Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
Luke and Trisha Gilkerson from Intoxicated on Life are focused on raising kids God's way. They believe in "nurturing your children's bodies, cultivating their minds, and inspiring their souls." They have been public speakers for over 15 years and guide parents through topics such as screen time, anger, sex education, discipline, Scripture memorization, and more. They also believe it's possible to have a balanced approach to high school science while learning at home and that the process can be characterized by both excellence and fun. Using these guidelines, they have created the Experience Biology course.
Experience Biology, taught with a Biblical worldview, contains everything your student needs for a high school credit class with approximately 180 hours of study.
Here's what he had to say about it:
- Video Lessons -- 2 engaging teaching lessons every week for 35 weeks
- Comprehension Quizzes -- weekly quizzes along with quarterly exams, graded score given immediately
- Lab Assignments & Research Questions -- weekly hands-on lab experiments with videos and thought-provoking questions to deepen the scientific concepts
- Reading Assignments -- optional weekly reading assignments from The Riot and the Dance: Foundational Biology
Luke teaches the lesson videos, while Trisha guides the step-by-step lab videos. Both of them are engaging and easy to follow. I'll be honest, my son was not thrilled with the idea of a biology class. He thought he would be learning only about plants and animals and had no interest in studying either one. The very first lesson video grabbed his attention though. He stopped it multiple times to tell me some tidbit of information that he learned. The first quarter of biology covers things on the cellular and molecular level which can be more difficult to understand because it doesn't relate to visible objects, but Luke does a great job explaining the concepts.
The labs ensure that there is hands-on, interactive learning nearly each week. At least 15 labs are needed to count the class for a science lab credit, so there are many options to choose which ones work best for your family. There is a custom kit that you can purchase if you want the full experience, or you can buy individual supplies a la carte from the course's wish list. You can also see a list of needed supplies for each lab so you can prepare in advance. Animal dissection isn't on the schedule for many weeks, but we're looking forward to that! Other labs include looking at multiple slides with the microscope, replicating the process of meiosis and reproduction in imaginary creatures, creating a classification system, observing various plant life and their parts, examining carbon dioxide exhaled from the lungs, and more.
All the resources your student needs come as digital downloads with the course such as the parent curriculum guide, student guide book, and student lab guide. There are also individual answer keys for both student books, research questions, diagrams, and a sample lab report. If you don't want to print the books yourself, there is also the option to buy full-color copies of both the spiral-bound student guidebook and the student lab guide.
The Student Management page lets me see how my son is doing at a glance. It shows me what percentage of the program he has completed along with each of the weekly quiz scores. He has to turn in the research questions and lab work to me, so between those and the online grades, it's easy to make sure he stays on track.
Even if the only thing I had to say about this course was that my son likes it, I would still think it's a good program. He knows what he likes and often asks why he needs to learn something if he doesn't think he will need it in the future. Yet, Experience Biology has won him over! He doesn't complain about the work and is interested in the videos. He's a little off track with our lighter summer schedule, vacation, and summer camp, but he's already learned a lot.
Here's what he had to say about it:
"I like that it's very straight forward with multiple examples. I like how it's a combination of a
video of him talking while showing other videos and pictures. It's very well done
and easy to understand. I've already learned a lot."
On top of his enthusiasm though, it is a truly great program. The videos are engaging, the information is complete, and the grading and tracking is simple to follow, but my favorite part is the labs. I love that the class is called Experience Biology because it's so fitting! Our learning style in our home is based on experiencing learning. We incorporate hands-on education every day because I believe in the importance of my children learning by doing. When I took biology in high school, we learned from a dry textbook and lectures. The only two labs I can remember at all were dissecting a flower and dissecting a frog. I am pleased that my son will have a thorough study. Experience Biology: Upper Level helps the student make practical applications based on factual learning in an interesting, thought-provoking manner.
If you're looking for a science course for your children, I highly recommend Journey Homeschool Academy.
You can connect with Journey Homeschool Academy through Intoxicated on Life on the following social media sites:
Some of my Crewmates were able to review the elementary biology course and the elementary astronomy course. You can read more reviews of the science curricula from Journey Homeschool Academy on the Homeschool Review Crew blog.
