Friendly Biology

Friendly Biology is the biology companion to Dr. Joey Hajda's Friendly Chemistry, a high school biology course written in the same warm, conversational register, aimed at the same audience, and available as print text, digital PDF, or family-license video course. It was written for students who bounce off textbook biology, and for parents who do not want to teach the subject themselves.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Subject-specialist (narrative high school biology)
Worldview	Christian-ecumenical (faith-neutral content; some editions marketed as secular)
Grades	9-12
Formats	Print text, digital PDF, video course (family license), lab manual
Cost tier	Standard
Parent intensity	3 (video reduces to 2; lab supervision required regardless)
ESA-common	Varies by state
Accredited	No (materials only)
Established	Friendly Chemistry first published mid-2000s; Friendly Biology extends the line
Website	friendlychemistry.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	4	College-preparatory biology scope; conversational register without sacrificing content
Ease of teaching	4	Student-readable text; video further reduces parent load
Content quality	4	Clear exposition across cell, genetics, taxonomy, ecology, systems
Flexibility	5	Works as print self-study, digital self-study, or video-led course
Value for money	4	Reasonable complete-program pricing; video license adds flexibility
Worldview scope	4	Faith-neutral content; secular edition explicitly available
Visual/design	3	Illustration-heavy but not lavishly produced
Support resources	3	Lab manual, answer keys, video option; smaller community than larger publishers

Who the publisher is

Dr. Joey Hajda is a research-trained veterinarian with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and a master's in secondary and higher education curriculum and instruction. He has taught science at middle school, high school, and community college levels for more than twenty years, and is himself a homeschool parent of a large family. His wife Lisa Hajda is co-author across the Friendly science line. The Hajdas built Friendly Chemistry first, out of their own frustration with textbook chemistry resources, and extended the approach into Friendly Biology as the chemistry program found its audience.

The publishing operation is small. Friendly Chemistry and Friendly Biology are sold through the publisher's primary website at friendlychemistry.com, through Rainbow Resource, Amazon, and a handful of homeschool-specialty retailers. The Hajdas also produce and deliver the video version themselves. Dr. Hajda teaches the course on camera, and the family-license video version runs on a Rainbow Resource subscription access model.

A secular edition of Friendly Biology exists alongside the standard edition. The two differ primarily in framing, the standard edition acknowledges that the authors approach biology from a Christian perspective but does not systematically integrate young-earth creationist or design-theory arguments into the text; the secular edition removes these acknowledgments entirely and is marketed for families who do not want any Christian framing. Both editions cover the same biological content at the same depth. This bifurcated publication choice is unusual and is one of the more distinctive features of the Hajda line, it lets the publisher serve both Christian and secular homeschool markets without compromising either.

The core pedagogy

Friendly Biology teaches a full-year college-preparatory high school biology course across roughly thirty conversational chapters. The register is the signature. Dr. Hajda writes in something close to spoken English, he explains photosynthesis the way he would explain it to a student sitting across from him at a kitchen table, not the way a textbook committee would commit it to print. The narrative voice is a design choice, and it is the reason families who have struggled with Prentice Hall, Holt, or Glencoe biology often report their students finish Friendly Biology.

Scope and sequence tracks standard high school biology expectations. The course covers cell biology, biochemistry basics, genetics (Mendelian and molecular), taxonomy and classification, ecology, plant biology, animal systems, and human anatomy and physiology. The thirty chapters map roughly to a full school year at a chapter-per-week pace, with each chapter pairing reading (fifteen to thirty pages), end-of-chapter review questions, and optional lab work. A separate lab manual is available with fifteen-plus labs using accessible materials, household items, basic science-supply purchases, and the kind of equipment a family can either own or acquire for under one hundred dollars total.

Signature mechanics: (1) Conversational prose. The defining feature. Dr. Hajda writes biology in language a teenager absorbs. (2) Chapter-by-chapter structure. Each of the thirty chapters is self-contained, with its own vocabulary, concept development, and review. Students who miss a chapter can pick up the next without substantial backfill. (3) Video option. Dr. Hajda teaches the course on camera in the family-license video version, with unlimited access for the family. This converts Friendly Biology from a parent-taught course into a video-taught course while keeping the same text. (4) Lab modularity. Labs can be run in full, in part, or skipped entirely without breaking the course. Families with limited lab facilities can still award a biology credit; families with stronger facilities can extend with additional labs from other sources (Apologia lab kits, CK-12 labs, Home Science Tools lab packs).

A day in the life

An eleventh grader using Friendly Biology in print mode opens chapter seventeen, a chapter on plant transport, on a Tuesday morning at 9:00. Forty-five minutes of reading, with the book at the kitchen table and a notebook open for vocabulary and diagrams. The writing reads conversationally; Dr. Hajda walks through xylem and phloem as if talking to the student directly. End-of-chapter questions (another twenty minutes) check comprehension. On Thursday the student runs the corresponding lab, observing celery stalks in dyed water, documenting dye migration through the stem, with the parent supervising safety and checking the completed lab report on Friday.

A student using the video version opens the same chapter on a Tuesday morning, watches Dr. Hajda teach the chapter on screen for thirty to forty-five minutes, then works through the end-of-chapter review independently. The parent's role shifts from primary instructor to grader and lab supervisor. Total time per week: roughly four to six hours, comparable to a standard high school biology elective schedule.

What they do exceptionally well

Accessibility for non-science-leaning students. Friendly Biology is the curriculum to pick for a student who does not love biology but needs to take it. The voice, the pacing, and the deliberate avoidance of textbook register make the subject tractable for students who have previously disengaged from science. Parents consistently report students who completed Friendly Biology going into community college biology courses and finding themselves adequately prepared, despite having used a curriculum that does not look like a college-prep textbook.

