" that I identify for her in the tests and this guides her preparation better for taking them. So as far as test prep is concerned, I am involved and I don't see that changing.

 

So, to answer your question--once I got all the pieces together for this curriculum, the most difficult part was trying to figure out WHAT to use because there is so much to choose from in the MasteringBiology component. And this is what we came up with. She must read the text. She must use the online flashcards. She must attempt most of the questions at the end of the chapter. She must do the worksheets in the student guide and she must take the two tests that go with the chapter in the student guide. This is all spread out over 5 days for the most part--except for the very abstract biochemistry. Man, it is fascinating, but tough!! Had to tack on a few extra days to get through that one! :banghead:

 

Latest decision--going to use Quizlet more where appropriate.

 

HTH!!

 

 

blossom12

 

DD, 14 R&S 9, BTB Spanish, Wheelock's Latin, Wordly Wise 9, Ervin Reading Comp, History Odyssey/Early Modern, Chalkdust Algebra I, Campbell's Biology Concepts and Connections, piano, community theater.

 

DS, 11 R&S 6, Henle Latin, Hey Andrew Greek, Wordly Wise 6, Ervin Reading Comp, SOTW, Saxon 8/7, NOEO Chemistry II, piano, community theater

 

DD, 6 FLL, Spectrum Spelling, HWT, SOTW, Singapore 2A/2B, NOEO Biology I, piano

 

 

 

 

Yes! That helps! Thank you! I hear you about the chemistry. I am convinced that we will do chemistry (at least) before biology. Dd is taking CPO Foundations of Physical Science (physics and chemistry) this year. I am preparing for a physics first line-up for high school, but I would be willing to start with chemistry if that turns out to benefit dd. I do NOT want to start with biology since I've heard over and over about how much chemistry is in biology.

 

I'll try to line up books for all three sciences for 9th grade so we'll be prepared for whichever one we end up using.... I've purchased the Knight, Joned, Field algebra-based physics (hasn't come yet); I'm leaning toward Spectrum Chemistry using Bridge Math during the summer; but I have NO idea what to use for 9th grade biology.

 

I don't want to use Apologia and yet this is an option because there is a local homeschool group that uses this every year so I would not have to teach! :001_smile: That is HIGH on my priority list! There is also Science Shepherd which I like and BJU. Then there are secular choices that I'm not opposed to. Kolbe with Miller-Levine seems good since they provide a lesson plan. Labs??? That just complicates this more. I'm just very undecided at this point. If we do the physics first though, we could possible use Concepts and Connections in 11th grade. So, I'm definitely gathering information and reading opinions.

 

BTW... dd is taking Algebra I this year as well as getting an intro to physics and chemistry. Based on what I've read I think doing algebra-based physics OR Spectrum Chemistry would be ok for 9th.

 

Sorry this is so long! Thanks again for answering my questions!

[Mom22ns]

Sweet,

While I have no problem with your decision to do Physics or Chem before Biology, the amount of Chemistry needed for Biology is easily covered in Physical Science. Your dd will be ready for Biology next year if you decide you want to go ahead.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Sweet,

While I have no problem with your decision to do Physics or Chem before Biology, the amount of Chemistry needed for Biology is easily covered in Physical Science. Your dd will be ready for Biology next year if you decide you want to go ahead.

 

Thank you, Debbie! I've been reading your recent posts, and it sounds like Miller-Levine is working for you all. The MasteringBiology Blossom12 uses must be similar to the computer additions Miller-Levine offers...(can't think of the name).

 

I've wondered about doing ML with Labpaq, but the amount of time it would take to do both of these would be too much for dd, I think. She loves hand-on labs. I remember that you're using FrogGuts and that this is working for you.

 

Now that you've had a while to work with ML Biology, please tell me how much you actually TEACH vs. how much your kids can use ML independently as this is a big issue for me.

 

Thank you again, Debbie!

[Mom22ns]

The way we do Miller/Levine is that ds reads the chapter and views the online resources (videos, animations etc). I spend one day a week discussing the chapter with him and one day a week doing labs. Pearson has the lab manual included on successnet. We use those labs or quick labs from the chapter, whichever are most home-use friendly and that actually help with understanding.

