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craters on Mercury and a model of Mercury ~ Apologia Astronomy

Written by Joy
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craters on Mercury and a model of Mercury ~ Apologia Astronomy

The kids and I are finishing up Lesson 3 in the Exploring Creation with Astronomy book.  This lesson is on Mercury.  The kids learned that it is the first planet in the solar system and is the closet planet to the sun.  Mercury is a terrestrial planet, meaning it earth-like.  While the planet can get extremely hot during the day, it can reach a temperature of -300 at night.

From pictures that have been taken of the surface of Mercury, you can tell it has been hit with a lot of asteroids.  There are craters all over the place.  This is what brings us to our first activity.  We made craters in a bowl of flour!  My kids love to collect rocks, so we used those as our craters.  I dumped some flour in a bowl and then the kids stood over the bowl and dropped the rocks in the flour.  By the different size of the rocks and how high they held the rocks above the flour would depend on how big of a crater they made.  The kids had fun doing this.

cratersonmercury

Samuel dropping an asteroid

Samuel dropping an asteroid

Craters made by the asteroids

Craters made by the asteroids

The final project in the chapter on Mercury, we were to make a model of Mercury.  We made a simple dough of flour, salt, oil and water.  Samuel mixed it up to form a ball, while Claire went to find a marble/bead and a pencil.  They were to use those items to make craters on the surface of Mercury, like asteroids.  I then let Claire paint the planet red!

Samuel and Claire mixing up the dough.

Samuel and Claire mixing up the dough.

Samuel and Claire making craters

Samuel and Claire making craters

Claire painting while Samuel is still making craters

Claire painting while Samuel is still making craters

Mercury is now drying.  I am thinking we might do this with each planet as we finish their chapter.  It would make for a great solar system display!

The kids and I really had a great time learning about Mercury.  Now that we have finished this chapter, we will be moving on to Venus, the next planet.

What fun project have you done in science lately?

                                                                                                                          Linking up with:

Science Sunday
2012, homeschooling, , , , , , ,

The Homeschool Mother’s Journal and a History Link-Up in the works!

Written by Joy
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The Homeschool Mother’s Journal and a History Link-Up in the works!

 Don’t forget to drop by iHomeschool Network and look at what other homeschoolers have been doing!

  • In my life this week…

    I have had a pretty good week.  I was able to get up and dressed, get the kids breakfast and get started on school.  It has been a good with with not much pain. I am thankful and blessed by God for keeping my pain away.  I also am working on a new link-up for history!

  • In our homeschool this week…

    We got a lot accomplished in our homeschool this week!  I am so proud of my kids.  Other than our usual math, phonics and writing, we carved soap into big fish (Jonah lesson in MOH), made Oylmpic wreaths (Olympic lesson in MOH) and read about Mercury in Astronomy.

  • Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

     If you are able to, try to have a few minutes of quiet time at the beginning of the day and ask God to bless your day and your homeschool.  By putting God first, my days definitely go a lot smoother.

  • I am inspired by…

    I am inspired by Jenilee and her family.  Jenilee blogs at Our Goodwin Journey.  Jenilee and her husband Jeremy just announced that they are missionaries for Senegal, West Africa.  Will you join me in prayer for this blessed family and perhaps pray for how you can help and bless them in their new journey?

  • My favorite thing this week was…

    Claire, Sarah and Samuel making their Olympic wreaths.

    Claire, Sarah and Samuel with their big fish carvings.

  • Things I’m working on…

 I am working on the History link-up.  I share a little more about it at the bottom.  I am also helping out with Teaching Creation   Thursday at Creation Conversation!

  • I’m cooking…

    I have been in a baking and cooking mood lately.  The holidays and cooler weather always seems to get me in the baking mood.  This past week, we baked chocolate chip cookies.  They didn’t last long enough for me to get a picture of!  I also made a Pumpkin Spice Banana Nut Bread at the beginning of the week!

  • I’m grateful for…

     I am so thankful and blessed by the many friendships that I have made since I have started blogging.  I am encouraged by all of those who blog about their faith and those who encourage others through their faith and their homeschool journey.  It is my goal to do the same.

  • I’m praying for…

    I am praying for our family and that we find a church home soon.  I miss the fellowship with other believers.

  • A photo to share…

I am so excited about this new link-up I am having.  It will be a History link-up for those who are using Bright Ideas Press      history and geography curriculum.  I will begin having it once a week.  We will begin this next Wednesday and I have a giveaway from Bright Ideas Press!  It is a $20 store credit!!

 


 *This link-up is not officially affiliated with Bright Ideas Press but is my own project. I am a customer and fan.

* Affiliate links are included in this post.

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a solar eclipse and pinhole viewing box project ~ Apologia Astronomy

Written by Joy
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a solar eclipse and pinhole viewing box project ~ Apologia Astronomy

The kids and I are moving right along with the Exploring Creation with Astronomy from Apologia.  We have made it to the end of the 2nd chapter about the sun.

The first thing we did, was create a solar eclipse using our globe, a small ball attached to a string and a flashlight.  By putting the ball between the light source and the globe, we were able to cast a shadow, showing the kids how a solar eclipse works.

showing the kids how a solar eclipse works.

