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Help me choose a biology course/text for dd12


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We've just wrapped up a year of interest led zoology, and she wants to tackle biology next. I'm looing at several resources, but am having trouble choosing. I like the idea of having everything laid out, at least to a point (hence the first two options), but also like books that are more along the lines of living books (hence the Hoagland book). I'd like there to be at least some hands-on!

 

Under consideration...

Elemental Science's Logic Stage Biology

Pandia Press's RSO level 2 biology

Exploring the Way Life Works (Hoagland)

 

Other resources you could recommend? Any feedback on the above?

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RSO level 2 biology is a great, solid program that has everything laid out for you, so if that is what you are looking for I would probably go with that. I will say though that my daughter and I loved Exploring the Way Life Works when she used it a few years ago. I don't think there was much more to it than it being a textbook, but it is a wonderful book. 

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DS, who is dyslexic found  RSO Bio 2 to be high interest but easy enough to read and understand.  I liked all the different parts, so his week was not the same thing every day.  There are 2 different lab type options one with and one without a microscope.... it was definitely worth it to have a good microscope. We have The Way Life Works, which is a bit shorter but basically the same as Exploring.  It is a really neat book and if you can fashion a schedule out of it then I'd go for it.  While RSO wasn't boring, Hoagland would be even more interesting.

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Have you looked at CHC's Life Science text?  I think the online sample is appealing.

I have this on hand (just came in today!). It's beautiful - full color illustrations, etc.

We're adding on additional literature for her high interest areas (neurology, genetics). 

 

ETA: If you aren't Catholic, there are pretty extensive writings on Catholic scientists, saints (involved in life sciences), and it is definitely pro-life. Great for us, since we're Catholic.

 

The lab book/workbook is equally as fantastic. It's black and white, containing activities, labs, study guides and prompts, and research paper assignments (including a step by step guide on "how to" write a science research paper), lists all lab materials needed in the front (by chapter), a glossary with "latin/greek stems to learn"... and a ton more. I haven't been able to look it over completely.

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... We have The Way Life Works, which is a bit shorter but basically the same as Exploring.  It is a really neat book and if you can fashion a schedule out of it then I'd go for it.  While RSO wasn't boring, Hoagland would be even more interesting.

 

 

I have no first hand experience with it, but this plan of study has always looked appealing to me:

 

High School Biology with Living Books by Jamie McMillin. The resources used are listed here and include Hoagland's The Way Life Works: The Science Lover's Illustrated Guide to How Life Grows, Develops, Reproduces, and Gets Along.

 

Or there's this plan from Quarks and Quirks which uses a different Hoagland book, namely  Exploring the Way Life Works: The Science of Biology.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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