Benjamin Corey's Creative Curriculum Cooperative

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Benjamin Corey's Creative Curriculum Cooperative A coop of passionate educators igniting passion for learning through creativity

09/24/2026

There’s a current running through the Atlantic that takes about a thousand years to complete one loop, and it’s part of the reason Europe isn’t nearly as cold as its latitude would suggest. It’s called the AMOC, and new research this year modeled what happens if it weakens: the ocean loses biomass, hardest at the top of the food chain.
This is the science behind our newest Visual Marine Biology lesson, where we pair real NOAA ocean curriculum with the peer-reviewed research it’s actually built on, because learners stay motivated when the science is real, not simplified into a worksheet.
Know a young ocean lover who’d get a kick out of this? Send it their way.
Visit teacherben.org to learn more, and check out more of our Outschool classes and teachers at Creative Curriculum Cooperative!
ocean science, ocean currents, thermohaline circulation

09/23/2026

How does the biggest heart on Earth power a hunt on a single breath?
A new study in PNAS by Ashley Blawas and colleagues put heart-monitoring tags on blue whales and humpback whales while they fed. On a dive, a blue whale’s heart can drop to around 2 beats per minute. With each lunge into a krill swarm, it speeds back up, reaching about 22 beats per minute after a lunge . Then it slows again as the whale gets ready for the next one.
The researchers think the lunges run partly on anaerobic energy, and the blood delivers oxygen between lunges to refill those reserves. A human sprinter running intervals works the same way. That makes these whales a great model for cellular respiration (HS-LS1-7): you can watch aerobic and anaerobic metabolism trade off in real time, on the largest scale on the planet.
We’re exploring this study in my Visual Biology High School classes on Outschool, where learners sketchnote real, current research to understand how their own cells work.
Know a teen who thinks biology is all memorizing vocabulary? Show them a whale with a two-beat-a-minute heart.
Visit teacherben.org to learn more, and check out more of our Outschool classes and teachers at Creative Curriculum Cooperative!
online learning, homeschool, outschool, high school biology, cellular respiration, aerobic and anaerobic respiration, blue whale heart rate, whale lunge feeding, Blawas PNAS whale study

09/21/2026

Start at any time!
Most of our classes are built so every session covers its own topic, which means learners can start any time and still be drawing and learning by the end of the first class [confirm per class]. Tell us in the comments what topic your learner would start with, and we will point you to the right class.
Visit teacherben.org to learn more, and check out more of our classes and teachers at !
Keywords: online homeschool classes, join a class mid-month, flexible enrollment, Outschool classes, online learning for kids, visual learning, learn through art, Creative Curriculum Cooperative

09/15/2026

Aphids can’t pull that off solo. Phloem sap is rich in sugar but poor in the amino acids aphids actually need to build protein — so they depend on Buchnera aphidicola, a bacterium that’s lived inside their cells for over 100 million years, to manufacture the essential amino acids their diet is missing.

Same food source, opposite metabolic problem, opposite solution.

If your kid is a visual learner who checks out the second a worksheet shows up, this is the kind of science that tends to land differently — drawing the animal while the biology unfolds alongside it, no sitting still required. It’s part of why so many neurodivergent homeschool families end up finding my classes: hands-on, hyperfocus-friendly, science for kids who’d rather draw a hummingbird than read about one.

09/13/2026

What happens when you combine a muscle cell with a plant? 🧬🌱

In a new study out of ETH Zurich, researchers built what they call "microalgae-empowered muscle" — engineered tissue made by growing mouse muscle cells (myoblasts) directly alongside Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a photosynthetic microalgae, inside a hydrogel scaffold. When exposed to light, the algae photosynthesize and release oxygen right where the muscle needs it most, cutting down on hypoxia and tissue damage. The result: muscle that generated almost three times more force than tissue grown without its algal partner (Wang et al., 2025, Science Advances).