We then moved on to making a pinhole viewing box.  I gathered the supplies that we needed.  One of the things I really like about Apologia and their projects,  it is stuff you can find laying around your home.  For this project, I had everything on hand.

supplies for the projects

Sarah started out cutting a hole in the side of the box.  This was to view the sun when we finished the project.  However, you could have cut the side of this box off.

Sarah making a hole in the side of the box.

Samuel had the job of cutting a piece of aluminum foil and white paper to go on the end of each box.

Samuel cutting the aluminum foil and paper.

Claire helped Sarah tape the aluminum foil over a hole on one end of the box.  She then helped tape the white piece of paper on the opposite end.

Claire getting a needle.

Sarah helped Claire poke a hole in the aluminum foil.  We found out the bigger the hole the needle made the bigger and fuzzier the sun showed on the white paper.  The smaller the hole, the clearer the picture of the sun.

Sarah helping Claire poke a hole with the needle.

The kids and I had a great time looking at the sun through the pinhole viewing box.  It worked really well.  We were hoping to be able to see some sun spots on the sun, but we didn’t notice any dark spots at all.

seeing the sun through the pinhole.

Trixie even came out on the porch and wanted to look in the box!

Trixie wanted to see the sun in the pinhole in the box!

While we were sad to end the chapter on the sun, we are looking forward to the next chapter about Mercury.  We can’t wait until the next project!

Linking up with:

Science Sunday

 

2012, homeschooling, , , , , , ,

Apologia Astronomy, the sun and melting chocolate…

Written by Joy
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Apologia Astronomy, the sun and melting chocolate…

The kids and I are having so much fun with Exploring Creation through Astronomy by Apologia.  After our first lesson and project with Astronomy, we have now moved on to the Sun.

The chapter on the sun has been split up into two sections.  The first sections talks about what the sun is, how far away it is from the earth and how hot the sun is.  Did you know the sun is almost 93 million miles from the earth and is about 10,000 degrees on the outside and millions of degrees on the inside!  Wow!

It also goes into detail about sunspots and solar flares and how they affect the earth.  Did you know that the solar flares have so much energy that when it is thrown towards the earth that people in the far north (like Alaska) and far south can see colorful lights light up the sky?  Those lights are called the auroras!  I didn’t know that until I read this lesson!

The sunspots on the sun are also cooler than the rest of the sun.  Scientists actually believe that the sunspots affect the weather on the earth.

The first things the kids had to do was draw a picture of the sun with sunspots and solar flares.  I think the kids did a great job on them.  I am considering framing them and hanging them up!

thesunandmeltingchocolate

The next project they kids got to do was melting chocolate with a magnifying glass.  The point was to focus the heat with a magnifying glass to a certain spot to see if it would melt.

Samuel and Sarah taking a turn with the magnifying glass.

Samuel and Sarah taking a turn with the magnifying glass.

By putting the magnifying glass either close to the chocolate or farther away from chocolate would depend on how concentrated the heat was when it hit the chocolate.

Look! We have a flame and smoke!

Look! We have a flame and smoke!

The kids got some chocolate (that I had previously in the freezer) and put it on a plate.  They then took turns holding the magnifying glass really close or far away from the chocolate.

Claire getting a turn holding the magnifying glass.

Claire getting a turn holding the magnifying glass.

Depending on the distance of the magnifying glass to the chocolate, would depend on how soon it took the chocolate to melt.  I think next time I will actually time it to see how long it would be before the chocolate started melting and smoking from the heat.  It would be neat to see the difference in the distance to the amount of time it took.

Chocolate with burnt holes from the magnifying glass.

Chocolate with burnt holes from the magnifying glass.

We really enjoyed this yummy project learning about how intense the heat from the sun can be.  We are looking forward to the next projects in the astronomy book!

Have you ever tried this project before?  What were your results?  What science project have you done lately?  Please share with me in the comments!  I would love to hear about it!

 

Linking up with:

Science Sunday Link-Up

Apologia Link-up

2012, homeschooling, , , ,

Apologia Astronomy project #1 – Balloon Solar System

Written by Joy
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Apologia Astronomy project #1 – Balloon Solar System

I am excited about our science this year.  My younger kids decided they wanted to learn about Astronomy.  What better curriculum to use than Apologia’s Exploring Creation through Astronomy! This past week, the kids and I have been reading lesson one in the Astronomy book.

Project #1, Balloon Solar System from Apologia’s Exploring Creation Through Astronomy.

 

The kids have learned what Astronomy is and why God created the Universe.  We talked about God making the planets and what scientists have named them.  We also talked about why scientists don’t consider Pluto a planet anymore.

We have learned words such as; gravity, constellations, instinct and gravitational pull.

The kids and I read about the scientists Nicolas Copernicus and Galileo Galilei, who believed the sun was the center of the solar system and the planets revolved around the sun.

However, I think the best part of the lesson was at the end and getting to make our own Solar System.  The kids and I had a great time trying to blow up the balloons to the dimensions that they gave us.  While we didn’t hang the balloons like they suggested, still had a fun time with the project.

The kids are really enjoying the Apologia Astronomy and can’t wait to read the second lesson and work on the project.   I am just happy that we are having fun and learning about science!

What are you using for science? Are you and the kids having fun?

 

 

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