Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum

Learn about plants and nature!

Welcome to Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum!

We think botany is an overlooked topic that gets shoved into a chapter of biology and then forgotten. Plants affect and enrich so many parts of our lives! Our houses and clothes are made of plant materials. We eat plants. We enjoy their beauty. They provide us with medicines, fuel, perfume, dyes, paper and a variety of other products. They are tied to history and even our future. They are an integral part of our lives!

This course is for any student who has a love for nature and plants. It’s also perfect as a pre-biology course (or post-biology!). Students will learn the science behind plants and to appreciate the myriad contributions plants make to our lives!

Prerequisites: None
Approximate Daily Time Commitment:
45 min. – 1 hour depending on activities that are chosen and reading speed

$57.00

Guest Hollow materials are downloadable/online. There are no physical copies.		Already a customer? Go to “My Account” to log in and access your downloads and your online schedule membership. Need help logging in? Check out our help page.

Grade Level / Age

Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum is suggested for:
● Grades 6-12
● Approximate ages
12-18





What You Get

Botany comes with:
✔ A printable PDF schedule
✔ An editable schedule in Microsoft Word format
✔ Access to an online version of the schedule*
✔ A workbook in PDF format
✔ A free online textbook



Required Items

In order to use this curriculum, you will need to obtain some books and items separately. You may be able to get many for FREE from your local library!

Click to learn more!




*Access to the online version of Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum schedule is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed due to various potential circumstances.

I’d like to see the book & resource list!

Click here to see the required books and resources for Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum.

Observe nature with Guest Hollow’s Botany!




The goals for this homeschool botany course are:

  • To understand scientific concepts concerning plants
  • To understand and appreciate many practical applications of plants
  • To learn how to identify many different plants, flowers and trees
  • To learn some history and geography as it pertains to specific plants or plant discoveries
  • To be involved in the natural world on a more frequent basis
  • To keep a nature journal and learn some artistic skills that will help students reproduce their observations via drawings
  • To learn how to grow, cook, and use plants in a variety of ways
  • To learn about bees and worms (creatures that are beneficial to plants)
  • To hone observation skills, nurture an interest in the natural world, and encourage reflection on beautiful and interesting things

Make science the best part of the day!

  • “Guest Hollow’s Botany curriculum is fantastic! This program is easy to follow and full of various projects, activities, and resources to tackle all learning styles. I have been a homeschool parent for over 10 years now. I get frustrated with standard curriculum that often lacks fun supplementals or ideas to change up learning when things get overwhelming, so I was determined to seek out a new program last year and am so happy I ran across Guest Hollow! It helped to create the best subject in our school year yet!  Excellent customer service and thorough research obviously went into this program. I’ve been an avid gardener for numerous years and very much enjoyed this program with my son. We both learned a lot and enjoyed every moment. We wish we could do it again this year!”
    Tosha B

Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum
brings science to life.

Students dive into engaging books and videos, then roll up their sleeves for a buffet of hands-on activities: extracting DNA from strawberries, dissecting the xylem tubes out of a stalk of celery, fermenting homemade kimchi or sauerkraut, and dozens more hands-on projects throughout the year.

Engaging Books & Materials

We’ve hand-picked books your students will love.

Our homeschool botany curriculum schedules in great books that will ignite your student’s love for science.

Free Botany Videos

Videos add a visual component.

We scour YouTube to find the best educational videos to make botany something to actually see & hear and not just read about.

Fun Botany Projects

We work hard to engage ALL types of learners.

You’ll find a buffet of videos, projects, activities, and assignments you can pick-and-choose from to help your students retain what they are learning, including recipes!

Love Learning

Students and parents love Guest Hollow!

Our customers have shared over and over how Guest Hollow curricula has changed their homeschool and sparked a love for learning!

Does this curriculum come with ____________?

✘ books?
No, you need to purchase the scheduled books separately. Learn more.
However, you do get a FREE online spine book!
Guest Hollow's Botany Textbook


☑ a printable book list?
Yes. We provide a book list with a handy checklist to help you plan what you want to buy or borrow and in what format. We also let you know when each book is scheduled in, so you can arrange to check out books from the library before you need them!