 

I love teaching science, but have found my involvement to be much less this year than ever before. I taught BJU for middle school and used PH Concepts and Connections for Physical Science which was a lot of work for me. This has been a breeze and ds actually likes it! He thought he would hate Biology and was really dreading it, so I feel like it was a great call for us.

[regentrude]

Sweet,

While I have no problem with your decision to do Physics or Chem before Biology, the amount of Chemistry needed for Biology is easily covered in Physical Science. Your dd will be ready for Biology next year if you decide you want to go ahead.

 

I do not think the bolded is correct as a general statement; this depends entirely on the level of biology you are intending to do.

When DD studied biology, the lack of chemistry was an issue, because it would have been much easier to understand all the functional groups, structure formulas of sugars, peptide bonds and the reactions going on in cellular respiration and photosynthesis if she had had a previous chemistry background. (The biology book did cover the biochemistry, but having chem before would have made things a LOT easier). I really doubt chemistry is covered thoroughly enough in physical science to provide "the amount of chemistry needed for biology". Some highschool chemistry courses don't cover enough.

Of course, choosing an easy bio program that uses a simple text with little chem would be possible - but as a general statement, the bolded is simply not true.

[regentrude]

. I am preparing for a physics first line-up for high school, but I would be willing to start with chemistry if that turns out to benefit dd. I do NOT want to start with biology since I've heard over and over about how much chemistry is in biology.

 

Physics first makes a lot of sense. You need physics for chemistry, and you DO need chemistry for biology if you want to do anything that is rigorous on the biochemistry.

We did our first round of bio in 8th grade (and spent a LOT of time on the biochemistry because of lack of chemistry background). We started the real high school sequence with physics; this year DD is doing chemistry, and next year she will take AP bio, and calc based physics in 12th.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

The way we do Miller/Levine is that ds reads the chapter and views the online resources (videos, animations etc). I spend one day a week discussing the chapter with him and one day a week doing labs. Pearson has the lab manual included on successnet. We use those labs or quick labs from the chapter, whichever are most home-use friendly and that actually help with understanding.

 

I love teaching science, but have found my involvement to be much less this year than ever before. I taught BJU for middle school and used PH Concepts and Connections for Physical Science which was a lot of work for me. This has been a breeze and ds actually likes it! He thought he would hate Biology and was really dreading it, so I feel like it was a great call for us.

 

 

Sounds great... I forgot to ask how long you and your student spend per day/week on biology. In addition to science, I'm leaning toward geometry; MFW high school for history, lit, and Bible; and something for Spanish.... still undecided. I think this would work out to be 6 credits for freshman year.

 

School always takes more time than we plan. It is an unfortunate theme for us... I've never figured that out. Why does it take us so long to do school???:confused: So, I'm trying to be extra cautious to choose courses that we could finish in a reasonable amount of time... something manageable and not overwhelming. And courses that are definitely PLANNED out to take all of the guess work out for my dd and for me.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Physics first makes a lot of sense. You need physics for chemistry, and you DO need chemistry for biology if you want to do anything that is rigorous on the biochemistry.

We did our first round of bio in 8th grade (and spent a LOT of time on the biochemistry because of lack of chemistry background). We started the real high school sequence with physics; this year DD is doing chemistry, and next year she will take AP bio, and calc based physics in 12th.

 

 

Regentrude, thank you for chiming in! I am very appreciative for all you share on the board about physics. I never took physics and don't even pretend to be science savy. I'm certainly reading, gathering information, and asking lots of questions so that I can make a decent decision about what to do in high school. I've learned a lot from many on this board who have been so generous and patient with me.

 

I'm hoping to get the Knight, Jones, and Fields books soon just to look them over. I'm all ears if you can suggest a syllabus or a schedule to make this book doable. Do you just start with chapter 1 and work your way through? Can any chapters be left out so that most of the book can be completed in a school year?

 

I purchased The Teaching Company's Physics in Your Life with thoughts of bringing text and something visual together. Maybe, following your example, labs can be practical and put together easily. Dh has been wonderful being in charge of physics experiments with dd this year. What will constitute earning a credit by using this book?

