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Looking for a biology program that would work for 8th and 10th grades


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Background:

 

dd13 has studied animals/zoology extensively. Id like to round out her biology background a bit next year (8th grade).

 

ds14 has studied physics, some chemistry, and not a lot of biology. I would like him to get a decent background in it next year (10th grade).

 

Is there any program/book out there that would work for both of them, so we could do it together? We'd like to do labs at home too, and I have a good microscope, slide materials, etc. I'd prefer secular recommendations, please.

 

Thanks!

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Biology: Exploring Life by Campbell, which is also called baby Campbell. It's a standard level high school textbook. The same author writes Biology: Concepts and Connections, which is more AP level, and just plain Biology which is college level (daddy Campbell). The lab manual looks fairly easy to follow, and there are lots of ancillaries out there.

 

Just a quick correction. Exploring Life is on level, Concepts and Connections is honors, not AP. Biology is AP/College level. 

 

Exploring Life is a very simplistic on-level text. When I reviewed it I found it to be the equivalent of what we had done for Life Science in 7th. This means it would work for your 8th grader.

 

However, I'm with the other recommendations of Miller/Levine. I used it in 9th with each of my kids, my LA guy and my science girl. Both did very well with it. On level use does not cover the entire book in one year. Covering the entire book in one year puts it at honors level. The TM gives pacing guides and I found a local ps with lesson plans using it for both on-level and honors classes. Ds used it at on-level pace. Dd covered the whole thing to make it honors pace. As someone else pointed out there are many resources available to work with it and lesson plans abound, both homeschool oriented and from ps teachers. It is a very popular book right now. 

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To make it more confusing, there is a Campbell's bio for AP that is based on, but not identical to, the college Campbell's bio for bio majors. Essential Bio is college level baby Campbell for non-majors, and would be a good high school honors text, but won't cover everything on the AP without adding material. Most colleges do full Campbell's over 2 semesters, with some offering a freshman level 1 semester class for kids who have taken the AP exam or a dual enrollment bio 1001 class, with the intention of filling in gaps and getting the kids back on their sequence.

Edited by dmmetler
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