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jenn&charles

jenn&charles

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Just giving a heads-up for those of you who might be looking for a biology alternative. I didn't know which board to post this on. It's a high school topic, but I'm still hanging out on the logic stage board too, so?? I'm sticking it here. ;)

 

First a bit of background. I used Apologia Biology with my older kids (who've graduated) along with the Miller & Levine Dragonfly text. My daughter is currently an RN student who made an A in her college biology class. I consulted with her as to what she felt best prepared for in her biology class and what she felt was lacking after using the resources we did. She had some great insight that has been really helpful in preparing my future plans for biology for Otter.

 

All of the biology texts sitting on my shelf are "outdated" in that they aren't the latest and greatest by quite a few years. I have Apologia (first edition - which is SO ugly and boring inside), Miller & Levine Dragonfly edition (beautiful and chock full of info but the newer version is so much nicer) and Bridget Ardoin's High School Biology in Your Home (and older edition). I have issues with all three.

 

I've looked at newer programs (Shepherd Science, Campbell, etc.) and researched all of my options for quite awhile now. Nothing was fitting just right and everything is SO EXPENSIVE, especially once I start factoring in the lab supplies and all the extra goodies I want to add in.

 

After tearing out my hair over this, I finally settled on using CK-12 Biology. First of all, it's free. 2nd, it's a pretty decent text with lot of links, a workbook, a teacher's manual, links to tons of videos, lab ideas, interactive material and covers all the subjects I want covered. It can be downloaded as a PDF or a variety of digital files (like mobi for Kindle, etc.). I could even have it printed out somewhere, if I wanted.

 

The problem: it's very heavily from an evolutionary standpoint and we are creationists. The cool thing: you can edit CK-12 books and totally customize them however you want and share the results for free as it's open source with a commons creative licence.

 

So, what I'm doing is taking the CK-12 text and editing it to be from a creationist viewpoint. I'm also lightening it up a little with some humor (because that appeals to my son and I know he'll enjoy reading it more). I'm going through the video links they've embedded and replacing some with better videos. I'll also be adding in labs (where you can buy the complete kit for convenience's sake) and adding in some OPTIONAL reading material, fun stuff, etc. My daughter (who is a published writer and currently co-authoring a textbook with 2 college professors) is going to help rewrite some of the chapters.

 

I just wanted to share that hopefully everything will be ready to go by August. At any rate, that's when I'm going to start using it myself, so if I continue any editing, it will be as we work through it. When I'm done editing the book, I will share it on my website along with any of the extra materials like a daily schedule and possibly the edited workbook. There is also a TM already available with plenty of teaching ideas and extras. I may edit that as well, if I have time.

 

For labs I'm thinking of using a combo of the Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture (DIY Science) and this: http://www.hometrainingtools.com/dissection-kit-advanced/p/DE-KIT02/. The Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments has a schedule that lines up the labs to the CK Biology text. It should still line up, even after I'm done editing the book.

I will also look for links to virtual dissections and labs for those who can't afford the above or want other options. I'm going to look for a lot of labs that can stand in for the above that use common household items, but still teach many of the concepts.

 

Because my son often needs extra support beyond a text, I plan on finding the best free printables, videos and other things to help make concepts clear and understandable, if they are needed.

 

The benefits of the CK-12 text is that it's FREE. You will still need to purchase lab materials to make it a complete, rigorous biology program - but at least you don't have to buy the text.

 

I wanted to post this for those of you who are still trying to figure out what to use for biology in the future and let you know there is this other alternative beyond the regular run-of-the-mill options. Also, for those of you who are not Christians, you could still easily use the unaltered text but have the benefit of having all the "extras" already researched and linked to.

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jenn&charles

jenn&charles

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This sounds fantastic. So let me clarify... You'll have somewhere I can see your edits by August so I can use it next year? Also, have you considered adding in Biology 101 DVD as an optional resource. I think it looks like a nice video.

 

 

Yes, I'll post the entire book in several formats on my website.

 

I believe you can see the edits as I work on them, if you want, by clicking on this link:

 

http://www.ck12.org/...ool-Biology/r2/

 

I think you may have to create a CK-12 account to be able to login and see it, but I'm not sure.

 

I'm still trying to figure CK-12 out, so let me know if the link above doesn't work.

 

As for the Biology 101 DVD's, I originally wasn't going to include them because of the price. However, I decided to go ahead and schedule them in.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

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Michelle My Bell

Michelle My Bell

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Yes, I'll post the entire book in several formats on my website.

 

I believe you can see the edits as I work on them, if you want, by clicking on this link:

 

http://www.ck12.org/...ool-Biology/r2/

 

I think you may have to create a CK-12 account to be able to login and see it, but I'm not sure.

 

I'm still trying to figure CK-12 out, so let me know if the link above doesn't work.

