Botany course for high school?

[justkeepswimming]

I know this is lightly covered in Biology - we're looking for something... different. The text itself could be "simple" as it won't be the only book involved. We are putting together an elective course that will cover Botany and Landscape Design/Landscape Architecture. She'll volunteer at a garden center, already has guinea pigs available for hands-on landscaping projects, and a text about the actual landscape design/architecture itself - so the rest of the course will be fleshed out.

 

I considered using Apologia's elementary Botany book in combination with gardening texts, maybe? She needs to learn about native plants, and specific information about various types of plants themselves. So I thought maybe the Apologia book could be a refresher for her to remember the basic mechanics of "how things grow" (lol) and the basic plant-stuff, and then a gardening text and working with a garden center to learn the best plants for the area and their ideal planting locations, and then onto the landscaping/architecture/design part of the course. At the end - several projects to put all that information together.

 

Has anyone put together a course anything similar to this?  (It will be her one "fun" class, but it is a college major she's looked at with interest, so we figured a solid year of it should give her a good idea of whether or not she really enjoys this kind of thing.)

[mom2jjka]

Christian Light (CLE) has a high school textbook based elective in Horticulture that looks like it covers much of what you are looking for.

 

http://www.clp.org/store/by_course/116

 

* Note - you can get the textbook for a little bit cheaper on Amazon though.  ;)

[justkeepswimming]

Thank you! Off to check it out... :001_smile:

[Luckymama]

Botany for Gardeners is good http://www.amazon.com/Botany-Gardeners-Third-Brian-Capon-ebook/dp/B004WLFKM6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397562749&sr=1-1&keywords=botany+for+gardeners I have the older second edition.

 

I used the Eyewitness Visual Dictionary of Plants in my first botany class http://www.amazon.com/Plants-DK-Visual-Dictionaries-Publishing/dp/1564580164/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397562956&sr=1-1&keywords=visual+dictionary+of+plants

 

Dd has studied a lot of botany during the past few years. I didn't create a course, just pulled books from my shelves and taught her directly. She would like to do an official botany course in high school.

[chiguirre]

I'd highly recommend this MOOC:

 

https://www.class-central.com/mooc/975/coursera-what-a-plant-knows-and-other-things-you-didn-t-know-about-plants

 

I took it last fall and it was super interesting and gives lots of examples of the importance of botany to our general knowledge of biology.

[Dina in Oklahoma]

Here are a few we are looking at if DD goes that direction:

http://www.amazon.com/A-Photographic-Atlas-Botany-Laboratory/dp/0895829487/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sterns-Introductory-Plant-Biology-Bidlack/dp/0073040525/ref=pd_sim_b_25?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ANZAT83TFHST33QME8E

 

http://www.amazon.com/Botany-Day-Patterns-Method-Identification/dp/1892784351/ref=pd_cp_b_2

 

http://www.amazon.com/Plant-Form-Illustrated-Flowering-Morphology/dp/088192850X/ref=pd_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=05270PH2RAY2A34S5YA9

 

http://www.amazon.com/Botany-Artists-Lizabeth-Leech/dp/1847972780/ref=sr_1_41?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397572909&sr=1-41&keywords=botany

 

http://www.amazon.com/Botany-Artists-Lizabeth-Leech/dp/1847972780/ref=sr_1_41?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397572909&sr=1-41&keywords=botany

 

http://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Plants-Changed-Course-History/dp/1554077982/ref=sr_1_85?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397573266&sr=1-85&keywords=botany

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Botany-Illustrated-Introduction-Flowering-Families/dp/0387288708/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397573345&sr=1-8&keywords=botany+coloring+book

 

http://www.amazon.com/Outlines-Lessons-Teachers-Studying-Children-ebook/dp/B00AQN385U/ref=sr_1_38?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397573503&sr=1-38&keywords=botany

 

http://www.amazon.com/Landscape-Architecture-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/0199681201/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397573766&sr=1-13&keywords=Landscape+Design%2FLandscape+Architecture

 

http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Elements-Landscape-Architectural-Design/dp/0881334782/ref=sr_1_22?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397573817&sr=1-22&keywords=Landscape+Design%2FLandscape+Architecture

 

http://www.amazon.com/Landscape-Graphics-Grant-Reid/dp/0823073335/ref=sr_1_23?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397573817&sr=1-23&keywords=Landscape+Design%2FLandscape+Architecture

 

http://www.amazon.com/Form-Fabric-Landscape-Architecture-Introduction/dp/0415246385/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397574112&sr=1-4&keywords=introduction+to+Landscape+Design+%2F+Landscape+Architecture

 

and of course Botany for Gardeners as mentioned above. Hope this helps.
 

[justkeepswimming]

Thank you guys so much!!! And here I thought this would be a complicated thing to put together!!! Thanks for making that job a million times easier! :) So many good options!

[EndOfOrdinary]

The coloring book for Botany is fantastic! Fun, but not lacking in depth.

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Botany-Coloring-Book-Paul-Young/dp/0064603024

[Kalmia]

These are great reads and some of my favorite books on the topic of native plants. They extend the topic to the interdependencies of native wildlife with native plants. All three are very specific in instruction while being excellently written. 

 

Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamy (professor of Entomology and WIldlife Ecology at the University of Delaware)

http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Nature-Home-Wildlife-Expanded/dp/0881929921/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1397603506&sr=8-3&keywords=native+gardening+at+home

 

Noah's Garden (despite the title, it is not religious) Sara Stein

http://www.amazon.com/Noahs-Garden-Restoring-Ecology-Backyards/dp/0395709407/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397604071&sr=8-1&keywords=Sara+Stein+Noah%27s

 

Planting Noah's Garden by Sara Stein

http://www.amazon.com/Planting-Noahs-Garden-Adventures-Backyard/dp/0395709601/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1397604071&sr=8-2&keywords=Sara+Stein+Noah%27s

[Luckymama]

I've taken classes w Dr Tallamy----second the recommendation!