Pages: 534
Grade level: most appropriate for 2nd – 5th grade
Course type: textbook
What is RSO Biology Level 1?
- Read– Fun, engaging readings introduce big ideas and details for the chapter. The text is designed to be read aloud to students, fostering questions and discussion.
- Explore– Carefully crafted, hands-on experiments demonstrate science concepts. Your student will observe and record the subtle patterns of nature throughout the course.
- Absorb– REAL Science engages visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic learners, to help every student understand and retain key concepts.
- Learn– with Biology Level 1, you don’t just learn about our amazing natural world, you get your hands dirty and learn how science is done!
It’s also important to understand what REAL Science Odyssey is not. This curriculum is NOT:
- A random selection of labs. It’s a fully developed, incremental homeschool science curriculum.
- Children will learn REAL life science, in the real world, and they’ll use the real scientific method.
- Dry or boring. Children will get their hands dirty with this elementary biology curriculum! They will play, sing, dig, and get outside, bringing concepts from the page alive.
- Influenced by religion. All REAL Science Odyssey courses are secular and based on valid, empirical science.
Who can use RSO Biology Level 1?
Biology Level 1 is an elementary science curriculum designed for 2nd through 5th grade, though it is flexible enough to be used with middle school students.
Elementary level learners are the right age to learn about the connectedness of life. The facts they learn at this stage form the foundation future knowledge is built upon. The connections they make aid in their ability to understand higher level concepts through a process called metacognition. It was with this in mind that Biology 1 was developed around biology’s unifying theme: evolution. The goal is to provide explanations for similarities that connect all life, while teaching about the differences between groups of organisms and within them.
What’s more, you don’t need to have a science background to use this homeschool science curriculum! All materials are written with the science novice in mind, so you don’t need to do a lot of extra research in advance of the lessons.
You can also use Biology Level 1 as part of a co-op or with multiple students. If you’re using the curriculum with more than one student, you can purchase extra copies of the consumable student pages separately (coming soon).
If you need a homeschool science curriculum for a different grade or a different subject, check out the REAL Science Odyssey homepage!
Science Topics Covered

Unit 1: The Study of Life

Unit 2: Building Blocks of Life

Unit 3: Characteristics of Life

Unit 4: Evolution

Unit 5: Ecology

Unit 6: The Evolutionary Tree
Science Skills Covered
In addition to being a complete, homeschool science curriculum, RSO Biology Level 1 will guide your student in learning essential skills that will serve them throughout their education and life, such as:
- Applying the Scientific method
- Critical Thinking
- Observation
- Presenting scientific data
- Reading and interpreting informational texts
Lab Experiments
No homeschool science curriculum would be complete without hands-on experiments. In addition to the fact-based and conceptual aspects, as with all REAL Science Odyssey courses, the labs and activities use a scaffolding approach to help students build their skills in critical thinking and the practices and procedures integral to science. The scientific method, basic lab report writing, and the use of observation to form conclusions are learning skills incorporated into the course. Scientific modeling is also included to help learners get a better understanding of more complicated systems. The intentional scaffolding and “learn by doing” approach lead to a more complete understanding of how scientists conduct science and of how science works.
Lab sheets guide your student through implementing the scientific method. Your student will gain experience:
- Formulating hypotheses based on knowledge gained from the reading
- Recording observations and results
- Drawing conclusions based on those results
- Reinforcing their knowledge by answering questions about the experiment.
Planning and Scheduling
Research shows that science is best learned in deep investigations of a single subject, rather than short hops from one field to another. All REAL Science Odyssey curricula align with this methodology. Each RSO curriculum is designed as a full-year homeschool science curriculum. It includes:
- 36 weeks of material, assuming you teach science two days per week.
- Suggested weekly schedule for the entire year
- Supply list break down for each week
- Instructor pages that guide you in implementing each lesson and lab
- Student pages are available if using the curriculum with more than one student (coming soon)
Important Copyright Information: If you choose the eBook version of this course, you are purchasing a license to use the PDF for your own children. You may make copies for your own children, but you may not share (email, download, print and distribute, resell, etc.) this eBook or any portion of this eBook to others.
Licensing is available for group, school, and co-op use. Please contact Pandia Press for details on group licensing (info@pandiapress.com).
Most supplies are normal household items that you can find either in your home or at the grocery, craft, or big-box store. You’ll also need a 3-ring binder for lab and notebook pages. Field guides to your local birds, insects, and plants will also be helpful.
Microscope: The four microscope labs in RSO Biology 1 are optional. Microscopy does add a depth of understanding to any general biology course, but they can be left out for elementary students.
Refer to the Try Before You Buy file for a complete detailed list of the lab supplies needed to complete this course.