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Biochemistry/Microbiology

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DISCLAIMER. I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Do you have a need for some science?  Perhaps like us, you need to round out a health portion of a physical education course.  Or perhaps you need a reminder or even an introduction to science topics?   My son and I have been working on the Biochemistry/Microbiology half-semester courses from Greg Landry’s Homeschool Science.  The combination of video along with worksheets has worked well for him.  I’d like to tell you more about it. 

Biochemistry/microbiology

What have we been reviewing?

Self-Paced (recorded) Online Classes by Greg Landry for grades 7-12 grade.  Of the five courses available we chose the biochemistry/microbiology course.    Mr Landry conducts his online classes with the goal of having students work at their own pace.  Mr. Landry teaches the video lessons himself.   Each class has a study guide which comes in PDF form.  Some pages are coloured which give additional information.   Learning which of those pages is coloured if you only have a black and white printer is initally a problem but it quickly becomes obvious.  🙂   This course is worth a 1/2 credit in high school science.

Students can communicate with Professor Landry via email if they have any questions during the lessons.  Tuition is $120.  As Mr. Landry teaches the lessons the students can watch him interacting with the whiteboard and pointing to graphics and what not. 

biochemistry/microbiology

How is it set up?

You’ll need to open an account with Canvas as that is what the lessons run on.  When you click on a class link, the lesson opens into a new window.  Seven classes were conducted in the Biochemistry/Microbiology course that we took.   The lad thought the immunology lesson would be interesting.    All the worksheets are contained within a single PDF that you can download and print off. 

Faith plays a role in how Mr. Landry conducts his life and leads his classes.   Scripture is part of the PDF lessons.   Lessons open in prayer and verses will be found in the PDF. 

All of your students can use the one course which means how ever many students you have needing to take a course, they can all take it at the same time.   So if you have students in grade 7-12, they can all take the labs and/or half-semester courses together!  You have a whole year to complete it in, so if your students work best on their own that’s an option as well. 

How is it put together?

Your students will find this a very easy course to navigate.   Once they get signed into Canvas each lesson opens up into a new window.   The video lesson does not start playing automatically, and my son appreciated that he could speed up the rate of play.  NO, I do not get how he can listen that fast, but it works for him, and he’s quite accurate. So whenever online lessons allow for that option he’s delighted!  🙂   The lesson takes centre stage as you can tell from the image below. 

Encouragement to Develop Good Study Habits

Students are encouraged to take good study notes, and my lad promised to get me a screenshot of his notes but he’s gotten rather busy.  It’s good to know notes were taken, but …. getting them in time for this review?  I don’t think it’s gonna happen!   The lad did ask me if it was okay if for filling out the worksheets if he could use the “coloured sheets”.   I asked him what he was talking about and why he would ask.  Apparently Mr. Landry tells his students to fill out the worksheets to the best of their ability and if they couldn’t to use the Coloured Sheets to fill out the rest.  The lad wasn’t sure if that would be cheating or not. 

The lad continued his explanation that Mr. Landry would explain part of the material, but didn’t cover everything so the encouragement was to complete their education.   This means it wasn’t ‘cheating’ to use the coloured sheets to complete the worksheets. Every lesson has worksheets to fill out.  NOW, if I were wanting to test his knowledge I probably could have said “no worksheets, I want to see what you know”.  But given that not all the information was given in the video lesson I wouldn’t have liked that option without giving some good study time as well.    

Now as I stop to think about it, I could have easily assigned additional work in the form of a paper/essay.  Research something you learned about and present it in one of these 40 ways. 

What did we think of Biochemistry/Microbiology?

