We had a lot of distractions during our first lesson in astronomy but we finally got through it. The boys enjoyed it and have really absorbed more than I expected them to. When you see them, ask them about Galileo and Copernicus... and natural vs artificial satelites...what constellations and stonehenge are used for Oh, and the order of the planets. They made their own mnemonic phrases to help remember that...
Henry's is:
Mrs. Von's Evil Mother Jumped Softly Unto Nelson's Pants.
Nelson's is:
Mary Valasco Eats Many Junky Salads Under Nancy's Parrot.
Our project for the lesson was to make a model of the solar system. Rather than do construction paper or styrofoam balls (what I wanted to do but oh so pricey$$$) we did it with flannel and felt. It's actually to scale... except maybe the sun. As we learn more, we may add things like the asteroild belt and different moons.
That is a great idea to use felt! So you already started school? Are you going to homeschool year-round? I was trying to decide when we should start today :) -Dayna
ReplyDeleteHi Dayna! The boys like the felt too. I ended up tacking the planets down and I'm going to have James put a cork board strip above their desk to hang this and other stuff we are studying. We are just starting now with astronomy only. I wanted to get a feel for how our day would go with the little ones in tow. :) We'll add in math in a couple of weeks then when everyone else starts school, we'll add in everything else. I was just afraid if I started with it all at the end of August we'd be overwhelmed.
DeleteOh, and we will probably do year round... just take more time off during spring and fall when the weather is nice and do some school work during the summer when it's too hot to enjoy being outside.
DeleteHow fun! I wish I could home school.
ReplyDeleteIt is fun so far!
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