This is exactly the kind of real, peer-reviewed science we dig into in our Visual Biology classes — built for homeschool families, and especially for neurodivergent and twice-exceptional (2e) learners who thrive when biology is taught through drawing, storytelling, and hands-on connection instead of rote memorization.

Want your learner exploring research like this every week? Follow and check out our Outschool classes at teacherben.org!

09/09/2026

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein when she was eighteen. Eighteen. And two centuries later, teens are still wrestling with the questions she raised about ambition, isolation, and what it means to be a monster versus what it means to be made one.

That's exactly the kind of discussion happening in Teacher Jordan's Visual Literature Ongoing Book Club right now. Students aren't just reading the novel, they're dissecting Victor Frankenstein's choices, tracing the creature's arc from innocence to vengeance, and connecting a 19th-century gothic classic to conversations that feel surprisingly current.

Got a kid who loves diving deep into a story instead of skimming the surface? This one's built for them.

Join the conversation in Visual Literature: Ongoing Book Club with Teacher Jordan, only on .

Know a young reader who'd love sinking their teeth into a classic like this? Send this their way.

Learn more at teacherben.org and see the full roster of classes and teachers at !

online learning, kids learning, outschool, homeschool, book club for teens, Frankenstein novel study, classic literature class, Mary Shelley, gothic literature for students, literary analysis for homeschoolers

09/06/2026

🎒 Fall sections start this week — including two firsts.
Visual Biology (Middle School) and Visual Marine Biology both kick off under Teacher Ben this fall, alongside a full slate of returning classes. Whether your student is starting their first class with us or their tenth, welcome to the new semester.
Know a family starting their first class with us this fall? Tag them below.
Visit teacherben.org to learn more, and check out more of our classes and teachers at !
Keywords: new homeschool semester, Visual Marine Biology, Visual Biology middle school, fall homeschool classes, creative curriculum cooperative, Teacher Ben, online science education

09/04/2026

📚 Visual Biology is on a short break this week — perfect time to catch up.
If your student has fallen behind or just wants a refresher, the self-paced ecology module covers energy flow and matter cycling with the same draw-first approach as live class. Here's a look inside. (This ties to the real Aug 31–Sep 4 "No Class" week on the actual syllabus.)
Know a kid who could use a low-key refresher this week? Send this their way.
Visit teacherben.org to learn more, and check out more of our classes and teachers at !
Keywords: Visual Biology middle school, ecology lesson homeschool, energy flow ecosystems, self-paced homeschool science, draw to learn biology, NGSS middle school science, homeschool catch-up

🍁 Labor Day weekend is when most families lock in their fall schedule — here's the update.Two of this fall's classes, Vi...
09/01/2026

🍁 Labor Day weekend is when most families lock in their fall schedule — here's the update.
Two of this fall's classes, Visual Biology (Middle School) and the brand-new Visual Marine Biology, are both taught by Teacher Ben — the same drawing-first method you've seen in Visual Zoology and Visual Paleontology, now applied to life science and ocean ecosystems. Sections are filling up.
Know a family finalizing their fall plans this weekend? Send this their way.
Visit teacherben.org to learn more, and check out more of our classes and teachers at !
Keywords: fall homeschool enrollment, Labor Day enrollment reminder, Visual Marine Biology, Visual Biology middle school, online homeschool classes, creative curriculum cooperative, homeschool science electives

08/30/2026

🎒 Here's the one question I ask before building any new class, including Visual Marine Biology.
"Would a kid choose to do this on a Saturday?" If the answer's no, I redesign it. That filter is why every class leans so heavily on drawing, story, and hands-on projects instead of lecture-and-quiz.
Know a family curious how our classes actually run? Send this their way.
Visit teacherben.org to learn more, and check out more of our classes and teachers at !
Keywords: homeschool class design, engaging science curriculum, Visual Marine Biology, hands-on learning homeschool, creative curriculum cooperative, project-based science, teach kids by drawing

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