Teach the science. See the understanding.
Explore a lab-led approach to science with course maps, practical work, rubrics, and live demonstrations. Leslie is bringing her biology and A&P expertise, along with her wider homeschool co-op experience, into materials for families and educators. Not more pages to get through: a clearer way to teach, give feedback, and see what a student can do.
New offering, established teaching experience. See what's available to explore and what's developing →
Mastery · Integration · Wonder
Students advance when they can reproduce, explain, and apply a concept, rather than advancing simply because a week has passed. Not cram–pass–forget.
The science course is the spine; reading, writing, and history integrate against it. "Where have you seen this idea before?" is a real question with a real answer.
Lab-led, not textbook-led. The course is built around what happens at the bench; the reading supports the lab, never the other way around.
Developed by Leslie Nichols, bringing university lab experience to private science education.
Leslie brings more than 30 years of teaching experience. She is a biology teacher and former A&P adjunct instructor and Laboratory Coordinator at Boise State University, where her lab program served more than 1,000 students per term. Her career includes over 20 years of earlier homeschool co-op teaching across subjects, followed by public-school and university work. That breadth informs the catalog, while biology and A&P remain her strongest specialties. The packs organize her approach into materials other adults can explore, adapt, and discuss with her.
More about LeslieEvery pack comes with the same complete set of materials.
A course pack is not a curriculum binder you have to interpret. It is a consistent, complete set of materials so that any family or certified guide gets a complete course experience in whichever subject they choose.
The concept spine, unit by unit, and the Concept Day / Experiment Day model that drives every week.
The heart of the pack. Unit and demonstration rubrics help a teacher judge the student's own work, explanation, and next learning step.
How-to-study, the study-cycle template, the pre-lab checklist, and the lab-notebook starter.
What AI is for and what it can't touch, plus the cross-domain playbook that ties the course to reading, writing, and history.
A carefully selected reading list of free open-license resources, library books, and optional texts. We recommend; we don't require. Content isn't the product.
What-to-expect for students and parents, the vendor/equipment reference, and multi-section scheduling for guides.
Eighteen courses. Scientific Method & Lab Skills, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science, Environmental Science, Physical Science, Life Science, Human Anatomy, Microscopy, Dissections, Botany, Astronomy, Forensic Science, Marine Biology, Zoology, Health & Nutrition, and Geology are live.
Every course is complete, and each is built on the same lab-led, mastery-based method: the same two-day rhythm, the same mastery rubrics, and the same live demonstrations in each pack. Scientific Method & Lab Skills, the grades 6–8 foundational on-ramp, is the prerequisite most students should start with. Grades 6–12, calibrated to advanced high-school rigor.
Scientific Method & Lab Skills
The foundation course and the recommended starting point for most students. Eight skill units, from careful observation to communicating and defending findings, that teach how to do science: keep a real lab notebook, measure honestly, design a fair test, graph data, and quantify uncertainty. Anchored by three live demonstrations: the experiment-design defense, timed data interpretation, and the oral lab-notebook defense. Grades 6–8; the prerequisite every other pack assumes.
Biology
Eight units from the chemistry of life to ecology, anchored by three live demonstrations: the fetal-pig dissection defense, timed microscopy identification, and the oral lab-notebook defense. Builds toward the AP Biology exam by making sure students actually know the biology, rather than by cramming for the test.
Chemistry
Eight units from atomic structure to electrochemistry, anchored by three live demonstrations: the acid–base titration defense, timed qualitative analysis of an unknown, and the oral lab-notebook defense. Builds toward the AP Chemistry exam by making sure students actually know the chemistry, rather than by cramming for the test.
Physics
Eight units from kinematics to fluids, anchored by three live demonstrations: the apparatus build-and-defense, the timed prediction-and-test, and the oral lab-notebook defense. Builds toward the AP Physics 1 exam by making sure students actually know the physics, rather than by cramming for the test.
Earth Science
Eight units from Earth's structure and plate tectonics to astronomy and Earth in space, anchored by three live demonstrations: the mineral & rock ID defense, timed map interpretation, and the oral lab-notebook defense. Aligned to NGSS Earth & Space Science by making sure students actually understand the Earth, rather than by cramming for a test.
Environmental Science
Eight units from ecosystems and energy flow to sustainability and policy, anchored by three live demonstrations: the field quadrat / transect defense, timed data interpretation, and the oral lab-notebook defense. Builds toward the AP Environmental Science exam by making sure students actually know the science, rather than by cramming for the test.
