Going to finish Apologia Astronomy WAY early

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  • January 30, 2012 at 5:28 pm
    LindseyD
    Participant

    I just realized we are going to complete Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Astronomy long before the end of our school year. We finished the Jupiter (Lesson 9) today, and there are only five lessons left! Both children have been completing notebooking for the lessons, and I’ve been encouraging them to get pretty detailed in their notebooks. We do science three days per week, M-W-F, usually covering one lesson in one week, plus one day. If we stay at our current pace, we’ll finish the book in 5-6 weeks.

    I really don’t want to purchase another science curriculum to finish out the year because of the cost. Anyone have ideas on what we can do once we’re finished with all our book lessons? Does everyone finish this resource early?

    Blessings,

    Lindsey

    January 30, 2012 at 5:37 pm
    Heather
    Participant

    Hi Lindsay, I’m looking forward to our Apologia Astronomy study next year.  I know Netflix has some good Creation Based Astronomy videos you may want to check out…”God of Wonders” series.  Also this is a book I wanted to use next year along with purchasing a “Moon in My Room” for our schoolroom.

    http://www.walmart.com/ip/Moon-in-My-Room/10802284

    http://www.classicalastronomy.com/Moonfinder.asp

    Also, we are going to do a planetary model.  Not sure if you’ve done that yet during the Apologia book though. 

    It stays dark until about 7am here and I have early risers 5-6am so I am hoping to get some real live star gazing in too!

    Hope this helps some!

    January 30, 2012 at 6:06 pm
    missceegee
    Participant

    I would consider science finished for the year, save for nature study. There is no rule that says science has to be a yearlong subject. This is what we did when dd used apologia texts. This year she’s simply doing The Storybook of Science and journaling it with pictures. We needed a change.

    January 30, 2012 at 6:56 pm
    Sue
    Participant

    If your kids like experiments, you could do weekly experiments using something like the book Naked Eggs and Flying Potatoes : Unforgettable Experiments that Make Science Fun by Steve Spangler. That book was recommended by someone on this forum, and I borrowed it from our library. I believe there are also science books by Janice Van Cleave that might be of interest. But I agree with Christie that you could just enjoy nature study for the remainder of the school year.

    January 30, 2012 at 7:01 pm
    suzukimom
    Participant

    Yes, I recommended that book, and it is really good.

     

    If the kids really liked the astronomy, I’d look up either ‘Finding the Constellations” or “The Stars” by H.A. Rey – it has about finding constellations and some information about them.  I love the way the constellations are drawn – they mostly look like what it is (ie, the great bear looks like a bear) – even though it is just done by “dot-to-dot” with the stars…  (btw, H.A. Rey is the same author as Curious George.)

    The main difference is the age the books are targeted for (and I forget which is for younger, and which is for older…)

     

    January 30, 2012 at 7:06 pm
    LindseyD
    Participant

    Wow, I hadn’t even thought of NOT having formal science instruction for the rest of the year… That is sounding like something I’d be interested in!!

    Sue, my kids would LOVE the experiments. Me…eh, not so much. Maybe we could start a weekly experiment night with Daddy and kiddos…

    suzukimom, we do have Finding the Constellations. We will have to wait until it warms up in the spring, however, as our evenings are pretty nippy as soon as the sun goes down, and I do NOT enjoy being cold!

    Can you tell science just isn’t my thing??

    January 30, 2012 at 9:54 pm
    jmac17
    Participant

    If you want to extend the ‘formal science’ out a bit, you could always cut back to just 2 days a week and then do read some living books on the third day.

    I’m actually amazed that you do science three times a week.  We have trouble fitting in one nature study ‘wild day’ and one family science day (working through Outdoor Secrets right now) and one chapter from the Burgess Animal book with my year 1 student.  Over the winter the nature days have become fewer, so we aren’t even doing that every week right now.  Three science days on top of nature study would just overwhelm me!  Of course, my kids are young (6,4, 3, and 2) so maybe it will be different later.

    Anyway, if you don’t want to buy anything new, there are some fun living science and nature books on mainlesson.com that you could read online to supplement your Apologia, or replace it once it’s done.  I’ve been previewing them to see what we want to read after the Burgess Bird, Animal and Seashore books. 

    Joanne 

    February 1, 2012 at 4:09 am
    Wings2fly
    Participant

    You could read aloud a biography like Along Came Galileo or The Ocean Of Truth: The Story Of Sir Isaac Newton. Those are on our list to read one day. Maybe you could visit a science museum, children’s museum and/or nature visitor’s center near you.

    There are some ideas at Vision Forum for creation science astronomy:

    http://www.visionforum.com/browse/productlist/?search=moon

    We are going to read Destination: Moon when we study astronomy.

    You could also read aloud astronaut biographies like Alan Shepard from YWAM Publishing or Childhood of Famous Americans Neil Armstrong. PBS Nova has a show about Pluto. I think it is on Netflix.

    February 1, 2012 at 3:33 pm
    Tia
    Participant

    Lindsay,

    I had to laugh when I read your comment about science experiments.  I’ve delegated that to my husband…the man with the chemistry degree. lol

    As for me…the gal with the psychology degree who enjoyed writing papers in English?  I’ll read them books and take them on walks.  🙂

    February 1, 2012 at 7:16 pm
    LindseyD
    Participant

    3littlegirls,

    It sounds like you and I have A LOT in common. I was an English nerd, and I still enjoy grammar and writing. I love reading books to my children and taking them on walks. I HATE doing science experiments, so we rarely do them at all. I leave that to Daddy. Innocent

    Blessings,

    Lindsey

    February 1, 2012 at 9:17 pm
    my3boys
    Participant

    I’m still stuck on…we are going to complete said program early?! I don’t think we’ve ever finished anything early.

    Good for you guys!

    February 2, 2012 at 4:31 am
    Tia
    Participant

    Lindsey, that is so funny!  I’m exactly the same way.  And sorry for spelling your name wrong the first time. lol

    And, I am with my3boys…that’s awesome!  

    We are too carried away by the changes in weather at our house finish anything early. I’m getting better at self-discipline as the need grows to be more consistent with schoolwork.  But when I stare at the sun shining and hear the birds singing faintly through the window…it’s hard to do math.  (Not to mention Science!)  lol

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