Questions parents ask first.

Tuition is $695 for the 8-Saturday cohort — that includes all specimens, slides, lab materials, and the bound lab notebook each student takes home. Need-based scholarships and a sibling discount are available — just ask. Reservation is non-binding; tuition is collected after we confirm your spot.

Pricing is finalized for Fall 2026 and may adjust for future cohorts.

Eight Saturday mornings, 9 AM–noon: Sep 12, 19, 26 · Oct 3, 10, 24 · Nov 7, 14. We skip Oct 17 (fall break) and Oct 31 (Halloween). We can accommodate one or two missed Saturdays with a structured make-up plan.

Final calendar confirmed at registration.

Yes — and most workshop attendees do. The 3-day summer workshop ($245) is a low-friction way to see whether the cohort is a fit. Workshop attendees who later enroll in the Fall cohort get a $100 tuition credit applied to cohort tuition. Details on the Summer Workshop page.

Reservation is non-binding until tuition is paid. After payment: full refund up to two weeks before the first session, 50% refund within two weeks, and we’ll work with families on a case-by-case basis after the cohort starts (illness, moves, family emergencies happen).

Final refund policy confirmed at registration.

Yes — Bright Minds Learning is an approved vendor with the Idaho Empowering Parents program. That means eligible Idaho families can apply Empowering Parents grant funds toward cohort tuition — for many families this covers a substantial portion of the $695 cost. We’re re-confirming our listing for the Fall 2026 cohort and will post the updated vendor link here as soon as it’s live.

Re-confirmation in progress for Fall 2026. Award amounts and eligibility are set by the State of Idaho — see the program site for current rules.

7th–12th grade (roughly ages 13–18). The cohort is intentionally mixed-age — younger students benefit enormously from working alongside high-school upperclassmen, and the older students sharpen their understanding by helping explain concepts. Leslie has run mixed-age science cohorts for over two decades.

This is the most common question, and the answer is no — the labs are calibrated to be approachable for a curious 7th grader while still rigorous enough that a pre-med-bound senior is genuinely challenged. The cohort is mastery-based, so each student progresses on their own pace within the same lab block: a 7th grader and a 12th grader can be working on the same specimen while being held to grade-appropriate notebook standards. The senior often finds that explaining a concept to the 7th grader is the moment they realize they actually understand it — that’s the design.

Dissection is the spine of the cohort, and most students who think they’ll be squeamish are surprised by how engaged they become once the work is real and the technique is taught well. We ramp into it — invertebrate first (week 3), then a vertebrate specimen (week 4) — and Leslie works one-on-one with anyone who needs a little extra time. If you’re unsure whether it’s a fit, email Leslie and let’s talk it through — or try the 3-day summer workshop as a lower-stakes preview.

Yes. The cohort’s small size (8 students) is one of its best features for students who benefit from individualized pacing. Please share any accommodations or learning differences in the “anything we should know” field on the signup form, or email Leslie directly — we’ll have a conversation before the cohort starts.

Yes. Per Idaho State Board of Education (IDAPA 08.02.03.105), high-school graduation requires six science credits, two of which must be lab-based. One credit equals 60 hours of instruction. Our 8-Saturday cohort runs ~24 hours of in-lab instruction; combined with the prep/notebook hours we expect students to log between sessions, this maps to a half-credit lab supplement that pairs cleanly with a year-long biology or A&P course. Homeschool families add it to the transcript; hybrid academies typically issue an enrichment endorsement.

Talk to your umbrella school or transcript provider for specifics.

For students who complete the full cohort and request a letter, yes. Leslie writes from direct observation of 24 hours of bench work, drawing on her experience as Boise State’s A&P Laboratory Coordinator, a former public-school middle- and high-school biology teacher, and an Idaho-certified science instructor. The letter speaks specifically to lab maturity, technique, and scientific reasoning — the kinds of things college admissions readers and combined undergrad/MD (BS/MD) program panels look for. Letters are not promised at signup; they’re earned over the cohort.

Yes — especially for BS/MD programs and competitive pre-health tracks. We teach pre-health-grade record-keeping (legible handwriting, dated entries, hypothesis → observation → conclusion structure, labeled drawings). For students who request it, we provide guidance on how to photograph or scan key spreads for portfolios.

More on the Pre-health Pathway page.

The cohort is lab-led, not textbook-led. Each lab is built around materials Leslie has developed and refined over 22 years of teaching — custom lab guides, dissection walkthroughs, microscopy keys, and notebook prompts she’s written herself for this age group. Those are paired with a curated library of college-level Anatomy & Physiology references (the same ones used in BSU’s A&P labs) and free resources like OpenStax and Khan Academy for at-home reinforcement.

Students who want a textbook companion can use any standard high-school biology or A&P text — we’re curriculum-flexible by design. The Bright Minds material “is” the curriculum; everything else is optional reinforcement.

Compound microscopes, prepared and fresh slides, dissection trays and stainless instruments, anatomical models, teaching skeletons, and high-quality preserved specimens — the same kind of equipment used in college pre-health labs, scaled to a small classroom. We do not rely on simulations or YouTube videos.

Every cohort begins with formal lab-safety instruction (PPE, sharps handling, specimen handling). Nitrile gloves are standard; latex-free PPE is available on request. Specimens are teaching-grade and preserved with low-toxicity fixatives in well-ventilated spaces. Please flag any allergies on the signup form so we can confirm before the cohort begins.

We provide everything — the lab notebook, microscopes, specimens, slides, instruments, PPE, and reference materials. Students bring closed-toe shoes, hair ties for long hair, and a curious mind. Optional: a personal pen and a snack for break time.

Boise, Idaho — a dedicated lab classroom in the Treasure Valley with ample parking and secure drop-off. The exact venue is included in the welcome email after reservation, before any tuition is paid.

Currently finalizing between two Boise lab spaces.

Yes — one parent observation session per family is welcome by appointment, and we host a parent walk-through during the final capstone presentation. Day-to-day, we keep the cohort instructor-and-students-only so the work feels real and unselfconscious.

Yes — 10% off the second sibling’s tuition. Both still compete for one of the eight seats; we don’t guarantee siblings register together, though we’ll accommodate when possible.

Final sibling discount confirmed at registration.

We never publish photos that include student faces without explicit written parent consent. Some students request bench-shots for their own portfolios — we’re happy to take those. The website’s lab photography is intentionally face-free for the same reason.