Apologia Biology lab recommendations?

Makayla did science daily usually. Her goal was to finish a module every 2 weeks. It didn’t always happen, but that was the plan.

The intensive would have been great!

We got our dissection kit from Home Science Tools. All the dissections are well detailed with pictures in the biology textbook except the frog (which they suggest the kids do on their own as an exploration). Our kit from HST came with a frog dissection guide and she used it.

The siblings LOVED watching. And were not allowed to help, but were told they could do biology when they reach high school.  Younger ones got seatbelted in booster seats at the table if they wanted to watch so they couldn’t get underfoot.

I respectfully disagree that if you watch labs vs. perform them that it doesn’t count as labs.  We used a program with video labs and my son followed along and filled out a lab report.  In small Christian schools years ago,  students watched the teacher do labs because it was too expensive, and they did not have a place to put a full laboratory.

That said,  we are doing science labs with one other family.  It is working well.

Here in NE Ohio, we have a couple of homeschool co-ops that offer either dissection classes or full-on labs with microscope work and anything else needed.  (One is offered through a homeschool fine arts school….they look upon science as a work of Creation, hence, it is a creative art.)

You might want to ask around to see if there is one near you that would work.  Some of these classes near us don’t require you to “join” the co-op and some do.  Or, perhaps there is a private school or public school near you that would allow you to enroll him only in the lab classes.

I also knew a homeschooling parent in years past who loved doing dissections, and she offered to let us send our girls over to her house once a week to do a couple of labs at a time.  She already had the microscope and other supplies, so we would have only needed to pay for the specimins and any other consumables.  I would ask around, even outside of homeschool circles.  Perhaps you will find a science tutor who would do labs with your son at a reasonable price.

In the past I used a Christian curriculum that said that watching the labs and doing the lab reports counted as labs. I didn’t knowingly lie to a university. My son did not go to a university. If he goes to college later,  it will be a community college, where he can fill any holes I unintentionally left.

I must address the notion that my son is a non science,  poorly educated man due to my inferior curriculum choice. He is the one that people come to when they need answers,  be it science or otherwise.  A high school science lab is not the best or only way to learn.  It is only the best if your child is training to be a lab scientist or science teacher.  My son was not. I know that you weren’t saying that my son is stupid,  you were trying to make a strong case for lab science and college prep science for all.

I am not anti-lab.  My other children will do hands on labs.

I heard about using fresh fish as specimens for biology lab and cooking them for dinner.   Does anyone have the link? It was a science teacher who switched to this instead of the waste of animals sold in kits.

I also wanted to challenge us all to think about the many ways that students gets a supplement to lab science as homeschoolers.  My daughter makes essential oil mixes (chemistry), as well as lots of chemistry in cooking.  My son who didn’t do labs can skin a squirrel and identify the parts. He has had many other experiences working with farm animals and hunting.  My point is that real life science is beneficial too.

I’ve read lots of threads about highschool science labs on the Well Trained Mind forums. The consensus seems to be that they are not nearly as important as people make them out to be. There are also websites linked that offer alternative biology labs that don’t include microscope work or dissections. I encourage you to do a search there and see what you think.

A good microscope is very expensive and I would argue that labs done with an inferior instrument aren’t doing our students any favors. I would much rather have my daughter study pictures that have been taken of images from high quality microscopes.

We are doing Apologia Biology this year and we aren’t doing microscope work or dissections. We are doing the other types of experiments along with other biology labs found online and virtual labs.

I will have no problem whatsoever giving my daughter lab credit for this year.

Many, many public schools are not able to provide quality science labs due to lack of funds. They offer lab credit for something as simple as 2 or 3 experiments and their students are still able to go on to college.

That said, I did do dissections with my son when he went through the same course. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. If you think dissections are important, just set aside a day and do them. The specimens have had all body fluids removed so it’s not nearly as gross as you think it might be. The formaldehyde is strong so I recommend doing them outdoors. We ordered an inexpensive kit from Home Science Tools. They include everything you need for the dissections, including instructions for each specimen.

The way they preserve dissection specimens today is much better than when I was in high school and college. Back then, you had to “fish” your specimen out of a bucket of formaldehyde. ? Now they come sealed in a plastic bag.

As for science classes in high school and college, at the public high school I attended labs were done on days without a lecture/discussion, other than instructions for the lab. In college, labs were scheduled basically as another class, separate from classroom lectures. The actual science class would meet three to five times per week with a lab class once or twice per week, depending on the science course being studied. Both classes were required to complete the course.