Biology

Education That’s Fascinating! {Crew Review}

July 13, 2017 by Dana

When Fascinating Education came up on the Homeschool Review Crew VIF list, I wasn’t sure it was one I wanted to do. But Emmalee had just mentioned that she’d like to learn Biology for her coursework with school, so it was sort of perfect timing. We were chosen to review Fascinating Biology and I can say she really likes this program.

About the Company’s Products:

Fascinating Education is an online website which provides online courses for Science education. The website offers educational programs for Chemistry, Biology, Physics and even a course for Medicine (I look forward to using this one with Laycie). These aren’t your average textbook studies either. The programs are written in plain English, easy to understand by all and the lessons are kept relatively short so that students don’t lose interest in what they are learning about.

The courses cover the standard topics that most high school courses cover. This was great for us, as I can count this as a high school education program towards her achievements for her diploma. This was one of her goals for the school term this year.

About the Course:

Fascinating Biology covers the world of Biology. Biology is defined as the study of living organisms or life. Through Biology we are taught how organism exist, work, live, and so much more.

Fascinating Biology follows the average course outline for Biology. It begins with creation of life, breaking it down and showing you how to recognize living things. Then you move into learning about Molecules and their purpose, as well as how they work. Next students learn about cell structure and how that works, followed by how nutrients are processed.

There is a long section on Energy and how it works in various ways. Then we learn to grow and reproduce, then later to adapt. Students learn about animals and fungi and finally plants before the courses end.

More About The Course:

The course opens with all the modules provided on the webpage. There are 18 complete lessons in all, with review and mild testing included in the coursework. There is Lesson, a Script and a Test for each lesson module. The scripts are PDF form so that they are easily printed and viewed by your student. They are fully imaged and provide thorough information on the particular lesson you are learning about.

Clicking on the lesson image or the word lesson below the image, brings up the video created for the specific part of the course that you’re working on. These videos are information packed and easy to follow. They are a great asset to learn from.

Finally, the tests. The tests are interactive and easy to complete. They review the information covered in the course and ensure the student is staying on track in their lessons.

How We Used It:

So this review was chosen for Emmalee, who is 14, very scientific and interested in any and everything she can learn about people, places, plants and animals. As I mentioned already, she specifically requested a Biology course for this year and well this one popped up just in time.

Along with this review, we were also given access to a mini-course in Chemistry which covered basics Emma needed to know before beginning this Biology course. She completed this fairly quickly and was able to dive on into Biology.

She really enjoyed learning with the videos and she didn’t mind the tests, as Emma is a person who enjoys seeing solid evidence that she’s learning and testing provides that for her. It’s a challenge for her.

Emma is still working on this course. We’ve had a lot of bad weather which makes our internet sketchy so she’s had to take more time than we would have liked but she was also able to work at a slower pace, work around the internet issues and not be behind in the course work since it is a self-paced program. That’s something that was particularly nice overall.

Where Can You Buy Fascinating Biology:

You can find Fascinating Biology on the Fascinating Education Website. The courses are all online.

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Biology, Chemistry & Physics {Fascinating Education Reviews}

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Fascinating Education: Fascinating Biology {Crew Review}

November 5, 2014 by Dana

Fascinating Education is a wonderful, science-based online curriculum that helps making learning upper Science fun. Fascinating Education provides a full program for Fascinating Chemistry, Fascinating Biology and Fascinating Physics. For this review, we were given full access to their Fascinating Biology course online.

This course costs $79 a year per student. There are 19 lessons and it includes quizzes and test scripts to help gauge how well your student is learning throughout the coursework. This program is also mobile friendly, meaning you can use it with a cell phone or tablet, if necessary.

You can also combine course packages. Pick 2 courses for $125 or all three courses for $175 per year. This is an exceptional value. These courses are designed to be used with students who are middle to high school aged or adult, depending upon the course and the abilities of your student.

The program itself is video-based and extremely easy to use. It is great for those students who struggle with learning science. The videos are simple and extremely explanatory. This also makes teaching the program easier for you as a homeschooling parent and takes a lot of the work out of educating, giving Mom or Dad a break.

This program is great for the independent learner as well. Your student can go at a pace set for themselves, allowing them to learn as quickly or as slowly as they need to. This also allows for them to watch the videos again and again until they have a sure understanding of the lesson. Such a great thing for any struggling learner.

I was personally extremely impressed with this program. Fascinating Biology was simple to use but thorough in lessons. Once you register for your program and you log in, you will see the lessons immediately. As I mentioned above, there are 19 lessons in Fascinating Biology, each covering a different topic on the subject. You see the lesson listed as Lesson 1: What is Life, Lesson 2: Chemistry Review, Lesson 3: The Cell Membrane and so on.

Under each lesson are icons to click to get to the lessons themselves. These are Lesson, Script, and Test. Each is self-explanatory. Lesson is the lesson itself. Clicking on this will open another webpage which contains the lesson at hand. The video begins and there-in so does the lesson.

There is a side tab that lists the slides in the video to make reviewing the lesson easier. There is also a tab for a glossary which gives the meaning of many words that may be new to your students. Clicking on these words will show you exactly what they mean.

The Script button takes you to the book work for the lesson. This is a PDF file which can be saved or printed as needed. It explains the lesson and what you are learning each time.

The Test button also leads you to another page. This is the lesson review. It is multiple choice and the student should easily be able to complete and answer each lesson test to show how they are learning.

This is an excellent program that we really have enjoyed using. I look forward to having my children learn through other Fascinating Education courses in the future. We also look forward to finishing our work in our current course through this year.

To read more reviews of Fascinating Education, please click on the banner below!

Christian Kids Explore Biology {Crew Review}

April 18, 2012 by Dana

I must say we absolutely LOVE Christian Kids Explore Biology. This is a curriculum I’ve always wanted to try out but was never sure about. I can now say we have been completely missing out!!

The Christian Kids Explore Science series teaches science from a biblical viewpoint. Most science texts educate from a secular standard, teaching evolution as it’s main focus but not Christian Kids Explore Science. This science text teaches from God’s viewpoint, showing his hand in everything we see and touch and giving solid evidence to dispel secular myth in science.

Christian Kids Explore Biology touches on many different biological topics from plants to animals, cells to anatomy. Each lesson topic is supported by a easy but intensive hands on project. Each chapter begins with topical information, building solid structure for the subject at hand. A list of vocabulary words and materials needed for the chapter is also provided at the beginning of each chapter section. Also available throughout the book are various coloring pages for your children to enjoy while you cover reading about the subject or simply to include the little ones while you work through the book. There are a series of questions on the subject matter provided per lesson and a review section at the end of every chapter. Maps, resource materials, coloring pages, biblical verse cards, bonus activities and much more are also provided for copying in the appendixes at the end of the book. A bonus CD is also available providing these materials and more in an easily printable form for use with the book.

Christian Kids Explore Biology is published by Bright Ideas Press for $34.95. The bonus materials disk is also available for $12.95. Both can be purchased online at Bright Ideas Press or through an appropriate retailer. To read more reviews of this curriculum and the other books in this series, please visit The Old Schoolhouse’s Homeschool Review Crew blog.

*Disclaimer – this product and it’s accompanying material download was provided by Bright Ideas Press and the TOS Homeschool Review Crew blog for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the product provided in a post on my blog. No money was exchanged in the process of reviewing this product.