Biology choices

[CathieC]

Please share which Biology courses you have used. Pros and cons. I'm very frustrated with my search for a Biology course. Due to my husband's preferences, it can not be 6-day creation based. I need for it to have a teacher's guide as I'm not the scientific type.
Thanks,
Cathie

[Barb F. PA in AZ]

Please share which Biology courses you have used. Pros and cons. I'm very frustrated with my search for a Biology course. Due to my husband's preferences, it can not be 6-day creation based. I need for it to have a teacher's guide as I'm not the scientific type.
Thanks,
Cathie

Meaning, it should be secular or something else?

Barb

[Michelle in AL]

I'm choosing to have my dd take the biology course through Scholars Online. It uses a secular text Biology Concepts & Connections. I felt more confident having an expert teach this instead of myself.
Michelle in AL

[Rachel]

We tried Apologia and just couldn't get into it. Then my son went through a charter school and had to use a secular textbook but we found we really liked it and just augmented some of the evolution stuff with materials we already had.
Glencoe Biology:Dynamics of Life is what we used and we used the free teacher materials online which really made this an independent study class for my son.

He would read the section in the text(and he has a workbook of critical thinking type questions to go with this) then he would answer the questions in the book. At the end of each section they had quizzes online he would take and at the end of each chapter was a chapter test. The website also had some videos, project ideas, study games and vocabulary that you can use as well.

I really didn't have to put a lot of effort into designing this class as it basically was "read a section a day, fill in the notebook, do a quiz/test when it comes time". He did do a one day a week lab class at the school.........but we easily could have done this at home. It had easy to do at home experiments throughout the book.

[CathieC]

Yes, secular. Or created by God but not in 6- 24 hour days.

[CathieC]

Rachel,
We're actually using Glencoe Physical Science right now. We use the online resources at the Glencoe website too. I find it hard to figure out sometimes what to skip, and what not to. Plus many of the ideas are geared towards groups of students. Is the Biology the same way?
Thanks!
Cathie

[Barb F. PA in AZ]

Yes, secular. Or created by God but not in 6- 24 hour days.

I posted this site the other day. We've used Campbell's Exploring Life: http://www.usingexploringlife.com/devteam.html

The textbook was written by the actual authors listed on the title page, not by anonymous committee, so it isn't filler-heavy as so many others are. The book is lighter to carry around and there aren't any decisions as to what to cut out. Everything that is left is important.

Take a look!

Barb

[Gwen in VA]

We are going to use Holt's Biology next year, along with the workbook and tests that accompany the text. We're also going to use the Thinkwell biology lectures and Biology The Easy Way.

We're not crazy about the Holt text, but it looks like the most "teachable" thing that we have found. I love the Campbell's text, but we have GRAVE concerns that ds2 is not studious enough to really be able to wade through an AP-level text in 9th grade.

We believe/expect/hope that that will be sufficient preparation so ds2 can do decently on the biology SAT-II.

[CathieC]

Barb,
Do you use the online activities from the publisher? Were you able to get teacher guide's with answers?
Thanks,
Cathie

[CathieC]

Gwen,
Does Holt have an online site with activities? If so, have you used them? Were you able to get teacher's guides with answers?
Cathie

[Gwen in VA]

I believe that Holt does have an online site with activities, but I haven't investigated it at all.

I just received (from Holt) the chpater tests (with answer key), directed reading worksheets (with answer key) and the thinking skills worksheets (with answer key). The tests and reading worksheets look very helpful; the thinking skills worksheets look rather bizarre and I'm not sure how much we will use them.

I just phoned Holt and explained that I was a homeschooler. I had to state that we did have approval from our town and then I had to give the name of the school ds2 would attend if he were in school. That was it! :001_smile:

http://go.hrw.com/hrw.nd/hrw_catalog/p2Program?caId=4&paId=59&pId=53

[CathieC]

Gwen,
Thanks! I will check that out!
Cathie

[Rachel]

Cathie,
I find the activities on the website to be more group oriented, but the ones in the book are very "individual" friendly.