 

Again, thank you for your help.

[nynyny]

I have been researching biology for months and finally arrived at Campbell's Concepts and Connections. It is one step down from the big Campbell biology book that the high schools use for AP Biology. It is a college-level text that is used for non science majors whereas the big Campbell is used for Bio majors. But don't let that fool you; this program is plenty rigorous. Just so you can identify it, it has a picture of a ring-tailed lemur on the cover. Older versions have a picture of a leopard on the cover. My version is for 2012.

 

I bought the student text, the teacher's guide, and the student workbook. The student text is about 23-25 pages per chapter. There is an outline at the end of each chapter. The teacher's guide has a more detailed outline of each chapter as well and suggestions for getting the student to understand the material. The student handbook is immensely helpful. There are worksheets, multiple choice test questions and essay questions. Answers are at the back of the student guide for the worksheets as well as the test and essay questions.

 

Where this program really shines is with the online component. It is called MasteringBiology.com. It has BioFlix which is a series of videos to watch. There are also audio lectures for each chapter, online quizzes, further explanations of the text, etc. It is really more than anyone could actually use, but if you are stuck on something or really want to get more in depth with a subject, it is a treasure trove. If you buy the right version of the student text, a password is included and gives you access to MasteringBiolgy.com for two years at which point you will have to pay $20 to renew.

 

Oh, yes, I know exactly what you are going through trying to manuever through the maze that is the Pearson Website. You have hit a commercialized bureaucracy aimed at the United States public school system in its purest form. I am sure that those in the school system feel right at home when they enter this site! You have to get a Oasis account. You need to tell them that you are a homeschooler. They are concerned that kids/college students will get access to the test bank and teacher materials so you have to verify that you are teaching your own kids. Once you get clearance, you can see examples of chapters and purchase materials all through this Oasis account. This only took one day to get and it's not that bad--it is just a very large website geared at a very large government entity.

 

We are currently five chapters into Campbell's Concepts and Connections and what does dd think? It is hard, but she enjoys it immensely and feels very challenged. She says she is learning a ton. It is the subject that she spends the most time on per day, but she does so because she likes the program. She is working toward taking the Biology SAT in the spring and feels that this will get her there. She wants to pursue a writing career and has no aspirations to be a bio major or do any science in college whatsoever. So for this Language Arts heavy student, she likes it. As a side note, I would not even attempt this course if you have never touched Biology on a middle school level before. It definitely assumes a basic understanding of the natural world.

 

HTH!! :D

 

blossom12

 

DD, 14 R&S 9, BTB Spanish, Wheelock's Latin, Wordly Wise 9, Ervin Reading Comp, History Odyssey/Early Modern, Chalkdust Algebra I, piano, community theater.

 

DS, 11 R&S 6, Henle Latin, Hey Andrew Greek, Wordly Wise 6, Ervin Reading Comp, SOTW, Saxon 8/7, NOEO Chemistry II, piano, community theater

 

DD, 6 FLL, Spectrum Spelling, HWT, SOTW, Singapore 2A/2B, NOEO Biology I, piano

 

We used the test bank instead of the teacher's guide.

Took two years to complete all 38 chapters.

Son scored 800 on the Bio SAT in May.

Very happy with this text.

[regentrude]

I'm hoping to get the Knight, Jones, and Fields books soon just to look them over. I'm all ears if you can suggest a syllabus or a schedule to make this book doable. Do you just start with chapter 1 and work your way through? Can any chapters be left out so that most of the book can be completed in a school year? .

 

I use the text to teach a three hour class for life science majors, one semester on mechanics, one semester on electromagnetism. These students have typically taken chemistry already, so that influences my syllabus.

I spend a lot of time on the first few chapters (4 weeks on ch. 1 through 3, 3 weeks on ch. 4-6). I cover little of chapter 8. We skip ch. 11 and 12 which talk about uses of energy and thermodynamics; this is usually covered in a chemistry class. We cover waves (ch. 15) only briefly and do not cover 16 (sound).

