In this Form 3-4 (grade 7-9) study guide, students will be introduced to the principles and tools of biological study, food webs, life processes, some anatomy, adaptation, natural selection, extinction, cell theory, simple genetics, and reproduction.

The study guide includes reading assignments from the spine text, narration prompts, and open discussion questions. Experiments related to the reading are also included. Optional supplemental activities, such as current events, videos, and article suggestions when there is time, are also included. Finally, you will find a link to an exam for each course in the introductory material.

Pages: 61
Prerequisites: none
This course would also work well for a Form 4 (grade 9) student. While the reading level of Men, Microscopes, and Living Things is relatively easy, the quality of the material is worth reading at any age.

Spine Text

The study guide accompanies the living book Men, Microscopes, and Living Things by Katherine B. Shippen (Living Library Press, 2016, ISBN: ‎0692746153), which must be purchased separately.

183 pages, 18 chapters
Reading Level: grade 6 and up
Newbery Winner in 1956
Note: Because this book was written in 1955, you might assume that the ideas are out of date. However, because it addresses the history of biology—its foundational ideas—it is not outdated. To cover the discoveries that have happened since 1955, primarily in the areas of cell theory and genetics, we will use supplementary resources.

Katherine Binney Shippen (1892-1980) was a young girl from New England who spent her time much as you may have. She ‘swum and paddled and picked berries, had been close to rabbits and squirrels, the green grass snakes and the big spiders that built their nests among the blackberry bushes’.

She grew to be a lover of people and languages, traveling much and adventuring far. She collected stories of people and was an avid researcher in the libraries. Ms. Shippen became a history teacher and then the curator of social studies at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum.

Her lectures were particular favorites among children of all ages. She found their questions to be so probing and their appetite for knowledge so great that she began to write books to tell stories in answer to their questions.

Ms. Shippen published 21 books, many of them award winning and published in other languages as well. Men, Microscopes, and Living Things won several prestigious awards, including a Newbery Honor in 1956. She saw all of life as beautiful and exciting and wanted its stories to not be forgotten but desired to share them with all. —Michele Jahncke (source)

Other Necessary Items to Complement This Course

Review the Supply List for this course.

Schedule:

This study guide includes 33 lessons, each requiring approximately 30-40 minutes. You can either schedule it:

Three times a week for 11 weeks allowing for exams during the 12th week, or
Once a week for an entire year, allowing time for exams at the end of each term, and including other science subjects on the other days of the week.

We have started your guide and I think we’re going to love it! My pharmacist husband was very impressed with it!

—Robin, Children’s Legacy Library

After struggling through a few Charlotte Mason style science books on our own, I knew we were floundering and needed some help making these books come alive and interactive. I bought the biology curriculum and we have actually enjoyed our readings and LOVED the experiments and related activities. We do it together as a family and we now look forward to our science lesson three times a week.

—Allison S.

Sample Lessons:

A digital version can be purchased below, but the paperback copies of this study guide must be purchased on Amazon.

The study guide includes religious content, though the accompanying spine text does not. If you require a secular version, please choose that option below.