This past year we really struggled with science for our oldest. We started out with Apologia Biology because that’s just what you do, right? Well it is for most college bound high schoolers but we found ourselves struggling through it.
We had to take a good hard look at , “...train them in the way they should go…” verse. You know we all say that and know that but, “the state says…” It’s a fine line. How much do we do what we think is right for our child or follow along with everyone else? It’s different for every state but the first step is to take a look at what really is required. HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense) has a section on state laws which may be a good place to start. You might be surprised at what you find.
For instance in MI where I live most people follow (and some think the requirement is) Physical, Biology, Chemistry and then Physics for high school science. Direct from the Michigan Department of Education website, it states for Science you need only 3 credits (years), one Biology, one Physics or Chemistry and one additional science. It does also state they need to be lab sciences. It pays to check it out. I’m not suggesting we don’t comply with the minimum state requirements only think outside the box at times about them!
So after much struggle in our first semester we dropped Biology and switched to Forensic Science. It’s much more interesting for my son. We are only half way through since we did Biology the first half of last year but it is much easier to get him to get his reading, study guides and labs done. (Not that he doesn’t still occasionally complain…) The topics include ballistic’s (gun parts and stuff), fingerprinting (he lifted prints for his lab), soil/hair/fiber analysis, DNA, and more…
 
Now, I would like to tell you he’s doing fabulous with it and it’s now his favorite subject but that’s not true. He still hates science as much as he always had and he’s still not getting an A but at least he is somewhat interested in this topic and it’s not like pulling teeth to get him to do it. It makes for a much better mom (teacher)/son relationship!
The program I found is available on line for free. I recommend it though you will want to preview it and possibly modify for your child. For instance one of the assignments uses the autopsy report for Jon Boney Ramsey. We are skipping that part as I felt it was a little too graphic. There’re a few things like that. Some you may decide are okay and some you may want to modify. As they reach adulthood they are going to be exposed to some unpleasantness in the world (especially if they are considering this field) and you may want to use this as an opportunity to put it into a Christian Worldview perspective.
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