I rearrange the material in the second semester to begin with chapter 20, Coulomb's law. We cover chapters 20 through 25, then go back to ch. 17-19 (I use this approach because ch. 25 derives electromagnetic waves, and that helps understand wave optics). I do not cover alternating current. I also do not include the last three chapters on Quantum physics and nuclear physics, since this is material the students have already seen in chemistry.

 

Now for homeschooling, I do physics first, so we do cover ch. 28-30 before taking chemistry. I still like the thermodynamics treatment of the chemistry text better, so will not cover 11+12 at home.

 

Please remember that every textbook offers a variety of topics and , at the same time, constitutes a selection of possible material. Most college classes do not cover every section of every chapter. I find it much more important to thoroughly understand basic concepts than to "drink from the firehose" and briefly touch on every single thing from the text. The quality of a class should not be measured by how many percent of the text are covered, but by how much the students retain in the long term.

So, with that in mind, I feel comfortable delegating certain topics to chemistry.

With my very science minded DD I spend three semesters on physics. She took my college class last year and is doing chemistry as her major science this year, but we cover Modern Physics parallel to it and take our time to study the physics necessary for an understanding of chemistry (plus other interesting topics which are not covered in a traditional physics course).

 

Sorry this got so long - hope it is helpful.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I use the text to teach a three hour class for life science majors, one semester on mechanics, one semester on electromagnetism. These students have typically taken chemistry already, so that influences my syllabus.

I spend a lot of time on the first few chapters (4 weeks on ch. 1 through 3, 3 weeks on ch. 4-6). I cover little of chapter 8. We skip ch. 11 and 12 which talk about uses of energy and thermodynamics; this is usually covered in a chemistry class. We cover waves (ch. 15) only briefly and do not cover 16 (sound).

I rearrange the material in the second semester to begin with chapter 20, Coulomb's law. We cover chapters 20 through 25, then go back to ch. 17-19 (I use this approach because ch. 25 derives electromagnetic waves, and that helps understand wave optics). I do not cover alternating current. I also do not include the last three chapters on Quantum physics and nuclear physics, since this is material the students have already seen in chemistry.

 

Now for homeschooling, I do physics first, so we do cover ch. 28-30 before taking chemistry. I still like the thermodynamics treatment of the chemistry text better, so will not cover 11+12 at home.

 

Please remember that every textbook offers a variety of topics and , at the same time, constitutes a selection of possible material. Most college classes do not cover every section of every chapter. I find it much more important to thoroughly understand basic concepts than to "drink from the firehose" and briefly touch on every single thing from the text. The quality of a class should not be measured by how many percent of the text are covered, but by how much the students retain in the long term.

So, with that in mind, I feel comfortable delegating certain topics to chemistry.

With my very science minded DD I spend three semesters on physics. She took my college class last year and is doing chemistry as her major science this year, but we cover Modern Physics parallel to it and take our time to study the physics necessary for an understanding of chemistry (plus other interesting topics which are not covered in a traditional physics course).

 

Sorry this got so long - hope it is helpful.

 

Wow... ok, I need those books that I ordered. This is very helpful. Thank you!

 

Once I get my text books, I'll compare them to your plan above. Is it realistic to choose topics in physics dd would be most interested in and pairing them with the Physics in Your Live videos? Then doing experiments based on just those topics? I'm not going for a conceptual-only version of physics; I certainly want her to use the math. Yet, the more we can link physics to everyday life, the more I think she will enjoy and retain physics concepts. I would still want to be sure we do enough for a credit. I think I'm describing depth vs breadth for this class.

 

I feel like this all sounds so silly. Does this make sense?

 

 

Linda, I hope I haven't hijacked your OP. Hopefully, this tangent about physics first will be part of the answer to your question. I know I've been reading a LOT about science on this board, and it seems one chooses either the bio, chem, physics path or physics, chem, bio. This decision is mostly dependent on the amount of math the student has completed. From this point, you can choose a conceptual class or one that is based more on math.

 

It is a tough decision. Choosing science courses for high school has had me going in circles.