☑ a schedule?
Yes. You get the same weekly schedule in 3 different formats: PDF, Microsoft Word, and online*. Just open it up and you are ready to learn!
*Access to the online version of the curriculum schedule is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed due to various potential circumstances on our end and yours including but not limited to various computer, device, and internet configurations.

☑ a supply list?
Yes. Most recipe ingredients and supplies are listed at the beginning of your schedule week-by-week.

✘ a teacher’s manual?
No. The botany curriculum schedule is all you need!

✘ tests?
No. There are no tests with this curriculum. Read about our philosophy concerning tests here.

☑ a workbook?
We are currently working on the workbook, and we hope to have the final version ready sometime during the Fall 2026 semester (no promises though).

In the meantime, we’ve included a temporary workbook containing some of the labs, activities, and printables that will be incorporated into the final workbook. Once the completed workbook is released, it will be added to your downloads as a free update.

Click or tap to see a sample!

Take a look at a week of the online version of the schedule here. 

Take a look at a sample of the printable schedule here:

Sample download

Want to know how to use the Guest Hollow PDF Schedule or the editable Microsoft version of our schedule? Go here! (This page gives lots of insight as to how our schedules work!)

Have a question about printing your Guest Hollow schedule and materials? We cover that, too!

F.A.Q. for our Botany Curriculum

This is a full-year, 33-chapter botany course for grades 6-12, scheduled across 36 weeks of five-day-a-week lessons. Written in a lively, conversational voice, it takes students from the inside of a single plant cell all the way out to real careers in the plant world. Below is a complete breakdown of what’s covered, unit by unit.

Unit 1: Welcome to Botany (Chapters 1-5)
Students start with why plants actually matter to daily life, then learn how the naming and classification system works before zooming all the way into the plant cell itself, including the specialized tissues that let a plant grow, heal, and keep functioning for years.

  • Ch. 1: Plants in Our Lives
  • Ch. 2: Plant Classification and Taxonomy (Naming)
  • Ch. 3: Plant Cells
  • Ch. 4: Meristematic Tissues
  • Ch. 5: Permanent Tissues

Unit 2: Plant Anatomy (Chapters 6-11)
A deep dive into the three big structural systems: roots, stems, and leaves, including some genuinely surprising survival adaptations plants use in harsh environments.

  • Ch. 6-7: Roots (anchoring, absorption, storage, and unusual root types)
  • Ch. 8-9: Stems (structure, plus climbing, storing, and defensive “superpowers”)
  • Ch. 10-11: Leaves (basic architecture and advanced adaptations)

Unit 3: How Plants Work (Chapter 12)
The engine behind everything: photosynthesis, explained in a way that finally makes it click.

  • Ch. 12: Photosynthesis

Unit 4: Reproduction (Chapters 13-16)
From flower to fruit to seed, this unit covers how plants make more plants, including the wild variety of pollinators plants rely on and why the produce aisle is more complicated than it looks.

  • Ch. 13: Flowers
  • Ch. 14: Pollination
  • Ch. 15: Fruits
  • Ch. 16: Seeds

Unit 5: Growth and Behavior (Chapters 17-19)
Students learn the different life-cycle strategies plants use, how plant hormones direct growth, and how plants sense and react to their environment, even though they can’t move.

  • Ch. 17: Growth Patterns
  • Ch. 18: Plant Hormones
  • Ch. 19: How Plants Respond to Their Environment

Unit 6: Plant Diversity (Chapters 20-24)
A tour through the major plant groups, from flowering plants and conifers to ferns, mosses, and what actually makes a tree a tree.

  • Ch. 20: Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
  • Ch. 21: Gymnosperms (Conifers)
  • Ch. 22: Ferns, Horsetails, and Club Mosses
  • Ch. 23: Mosses and Nonvascular Plants
  • Ch. 24: Trees

Unit 7: Plants in the Wider World (Chapters 25-27)
The ecology unit: how plants interact with other living things, an introduction to the fungi kingdom, and a hard look at invasive species and the damage they cause.

