thowell Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Ok, after alot of waffling about next year's science I think dd11 and I have determined to do BJU Life. I have the 2nd edition but that will work fine. Here is my question, dd11 has a friend that is 14 and needs biology. Her mother is also a friend of mine. She is not able to teach her herself and the co-op we attend is not offering a science for her. I read some older post that talked about BJU Life being comparable to some high school biology. The 14 year old is not an advanced student and is probably on a similar level as my dd11. However she has completed higher maths than dd11. This year she just got through Algebra I. So what would I have to do for her if she did the BJU with us to make it worthy of a high school credit? When I compare the TOC to something like Apologia Biology they seem almost identical. We will be doing alot of lab work and both of the girls will be doing a lab write up every week. I also would love to have time for them to do a science fair project in addition. Any ideas, tips, or thought would be great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 The only thing that BJU LIfe really misses is evolution. They give a terrible overview which has nothing to do with current evolutionary beliefs. I would add some information about evolutionary biology, specifically evolutionary classification, clades and cladograms. You could also deepen the study of cell biology. A deeper understanding of cellular respiration and fermentation and photosynthesis would help. The human anatomy section of BJU Life is complete as it stands. BJU Life labs are enough if you add a lab notebook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 The only thing that BJU LIfe really misses is evolution. They give a terrible overview which has nothing to do with current evolutionary beliefs. I would add some information about evolutionary biology, specifically evolutionary classification, clades and cladograms. You could also deepen the study of cell biology. A deeper understanding of cellular respiration and fermentation and photosynthesis would help. The human anatomy section of BJU Life is complete as it stands. BJU Life labs are enough if you add a lab notebook. Thanks for the tips. Any specific format required for the lab notebook? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 I think this site gives great information on what to include in a lab write up. It has both student and instructor pages. I would pick an average of one lab per chapter for the student to do a full write up and include it in their notebook. There are some chapters where more than one good "write-up-able" lab is included and a few that don't have any that are worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 I think this site gives great information on what to include in a lab write up. It has both student and instructor pages. I would pick an average of one lab per chapter for the student to do a full write up and include it in their notebook. There are some chapters where more than one good "write-up-able" lab is included and a few that don't have any that are worth it. This site is great! Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFwife Claire Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 The only thing that BJU LIfe really misses is evolution. They give a terrible overview which has nothing to do with current evolutionary beliefs. I would add some information about evolutionary biology, specifically evolutionary classification, clades and cladograms. You could also deepen the study of cell biology. A deeper understanding of cellular respiration and fermentation and photosynthesis would help. The human anatomy section of BJU Life is complete as it stands. BJU Life labs are enough if you add a lab notebook. I would agree with this. I will be teaching BJU biology at our small co-op next year, as well as Life Science, and there is one very non-science-y boy who is going to be taking Life Science instead of biology, even though he also will be 14. I add a few extra dissections to life science as well, but I feel that we cover the subjects in enough depth to be considered a biology class for non-science people. I think of the BJU biology text as more of an honors biology text, and we will add in more evolutionary theory there too (even though I personally am YE Creationist) because the boys will either take the SAT II or the AP biology test next year (still haven't planned that out yet). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted April 27, 2012 Author Share Posted April 27, 2012 That was my impression as well. I am hoping to stay on track with BJU for dd11 so she will get Biology again in HS and I hope to add to it if needed for her to take the AP test in biology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy7 Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 I think I have about decided to do BJU Life Science DVDs for my 7th & 9th grader. I need for it to count as Biology for my 9th grader. Do you know where I can find a list of the supplies needed for the course to make it count as a lab? I could really use some direction with it all. I am not very sciencey, kwim? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFwife Claire Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Could you buy something like the Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments and use that as your lab manual, seeing which labs line up with which chapters, and doing those? That book is at a high school lab level. That's cheaper than buying the BJU high school lab and lab teacher's manual to see how they line up! And it woould tell you exactly what you needed, supply-wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy7 Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Thank you, Claire. I will check into that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted April 28, 2012 Author Share Posted April 28, 2012 I know that Home science Tools has a kit for that set. I actually went through the book and made a list of all the equipment we would need. I came to over $120 without the price of a microscope. I had initially decided not to use it because of the cost of the labs. Now that my firend's daughter is doing it with us we have decided to let them do the labs together and split the cost. Otherwise it is not cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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