Edited October 7, 2011 by Sweet Home Alabama

[regentrude]

Is it realistic to choose topics in physics dd would be most interested in and pairing them with the Physics in Your Live videos? Then doing experiments based on just those topics? I'm not going for a conceptual-only version of physics; I certainly want her to use the math. Yet, the more we can link physics to everyday life, the more I think she will enjoy and retain physics concepts. I would still want to be sure we do enough for a credit. I think I'm describing depth vs breadth for this class.

 

I feel like this all sounds so silly. Does this make sense?

 

I do not know the videos, so I can not comment on that.

As far as experiments go, I prefer to do a few thorough labs than a short experiment each week that does not teach much. We did ten labs and covered a lot of skills.

The Knight text is specifically written for life science students and has many applications to biology and medicine. If your DD is interested in that direction, she will enjoy the examples and they will make physics meaningful to her. (It is one of the reasons I specifically selected this text for my biology and pre-medical students)

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I do not know the videos, so I can not comment on that.

As far as experiments go, I prefer to do a few thorough labs than a short experiment each week that does not teach much. We did ten labs and covered a lot of skills.

The Knight text is specifically written for life science students and has many applications to biology and medicine. If your DD is interested in that direction, she will enjoy the examples and they will make physics meaningful to her. (It is one of the reasons I specifically selected this text for my biology and pre-medical students)

 

 

Thank you, again, Regentrude! I'm sure all this will make more sense once I have my books. I really appreciate your help.

[blossom12]

We used the test bank instead of the teacher's guide.

Took two years to complete all 38 chapters.

Son scored 800 on the Bio SAT in May.

Very happy with this text.

 

nynyny...

 

So happy to hear that you used the test bank and congrats on that score! With the test bank going for $99 I wasn't sure if it was worth it. I am very curious if the tests were similar to tests in the student guide (in terms of difficulty) or if they were a different format altogether. Was it worth it for you to use these tests? Any details would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

blossom12

 

DD, 14 R&S 9, BTB Spanish, Wheelock's Latin, Wordly Wise 9, Ervin Reading Comp, History Odyssey/Early Modern, Chalkdust Algebra I, piano, community theater.

 

DS, 11 R&S 6, Henle Latin, Hey Andrew Greek, Wordly Wise 6, Ervin Reading Comp, SOTW, Saxon 8/7, NOEO Chemistry II, piano, community theater

 

DD, 6 FLL, Spectrum Spelling, HWT, SOTW, Singapore 2A/2B, NOEO Biology I, piano

[Mom22ns]

nynyny...

 

So happy to hear that you used the test bank and congrats on that score! With the test bank going for $99 I wasn't sure if it was worth it. I am very curious if the tests were similar to tests in the student guide (in terms of difficulty) or if they were a different format altogether. Was it worth it for you to use these tests? Any details would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

I used the test bank for Physical Science Concepts and Connects from PH and it was wonderful! I got it used along with the books and I'm so glad I did. I wouldn't have paid $99 for it (I'm too cheap), but it was a valuable resource! It gave a huge number of questions and also rated them as a 1 or 2, 1 was information recall, 2 was application. It allowed me to choose the number of questions I wanted to use and know how tough of a test I was making. I'm making the assumption that the one for Biology would be similar.

[nynyny]

nynyny...

 

So happy to hear that you used the test bank and congrats on that score! With the test bank going for $99 I wasn't sure if it was worth it. I am very curious if the tests were similar to tests in the student guide (in terms of difficulty) or if they were a different format altogether. Was it worth it for you to use these tests? Any details would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

blossom12

 

 

 

The prices (link below) appear for me when I use Safari, but not with Firefox. The printed test bank costs $19.95, the study guide $24.95.

Phone Pearson and see if the printed test bank is still available. I purchased mine in 2009.

 

http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZu6t&PMDbSiteId=2781&PMDbSolutionId=6724&PMDbSubSolutionId=&PMDbCategoryId=811&PMDbSubCategoryId=&PMDbSubjectAreaId=&PMDbProgramId=55581&PMDbProductId=395935&elementType=programComponents

 

It took two years to complete everything as he spent a week just on the text chapter and online sources, then an additional week for the student guide and test bank.(For the second year he was also taking Chemistry with ChemAdvantage.) We didn't know which chapters could be skipped, so he ended up studying them all.

