High School Biology Labs and Covered Wagon Cake for American West History Project

Our Fun Fridays, when we do Biology Labs, and other fun but educational things, have been a little messed up. Plus, next week my hubby took vacation time, so we won't be doing any school. Anyway, I am still working on 3rd quarter evals, and I have tons of useful websites to share, but lacking time yet again, it will have to be posted later. Below you will find a set of videos with Biology labs. Here in FL, you not only have to do book work, when you homeschool Biology, but also labs. Sometimes this can be time consuming, and not user friendly. Next time, I will share the website that has Biology labs with interactive simulations. We have already done a ton, but still many to cover. I think tomorrow, we will do some microscope work, since we walk on Wednesdays, then have a lighter school day. I also have some updates for Math, as well.

My daughter turns 12 next week, yikes! Since it is also Mother's Day this weekend, we decided on two cakes. The first cake, we will be making tomorrow, and yes there will be pics. It will be for her West history activities, and will be a horse drawn covered wagon. I will not give details now, but be sure to check back tomorrow. I will try very hard to have it posted tomorrow. The second cake will be store bought, I am sure, and for Mother's Day, and her birthday, as we will be going to see my mom for Mother's Day, on her actual birthday.

Bioluminescence Science and Chemistry Experiment Fun Friday Homeschool

I am going to walk you through the steps of this experiment so you can try it at home. This counts both as a Biology, and Chemistry lab, read why here. As you can see in the first image with my daughter, this is actually the end of the experiment, it really glows right on her face, nice and bright.

You will need:

Glow sticks
2 drinking glasses
Ice water
Warm water

Procedure:

Give each child a glow stick. Have then look at the stick only. Ask them what they notice. What does it look like, in its original form. Have them gently rock the stick back and forth. Does it do anything? Now go into a darker room, gently bend the stick, observe what happens, and note it. Now put the sticks into the ice water, observe what happens. Leave the glow sticks in the ice water for five minutes, then return to observe the results. Now put the glow sticks in the warm water, observe and note what happens. Leave the glow sticks in the warm water for 5 minutes, then observe your final results. If you have a dead glow stick, in other words it doesn't glow anymore, stick it in both types of water and observe what happens. I won't give you our results, that ruins the fun.

We are also doing a Physics experiment today, which I will share another day, baking, and art.

First Two Biology Labs

I decided to start a Biology course as well, to take the CLEP, along with the Algebra.  I already got through part 1, and took the test.  DJ, for High School, and myself for nursing prereqs require a lab for Biology.  Since I am doing it online, and taking the CLEP, and DJ is taking it online, I am following the labs that go with my course.  The first two labs are to draw and label a microscope, and to draw and label basic equipment found in a lab.  So, we will get to those, and share them here when done.  I am hoping doing it this way will be acceptable, but lets face it I may have to take a lab class, at an actual college.  


We are sort of on a short vacation, because we have family coming to visit from out of state.  DJ will continue to work on his two FLVS classes, though. 

Here are links to draw the microscope, and the basic lab equipment. 

http://imgarcade.com/1/science-equipment-names/

http://shs2.westport.k12.ct.us/mjvl/biology/microscope/microscope.htm