Help me teach Biology

[sangtarah]

Our first high school year, and the big glitch is Biology! 

DD’s online class did not work out, and now I have to take over the Biology credit. I enjoyed The subject in high school and college, but I need some help! 
We have Apologia’s Biology 2nd Ed, with the textbook, notebook and teaching videos they produced. Do I need a $200 microscope? How do we do the labs? What if neither of us understand a chapter? 
I’ll find all the biology threads on here that I can, but thanks in advance for any help! 

[Storygirl]

I can't help with all of your questions, because it's been so many years since DD did Apologia Biology, and her dad helped her, mainly. But we didn't buy an expensive microscope. We bought a "toy" one that was around $50 but had 400x or 600x magnification. We found it sufficient.

Right now I am helping my two sons with their public school biology class, and we make a lot of notecards and review the material that needs to be memorized, daily after school. One of my sons has LDs and needs a lot of assistance from the intervention teacher and me, so I'm learning the material along with him.

Do you think your daughter will require you to help her understand the material? If so, my best advice is for you to go through it in advance, so that you understand it and can explain things to her when she gets stuck.

My older daughter's science teachers at a private school had the students outline their textbooks, and DD still finds that helpful in her college biology class. I can't remember what is in the Apologia notebook, but if you need something to supplement that, just outlining the main points of the text might be helpful.

The son I mentioned above is provided with a guided notes of the material, which looks like a typed outline with blanks for him to fill in.

[Momto6inIN]

We found Apologia to be very clear and easy for our kids to self teach. I really didn't have to do anything other than answer questions every once in a while and grade the tests. We did buy a nice microscope that I knew would last for several kids.

[Junie]

I hope you get some more people to chime in.  Me responding to this post is kind of like the blind leading the blind...  However,

I just had my third child finish Apologia Biology.  They have done pretty much all of the work on their own.  Sometimes they will come for help with the comprehension questions, but mostly they are able to do it without me.

We have been really terrible about getting labs done (see my recent thread on the General Ed board), but I am trying to do better.

I just spent a couple of weeks planning out all of the labs for all of the Apologia books.  I just looked at my notes, and for Biology I have planned 15 in-person labs and 16 video labs.

For Biology, I realized that the teaching videos do a pretty good job of showing what is found under a microscope.  While it's not the same as viewing under the microscope, I am going to use the videos.  I have always had trouble looking through a microscope and I think that for some of my kids with vision issues having the sample enlarged on a computer screen will be easier to see.

Also, for moral reasons, we do not do in-person dissections.  If I end up with a kid who really wants to do them, or who plans to major in biology, I will reconsider.  Until then, we have videos.

I hope this helps.

 

 

[theelfqueen]

We borrowed a microscope from a friend and then it didnt work.... so we contacted our library and they had some very nice microscopes we could use in house. So we did that and picked up a pocket scope for other projects. Worked out well. 

[kristin0713]

This microscope was recommended by our bio program in case a full sized wasn't in the budget.  https://www.homesciencetools.com/product/pocket-microscope-led-250x-with-smartphone-adapter/ 

I bought it and then ended up borrowing a full sized one.  

[ALB]

We're using Apologia at home and it hasn't been difficult at all.  I do read the modules a bit ahead of my dd just to understand what she's doing, but that probably isn't necessary for everyone.  I spent about $150 on a microscope and have mixed feelings about it.  We have had some successful viewings through it and lots of misses.  I often look the slides up online for comparison anyway.

[StillStanding]

On 10/3/2020 at 10:37 PM, sangtarah said:

Our first high school year, and the big glitch is Biology! 

DD’s online class did not work out, and now I have to take over the Biology credit. I enjoyed The subject in high school and college, but I need some help! 
We have Apologia’s Biology 2nd Ed, with the textbook, notebook and teaching videos they produced. Do I need a $200 microscope? How do we do the labs? What if neither of us understand a chapter? 
I’ll find all the biology threads on here that I can, but thanks in advance for any help! 

If you don't want to purchase a microscope: Use Google Images to see what you need to see (you will get better images), and use this Virtual Compound Microscope to learn how to use a microscope  http://www1.udel.edu/biology/ketcham/microscope/scope.html

Good luck!

Edited October 11, 2020 by StillStanding