Lab Supplies for Discover Anatomy & Physiology

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For any family looking for a robust anatomy course, hands-on lab assignments are a must—and this involves purchasing supplies.

While most students favorite part of anatomy, is the labs, it’s not essential that students complete all of the labs. We’d recommend your student choose at least 15 of these to complete themselves.

Lab Supplies on a Budget

We understand the budget constraints of many homeschoolers — purchasing curriculum and supplies often for multiple children can be pricey! We recommend your students plan to watch all of the lab videos and complete at least 15 labs for high school credit. So how can you make this work on a tight budget?

First, we’d recommend you choose the labs to complete that only require easily obtainable lab supplies and supplies you can probably find around your house (such as the lab for lesson 2).

We also provide supplemental lab demonstration videos to go along with most of the labs in this course—specifically those that require specialty items that may be cost prohibitive for some families. While we consider this a distant second best to your students completing the labs themselves, we want to give an option to families who want to have their students participate in these labs and write the lab reports but are not able to obtain the necessary supplies.

Access to a Microscope

Quite a few of the labs require the use of a microscope.

If you don’t own a microscope, try to borrow one.

  • Some local libraries allow you to check out a microscope to use at home.
  • Check with other homeschool families or local co-ops to see if they have one you could borrow.

If a microscope isn’t available to borrow, and you can’t fit one into your budget, a distant second-best option is to use the demonstration videos provided.

Check out our Home Science Microscope Buying Guide

 

 

Where to Buy Homeschool Science Supplies?

We have worked with Cornerstone Educational Supplies to make purchasing lab supplies as affordable as possible for you. You have two options…

1. Purchase the Discover Anatomy & Physiology Custom Kit

Cornerstone Educational Supplies has created a lab kit for those who would like to complete all of the labs. We recommend students complete 15 of the 24 labs in the lab book that accompany this course. However, if you would like to do all or most of the labs, this is the most economical way to purchase the specialty lab supplies.

The kit below has nearly all of the speciality items you’ll need, except the microscope (see our microscope buying guide for options) and one slide (human skin slide, sweat gland section).

2. Purchase your supplies a la carte

If you’d prefer to purchase just a few items at a time or you aren’t planning to complete all of the labs for the course, use the links below to purchase your items a la carte from Home Science Tools.

We recommend purchasing your lab supplies 3-4 weeks before your chosen start date to ensure they have plenty of time to get to you and so your dissection specimens are not too old when it’s time to use them. 

 

Canadian Families

Please see this page for a special note on sourcing lab supplies.  

Lab Supplies Listed by Lesson

Below is a list of lab supplies needed for each lesson. Alternatively, you can see the complete list of special lab supplies that will need to be order from a supplier and household supplies here.

Lesson 1: A Microscopic Look at Four Tissue Types
A lab demonstration video is available.

Lesson 2: The Ice Water Challenge: Investigating Homeostasis
A lab demonstration video is available.
  • Stopwatch or smartphone timer
  • Large bowl or basin
  • Ice cubes
  • Digital thermometer (oral or forehead thermometer recommended)
  • Towel

Lesson 3: Observing Mitosis in an Onion Root Tip
A lab demonstration video is available.

Lesson 4: No Lab
 
Lesson 5: Inside the Layers: Observing Human Skin
A lab demonstration video is available.

Lesson 6: Living Framework: Bone Tissue Under the Microscope
A lab demonstration video is available.

Lesson 7: Body Blueprint: The Skeleton Project

Lesson 8: Exam 1 (NO LAB)

Lesson 9: Muscles Up Close: A Microscopy Lab
A lab demonstration video is available.

Lesson 10: Grip Test Challenge
A lab demonstration video is available.
  • Clothespin
  • Stopwatch

Lesson 11: Muscles at Work
A lab demonstration video is available.

Lesson 12: Mind-to-Muscle Challenge
A lab demonstration video is available.
  • 1 meterstick or yard stick
  • Calculator
  • Stopwatch or timer
  • Partner
  • Optional materials for variations such as:
      • Blindfold to cover the eyes
      • Space for jumping jacks or light exercise
      • Colored tape or marker (for “go/no-go” or dual-task variations)
Lesson 13: No Lab

Lesson 14: Sheep Brain Dissection: Mapping the Nervous System
A lab demonstration video is available.

Lesson 15: Eye Dissection: Light, Vision, & Design
A lab demonstration video is available.

Lesson 16: No Lab

Lesson 17: Exam 2 (NO LAB)

 

Lesson 18: Mammal Heart Dissection: Exploring the Pump of the Cardiovascular System

A lab demonstration video is available.
Lesson 19: Heartbeat in Action
A lab demonstration video is available.
 
Lesson 20: Blood ID: Exploring Cells & Types
A lab demonstration video is available.
Lesson 21: Modeling Lung Mechanics
A lab demonstration video is available.

 

Lesson 22: Examining Cellular Respiration in Recovery
A lab demonstration video is available.

 

Lesson 23: No Lab

 

Lesson 24: Designed to Respond: Modeling Inflammation
A lab demonstration video is available.
  • 2 bowls (large enough for hand immersion)
  • Thermometer (non-contact infrared thermometer, digital kitchen thermometer, or forehead thermometer)
  • Stopwatch or smartphone timer
  • Towel

 

Lesson 25: No Lab

 

Lesson 26: Exam 3 (NO LAB)

 

Lesson 27: Inside the Stomach: A Microscopic Investigation
A lab demonstration video is available.

 

Lesson 28: Inside the Small Intestine: A Microscopic Investigation
A lab demonstration video is available.
 
Lesson 29: Mammal Kidney Dissection: Uncovering the Body’s Filtration System
A lab demonstration video is available.
Lesson 30: No Lab

Lesson 31: Sperm Production Up Close: A Microscopy Lab
A lab demonstration video is available.

 

Lesson 32: Female Reproductive Tissues: A Microscopy Lab
A lab demonstration video is available.

 

Lesson 33: No Lab


Lesson 34: The Body Under Pressure: A Case Study Lab
  • Access to your online classroom

Lesson 35: Exam 4 (NO LAB)
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