When I was a young homeschool mom with little kids, one of my biggest homeschool anxieties was the idea of teaching high school math and science to my children when they reached the age for those subjects. I was worried I wouldn't be able to understand or explain the upper-level math.
And with science? I was worried about all those science experiments! Where would I get all the supplies? We don't have space for a fully outfitted science lab. And how much would that even cost? Plus the time and the mess!
Hands-On Homeschool Science Curriculum
Recently my 9th-grade daughter, Robyn, and I had the opportunity to try out Discovering Design with Biology - a curriculum from Berean Builders. This program is clearly designed for homeschool moms like me who have experiment anxiety!
First of all, many of the experiments in the textbook can be completed with simple items you have around the house. Other experiments require a microscope or dissection kit - both of which can be purchased from Berean Builders along with your curriculum resources so you'll have everything on hand!
We were learning about the respiratory system and how oxygen can pass through the thin walls of the alveoli - the tiny air sacs in the lungs - into the blood stream. The experiment from that section was designed to show the importance of surface area to aid in that transference.
High School Science Experiments with Simple Ingredients
If your high school student can read and follow a recipe, they can complete an experiment from Discovering Design with Biology! Before we placed our grocery delivery order, I scanned over the list of supplies conveniently noted at the top of the experiment.
The only items that weren't already in our kitchen were cornstarch (a common enough household item - we just happened to be out!) and iodine. I added them to the grocery order and we were ready to go the next afternoon.
Robyn had no trouble reading and following the steps outlined in the experiment instructions. The guidelines even warned us about the potential of permanent stains from iodine. We were more or less successful at being careful!
The experiment worked perfectly! Blueish-purple drops leached from the ziploc bag where the iodine was spread out over a large surface area in the bag. Little to no leaching happened over the limited surface area of the bag where the iodine was concentrated into one corner. It was a perfect illustration of the impact of surface area!
Built-In Helps for Independent Learning
As a mom of eight homeschool kids, I always appreciate elements of a curriculum that support independing learning. One of the features of Discovering Design with Biology that does this well is the periodic comprehension checks after each section of a chapter.
Comprehension Checks help students to see if they have understood the content up to that point. Answers to all of the Comprehension Check questions can be found at the end of the chapter so students can compare their answers with the textbook's solution.
Each chapter also includes a Study Guide at the end. Think of this like a practice test where students can answer similar questions to those they will find on the test and measure their memory of terms and understanding of concepts. Answers to the Study Guides are found in the teacher Answer Key & Tests booklet so parents can assess readiness for the test without students having access to answers.
Another big plus for us is the availability of an audiobook version of this textbook so that my dyslexic students can focus their energy on science learning and understanding instead of decoding large and unfamiliar words!
Chapter Tests to Assess Mastery of Science Concepts
The Answer Key & Tests booklet also includes reproducible chapter tests. A note at the bottom of each test gives permission to the owner of the booklet to make copies of the test for their own use. This means you don't have to purchase new test copies if you have a second or third student coming up through your homeschool who will be taking Biology in the future!
Another of my favorite aspects of the test answer key is that someone else has already done the work to determine the weight of each question. Each question is assigned a certain number of points to be awarded for correct answers and that helps in knowing how much credit to deduct for wrong or only partially-right answers.
Vocabulary-Rich Homeschool Science Program
As a Latin major and language nerd, I was pretty excited to get to check out the companion resource Science Roots. Not only does this book dive into the root words and etymology of science vocabulary, it is organized specifically to coordinate with each of the chapters in Discovering Design with Biology.
I'm a huge fan of this interdisciplinary approach to learning and a focus on understanding the etymology of words rather than just memorizing terms and definitions. (Check out my video review below for an example of one of the entries in Science Roots.)
A Peek Inside Discovering Design with Biology
In order to give you an up-close look at this resources, I recorded a video review so I can show you some of my favorite highlights!
Click to play
Find Out More about Berean Builders
Interested in checking out Discovering Design with Biology or other resources from Berean Builders?
- Check out these free samples from each curricula
- View the pages of online content and links created to go with each program
- Register the free service Ask Dr. Wile to post questions to the textbook author and browse answers to previous questions
- Check out a sample video on-demand recorded class to accompany the upper-level classes
- Register for an online class in one of the science programs
- Follow Berean Builders on Facebook and Instagram!