We struggled to find the time to work on this together.  With part-time jobs, our schedules didn’t often fit together.   So our goals to do this together and have mom/son time didn’t pan out the way we wanted it to.  The lad ended up watching the videos in random order Comments from the lad, a grade 11 student

  • One: “What if I don’t think drawing pictures will help me really remember information well?   Do I have to do that mom?  I don’t think highlighting words by drawing them big will help me remember them any better than just writing normally.”   We actually watched this lesson together and had a good discussion over the pros and cons of different studying methods. 
  • Two: “I covered this really well in my biology class already.  And the diagrams were simple, they didn’t go indepth on anything.” 
  • Three: “He didn’t give enough detail.”
  • Four: 
  • Five: “I liked this lesson and found it well done. Learning about bacteria and antibiotics, it was really interesting.”
  • Six: “He went off on a tangent telling a personal story, but otherwise he did a good job on the lymph system.”
  • Seven: “It was a decent lesson, but he only covered the basics”. 

Overall the lad and I decided that these would be a good homeschool science classes online for higher elementary or lower highschool students to take.  It would be good to do the study skills one in grade 9.   Other than lesson five most of the material he viewed he had already studied and would assume most grade 11 students would have as well. 

Greg Landry on Social Media

As far as I can tell, Greg Landry and his homeschool science courses are not on social media.

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#hsreviews #homeschoolscience #scienceresources #scienceexperiments #scienceiscool #homeschoolchemistry #homeschoolbiology #homeschoolscienceexperiment

What did Crew Members Review?

19 members of the crew reviewed different parts of Greg Landry’s Homeschool Science programs. 

  1. Virtual, interactive homeschool laboratory

– self paced online – start any time
– biology / anatomy and physiology
– chemistry
– physics

2. Self-paced 4th-7th grade one-semester classes…

– Young Scientist : Anatomy & Physiology, Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Earth & Space Science.

3. Self-paced 7th-12th grade half-semester classes

– Exercise & Sports Physiology
– Biochemistry / Microbiology
– Embryology / Endocrinology
– Earth & Space Science
– Study Skills / Measurement / Lab Reports / Graphing

I do urge you to read the reviews by the crew.  You’ll find we all had varied experiences which will help bring this online homeschool science program to life! 

Self Paced Online Homeschool Science Labs

Take the Quiet

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Miss Kate let the five minute Friday word slip out a day or two early this week.  I was grateful for that.  It gave me moments in the busyness of my life to ponder a simple word.  Still.  We’ve pondered this word before which I wrote about as stillness.  As I pondered this word I found myself rejecting the idea of writing about being still, but seeking more after the idea of quietness.  And so I came to this poem Take the Quiet. 

take the quiet, pic with lake scene

Take the quiet

Take the quiet
a moment here and there

Take the quiet
to listen
to ponder a thing anew

If you take the time
Daily to read
To see history
Through the eyes of God

If you grab a moment
to consider the
creator of the world, and
all that he has done
for me and you.

You’ll find yourself
surprised at how
those moments add
life and vitality
to your life and
increase your faith.

Add to those moments
of pondering,
of reading God’s Word,
adding now conversation, to thank,
to praise, to confess,
and before you know it
A living relationship formed.

All it takes
Is to take the quiet
Taking a moment
to reflect, To remember,
to see something greater
than you thought possible.
And you will find yourself
seeing God and,
bringing stillness within.

Take the quiet, text with an orange moth

What Does God Have to Say?

Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of he Holy One is insight.”

Psalm 46:10   “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

Mark 1:35 “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

what can you do with a rock?

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (what can you do with a rock) through Raincoast Books.  Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so

When my son was young he was fascinated by rocks. We had so many rock collections it was amazing.  Small rocks, shiny rocks, big rocks (for painting on) and everything in-between.  We still have a variety of rock collections. I’m sure in time I will either find a use for or I will return them to free roam in the wild from whence they came.  🙂 But if you have NO IDEA what to do with a rock “What Can you do with a rock?” will surely come in handy.   I’d love to tell you all about it!

what can you do with a rock

The Basics

Author Pat Zietlow Miller has produced a lovely story senstively illustrated by Katie Kath in what can you do with a rock?   40 pages of bright colours and a child having fun and the reader learning what you can do with the stones around your feet.   A Sourcebooks publication that is geared for young children.  I am reviewing this advanced reader’s copy picture book on behalf of Raincoast Books. 