  • Ch. 25: Plant Relationships
  • Ch. 26: The Fungi Kingdom
  • Ch. 27: Invasive Plants

Unit 8: Applied Botany (Chapters 28-30)
The course goes hands-on, teaching students how to build healthy soil, grow a real garden, and propagate new plants from cuttings.

  • Ch. 28: Composting and Living Soil
  • Ch. 29: Gardening
  • Ch. 30: Plant Propagation

Unit 9: The Future of Plants (Chapters 31-33)
The course wraps up with plant genetics and breeding, how to manage pests and disease in a real garden, and a look at career paths built around plants, giving students a picture of where this knowledge can lead.

  • Ch. 31: Plant Genetics and Breeding
  • Ch. 32: Plant Pests and Diseases
  • Ch. 33: Careers in the Plant World

Every week also includes:

  • Hands-on activities and labs
  • Recipes tied to that week’s topic
  • Curated videos and websites
  • Nature journaling and drawing pages
  • Printable worksheets
  • Selections from engaging living books on trees, flowers, and specific crops

There are 36 weeks in this curriculum.

You can keep your files forever, if you save your initial download!

Once you’ve downloaded the schedule and workbook to your computer or device, you are licensed to use the downloaded copy forever. Make sure you download, save, and back up your items immediately after your purchase! You can click directly on the links in the schedule from a computer or other device and can use your materials with younger students years later.

2 Years to Access Additional Downloads & the Online Schedule*

Additional downloads (after your initial purchase) and access to the online version of the schedule are provided as a courtesy and are not guaranteed due to various potential technical and business (and life!) circumstances. It is our intention to continue to provide access for a period of 2 years from the date of purchase. After the 2-year period, you will have the opportunity to repurchase your access at a substantial discount.

Please note, if you have problems, we have a liberal policy of providing extra, free access for unusual circumstances (at our discretion). Just contact us: support@guesthollow.com

*Access to the online version of the curriculum schedules and additional downloads is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed due to potential various circumstances on our end and yours including but not limited to various computer, device, and internet configurations.

Yes, on a case-by-case basis depending on the amount of paperwork they require and the bureaucracy that needs to be navigated. 😉

No, you may NOT resell, share, or distribute any of Guest Hollow’s digital products (or printed out copies of our digital products) which includes but is not limited to schedules, workbooks, printables, and other materials.

Our materials are licensed for a single family’s use only. You may print out as many copies as you need for siblings or others living in your home.

Please contact us if you wish to use our materials in a co-op or school: support@guesthollow.com

Yes, but every family in a co-op needs to purchase a copy of our materials (one item per family). We offer a co-op discount. Contact us for information about the discount.

Schools need to contact us for school pricing and payment options.

Contact us at: support@guesthollow.com

No. We only offer a digital version at this time. You can print out your materials at home or have them printed via a printing service.

Some of our customers use The Homeschool Printing Company or Watson Family Press. We don’t endorse any specific printing company. They are shared for informational purposes only.

Please see the F.A.Q. on the Botany Curriculum Books and Resources page.

We are Christians, but Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum is not intended to be a “Christian resource”. However, there may be infrequent (or what we consider to be) minor references or links to resources that mention Christian ideas, values, or sectarian topics even in our secular/non-religious/neutral curriculums. There are some notes for Christians/creationists included in the schedule (like a heads up if a video contains evolution). These notes can be skipped by secular users (or deleted from the MS Word copy).

If we schedule in a Christian book, we try to give you notice of such in the books and resources page.

Christians and non-Christians should preview the scheduled books and all other resources such as videos, etc. to make sure they are compatible with your beliefs, philosophies, and values.

This question is impossible for us to answer.

We do NOT in any way make any representations that any of our material will or will not work for establishing credit, being enough to conform to any educational requirements, or pass muster with any federal, state, local, or college requirements.  

We require instructors and parents to determine for themselves, from federal, state, and local authorities – as well as from any colleges that may be considered in the future what is specifically required in their family’s / student’s circumstances in order to meet requirements for credit, graduation, admission, and all other potential requirements and needs.

