It’s what’s being used in high school and freshman college.

If the student get everything in there, they’ll pass any Advanced Placement Biology exam and pass freshman college classes.

I did. I wasn’t homeschool. It was a good book.

Anyone who you feel is qualified to teach biology should be able to teach about using a basic microscope. Obviously, the microscope is not something that needs to be incorporated in to every lesson just relevant ones, like cell structure and micro-organisms.

Dissection is usually a part of high school biology, as others have mentioned. The pig heart idea from the butcher may be the easiest and most relevant to the student. And some of the microscope sets already include a scalpel and other tools for basic dissection. You’ll just have to find a tutor willing to take on overseeing the dissection or do it yourself. Again, you can charge extra for the extra cost and work of finding a butcher and purchasing the pig’s heart and a cheap baking pan to dissect it in.

Good luck!!

The lab work for bio wouldn’t have to be anything huge or extreme; in high school, other than dissection, we didn’t do an inordinate amount of lab work until Chem. The tutor could be on hand for all or some of the lab work, and/or the student (depending on how strong a student they are) can be responsible for completing and reporting on various labs themselves.

Here are some sites that offer homeschool bio curricula, there are others out there as well. I just googled “homeschool biology course”. Please note the sites also include some elementary courses.

http://www.homeschooldiscount.com/hsp/biology.htm

http://www.homeschoolingfromtheheart.com/apologia.html

http://rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?sid=1187097715-78523&subject=11

http://www.aw-bc.com/campbell/

http://www.biology.com/

Some of these listed include Christian/creationist courses as well as secular/evolutionary courses, and some of them are one or the other. I don’t know which viewpoint the family is coming from, so I included both. The mom may want to have some options as far as curriculum chosen.

And thank you for your professional attitude toward your student and their family – it’s refreshing to see!

Good luck!

It CAN be done but would definitely require more work on the tutor’s part and s/he should be paid accordingly. If it feels really too cumbersome, then don’t be afraid to say that is just can’t be done at this point.

Now to try and answer your question.

Lab work for both Biology AND Chemistry can be tricky to say the least.

It would be a good idea to purchase some different styles of Microscopes that can be ‘rented’ by the parent for the coursework (if they like it they can go purchase one for their child). Target and Toys R Us carry a nice selection for a decent price. Target (at least where I am) has been known to carry a lot of different things for Science, or you can try a Parent-Teacher store (like ACE Educational) **but they usually charge more $$*** and at times, Walmart carries some good science kits. I found one that deals with Frog Disection, that my daughter can use over and over without actually harming a REAL frog (Synthetic Frog Dissection Lab Kit by Smithsonian(yep the Museum)). There is also a website for Owl Pellet Dissection called www.OBDK.com ( a lot cleaner than the real thing). Also try www.zoomscience.com–we got an eyeball from them to cut apart (gag factor is high but very educational otherwise).

Also try www.ScienceCastle.com, they do online science and someone might be able to direct you. Krampf.com might also be of some use and you can contact Robert Krampf at [email protected]–he works with the school system dealing with science and might be able to direct you to a good source (my daughter LOVES his experiments).

Another place to check is your local Science Museum since they (on occasion) may run classes during the school year that homeschoolers can take advantage of.

BTW my daughter is only in the 3rd grade, but she loves to do hands-on experiements especially in Biology and I don’t squash her as she wants to be a Palentologist after she graduates (dear old mom just has to make sure that she can back up what she says or get seriously razed).

Lab work was in the AP Chemistry and Physics.

Some Biology teachers did do the frog dissection.

You can possibly do work with a microscope and slides of insects, identifying the parts of the insects. Pre-made slides are readily available.

I really can’t think of any lab work that isn’t midly dangerous (like drawing blood), painful or gross.

You can try pond water with a microscope and maybe see some paramecium. We tried that in elementary school, but we never saw any.

Lab would study water cycle, and perhaps boiling points, freezing points. Study conservation of such.

Photosynthesis, and observations of plant, how they do in dark compared to light, tainted water compared to fresh, etc.

So much depends on what they are learning in the class section, so I’d go through that, topic by topic, and google ‘science projects (topic)’. It’s almost impossible for someone who does NOT have the curriculum to design a lab for it.