What Did I find?

A story of connection.  I expected to find a book that talked about rocks and things you can build or do, but I found more than that! I found connection, and considering the lives of others.    There is a gradual procession from learning what to do with a rock to considering the more.

Consider this… if you can think about the story of a rock and where it comes from, can you take the time to think about the story of people in your life? 

But first the rocks!   I love the opening cover!  🙂  Don’t you just love the huge variety of rocks?  I’ve collected some of these with my lad.   What a fun look back in memory!

Of course, one must consider that many people miss out on the joy of a good rock! 

And then, for the enlightened, one must consider the many things you can do with a rock. From skipping stones, to making arts and crafts, to finding a rock to kick down a road, seeing where it will take you. 

You must then learn the story of your rock.  Be willing to share that rock’s story with others.  As you go through the pages you’ll discover some wonderful illustration work by Katie Kath which provide fun talking points with your young readers.   What stories might those fish tell as they see a rock skipping past their heads? 

What can you do with a rock

Which of course will lead you into discovering the stories of the people in your lives.  See… isn’t there so much to learn to from a rock?  So many discoveries you can make…not only of the rocks themselves, but of the people surrounding you!  So fascinating indeed!

So, should what can you do with a rock, be on your shelf?

Of course it should be!   What can you do with a rock is a delightful, full colour book that is beautifully illustrated.  Not only do you learn some facts about rocks, but you see what you can do with them.  I find the author clever in how she turns learning the story of a rock into learning the stories of the people around you. 

How can you use this lovely tome?

As an introduction of any age group into rock collecting, or into seeing something with a different perspective.  Who knows what imagination will fire once you help children to see something common, differently.  You might inspire the next rock painting artist!  Or help a child develop an interest in rock collecting and understanding the formation/geological make up on the eart better.   Northwest Treasures makes some excellent geological studies. 

English Programs for High School

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I am gradually going through my tabs and pulling out ones I think might be helpful to other people.  I’ve been searching out English program to use with my teen, I hope to order something by the end of the month. Anyways, so getting on with this post… English Programs for High School and what I have found!  🙂 

english programs for highschool

Looking for the Canadian

Now, as a Canadian, I’ve been looking for Canadian resources to use with my lad.  Did you know that it’s fairly hard to do?  It’s amazing how difficult it is to find solid CANADIAN based language arts for high school students. There are a couple of things online, but nothing really specific. 

Now, it didn’t help there were books I really didn’t want my lad to study…. like Animal Farm and 1984, or whatever book it was by Margaret Atwood I was forced to read.  I definitely wasn’t interested in him reading Lord of the Flies either.  BLECH to all of it! 

I took the time to check out grades 11 and 12 of the Ontario Curriculum from the Ministry of Education. Mind, I can’t say it was a whole lot of help…I thought it would be more helpful than it was.. or maybe it was just my lack of understanding on what “needs to be taught” means in real world language. 

Resources I Checked out

So I checked out these resources

As I looked at all these resources I started to wonder… could I use something and just do some substitution?   Find some questions online for my lad to consider?  SO that wondering led me toward…. 

wood person people office
Photo by Ivan Samkov on Pexels.com

So What Am I Leaning Toward?

I’m kinda leaning toward doing my own thing, based off a curriculum course I received in a ultimate homeschool bundle, or perhaps looking up discussion questions. 

The thought is, I would use it as a guide for the lad to read through some Canadian literature, both old and new.  I’ll be finding some Canadian plays the lad can read.  Perhaps read a classic Newbery book (or rather the Canadian option)… possibly reading Five Little Indians.   My friend Lori suggested that I add a book called Mrs. Mike to the list. 

