Ideas for Homeschool Biology

Homeschool biology is the study of life. It is one area of science that has the most controversy. Everyone wants to know how life began. There are two main theories, evolution and creation. Evolution and creation are both biases and affect how data is interpreted.

Homeschool Biology Curriculum

I believe that God created everything. So I try to find books that present a creationist's view. The curriculum that I use presents creationist world view. Depending on the age of my children I skip over any evolutionary view presented in reference books that I use.

When my children were young I had several books about creation and Noah's Ark. My son's favorite book was The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible by Paul S Taylor.

Creation Ministries International has some homeschool biology books that I like.

For young children I like their God Created series. They have a book about animals, plants, birds, sea life, dinosaurs, and insects.

The Complete Aquarium Adventure and The Complete Zoo Adventure have activities for going to the zoo and aquarium.There are also activities do before you go to the zoo or aquarium and activities for when you come back. The guides present a creation world view. The guides are for children 8 and up. You can buy each guide separate or as a set.

Are you looking for an elementary textbook that is written from a creationist viewpoint? I previewed the Exploring Creation with Botany, and Exploring Creation with Zoology. There is a zoology book for flying creatures, creatures that swim, and land creatures.

The Exploring Creation books are published by Apologia. Each textbook is meant to be used for a year. I liked the explanations and pictures in the book. Each book has experiments and activities to do and write about in your child's science notebook. The materials that are needed for the experiments are available in most households.

I wish my children were still in elementary school. I would have like to use the textbooks by Apologia with my children. I think that they would enjoy the projects and text.

If you are looking for a biology textbook for middle school or high school I like Exploring the World of Biology by John Tiner. I read about mushrooms in the book. The description was very readable. I am thinking about buying the textbook for my children. It is written for junior high through high school. To my knowledge the book does not have a lab section.

You can buy all of the books mentioned at the Creation Ministries International online bookstore.

Homeschool Biology Activities

The best life science activity is to simply observer nature. Besides having your child uses his eyes, nose, ears, and sense of touch to observe give him some tools. Give him a magnifying glass or microscope and measuring tools. Let him write what he observes in a notebook.

Plant some seeds in a plastic bag to observe seed growing. You can also grow a carrot top, sweet potato or onion.

Buy some butterflies and observe the life cycle of an insect.

Make sure that your child observes the characteristics of plants and animals. Have him make a note about the color, shape, and texture of the creature. Have him look closely to different items.

Help him classify items. Is it living or non-living? Is it plant or animal? Teach him about animal and plant classification.

Teach him what plants and animals need.

Also teach that living things are dependent on non-living things such as clean air and water.

The human body can also be part of your life science course. You can teach how the body works. When my children were young I made a 3D body. I make organs out of felt and placed them on a piece of cardboard. I then covered the cardboard with nylon to represent skin.

Introducing Evolution

Sometime when you are homeschooling biology you will have to tell your child about evolution. Explain that all science is biased. After you have explained creation let your child know that there is another view. Evolution believes that life is nothing more than a cosmic accident. Evolutionists also believe that one form of life evolved into another.

Field Trips

Field trips can enhance your teaching. It is fun to go to different habitats and try to find the plants and animals that live there. Study some in your textbook then go out and observe nature. Usborne has books on different habitats that I used when my children were younger. I also had field guides for trees and birds.

Here are some fun field trips: