Tuesday, June 11, 2013

High School Science - Anatomy

Well, here I am planning high school science again.  This time for 12th grade.  We sludged through Apologia General Science, Physical Science, and Biology before scrapping Apologia Chemistry last year and putting together my own course.  You can read more about that here.  This fall, Angel wants to study anatomy and we are going to use the Advanced Pre-Med Study by Master Books.

According to their website, the course description is as follows....

Get the science basics in this exciting premed study! Explore medical history as you discover the intricate design of the human body. Learn about germs as you unlock the code of life with a solid overview of the scope and application of medical and scientific knowledge. From genetics to bones to surgeries, discover a powerful array of sciences and advances!
1 Year Curriculum
10th - 12th Grade
1 Credit
Package Includes:
  • Building Blocks in Life Science by Gary Parker
  • The Genesis of Germs by Alan Gillen
  • Body by Design by Alan Gillen
  • Exploring the History of Medicine by John Hudson Tiner
  • Lesson Plan


I spoke with a rep from the company last week and they were absolutely wonderful about e-mailing us sample lesson plans and lab ideas.   Though these books have been around for a bit, it sounds like some of the course offerings with lesson plans are fairly new and they are working on updating the plans according to customer feedback, particularly the inclusion of labs.  Angel has 3 years of lab science so this is not a huge concern for us.  However, the new lesson plan with labs will be printed in the next couple of weeks and the company rep agreed to hold our order until that time to ensure that we have the most up to date plan. 

In researching different high school anatomy courses, we looked at Apologia Advanced Biology - Human Body and The Precepts of Anatomy & Physiology.  However, both looked rather dry.  Angel read Exploring the World of Chemistry by John Hudson Tiner this year as part of her chemistry study and really enjoyed it.  She was interested in pursuing more books along that line.  We're going to give Advanced Pre-Med Studies a try and I will post feedback here at a later time.

Some other courses offered by Master Books are ....

Junior High/Middle School Level

Intro to Meteorology & Astronomy
Intro to Oceanography & Ecology
Intro to Speleology & Paleontology
Concepts fo Medicine & Biology
Concepts of Mathematics & Physics
Concepts of Earth Science & Chemistry
The Science of Life: Biology
Basic Pre-Med
Intro to Astronomy
Geology & Biblical History
Intro to Archaeology & Geology


High School Level

Survey of Science History & Concepts
Survey of Science Specialties
Natural Science
Paleontology: Living Fossils
Life Science
Survey of Astronomy
Advanced Pre-Med Studies


I'd love to hear feedback if you've used any of the Master Books in your homeschool or are planning to use them in the future.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Melissa! I found your blog through Simply Charlotte Mason and came upon this post. How did you and your daughter end up liking this course? There's not much info out there concerning the Master Books courses because they are so new. I would love to hear your opinion!

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  2. Advanced Pre-Med Studies was a huge hit in our home! I appreciated that it was written to the student so she could open and go on her own. She found the books engaging. Though, I think she was surprised by the level of difficulty. This was not a fluffy course by any means. It took some time to read and study in order to fully understand the material, as one would expect with an upper high school level course. All the books had pictures, diagrams, and charts to enhance the material. Our dd found this helpful and commented many times on how much she enjoyed the course.

    Blessings,
    Melissa

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  3. Curious to know how it went with Masterbooks

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    Replies
    1. It went very well! I have used a couple of the Tiner books since with younger kids and will most likely continue with some for my current 9th grader throughout high school.

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