Memory of Mercury

We just finished our unit on Mercury today and what fun we've had. We are using Exploring Creation with Astronomy from Apologia science. I must say that I'm very anti-textbook. It's just not the way I want my children to learn information. Yet this has some very Charlotte Mason additions in it and it's written from a Christian perspective. That's a big selling point with me, especially when it comes to astronomy. Rarely will we find school books for our children that teach from a young earth perspective or a God created perspective for that matter. We're loving Apologia's astronomy!

How is it CM? Well, the lessons are broken up into different parts. You can read one part a day or a few parts, it's up to you. Occassionally the writer, Jeanie Fulbright, will ask for the child to summarize what they've learned thus far or tell a story using some of the information learned. There are project to complete such as illustrating the different planets and writing all of the facts the child can remember. I was so impressed with Tink's narration/composition today. She wrote so many facts- it was basically her first report! Here's what she said:

Mercury

Mercury does not have an atmosphere. So rocks from the atmosphere fall into Mercury. Unlike our planet, Mercury travels around the sun in an oval. Mercury is very small. In Mercury, 59 days in our planet is 1 day in Mercury. 88 days in our planet is 1 year in Mercury. Mercury's surface is filled with rocks.

Now I must say that all I did was ask her to write down what she remembered from our two week study. She also drew a beautiful picture of Mercury revolving around the sun. She even drew the sun with sun flares (which we learned about from the sun unit). Needless to say, I was quite pleased. And again, we were able to use her report to work on handwriting, spelling, sentence structure, and language arts in general.

The picture above is of a project that was suggested in the end of the unit. We were talking about the fact that Mercury does not have an atmosphere therefore astroids are always falling into it. We went out and chose a few small pebbles. I filled a bowl with flour and we dropped the pebbles into the flour to show how the surface of Mercury looks. Of course, Tink added that Mercury is a gaseous planet and we could not actually stand on it if we were there. See, she's learning a lot! Mom didn't even remember that one! Now, onto Venus!

Jill

Astronomy Notebook

We've been doing Jeanie Fulbright's Exploring Creation through Astronomy this year and we're really enjoying this wonderful book. I love how CM it is! She tells her lessons from a scientific, yet Biblical, viewpoint and even has places for you to ask for narration and notebook lessons. It's been a perfect addition to our homeschool and I wanted to share a few of our most recent pictures with you.

The first project Jeanie has you do is create a cover for your Astronomy notebook. Dd7 decided to draw a picture of the Earth with a satellite above it. We've been studying satellites and what they are. I had no idea that the Earth is actually a satellite of the sun, as are all of the planets. A satellite is anything that rotates around another object in space. Some satellites are man-made but some are natural satellites! See, I'm learning new things everyday. The other night my ds5 looked up at the moon in the night sky and said, "look Mom! It's a satellite!"

The next picture is a picture dd7 drew of the sun. Our first lesson is all about the sun and it's amazing qualities. We've learned just how big the sun actually is. Thousands of Earths can fit inside our sun. She's reading a book about the solar system right now and she pointed out a picture to me inside the book. She said, "Mom, this picture is not right." At first I didn't understand what she was talking about. She then pointed out that the sun was not drawn to scale. This book only shows the sun as about four times the size of Earth. Smart child! This picture below is a picture of the sun complete with sun spots and a sun flare. I didn't ask her to draw the specific items in her pictures. I simply asked her to draw a picture based on what we've been learning. I then asked her to write a few sentences about the sun as a narration for her picture. That picture is below as well.

Next week we'll be studying Mercury. She's already devouring the library books we checked out yesterday on this subject. I have a feeling she'll know more about Mercury than I will by the time we get to it!

Jill

U.S. Space and Rocket Center

Week 2 begins

With an unexpected trip out of town at the end of last week we were able to take homeschooling on the road. Isn't that one of the very best things about homeschooling? You learn wherever you are! My husband's grandmother passed away (which is wonderful since she's now with our Heavenly Father and free from the Alzheimers that has imprisoned her for so long) and we traveled to North Alabama last Friday. The visitation wasn't until late Sat. afternoon so we visited a hands on science museum in Huntsville on Saturday morning. Oh, the kids had so much fun exploring and learning. Even my baby joined in the fun.

Since the funeral ended late Sun. afternoon we didn't want to make a 5+ hour trip right then. Plus, I've always wanted to do one very important thing in Huntsville, AL and I've never been able to do it...visit the SPACE and ROCKET CENTER! Oh, I felt like a kid again. You should have seen my ds5! HE WAS IN HEAVEN! We got out and he was running around saying, "Mom take a picture of this! Mom take a picture of that! Mom do you see that?" We stayed all day and had so much fun. Don't worry, there are many pictures. They'll be on here soon!

I had planned to begin our Apologia Exploring Creation series with the Botany book. But after this trip the kids and I unanimously voted to switch our science study for this year to Astronomy. As soon as I got home last night I ordered the new book and we can't wait to begin it. I even found out from one of my yahoo groups that there will be a meteor shower tomorrow night. How much fun! I love how the Lord gently guides us in our homeschooling endeavor and in our everyday life. I thank Him that He called me to homeschool and is with me each day. I thank God that He is the focal point of our school and the kids are free to learn about Him and His works. Isn't that what life is all about...praising Him, seeking Him, and following Him! Now I'm off to teach those precious angels of His!