Reading Guide: Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species

This is the curriculum for you if:

• You’re a little nervous-cited about homeschooling middle and high school.

• You’re looking for decolonized secular homeschool curriculum and resources.

• You don’t want to lose the homeschool magic just because you’re in the homeschool home stretch.

Why should you read Remarkable Creatures? When we’re talking about science in high school, we often forget that science is still a work in progress — it’s not some finished, fixed thing that we just need to commit to memory but an ongoing process that is constantly changing, updating, and revising itself. What we know about the world is still changing every day. Evolutionary theory is a great example of this: The theory of evolution did not spring fully formed from the head of Darwin — or Alfred Russel Wallace, or al-Jahiz, for that matter. Instead, it started as an idea — a hypothesis — that was refined over the next century by curious scientists. It’s still being refined today, and if you decide to keep studying biology, you could be part of developing the theory of evolution even further. In other words, all the cool science hasn’t already been discovered. We’re still discovering it every day.

I love Sean Carroll’s book because it focuses on the sometimes very ordinary people whose scientific curiosity led them to new ideas about the developing theory of evolution. It’s easy to read history as the story of people making choices and connections, but science is actually much the same. All the facts that we know come from people trying to figure something out about the world.

WHAT YOU’LL FIND INSIDE:

• Files: Reading Guide

• 10+-week reading plan with readings, discussion questions, and activities

• Evolutionary History Final Project Guide

WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO PROVIDE:

• Book: Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species by Sean Carroll

Credit recommendation: We use this book as part of a 14-week semester course in evolutionary biology, so we’re reading it along with other texts and activities, including labs, for a 0.5 biology credit.

Placement recommendation: This is a high school level unit, designed for students who are already familiar with the basic elements of literature (plot, character, theme, setting, etc.) and who are comfortable applying those skills to texts AND for students who have a basic understanding of biology. Like most high school level curricula, it includes works that could be rated M for Mature. If mature content is a concern for you with your student, I encourage you to preview texts to asses your personal comfort level. (I read these texts with my own high school student and teach them in high school classes, but comfort levels can be very personal things.) This is a completely secular program.

For secular homeschoolers who want a fun, decolonized, rigorous way to homeschool high school and middle school, home/school/life’s Deep Thought is the progressive high school curriculum that does the academic heavy lifting so that you can enjoy the fun stuff. Unlike other high school curriculum, home/school/life’s Deep Thought curriculum teaches students how to learn, not just what to learn and makes big academics surprisingly fun for the whole family.

All curriculum materials are digital and downloadable. Because of this, all sales are final. If you have questions, please ask before you buy.