 

As for the Biology 101 DVD's, I originally wasn't going to include them because of the price. However, I decided to go ahead and schedule them in.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

 

Thanks Jenn,

 

The link worked once I created an account. So are there going to be separate lesson plans somewhere else or are you going to include them in the textbook? Also, where is the Teacher's Edition? I couldn't find it.

 

Thanks!

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jenn&charles

jenn&charles

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Thanks Jenn,

 

The link worked once I created an account. So are there going to be separate lesson plans somewhere else or are you going to include them in the textbook? Also, where is the Teacher's Edition? I couldn't find it.

 

Thanks!

 

Yes, there are going to be lesson plans. I'm working on them right now. :-) In fact, just minutes ago I was working on creating the supply list for all the "household" items that go with the Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments (items which are not included in the kit you can purchase). The lesson plan / daily schedule is set up for the following options:

 

32 weeks of biology WITHOUT a human anatomy component

36 weeks of biology WITH a human anatomy component

optional 38 week schedule with 2 rabbit trail - take it easy weeks scheduled in

 

I will post the schedule on my website. I don't think I'll include it in the book because of formatting issues.

 

I used the CK-12 teacher's manual to figure out how much time to give to each topic for my daily schedule. When I added it all up it was well under a typical 36 week year and seemed kind of fast paced. I decided to give some topics more time and spread things out over the school year at a slower pace.

 

The teacher's manual for the original biology text is here:

http://www.ck12.org/tebook/Biology-Teacher%2527s-Edition/

 

 

I have a very rough schedule / lesson plan that I'm currently working on. If you want to see it, PM me your email address and I'll send it to you so you can see where I'm heading. I can send you updates, if you want to take a look at what I'm doing and give some feedback.

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CupOCoffee

CupOCoffee

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We have been using CK12 Biology at our house! It's way to late in the game to use your suggestions for DS, but I will keep them in mind for DD.

 

We actually like the CK12 materials; DD uses math and Earth science from there as well.

 

~coffee~

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Koerarmoca

Koerarmoca

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I love the looks of ck12 I printed off their bio honors last week to start in May. Looking at earth science too. So excited I love that I can have the books on my iPad too. The evolution stuff bugs me too but I'm not about to edit just not my thing...I was just going to skip those parts my crew has creation pretty down pat at this point :)

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jenn&charles

jenn&charles

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biologybooks.jpg

 

I'm finally starting to put this up on my website.

Here's what I have so far:

 

http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/science/biology/biology_home.html

 

and

 

http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/science/biology/biology_books.html

 

P.S. For those of you who are secular and don't want a Christian biology program, it's super easy to edit this one to suit your needs.

 

More stuff will be posted soon!

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jenn&charles

jenn&charles

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Ok you have won me over. I can't wait to see the final schedule. I think my daughter is going to love this! Will there be a printable lesson plan/schedule? How long do you estimate this will take per day and how many days a week?

 

 

Ahhhhhhh my first official convert, LOL.

 

Yes, there will be a printable schedule. I already have one made in Microsoft Word but just haven't posted it online yet. I can email you a copy if you PM me your email address, or I'll try to get it online soon and post an update here on this thread.

 

As for how much time per week - that's VERY flexible depending on what you choose to do or not do. If you want to basically stick with just reading the text, doing a few workbook pages and 1-2 activities then I'm GUESSING it will work out to about around an hour a day? I actually scheduled the text topics to stretch out over longer periods of time than the CK-12 teacher's guide does, for a few reasons. One of those reasons is that I don't want students to be too rushed. Another reason is that I wanted to leave enough time to get to the "extras".

 

The schedule itself looks insane because I put in "too many" things, but it's not insane once you realize they are just OPTIONS and "extras". I hope that makes sense. The extras are there for students who need more time to own the material or who need a break from the textbook, or just want to liven up the week with something a little different, fun or whatever.

 

Here's an example of a week...I had to insert several screenshots instead of an actual table because it wouldn't paste properly into the post. I hope my explanations/breaking it down aren't too complicated, lol. I'll break up week 2 into 3 parts so I can go over them:

 

First screenshot:

 

1.JPG

 

 

 

 

What's posted above is the main part of week 2. It shows you what you are reading in the textbook and there is a an OPTIONAL writing assignment listed below that. I put writing assignments into the schedule because I wanted to combine a little bit of language arts writing with science for my son. I want him to see that writing doesn't exist in a vacuum only during language arts time. ;-) He has the entire week to complete the writing assignment - that's why it stretches over all 5 days.

 

I scheduled one section of the textbook chapter (2.1 Matter and Organic Compounds) to cover three days and the next section (2.2 Biochemical Reactions) to cover 2 days. That's plenty of time to read those sections. In fact, I anticipate that usually it will only take us one actual day to read each section. Reading the text also includes watching short videos that are clickable directly IN the text.

