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I would classify my homeschool style as eclectic. I pull from many different resources, and when I find a resource that works well with my kiddos then I continue to use it throughout the year. Several years ago when teaching biology to my oldest two, I discovered The Amoeba Sisters channel on YouTube. The cure animations and excellent explanations of biology topics had my girls and I hooked. We watched Amoeba Sisters’ videos for every topic!
The channel has videos organized into convenient playlists and courses. I saved the full playlist, as the videos for each topic are grouped together. The Amoeba Sisters also offer FREE worksheets on their website and in The Amoeba Sisters TPT store that go along with each episode. The answer keys are also available in their TPT store for a small fee. Being a former Biology teacher, I have not had a need for the answer keys and found my kids were able to fill in the sheet while watching or right after the video. It helps to preview the questions before starting the video, or you can have your kids watch the video one time through, then re-watch and pause when needed to answer the questions. For any topics that your kids are struggling with though, it is worth it to have the answer key handy. The channel also has a playlist for Before the Bell, which are short videos with review questions. These are great for next day review.
The Amoeba Sisters also have a book! The Cartoon Guide to Biology has the same illustrations as the videos with highlighted vocabulary terms and review questions for each chapter. This book is colorful, engaging, and will be a perfect addition to the videos and our main biology textbook for next year, CK-12’s Biology Flexbook.
The book and Before the Bell videos were not available back when I was teaching my oldest two. I adore these two new resources and will be adding them to the biology plans for next year for my youngest, a rising high school freshman. And, I am sure she will love Pinky and Petunia as much as my older two did.
North Star Homeschool Resources 