We have had a cold in our house. It hit me first, then my freshman. My husband and two older teens have somehow dodged it. It has been just over a week for me, and while my congestion is less, the fatigue still lingers. My freshman had a rough weekend, but woke up better this… Continue reading Tuesday Teaching Tip #17: Making models with air-dry clay & recipe
Category: Science
Biology activities for Valentine’s Day
Holidays bring excitement, even if the holiday is not one that warrants a day off from school. Luckily, Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday this year, but even so, I predict that Friday the 13th will be a hot mess of student distraction. Also, it will be Friday the 13th. To help use some of… Continue reading Biology activities for Valentine’s Day
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Five ways for your students to fall in love with Biology
Use videos to help explain complex topics, like Amoeba Sisters and Crash Course Biology. Teach concepts with fun, hands-on experiences. Labs can be engaging and fun without specialized equipment or complicated prep. Use models! Engage students by building models of biological systems. Explaining the process and drawing parallels between models and real-world phenomena utilizes critical… Continue reading Five ways for your students to fall in love with Biology
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Tuesday Teaching Tip #15- Use candy to build models
Kids love candy. I learned early in my teaching career that if candy was involved, there was engagement. Even if the candy was not consumed, it was familiar and fun. Using candy to build models in science automatically engages student interest, but it also engages higher order thinking skills. When using models, students have to… Continue reading Tuesday Teaching Tip #15- Use candy to build models
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Status update on making complete biology units for homeschoolers
Anyone who follows my store on TeachersPayTeachers.com has probably noticed that new biology products have been appearing rather consistently. Since deciding to create a biology curriculum last spring to use with my own homeschool ninth grader, the ideas have been flowing! Biology is best taught and learned with hands-on labs, games, and models. These units… Continue reading Status update on making complete biology units for homeschoolers
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Tuesday Teaching Tip #4: Finding seasonal activities to engage & teach during the holidays
Holidays are exciting for kids, even the high schoolers. They make plans with friends, have special events in their extracurriculars, and there is always some expectation that school will also host fun holiday themed activities. This is the awesome thing about teaching during the holiday season: we do not have to do anything to build… Continue reading Tuesday Teaching Tip #4: Finding seasonal activities to engage & teach during the holidays
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Using molecular model kits in biology
(Purchases made through links in this post for my TeachersPayTeacher.com store and Amazon help to support this blog. Thanks!) We are about to wrap up Unit 1 in our biology curriculum, which includes a biochemical section on biomolecules and reactions. As a classroom teacher, my approach to biomolecules was geared toward the types of questions… Continue reading Using molecular model kits in biology
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What we are using for 12th grade 2025-2026
My oldest graduated high school in May. My next oldest, "K", is a senior this year. Do I feel older and wiser and ready for this time around? Feeling just a tad older, maybe a bit wiser, but I am not ready. My goal for her senior year of high school is to not only… Continue reading What we are using for 12th grade 2025-2026
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What we are using for 9th grade 2025-2026
My youngest started high school on Monday. It is bittersweet. She has always been homeschooled; never attended public school like her sisters did. It is so exciting to see her start high school and set up her high school transcript this week! But, I am also sad knowing the homeschooling adventure for our family will… Continue reading What we are using for 9th grade 2025-2026
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Have Fun Learning About Cell Part 2: Plant Cells
(This post contains links to products in my Teachers Pay Teachers store and Amazon Affiliate links. Purchases help to fund the blog. Thanks!) While learning about the differences between cells of different kingdoms in biology, some of the differences discussed are the presence of a nucleus (eukaryote vs. prokaryote), chloroplasts for photosynthesis, the presence of… Continue reading Have Fun Learning About Cell Part 2: Plant Cells
North Star Homeschool Resources 