I’ll be looking through the young adult winners of the CLA.  I’m hoping my friendly librarian will be able to help me winnow through them to see what might work for a 16 year old lad.  So I have a plan in mind, now to see how far I get with it!  (or well.. rather see how far my son gets with it!).  🙂 

What english programs for highschool have you discovered? 

Inside Cat

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Inside Cat) through Raincoast Books.  Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so

Today I read the cutest book.  Seriously.   This picture by Brendan Wenzel is a cute way for children to learn shapes, directions, and all these other words that youngsters need to learn.   Inside Cat is a born explorer and discovers so much on his travels inside the house.  And the ending… oh my… such promise of another book to come!  🙂  If you have littles, and if you like cats, get Inside Cat today!  🙂 

Inside Cat

Talking about Inside Cat

The joy of Inside Cat starts with the cover.  These two big eyes staring out at me… it was like wow!  I want to know what’s going on with this cat!  Raincoast Books provided me with this picture book wonder.  Brendan Wenzel put this lovely tome together complete with 40 pages.  Children 3-5 years old will learn new words and phrases as they follow inside cat around the house. 

Take a moment to consider the world from the eyes of a indoors only cat.  It made me wonder how our avid “I want to be outside” cat sees the world when she’s outside.   Is the indoors as bland and blah as indoor cat seems to think?  Is the only excitement to be found by looking out the windows? 

Everywhere that indoors cat looks there is a window.  A window that is lit up with full colour.  This is in sharp contrast to the walls surrounding the windows. 

So much vibrancy in the world seen, as as inside cat looks, lyrical lines teach.  We learn about thin, round, square, tall, up, down, side by side, and so much more. This cat sees it all. 

Inside Cat

Along the way you’ll discover the fun of watching a cat be a cat!  Gazing, snacking, getting scared and more!   Inside cat slinks and pounces from window to window.

Should you pick up this book?

Inside Cat is a fun read right from the start.   Those large, curious cat eyes staring out from cover, they draw you right in.  Easy to read rhymes, and would be equally fun to read with a child at your side, or to a group of children sitting wide eyed.  The love of cats makes for easy crafts to make to help solidify the concepts learned. 

The sheer variety of things to see in the windows provides lots of talking points with little ones.   What do you see?  Do you think you’d see _____ outside your window?   What you can see when you look outside?  When you look up what do you see?  What shape is this window?  

Such a fun way to introduce early concepts to young children, this book would be a fun baby shower gift for young moms to share with their growing children. 

There your treasure Is

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In the busyness of my day, I’ve been pondering this word treasure.  What immediately popped into my head was “where your treasure lies, there is your heart also”.  Part of me wants to write on that and yet I find myself hesitating and I’m not sure why.  Perhaps because it is so obvious?  I’d rather not do the blatantly obvious you know? 

So what else can I do with the word treasure?  Perhaps the question should be asked about where your heart lies?  It’s not always an easy thing to discover, but perhaps if you search deep, you’ll find there your treasure is.  

There your treasure is

There your treasure is

Where your heart lies.
Treasure.

So I guess then the question
is… where does your heart lie?

A troubling question this can be
seeing first the heart.

And then after the heart
the treasure.

It’s like in the story book
Find the dragon

And once you find the dragon
you will find the dragon’s hoard.

Tracking it down.
Seeking it under every rock.

So it is like with the heart?
Because deceptive we can be.

We might show whispers
here and there.

But whispers aren’t always
real, or meant to be heard.

One might have to dig deep
within to truly learn

Looking past the obvious of
conversation, toys, and jobs.

Seeking to truly learn
what is in your heart!

What is it that your heart
turns to and holds ever so dear.

It might not be what you think
Or… what you see might be truth.

Where your heart lies.
There your treasure is.

There your treasure is

What does God say?