Physical Science
Eight units from matter and its properties to electricity and magnetism, anchored by three live demonstrations: the build-and-test defense, the timed prediction-and-test, and the oral lab-notebook defense. A hands-on middle-school survey aligned to NGSS Middle School Physical Science for grades 6–9, built by making sure students actually understand the science, not by cramming for a test.
Life Science
Eight units from what makes something alive to human impact on living systems, anchored by three live demonstrations: the microscope cell defense, the timed classification challenge, and the oral lab-notebook defense. A hands-on middle-school survey aligned to NGSS Middle School Life Science for grades 6–8, built by making sure students actually understand living things, not by cramming for a test.
Human Anatomy
Eight units from cells and tissues to the immune and integumentary systems, anchored by three live demonstrations: the anatomy identification defense, the timed physiology case, and the oral lab-notebook defense. Built to college Anatomy & Physiology rigor for grades 10–12 by making sure students actually understand the body, rather than by cramming for a test.
Botany
Eight units from the plant cell to whole ecosystems, anchored by three live demonstrations: the plant dissection defense, timed plant identification, and the oral lab-notebook defense. Built to advanced high-school rigor for grades 9–12 by making sure students actually know the botany, rather than by cramming for a test.
Astronomy
Eight units from the sky and celestial motion to space exploration and life in the universe, anchored by three live demonstrations: the observation-journal defense, timed sky-and-data reading, and the oral lab-notebook defense. A standalone elective for grades 6–12, with a term-long sky-observation journal that can't be faked, mastered under the sky, not by cramming for a test.
Forensic Science
Eight units from the crime scene to the courtroom, covering fingerprints, trace evidence, chromatography, blood, DNA, and ballistics, and anchored by three live demonstrations: the evidence-analysis defense, timed scene processing, and the oral lab-notebook defense. A standalone elective for grades 9–12 that stays honest about certainty. Every “match” is a probability the analyst reports, never proof, and the court, weighing all of it, decides guilt.
Marine Biology
Eight units from the ocean environment to humans and the ocean, covering plankton, algae, invertebrates, fish and sharks, and marine mammals, and anchored by three live demonstrations: the specimen-identification defense, timed oceanographic data reading, and the oral lab-notebook defense. A standalone advanced high-school elective for grades 9–12, anchored across the year by the voyage of HMS Challenger.
Zoology
Eight units from what makes an animal an animal to behavior and ecology, covering simple invertebrates, mollusks and arthropods, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, and anchored by three live demonstrations: the specimen-and-adaptation defense, the timed classification challenge, and the oral lab-notebook defense. A standalone advanced high-school elective for grades 9–12, anchored across the year by Charles Darwin’s voyage aboard HMS Beagle.
Health & Nutrition
Eight units from body systems and wellness to health decisions and the media, covering nutrients, digestion and energy, building a healthy diet, fitness, mental health, and disease and immunity, and anchored by three live demonstrations: the nutrition-analysis defense, the timed label-and-data reading, and the oral lab-notebook defense. A broad grades 6–12 elective built for science literacy (how to reason about health claims with evidence, not medical or diet advice), anchored across the year by James Lind’s 1747 scurvy trial.
Geology
Eight units from minerals to geologic time and Earth history, covering igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks and the rock cycle, plate tectonics and mountain building, earthquakes and Earth’s interior, weathering and landforms, and anchored by three live demonstrations: the rock & mineral ID defense, the timed map & cross-section reading, and the oral lab-notebook defense. An advanced high-school grades 9–12 elective that extends Earth Science’s rocks-and-tectonics units, anchored across the year by James Hutton’s discovery of deep time at Siccar Point.
Microscopy
Eight skill modules from the microscope and clean focusing to micrography and scale, a hands-on technique ladder anchored by three live demonstrations: the specimen-prep defense, timed microscopy identification, and the oral lab-notebook defense. A lab-skills course for grades 7–12, with every module mastered by doing it at the bench, not by cramming for a test.
Dissections
Eight specimen modules from the earthworm to the fetal pig, a progressive dissection ladder anchored by three live demonstrations: the dissection defense, timed structure identification, and the oral lab-notebook defense. A lab-skills course for grades 8–12, with every specimen mastered by careful, respectful work at the tray, not by cramming for a test.