 

The extra time (the days when the reading is finished) will be used to do the workbook pages that go with each section or to do the other assignments listed in the schedule. The workbook pages are not listed in the schedule. You can just assign them on an as needed basis.

 

Second screenshot:

 

2.JPG

 

This part of the schedule shows the LABS. They are color coded to help you easily see which type of resource each one is. There is a key at the top of the schedule that helps you know what the colors mean. The lab in white is the one that goes with the free lab experiment book The Illustrated Guide to Home Lab Experiments. The ones in green are suggested alternatives to the IGHLE book. Those are there if you want to do similar experiments to what is scheduled in that book but do not want to use that book for whatever reason. The yellow lab is a free online lab. The two orange labs are "extras" that cover a concept in the textbook. The symbol with the Otter shows which labs I think *I'm* going to do with Otter that week.

 

While the schedule shows the labs occurring on specific days, that is NOT when you have to do them. Usually they are scheduled to illustrate a portion of the text but you can do them when it works for your family.

 

Please note that ALL of the labs are optional. I have a document separate from the schedule that helps you go through and choose which labs you want to do or want to skip based on a variety of things like cost, ease of gathering supplies, whether it's online, uses the IGHLE book, etc. The lab pick-and-choose document shows you all the labs listed by week, shows the supplies, links to hard to find items directly to where you can purchase them, etc.

 

In the screenshot above I have SEVEN lab options for week 2 but I wouldn't expect anyone to choose more than 1 or 2 of them based on their available time commitment that week, budget reasons, interest level, motivation, etc. It's very flexible. If your kid is going nuts over the labs and wants more, you have options. If it's one of those weeks where 3 of your kids are sick and you just want to get biology over with, you can choose one of the "easier" labs or you can just skip them altogether. I hope that makes sense.

 

Now for the 3rd and final part of the schedule:

 

3.JPG

 

The top shows the Bible study portion. The links are clickable and you can go directly to the text to read it online from the schedule. The chapters are pretty short. I would say they are only 15 minutes worth of reading IF that.

 

Then, below the Bible study (which is optional!) I have the extra resources listed. Everything in this section is optional. Some weeks you may choose to do a lot of things in this section. Other times you might not have time for them or don't need them or whatever.

 

The extras are varied depending on the topic being learned. Sometimes I have a book scheduled, sometimes a video, or a printable, game, an interactive online game or activity, the Biology Coloring book (for those kids who need a visual representation of what is being learned), extra reading, whatever. It really varies. I tried to find a lot of "fun" stuff to help my son get the concepts in the textbook and retain them. I also looked for things that engage a variety of learning styles.

 

The thing about the schedule is that it's FLEXIBLE. It's like a buffet for you to choose from. It also can be totally edited in a word processing program so you can take out the things you don't want or add in resources you do want. When I'm finished making the schedule that I'm going to share, I'm going to go through and GET RID of the labs we aren't going to do, etc. so I don't have them cluttering up the schedule. I'm also going to take out the lab supply lists so those aren't stretching out the table cells. :-)

 

Also, I have a list of supplemental reading that is NOT scheduled. I highly recommend that at least a few of those books are chosen and read sometime over the year. You can schedule them in yourself or just do them on a "whenever" basis. I personally am going to get one with each library trip. When we are done with one, we'll get another. My son will be reading them outside of science time - during his scheduled daily hour of reading. Some of the titles I'll read out loud to him during our read aloud time.

 

I hope that kind of answers your question. It's hard to say how long it will take each day because every family will choose to do different things - some more or less than others. I'm going to shoot for 1-2 hours each day we do it and we'll probably do biology 4x a week. I think on average we'll do 5-7 hours of biology a week.

 

Let me know if you have any more questions.

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jenn&charles

jenn&charles

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Just letting everyone know that I've posted the rest of the biology curriculum online.

 

http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/science/biology/biology_home.html

 

The only thing I'll continue to work on at this point is editing and adding to the textbook and creating additional workbook pages and/or any other printables I want to use as well as the biology vocabulary packet that features greek and latin roots.

 

I'll also start having my son rate materials (1-5 stars) as we start using them next month and I'll be taking pictures of his labs & activities and posting them on my blog. I'll be tweaking the program as I use it, but it's totally useable at this point.

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goldberry

goldberry

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This is awesome!  DD is a science girl, but everything is so DRY to her.  We are doing Integrated Physics/Chemistry this year and have Biology planned for next year.  Will definitely be checking this out!

 

ETA, is this young-earth creationist or just creationist in general?

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jenn&charles

jenn&charles

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This is awesome!  DD is a science girl, but everything is so DRY to her.  We are doing Integrated Physics/Chemistry this year and have Biology planned for next year.  Will definitely be checking this out!

 

ETA, is this young-earth creationist or just creationist in general?

 

I'm personally young-earth, but I think most of the resources I added in will be just creationist in general. I don't know yet because we haven't read through all of them. ;-)

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