 

He liked the test bank better than the student study guide. He thought they were equal in difficulty, covered pretty much the same material, but the study guide was tedious (matching, T/F, fill-in-the-blank, etc.) and took much longer to finish. He felt the test bank (MC) covered the Biology SAT test very well, with several identical questions.

 

HTH

Edited October 8, 2011 by nynyny

[MtnTeaching]

The way we do Miller/Levine is that ds reads the chapter and views the online resources (videos, animations etc). I spend one day a week discussing the chapter with him and one day a week doing labs. Pearson has the lab manual included on successnet. We use those labs or quick labs from the chapter, whichever are most home-use friendly and that actually help with understanding.

 

We are also using the new Miller/Levine Macaw book this year and are doing it very close to the above. DS14 reads the chapter and views online resources (he loves the Chapter Mystery). He then does the workbook and we discuss the chapter (me using the teacher's text- it has great extra info).

 

We are also starting LabPaq. I know this is going to add a lot of work, but I just wasn't overjoyed with the M/L lab book and wanted something that taught a bit more about lab report writing. Having said that, I do think that most of the labs from M/L look good and may sub some of those for the LabPaq ones. I felt I needed something that gave me a bit more instruction on the labs and a lot less "looking around" for the necessary items.

 

He also writes research/persuasive essays on the "Biology and Society" sections of the book. I love that these really flesh out current "controversies" in the biology arena.

 

We have been very happy with this study so far.

[angel marie]

i think apologia biology is about as lite as you can get with highschool biology and actually learn something. going with any of the campbell biology (we use this) or levine biology will only get more technical and i don't think she will like that. i think apologia puts as much fun as they can in it. you could try searching for fun ways to show the principles that you think she might enjoy better. will take alot of time though. this might be one of those subjects that has to be grinned and bared. i would just try to get through it. we have subjects like this too so know what you are going through. good luck.

angel

[blossom12]

The prices (link below) appear for me when I use Safari, but not with Firefox. The printed test bank costs $19.95, the study guide $24.95.

Phone Pearson and see if the printed test bank is still available. I purchased mine in 2009.

 

http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.c...gramComponents

 

 

nynyny...

 

Thank you so much for this as it made me realize that the reason that I think that the Test Bank questions are $99 is because the Printed Test Bank that you speak of is not available with the Concepts and Connections (Lemur cover) version for 2012. I don't know why this link is so long, but this is what I am offered for Concepts and Connections, 7th edition:

 

http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZu6t&PMDBSUBCATEGORYID=23496&PMDBSITEID=2781&PMDBSUBSOLUTIONID=&PMDBSOLUTIONID=6724&PMDBSUBJECTAREAID=23542&PMDBCATEGORYID=811&PMDbProgramId=80661&elementType=programComponents

 

Test questions are part of an Instructor Resource DVD with TestGen in the 7th edition and it does not look like they offer the printed bank anymore.

 

SO, what I am wondering is if you have any idea if the test questions would likely change with different editions? I have the 7th edition. You have the 6th. I can't imagine much has changed, but I would hate to buy the Printed Test Bank for the 6th edition and have it not apply to the 7th edition!!!

 

Thanks!

 

blossom12

[nynyny]

Test questions are part of an Instructor Resource DVD with TestGen in the 7th edition and it does not look like they offer the printed bank anymore.

 

SO, what I am wondering is if you have any idea if the test questions would likely change with different editions? I have the 7th edition. You have the 6th. I can't imagine much has changed, but I would hate to buy the Printed Test Bank for the 6th edition and have it not apply to the 7th edition!!!

 

Thanks!

 

blossom12

 

 

 

My 6th edition test bank's table of contents is almost identical to your 7th edition text--a few chapter titles have been tweaked a bit, but the content is the same for all 38 chapters.

 

DS used the 5th edition text (purchased thru Amazon for about $5) with the 6th edition test bank and 6th edition study guide purchased from Pearson. We had no problems mixing the editions.

 

HTH