thowell Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 (edited) I have the 2nd edition BJU Life science kit and thought I would just use that next year and save some money. Boy was I wrong. I went through and added up the materials I would need for the experiments and it was over $120. If I had to purchase the books too that would be over $300 for one subject. Is that realistic? is this what science really costs? I love the look of the BJU and dd11 sat in on a heart dissection at our co-op last week and has become very interested. I just don't think I can swing the price. Anyway to cut cost on the experiment materials? ETA: Guess I should not type in the dark! Edited April 15, 2012 by thowell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Yes, that is what you can expect for science as you get into junior high and high school. Science is our most expensive subject every year now. And BJU is one of he most expensive. It's also a thorough, full color, excellent program. That said, we didn't do many experiments in Life Science. I did just a few, but took the time to really, really teach them how to do an experiment and write a lab report. I also used the text to teach them how to study, learn new vocabulary from a text, read science texts actively, etc. Once we got to Biology, then we did experiments every week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 I agree, science is by far more expensive than everything else! (in our homeschool anyway) Dd who will be in 9th will be doing DIVE ICP next year. ICP disk is $49, BJU Textbook was $50?? (close anyways) The lab supplies kit is going to be $225. I need to get the lab manual as well but I might just print it off. I haven't decided yet. That would just cost the price of ink and paper (ink isn't cheap either) That is $324 for 9th grade science. I already bought Biology 101 dvd's that we will be doing with this but I forgot how much I paid for those. I bought those a few months ago. I also have dd who will be in 5th who is doing Shepherd Science life science. I have to get a good microscope plus I need to go through and get the lab supplies together for that. I don't know how much this will be but it isn't going to be cheap. I am estimating the microscope alone around $200. This will be a good quality one though that will get us through high school obviously! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorningGlory Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 I would go through the TE on the labs carefully to make sure which labs you really, really want to do. We did not do all of them. Pick the ones that you feel are most important and most doable, and read the TE instructions...sometimes BJU will suggest alternative materials for homeschools (at least this is true in the later edition). I know the biggest, most worthwhile lab/project we did with BJU's earth science was a 50 specimen insect collection. Doing this is practically free! And if I remember correctly (it has been a while), there are some soil labs near the end that would also be quite inexpensive. Regardless, for 7th grade, you can certainly pick what you want to accomplish! This is not a course for "lab credit" per se, but I would recommend that you do all that you can. BJU Life Science was one of the best courses my older son has ever taken. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 I would go through the TE on the labs carefully to make sure which labs you really, really want to do. :iagree: We do very nearly all of them, but if you go through the TM carefully, you will find some of the materials listed in the back are optional, or some are more expensive and used for only one lab that make it just not worth it. We do anywhere from 1-3 labs/chapter. I think BJU Life is a great course with great labs, but don't feel like you can't choose to leave out a few. I found physical science to be our most expensive lab year yet. That was when I bought all the hardware and glassware for chemistry labs. This year chemistry isn't quite as expensive as physical science was because I only had to add chemicals and just a few items. I haven't had a year that was under $100 for lab supplies since before 7th grade though (4 years now). I don't expect to ever have one again. BJU books are easy to find used though. You can keep costs down by buying the TM & Student text second hand and selling it when you are finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted April 15, 2012 Author Share Posted April 15, 2012 I agree, science is by far more expensive than everything else! (in our homeschool anyway) Dd who will be in 9th will be doing DIVE ICP next year. ICP disk is $49, BJU Textbook was $50?? (close anyways) The lab supplies kit is going to be $225. I need to get the lab manual as well but I might just print it off. I haven't decided yet. That would just cost the price of ink and paper (ink isn't cheap either) That is $324 for 9th grade science. I already bought Biology 101 dvd's that we will be doing with this but I forgot how much I paid for those. I bought those a few months ago. I also have dd who will be in 5th who is doing Shepherd Science life science. I have to get a good microscope plus I need to go through and get the lab supplies together for that. I don't know how much this will be but it isn't going to be cheap. I am estimating the microscope alone around $200. This will be a good quality one though that will get us through high school obviously! Are you using the BJU space and earth this year for 8th? How much of an expense was this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted April 15, 2012 Author Share Posted April 15, 2012 Didn't I see someone say that some of the slides you can just view online? I know it won't be the same but cheaper until Biology. Does anyone know where I can find these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Didn't I see someone say that some of the slides you can just view online? I know it won't be the same but cheaper until Biology. Does anyone know where I can find these? Yes, it isn't hard. Just do a search for each slide, such as "bone microscope image", or "skin with hair follicle microscope image", you get the idea. You can see everything that would see on a prepared slide and don't have to mess with the scope. We use a microscope, but still like to look up alternate images. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amtmcm Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I bought most of the supplies for BJU Life Science for two reasons: 1) most can be reused for Biology 2) I'll be using it all again with a younger sibling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy7 Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Where do you find a list of the supplies needed for BJU Life Science? My 7th & 9th grader will be doing it next year. It needs to count as a lab for my 9th grader so I will be doing as many as I need to do to make it count. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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