Matthew 6:19-21

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Ezekiel 28:4-5

“By your wisdom and understanding
You have acquired riches for yourself
And have acquired gold and silver for your treasuries.
“By your great wisdom, by your trade
You have increased your riches
And your heart is lifted up because of your riches—

Matthew 13:44-46

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

 

Bible Breakdowns

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DISCLAIMER. I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Have you ever wondered what makes up a book of the bible?  What the important themes or verses might be? Have you ever engaged in bible study and found yourself wondering… what is the context around these verses?  Teach Sunday School has created Bible Breakdowns to help you.  These are sheets that walk you through every book of the bible highlighting every section of the book and then pointing out the most popular verses. 

Bible breakdowns

Bonus Material Included!

Before I get too far into this review, let me tell you about this bonus material I received.

A Bible Reading Checklist!  Since doing the review for Danika Cooley’s book we’ve been reading the bible as a family.  And look now!  I have a checklist that I can edit online showing how far we have come!  Thanks Teach Sunday School!  This bonus will come in handy!

Learning the basics about Bible Breakdowns.

Bible Breakdowns comes in Old Testament and New Testament form.  It was created by Teach Sunday School.  My PDF review copy was provided by The Homeschool Review Crew and came with a family license. 

Bible Breakdowns was created to help people doing bible study to look at the passage in context.  Not just random verses, but seeing these verses within the greater context of the history and bible period they were written.   Sometimes it’s easier to not look for context when doing bible study, so Teach Sunday School wants to give people a leg up, a bit of a boost on their journey.   These bible pages are there as an assistive tool for for bible study you do.  Each overview gives a bird’s-eye view of one book in the Bible.

What exactly do you get in Teach Sunday School’s most recent offering?

You will find one page for each book of the bible, each in the order that it appears.  Both Old and New Testament books are served, with a table of contents for each time period. 

Each page is laid out in the same manner.   With an overview provided along with a breakdown of the book as well as the most popular verses. More on these sections continue below. 

Bible Breakdowns

The overview starts off each book of the bible breakdown.  You’ll find the number of title, where it places in the bible, and what type of book it is. Also included in the approximate time of writing, what time period was covered and who the author is. 

Breakdowns for each book of the bible.  Shorter books are more succint, longer books might include highlighted familiar stories or passages. 

Most popular verses are included on each page.  I do wonder how they figured out what verses were the most popular.  When I look up popular verses for Psalms I come up with different ones.   

How I Used Bible Breakdowns

Honestly, I wasn’t terribly certain how to make use of this with my family.  I didn’t.   It may be my lack of creativity, or the busyness of our household, or the age of child.  I did on the other hand, know how to make use of it for myself. 

I created a binder in which I placed the pages I copied out on our black and white printer so that behind them I could write out verses, and ideas about that particular book of the bible.  My tendency is to do my bible study on my laptop as my handwriting is simply atrocious!  Trust me on this! 🙂 This gave me this incentive to print out my learning so I have it all in one place to refer to easily. 

At this point I am merely using my binder as a storage area as I can’t find my three hole punch!  Rather annoying as I know we have two of them.  I may have to ask the teenager where one might be.

Bible breakdowns

I can well imagine a day when the whole binder is full, and I live enough white space that I can scrawl in my additional thoughts as I go through passages again.  It’s good to track what you’ve done so you can see how much you have learned.   Having a face page for each book of the bible helps me to pay attention to pivotal verses too.  🙂 

Bible Breakdowns

I’m looking forward to combining Bible Breakdowns with the Books of the Bible overview I looked at back in 2018.  I think they will work really well together. 

Should you get it? 

Yes!  It will help you in your bible study.  Helping you see context, helping you learn where each book is going, and be a quick aid in finding a particular well-known bible story. 

How else can you use it other than for your own personal study?

In bible studies you conduct with others, as a resource for your middle through high school students as a quick reference, and in helping to see the big themes of the bible. 

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Social Media Links: Teach Sunday School

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44 members of the crew are writing reviews on Facebook, Via Video and on blogs.   Please take the time to check out the reviews to see the varied ways you can make use of Teach Sunday School’s Bible Breakdowns. 

Boob-by-Book Bible Study Printable Breakdowns