The assignments have been made for 3 days/week of study, since the 9 students
in my lab class are really busy people. Also, the labs are scheduled for every
other week, with a few exceptions. I am allowing 2-1/2 -3 hours for each lab.
Dissection labs are projected to last a little longer.
We are using 3 different microscopes, that families already had, and one set of
slides. The students will bring their personal microscopes with them, one
remains at our home, and I will set up stations with one or two slides at each
microscope whereby students will view each, draw and record data, then move on
to the next one. I am ordering a set of specimens per two students (with one
group of 3). I also used your vocabulary bookmarks and printed a set for each
student. (I used leftover heavyweight paper from flyers that were left at our
homeschool convention. Rather than trash that paper, I printed the bookmark
pages on the backs, then cut them up. They are bright orange and will be hard to
misplace! What a great tool you devised!)
We also purchased one copy of the Biology supplement CD-ROM which will be used
during each lab class as a station where students can view the animations and
hear Dr. Wile narrate explanations. During the year, I plan to let the students
listen to Dr. Wiles' audio tape on Reasonable Faith. I have the book in case any
of them would like to borrow it and read it.
I also set up an online private community for our Biology lab co-op at Community
Zero. This service, at our size, is free and allows a central place for me to
post lab dates and specifics, Word documents of the schedules and other
worksheets to be used, online Christian and secular science magazine websites,
photos of lab class activities taken with a digital camera and uploaded to the
site, prayer requests and note board info, discussions, field trips, etc. This
idea has been received well from the students and parents.
(note from Donna: Please don't ask me where Mrs. Randall's group is and do not ask me to ask her if you can join, please start your own group for your co-op if this is something that you are interested in.
I strongly encourage that anyone teaching their own child Biology or offering
a co-op class should visit Dr. Wile's website, www.highschoolscience.com
and check out his articles under SUPPORT in the menu on the left. Click on
Knowledge Base Search, then select Biology from the menu. He suggests websites
for dissections, gives 2 sample Biology lab reports (very simplified from what
we were doing in Physical Science), and many other supportive articles on
several of the modules in the Biology text.
Cheryl Randall