Miller-Levine Biology - Kolbe, tests, etc?

[tjarnold]

I am desperate for guidance on this topic. At this point, my plan is for my son to use Miller-Levine Biology next year when he is in 9th grade. However, I am a bit confused about how best to implement the course -- whether to use the Kolbe syllabus, teacher's materials directly from the publisher, or something else. I've read many threads on this topic, and I still don't have a clear idea of what to do. Having read that the publisher is not consistent in dealing with homeschoolers doesn't help.

 

We used the Kolbe syllabus this year with Prentice-Hall Physical Science, and I felt it had some pros and cons. The most recent con was that I just graded an exam and felt that I couldn't properly evaluate my son's answers because I'm not an expert in the field (i.e., on short-answer, essay-style questions). I was also annoyed when I discovered an error in the Kolbe Answer Key early on in the course. I actually called Kolbe, and they agreed that it was an error, but hadn't included it in an errata listing. Understandably, these things happen, but when I haven't mastered the material myself, it's more than a little frustrating.

 

My priorities in figuring out what to use are:

 

1) Tests should be simple to grade, with clear black and white answers (perhaps multiple-choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank?),

2) Course schedule (or syllabus) should be easy for the student to follow without much involvement from mom,

3) Labs (or virtual labs) shouldn't be difficult to implement,

4) Course should be rigorous, with an eye toward taking AP Biology in a couple of years.

 

Am I asking too much? As a humanities person, I admit I'd laugh if someone asked me for multiple-choice exams in my areas of specialty (music, art history, lit, history). Well, perhaps I wouldn't laugh -- but I would point out the difficulty of thorough evaluation when one eliminates the essay-style question. Still, I just don't have time to master the material on top of everything else I need to do.

 

Suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

Tiffany

[Carol in Cal.]

I think that this is where outside evaluation is really helpful.

After all, this is the high school level.

If you think your child can learn this reliably without feedback, then just have him take the subject tests later on to prove out the grade. But if not, then in my opinion you need to get some help from the outside if you are not going to learn the material yourself.

[tjarnold]

Thanks, Carol. Point taken.

 

But if I were to make a more concerted effort to learn the material, what would be the best way to implement the course? I actually wouldn't mind studying bio again myself, as it was my favorite of the sciences. My professor husband just keeps saying he wants my son to self-educate.

 

Any further advice?

 

Tiffany

[Tamarind]

My three younger daughters are enrolled with Kolbe. I really like their course plans for English and Literature. I like the Greek History but did my own stuff for the rest of history. But their science course plans are not very helpful IMHO.

 

I find Oak Meadow course materials to be much more user friendly and written directly to the student. My two middle daughters used the Miller Levine Biology text, but did not retain as much biology as I had hoped. So for my youngest I will do the Oak Meadow course. I have it on hand and it looks great. Oak Meadow uses a different text than Kolbe but it is comparable to Miller Levine--probably a tad more basic.

 

Oak Meadow does sell a Teacher Manual. If you do not plan to brush up at all in Biology, it would be helpful. If you plan to read along with yopur child, I don't think you would need it. The Teacher Manual (about $20) is not for sale on the webpage; you must call to request it.

 

Until May 31st, all Oak Meadow course materials are one sale. See oakmeadow.com.

[Mom22ns]

The materials from the publisher are difficult to learn to navigate, but worth the effort. The tests include multiple choice, fill in the blank short answers and essays. The answer key is pretty straight forward, but the level of thought is greater than a multiple choice, T/F test can offer. The publisher does not give a schedule and their labs were not all that easy to implement. We found enough that worked, but they had to be sorted through. I don't know that I would recommend using just the publisher's resources if you don't want to be involved at least in planning and scheduling. Their online resources do a pretty decent job as teacher along side the text.

 

We had an excellent year with M/L Biology this year, way above expectations. However, I don't really think it meets your qualifications, although I don't know what does.

[tjarnold]

My three younger daughters are enrolled with Kolbe. I really like their course plans for English and Literature. I like the Greek History but did my own stuff for the rest of history. But their science course plans are not very helpful IMHO.

 

I find Oak Meadow course materials to be much more user friendly and written directly to the student. My two middle daughters used the Miller Levine Biology text, but did not retain as much biology as I had hoped.

 

Thank you, Tamarind! Glad to hear I'm not entirely alone with regard to my mixed feelings about Kolbe. I took a quick look at their sample lesson online, and it does look appealing. Now I am wondering about the differences between Oak Meadow's program and the Holt package that Rainbow Resource sells, which includes the Virtual Investigations CD, to be used along with the SaxonHomeschool lesson plans.

 

Any thoughts on these components?

 

Tiffany

[tjarnold]

I don't know that I would recommend using just the publisher's resources if you don't want to be involved at least in planning and scheduling. Their online resources do a pretty decent job as teacher along side the text.

 

We had an excellent year with M/L Biology this year, way above expectations. However, I don't really think it meets your qualifications, although I don't know what does.

 

Thanks for sharing your insights, Debbie. This is very helpful. I actually don't mind planning and scheduling, but I wouldn't want it to be overwhelming. Did you use the virtual lab component at all?

 

Tiffany

[Kate in Arabia]

I'm planning on using the Miller-Levine book with Kolbe next year. I haven't seen it yet, but if I find I have trouble evaluating the exams then I'll look around for someone who wouldn't mind grading them for me -- I can't imagine it would be so much an imposition to ask someone to grade the occasional short-answer/short-essay.

