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This is just so exciting! My son is only in Little Hearts and I'm showing my husband all the cool high school stuff...hahahaha! Just so excited for the bright future my sons have ahead with HOD. You truly have blessed so many families.... and continue to year after year! Thank God for you guys

Hi Carrie,

This sounds like a really interesting program and the DVD component sounds super nice. I was wondering if you could share a little about what your understanding is of colleges' expectations regarding "lab science". Is it the trend now in high schools to not do as much hands-on lab work these days? (I would think schools would be heading this way with cost cutting.) Are colleges accepting lab work via DVD watching, followed by a write-up? I have not looked into this area at all and wanted to get your perspective on all this. Are some schools still expecting actual hands-on lab work? I always thought I would go the Apologia route but would love to get comfortable with this approach. It looks much more interesting and doable.

Thanks,
Kathy

Hi, Carrie. Lysa did MTMM in 9th and we are looking at your Geography for this coming year b/c we took a year off.... of HOD. Big mistake. She loves it and learns a lot more with HOD.

Can you tell me a little about what you will have in the New World History as far as history, literature, bible.

She has been looking at your Geography and almost talked herself into that.

I am afraid when she sees the WH guide she will want that!

She is 16 but will be 17 when she starts her junior year in the fall.

Any suggestions will help..... thanks so much.

I love this choice, Carrie! I was looking into options for Biology recently and this program was my first choice! I'm looking forward to using it next year. Continuing to pray for you as you work for us!

Ladies,

In answer to the questions that have been asked in this thread, I'll share that the lab portion of the HOD high school science plan will include a hands-on component each year. The Integrated Physics and Chemistry lab in the World Geography Guide is all hands-on and includes 35 experiments. As far as Biology goes, it is up to you to decide whether you desire the hands-on component along with the DVD labs or not. Having the option to dissect along with the labs on the DVD is a great option. Choosing whether or not to invest in a microscope and do microscope work along with the labs on the DVD is another great option.

Usually a lab science expects hands-on work. However, it is also good to remember that often in a classroom lab students are either watching a teacher perform the lab or are a part of a small group performing the lab. This typically means that many students are watching the lab be performed (and in small groups not always performed well) while a few students actually perform the lab. Many students in small group lab situations end up watching and being the note-taker.

So, bearing this in mind, it is good to have varying levels of hands-on involvement as options for the Biology lab science (as this is also true in reality in the classroom setting). In speaking with School of Tomorrow, they shared that there are not any lab kits to go along with the School of Tomorrow labs, because they are intending for the student to watch and record their findings. This also allows the labs to be more involved and more diverse than usual, because they are not tied to having a student be able to perform all of them along with the DVD lessons. Often even more involved science lab programs like BJU (with extensive kits), end up being labs that students watch rather than perform.

So, it is up to you as the parent to weigh where your child is headed career-wise and think about what you desire for your child's biology lab experience to be. Then, choose accordingly as to the level of hands-on you desire within your child's Biology lab experience. The great news is that with what we are scheduling, it is easy to customize how involved the hands-on portion is. For those students who are not college-bound, or for those who are not headed into a biology related field, you have more leeway as to whether or not to include the hands-on component for this particular science course. For those who are headed for a biology related field, you would of course add the dissections and microscope hands-on component to the DVD lab component.

Most colleges require only 2 or 3 of the child's science courses to be lab sciences. This also gives you some breathing room in the lab area. However, we will be approaching each science year as a "lab science" through HOD.

As far as additional sneak peeks go, I will be working to share our plans for the guide approximately once each week or two as time allows. This will help in giving you a good feel for the rest of the World History guide.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie, can you speak to how the SOT biology handles reproduction and the discussion of sensitive anatomy? Also, I'd like to see some examples of the diagrams or drawings that illustrate these lessons, as I can't seem to find any online. I'm just concerned that the subject matter be covered delicately and not too graphically. Thanks.

I was able to get my hands on ACE/School of Tomorrow Biology this week and I'm wondering if all of the worksheets that are part of each booklet will be assigned in the guide. Some of the diagrams seem like good exercises but otherwise, I'm a little overwhelmed with all of those fill in the blank pages.