Worldview-neutral biological content. The biological material is standard college-prep biology. Dr. Hajda's Christian framing (in the standard edition) is present in the sense that the author does not hide his worldview, but the content of the chapters on evolution, genetics, and ecology does not systematically argue young-earth creationist positions or dismiss mainstream biological consensus. Students completing Friendly Biology have learned biology the way biologists teach biology. The secular edition removes even the mild framing of the standard edition.

Video flexibility. The family-license video option genuinely changes the course experience. Families who would not be able to teach high school biology themselves can use the video as primary instruction, with parent supervision limited to lab safety and grading. This is unusual in the homeschool-biology category, most alternatives either require heavy parent involvement (Apologia in print mode) or route the student through an outside online academy at substantially higher cost.

Lab workability. The lab manual's emphasis on accessible materials means a family running labs in a home kitchen or basement can complete most of the course's practical work without specialized facilities. This is the practical reality of homeschool biology, most families cannot run a traditional dissection-heavy lab program, and Friendly Biology's labs are designed to produce meaningful practical experience within the constraints families actually face.

What they do poorly

Thin on lab depth. The fifteen-plus lab activities in the manual are adequate for a standard high school biology credit but would not match the lab component of a strong college-prep high school biology course or an AP Biology course. Students pursuing competitive STEM college admissions may need additional lab experience beyond Friendly Biology, whether through a co-op lab day, a dual-enrollment community college biology lab, or an add-on lab kit from another publisher.

Production values are modest. The text is a competent black-and-white or limited-color interior with illustrations and diagrams appropriate to the content. Next to a Pearson or Glencoe biology textbook, full-color photography, lavish margins, interactive digital supplements. Friendly Biology looks homemade. The writing quality and content depth do not depend on the production values, but families who have strong expectations for textbook polish should know what they are buying.

Small community. Friendly Biology is a niche product from a small publisher. A family using it cannot expect the robust online community, discussion forum, YouTube-channel ecosystem, and teacher-support network that surrounds Apologia Biology or a mainstream textbook adoption. Questions go to Dr. Hajda or to Rainbow Resource; the answer comes from a small team rather than a large customer-support operation.

No AP preparation. Friendly Biology is a standard high school biology course, not an AP Biology course. A student planning to sit the AP Biology exam will need substantial supplementation, the College Board framework is deeper and more specific than Friendly Biology covers, and the lab component of AP Biology exceeds what the Hajda lab manual provides. Families aiming at AP should look at BJU Press AP Biology, CTY/Johns Hopkins online AP Biology, or a comparable AP-track provider rather than Friendly.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Friendly Biology if: you have a high school student who needs a biology credit and has bounced off textbook biology; you want a conversational, narrative-style high school biology course; you want the option to convert from parent-taught to video-taught by purchasing the family-license video; you value access to a secular edition for worldview-neutral purchase; you are running biology at home without specialized lab facilities.

• Skip Friendly Biology if: you want AP Biology or competitive STEM-track college-prep biology; you want a full-color, richly produced textbook; you want a large online community and heavy teacher support; you want biology embedded in a broader integrated science program from a single publisher (Apologia, BJU, Abeka); you want a lab-heavy program with extensive dissection work.

Cost honest assessment

Friendly Biology pricing varies by format. The print student text and the digital PDF version each retail at approximately $40-$55 as available through the publisher and Amazon as of April 2026. The lab manual is sold separately at a similar price. The family-license video course through Rainbow Resource runs substantially higher, typically in the $150-$250 range for family-unlimited access. An all-in package (text plus lab manual plus video) runs $200-$300 depending on format and retailer.

Compared to Apologia Exploring Creation with Biology (approximately $75-$100 for the student text, solutions manual, and test booklet; add $50-$150 for the lab kit), BJU Press Biology (approximately $120-$175 for the core student and teacher materials), and Miller/Levine Biology (Pearson's secular textbook, $100+ for the student text alone through homeschool retailers), Friendly Biology is competitive on print pricing and premium-but-reasonable on the video option. The video is where the publisher's pricing moves up, not unreasonably, given it represents personal instruction by a qualified science teacher.

A realistic all-in for one student running Friendly Biology with the family-license video runs $200-$275; running it as a print/lab-manual course without video runs $80-$120.

ESA eligibility notes

Friendly Biology is available in both Christian-framed and secular editions, which simplifies ESA eligibility across state programs with differing religious-content restrictions. Most state ESA marketplaces that cover science curriculum. Arizona's ClassWallet, Florida's MyScholarShop, West Virginia's Hope Scholarship, Utah's Utah Fits All, permit Friendly Biology purchases, particularly when ordered through a provisioned retailer like Rainbow Resource. Families in state programs with strict religious-content restrictions may prefer the secular edition. The video-course family license is typically reimbursable under "online courses" or "educational software" categories; verify within the specific state marketplace.

Alternatives

• Apologia Exploring Creation with Biology, a family would pick Apologia over Friendly Biology for a more structured textbook-style course with explicit young-earth creationist framing, a larger support community, and greater readiness for students going into Christian-college biology programs.
• Berean Builders Science in the Scientific Revolution, a family would pick Berean Builders over Friendly for an alternative Christian-framed science sequence with more rigorous quantitative work and Dr. Jay Wile's signature historical-science approach.
• Oak Meadow High School Biology, a family would pick Oak Meadow over Friendly for a fully secular, Waldorf-influenced biology course with stronger nature-observation and independent-inquiry components.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed the Friendly Chemistry publisher site, Amazon product listings for Friendly Biology standard and secular editions, Rainbow Resource catalog listings for the print and video versions, and author biographical references in April 2026. Cross-referenced against publisher product pages and independent homeschool review sources. Pricing retrieved in April 2026.