 

I know when dh grades his exams he makes an answer key, I could even do that myself in advance of the test, or ask someone else to, kwim?

 

This specifically doesn't scare me away from Kolbe (although I also do not have a science background), I think it can be worked around. Is there a Yahoo group or other support group that would be able to help with this and your other concerns? Maybe you could start one (I'd join!), even a group here, kwim?

[Mom22ns]

No, I didn't get the virtual labs. We used frogguts for dissections but otherwise did them live. I planned the whole year out last summer and we were able to stick pretty close to the plan.

[SailorMom]

We're finishing off our year with Miller Levine right now.

I used the tests in the books (you can just photocopy them so they don't have the book in front of them :) ), and the answers in the Teacher's Edition were great.

As for labs - I purchased the "Experiences in Biology" lab books :

http://heartofthematteronline.com/review-experiences-in-biology/

The author gives great guidelines as to how many of each kind of lab should be done. The labs were quite easy to implement.

If you would like to know which labs I used in each chapter of the book, just let me know.

As for a syllabus - we completed the book up to the human anatomy chapters. We have covered that info before, and will cover it in depth in Advanced bio in DS's junior year. In almost all cases, DS and i went over the info in the chapter, read the chapter, wrote down all of the vocab words, and answered the questions at the end of each section. Each chapter took about a week, give or take. There were three or four chapters we rushed through, simply because he was already familiar with the material.

[Tamarind]

Tiffany,

I'm not familiar with the rainbow resource package. But I've always been satisfied with Oak Meadow materials, as I've used them for a few courses, and I think Oak Meadow does a better job of writing their manuals TO the student than any other program out there. Also, I'm bot a big fan of virtual labs, so ...

[awstgs]

My three younger daughters are enrolled with Kolbe. I really like their course plans for English and Literature. I like the Greek History but did my own stuff for the rest of history. But their science course plans are not very helpful IMHO.

 

I find Oak Meadow course materials to be much more user friendly and written directly to the student. My two middle daughters used the Miller Levine Biology text, but did not retain as much biology as I had hoped. So for my youngest I will do the Oak Meadow course. I have it on hand and it looks great. Oak Meadow uses a different text than Kolbe but it is comparable to Miller Levine--probably a tad more basic.

 

Oak Meadow does sell a Teacher Manual. If you do not plan to brush up at all in Biology, it would be helpful. If you plan to read along with yopur child, I don't think you would need it. The Teacher Manual (about $20) is not for sale on the webpage; you must call to request it.

 

Until May 31st, all Oak Meadow course materials are one sale. See oakmeadow.com.

 

So if I purchase the Teacher's Manual from OM the tests are included? I couldn't find any information about the Teacher's Manual or tests so I wasn't sure.

[awstgs]

We're finishing off our year with Miller Levine right now.

I used the tests in the books (you can just photocopy them so they don't have the book in front of them :) ), and the answers in the Teacher's Edition were great.

As for labs - I purchased the "Experiences in Biology" lab books :

http://heartofthematteronline.com/review-experiences-in-biology/

The author gives great guidelines as to how many of each kind of lab should be done. The labs were quite easy to implement.

If you would like to know which labs I used in each chapter of the book, just let me know.

As for a syllabus - we completed the book up to the human anatomy chapters. We have covered that info before, and will cover it in depth in Advanced bio in DS's junior year. In almost all cases, DS and i went over the info in the chapter, read the chapter, wrote down all of the vocab words, and answered the questions at the end of each section. Each chapter took about a week, give or take. There were three or four chapters we rushed through, simply because he was already familiar with the material.

 

 

I have been looking at biology for awhile. I can't seem to decide. I just don't want to have to make the tests myself. I'd rather use the Macaw book, but I can't seem to find the tests for purchase. Which book has the tests, the teacher's edition?

[SailorMom]

I have been looking at biology for awhile. I can't seem to decide. I just don't want to have to make the tests myself. I'd rather use the Macaw book, but I can't seem to find the tests for purchase. Which book has the tests, the teacher's edition?

 

The teacher's edition has two tests at the end of each chapter. There are other test banks, but I didn't find them necessarily.

[Tamarind]

Oak Meadow assessments are based primarily on essays, projects, and labs. If you plan to test after each chapter, the rainbow resource materials might be helpful.

[tjarnold]

Thank you all so much for your replies! You've given me much to think about. I may be back with more questions in a while, but for now, I need to mull things over a bit.

 

Tiffany

[higginszoo]

My older children are both using the Kolbe syllabus with Miller-Levine. They have no problem following the syllabus. The tests are easy to administer and grade. It is very rigorous, especially if you choose the honors track (there are 3 tracked schedules to choose from). Virtual labs were not going to cut it for my children, who will more likely than not be doing hard sciences in college. We took some labs directly from the textbook, with a full write-up and they also did a Landry Academy two day lab-intensive, which is pretty packed with labs appropriate for this course.

[tjarnold]

My older children are both using the Kolbe syllabus with Miller-Levine. They have no problem following the syllabus. The tests are easy to administer and grade. It is very rigorous, especially if you choose the honors track (there are 3 tracked schedules to choose from). Virtual labs were not going to cut it for my children, who will more likely than not be doing hard sciences in college. We took some labs directly from the textbook, with a full write-up and they also did a Landry Academy two day lab-intensive, which is pretty packed with labs appropriate for this course.

 

Thanks, Jerrin. This is very helpful. I'm hoping to do a mix of virtual labs and actual labs. It's very doubtful that any of my children will go into the sciences, so I'm going to try not to stress about it too much.

 

Tiffany