The morass of individual requirements in between states, municipalities, and colleges is such a tangled mess that we simply cannot help to determine the suitability of any materials or curricula in any meaningful way.    We strongly recommend that instructors determine the requirements and then compare those requirements to what is offered in our materials to see if the materials will pass muster with whatever requirements are extant in any given situation.  We also strongly recommend that when there are potential learning disabilities or challenges of ANY kind that instructors/parents seek professional guidance and qualified assistance with selecting materials to use and in their presentation.

In other words, the determination on whether a student has “accomplished enough for a credit” will NEVER be ours, it must be that of the authorities that you must answer to as well as the requirements of any continuing or higher-level education and institutions / tests that you will need to accomplish – and there is no way for us to either know or determine that. We suggest that you seek the assistance of qualified individuals that can determine whether or not our materials will meet all standards you need to meet prior to using our materials.

After purchasing a curriculum, you’ll see that the item you just bought shows that it is discounted 50% in our store. The reason you are seeing this is because we give you the opportunity to repurchase the schedule and your downloads at a substantial discount before they expire (2 years from date of purchase).

Please note: You do NOT need to repurchase your schedule in order to use the files you originally purchased and downloaded. You can use your downloaded schedule forever and can click on the links just as you can the online version of the schedule. You just won’t have access to any updates after your online access expires.

Why does access expire? Every year we go through all our curriculum schedules and update broken links and/or replace books that have gone out of print. This is a very time-intensive process that keeps our curricula up-to-date. Your repurchase helps fund this process and provides you with a schedule that has all the new additions or changes.

You need to repurchase your access BEFORE it expires in order to get the 50% discount due to the way our “membership” software works. If for some reason you miss the deadline, let us know why. We may give you a coupon code for the 50% off at our discretion. ????

*It is our intention to provide access for a period of 2 years, however, access to the online version of the curriculum schedules and additional downloads is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed due to potential various circumstances on our end and yours including but not limited to various computer, device, and internet configurations.

We are happy to answer your questions!!! Just email us at: support@guesthollow.com

You’re invited!

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Click or tap the button to join our Facebook groups! You can get additional questions answered, see pictures of students’ projects, get help and encouragement from other homeschoolers, or browse through the multitude of posts to get a feel for our products and see what real people think of Guest Hollow!

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Reviews: See what our customers have to say!

If you’ve used Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum, we invite you to write a review and leave your thoughts about our curriculum. Scroll down to the review box below the following customer reviews. We look forward to seeing your feedback!

2 reviews for Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum

  1. Brandie (verified owner) –

    My daughters used this curriculum this year and really enjoyed it. They love the books that they read, and the video links. They had already spent a semester at our co-op doing work with fast plants, so we did not use that part. It has been a wonderful year thanks to Guesthollow.

  2. Melody (verified owner) –

    We used this curriculum three years ago, so this review is long overdue! But our girls STILL refer to some of the books that they read for this botany course in everyday conversation, and that only happens with Guest Hollow books in this house, which is why we keep coming back for more! As many homeschooling families will relate to, we were pretty lame about science up until high school (when Mom – that’s me – decided to get her act together!), so we did this as a pre-biology course, which we immediately followed by Guest Hollow biology the next year. It worked really well that way, and got all the topics to sink in much more thoroughly than they might have otherwise. It also very accidentally coincided with our household moving from the big city out into the sticks (job change) and I give this course a lot of credit for making the girls much more enthused than they would have been about putting in our own garden and raising and butchering our own chickens and rabbits. (Specifically, reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma. What a perfect book for us to encounter that year!!) The only minor point of concern that I would give to other moms planning to use this (which you definitely should!) is that this is a older Guest Hollow course, so it does not have a single easy-to-assemble workbook for homework assignments. There are of course lots of activities to do, but all the sheets are from various websites, so it takes more planning and prepping to use this than some of the other science courses offered here.

    • Jennifer Guest –

      What an awesome review! Thank you so much for posting it! <3

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