[Barb F. PA in AZ]

We are going to use Holt's Biology next year, along with the workbook and tests that accompany the text. We're also going to use the Thinkwell biology lectures and Biology The Easy Way.

We're not crazy about the Holt text, but it looks like the most "teachable" thing that we have found. I love the Campbell's text, but we have GRAVE concerns that ds2 is not studious enough to really be able to wade through an AP-level text in 9th grade.

We believe/expect/hope that that will be sufficient preparation so ds2 can do decently on the biology SAT-II.

Hey Gwen, the Campbell text I linked isn't the AP level text. It's a solid 9th grade Bio text that came out about 2 years ago. I probably should have made that clear in my post. Since you aren't thrilled with Holt, you might want to take a peek. I used to use Holt Visualizing Life, but don't like that it hasn't been updated in the past 10 years or so. You may not be talking about Visualizing Life, though.

Barb

[Barb F. PA in AZ]

Barb,
Do you use the online activities from the publisher? Were you able to get teacher guide's with answers?
Thanks,
Cathie

Well, we're in the same boat you are right now. I don't know what Prentice Hall's policy is for homeschoolers. My oldest dd just read the text and watched the Thinkwell videos in preparation for college bio. She knew she wanted to major in Biology, so she wanted to be sure she took General Bio for majors before she graduated from HS. We didn't waste time on excessive written work or labs since we knew she'd be repeating them at a higher level in a year or so anyway.

Current daughter is excited to do the labs and whatnot at home and not happy to start taking college classes as early on as her sister. So we will be muddling through on our own. Here's a component list with ISBNs: http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ3R9&pageitemid=1&PMDbProgramId=22021&PMDbSiteId=2781&PMDbSolutionId=6724&PMDbSubSolutionId=&PMDbCategoryId=&level=4

Try Half.com, B&N, Ecampus, Amazon, and Abebooks if you want to try and avoid dealing directly with the publisher.

There are 4 copies of the teacher's text avail. here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0132508834/ref=dp_olp_2

**Edited to add...I just found their message to homeschoolers. It looks as if they do sell directly; here is the information:

Thank you for your interest in our products! Samples requested online can be sent only to schools or school districts in our database. If you would like to review the textbooks, you will need to purchase them. If the textbooks do not meet your needs, you may return them as long as they are in salable condition.

If you would like to place an order for student textbooks, you can order them online. If you would like to order teacher editions, please call Customer Service at 800-848-9500. We will be more than happy to help you. Please feel free to contact us for further assistance.

Thank You!

Barb

[Carrie in NC]

Please share which Biology courses you have used. Pros and cons. I'm very frustrated with my search for a Biology course. Due to my husband's preferences, it can not be 6-day creation based. I need for it to have a teacher's guide as I'm not the scientific type.
Thanks,
Cathie

I just bought the Prentice Hall Biology by Miller and Levine (2008). I've been very impressed with it so far. I'll be using this for a home school tutorial biology class (9th/10th) in the fall. I've used an earlier Glencoe book for several years ("inherited" it from the previous instructor) and the Prentice Hall book looks much more thorough and up-to-date.

As a home schooler, you can register with the Pearson's "Oasis" online as a private school, then you can buy the teacher's materials. (Prentice Hall is a division of Pearson.) I have had absolutely no problem buying the teacher's edition and additional teaching helps through Oasis. There are also online interactive text options, and when bought with the student text are only $6 to $10 more. Oasis
(https://k12oasis.pearson.com/ordering/oaLogin.aspx) When you register, you will be asked for "type of account" and the home school option is given in a drop-down menu.

HTH

[Carrie in NC]

Oasis (https://k12oasis.pearson.com/ordering/oaLogin.aspx)

Home schoolers can register to buy teacher materials. I registered several years ago and have been buying both student and teacher materials since then. Easy! They seem to be one of the most home school friendly main-stream publishers out there.