Biology

Now that we’re in the high school phase of home school, I’m having to revisit various topics with which I only have a nodding acquaintance. I suspect many home school parents are like me: left behind most of the biology we learned upon exiting the classroom for the last time.  So of course I rashly offered a high school biology course at our home school co-op. 

Fortunately for me, a pair of actual biologists showed up. In a moment of hilarious irony, the co-op scheduled assigned them to me. As teaching assistants. 

Now they deliver all the lectures while I do what I’m good at, namely, organizing stuff. In the meantime, the experience has given me time to spot a gap in high school biology curricula for the home school crowd. One of our lecturers has a doctorate in cell bio. He could teach this class with half his brain tied behind his back and no coffee. 

The curriculum we bought to use with the class is okay, but it’s more of a middle school level. I’ve been adding materials on my own to round it out, so here goes: Major materials needed: Microscope (we’ll discuss this later) The Way We Work, by David MacCaulay YouTube: Between Crash Course Biology and the Amoeba Sisters, a lot of the first half of the year is available online.