Learning About Astronomy

I am so glad I decided to switch to the Apologia science curriculum this year. The kids are really enjoying the topic of astronomy as well as the format of the curriculum and all the projects and experiments. Science has been a favorite subject for Ellie, but both kids especially look forward to science each day.

Our first topic was an introduction to astronomy - explaining that it is the study of universe, created by God for God's glory. Each of the kids made a solar system model. I was going to buy the Styrofoam balls individually, but then I found this kit and discovered it would be cheaper to buy it. (I found it at Michaels and used my 40% off coupons to purchase them!)

We hung Josh's solar system in his room since it goes along with his Star War's space theme.

Ellie wanted to hang hers in the office since it didn't fit with her ocean themed room.

Our next topic was the sun.We learned that it was at the center of the solar system and that God set the Earth the perfect distance from it; the difference between rotation and revolution; about solar flares and sun spots; how we get color; and eclipses. The kids enjoyed burning leaves with a magnifying glass, making a sun viewing box as well as these sun prints using sun-sensitive paper I've had in the cupboard for years!

These were actually mine which turned out pretty good. The kids didn't come out as clear so I am not sure if I over-exposed theirs or left them in the water to develop too long. We had planned to try it with regular colored construction paper, but never got around to that. Josh has used the viewing box a couple of times and they enjoyed burning leaves over the next several days.

Our next topic was Mercury. We made "craters" by dropping pebbles into a bowl of flour. It made a mess on the kitchen floor, but the kids cleaned it up for me without being asked! (Awesome!) They asked to do it again, promising that they would clean it up. We did it again trying to measure the size of each "crater", learning that no matter the size or shape of the pebble, the "crater" was always round in shape. Next we made a model of Mercury out of salt and flour dough complete with craters. When it finally dries, we'll paint it.

We just finished studying Venus. We learned that there are volcanoes, so we made some "lava" out of melted butter poured over. . . yes. . . more flour.

We also learned that the atmosphere is so thick on Venus that it can't be seen from space, so astronomers use radar to determine what the surface looks like. We did our own radar project. I placed bean bags at various heights in a box and covered it with a paper towel which had a grid drawn on it. The kids had a matching grid on a sheet of paper. I colored a stick a different color for every inch. They poked the stick through the paper towel to measure the height in the box and colored their grid according to where the color on the stick fell. Then we uncovered the box and they could see the highs and lows.

We're enjoying astronomy!