High School Science

Did you ever wonder how high school homeschool students got their labs done? If you're a homeschooler, you probably already know! In the kitchen, of course!When we were doing Biology we invited a couple other families to join us once a week for the experiments. We dissected an earthworm, a crayfish (which we all persisted in calling a "crawdad"), a perch, and a frog. It was fascinating! The kids were hesitant at first. Just not too sure about cutting into dead animals. But as we progressed they found themselves interested in actually seeing what was inside each creature, and were willing to take turns doing the hands-on parts of the experiments.

Here's a tip about high school sciences. My daughter is not strong in math, so I was not sure what other high school sciences she could do. Both Chemistry and Physics have a prerequisite of Algebra I. My daughter will be doing good to get through Pre-Algebra and Consumer Math by the time she graduates. I knew she would be okay with Biology, but I wasn't sure where to go from there. I had an opportunity to talk to Dr. Jay Wile about it at a homeschool convention. (The Apologia booth was just across the aisle from my Sonlight booth!) Obviously, colleges will be looking for the Chemistry and/or Physics credits, but if that is not a concern, he recommended Astronomy and Advanced Biology, and then maybe even Marine Biology if we have time. I was surprised about Advanced Biology. I figured Chemistry would be a prerequisite for that, but he said no, the only prerequisite was Biology I. That was encouraging to me!