A Magical Homeschool

Here’s another wonderful free resource for teaching biology. The Amoeba Sisters have dozens of videos explaining biology concepts such as enzymes, homeostasis, DNA, protein synthesis, bacteria, natural selection, food webs, biomes, body systems and much more. They even provide free handouts to accompany the videos and extend the lessons.

The videos are hosted on the Amoeba Sisters You-Tube channel but they also have a website where you can find all sorts of resources to extend the lessons. The Texas science teachers who are behind the site explain:

We are two sisters on a mission to demystify science with humor and relevance through our hobby of creating free videos, #AmoebaGIFs, handouts, and comics.

There are currently 33 lessons, but more are added at least once a month. The videos currently offered are:

• Biological Levels: The World Tour
• Biomolecules (Updated)
• Enzymes and…Pac-Man?
• Homeostasis (and the Cell Membrane King)
• Osmosis: A Solute and Solvent Love Story
• Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes
• Cellular Respiration and the Mighty Mitochondria
• Photosynthesis and the Teeny Tiny Pigment Pancakes
• DNA Structure and Function
• DNA Replication: The Cell’s Extreme Team Sport
• The Cell Cycle and Cancer
• Mitosis: The Amazing Cell Process that Uses Division to Multiply! (Updated)
• Meiosis: The Great Divide
• Chromosome Numbers During Division: Demystified!
• Monohybrids and the Punnett Square Guinea Pigs
• Punnett Squares and a Dihybrid Cross
• Punnett Squares and Sex-Linked Traits
• Multiple Alleles (ABO Blood Types) and Punnett Squares
• Incomplete Dominance, Codominance, Polygenic Traits, and Epistasis!
• Why RNA is Just as Cool as DNA
• Protein Synthesis and the Lean, Mean Ribosome Machines
• Gene Expression and the Order of the Operon
• Mutations: The Potential Power of a Small Change
• Natural Selection and the Bacterial Resistance
• Viruses: Virus Replication and The Mysterious Common Cold
• Dichotomous Keys: Identification Achievement Unlocked
• Bacteria: The Good, The Bad, The Kinda Gross
• Plant Structure and Adaptations
• Plant Reproduction in Angiosperms
• Food Webs and Energy Pyramids: Bedrocks of Biodiversity
• Ecological Succession: Nature’s Great Grit
• Biomagnification and the Infamous DDT
• Human Body Systems: The 11 Champions (Updated)

As you can see, these are sophisticated biology concepts that can add to any biology studies. They are not well suited to be used as a stand-along biology curriculum, but they are excellent resources to accompany a biology curriculum, whether it’s a purchased one or a do-it-yourself biology course put together by a student or parent.

A quick glance through the comments on some of the videos will show that they are currently being used by students who are in elementary school, middle school, honors high school and college biology, and all ages are reporting that they are helpful in understanding concepts.

Be sure to also check out the outstanding biology lessons offered by the Green Brothers at Crash Courses Biology. As for main texts on middle school and high school biology, you’ll find excellent biology textbooks for free through CK-12 to use as a primary biology curriculum. For biology labs, one option is the CK01A Standard/Honors Home School Chemistry Laboratory Kit and the accompanying book, , Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture (DIY Science). You can find more information about those here.

Whether you use these videos as a supplement to biology studies, as part of a homemade biology curriculum, to spark your kids’ interests in the subject or explain tricky topics, these are wonderful videos that can add to any science studies.