Is anyone planning to head into the “totality” zone to catch the total solar eclipse on August 21? I’m taking my kids to Alliance, Nebraska to watch it, which is right in the middle of the path. Are there any other SCM folks here that are by chance heading to the same place to witness it? It would be fun to meet up! 🙂
Also, has anyone come across some good living science books about solar eclipses that they could share?
Not able to do that this time, but our county’s 4-H leaders are planning a watch party at the fairgrounds anyway. HOWEVER….we will be smack dab in the middle of the totality zone on April 8, 2024, so yee-haw! Y’all can join us then.
Of course, all of my kids will be long-graduated by then, so who knows where you’ll find me?
We are in Southern Calif and areconsidering driving up to Oregon. I dont know of any livong books, but I came a cross a special unit study. We have used this publishers products in the past amd enjoy them. She always schedules living books for ead aloud and gives independent reading suggestions.
we might drive up for it, it is only about 2.5 hours away.
I am concerned about traffic. The interstate only two lanes (each way) and the rest of the roads 2 lane highways, I hear it could be really heavy traffic, not sure I want to “fight” the traffic. We will be at 91% where I live so I will likely decide the day of if we are driving to see it 🙂
The best place to go watch it in my state has already asked the National Guard to send help and declared their town to be in a state of emergency because so many people are coming. Hotels are going for $1500 (Not a typo!) per night there… Needless to say, we’re staying home!
If only our schedule would allow us, we’d go stay with my in-laws in Salem, OR, right in the eclipse path! We, too, are in Southern CA, so I don’t think we’ll get to see much.
We actually live in a 99% totality area (Aiken, SC), but we are driving just about twenty minutes away to a state park that is in 100% totality. They are having an event for it and we are hoping it won’t be too crowded since most people are expected to travel to Columbia, SC for it.
I highly suggest finding a copy of “The Moon In Fact and Fancy” by Alfred Slote. I began reading this to my boys this summer before knowing much about the eclipse…perfect timing. It’s a wonderful book that alternates chapters first telling the mythological tales people made up and then scientific knowledge that we now have of what God has designed our solar system to do so precisely. My boys beg me to read it as soon as we start morning time. We hope to pack up the RV and head to southern IL to see it!
Thanks for the book, video and unit study recommendations! I ordered the moon myth book and am excited to read it. I read in the news yesterday that it is supposed to be the “most photographed event in all recorded history” and set all kinds of social media records.
We bought a hotel room back in February so it wasn’t quite as inflated, but we are still paying double the usual cost. I’m hoping that if we get up early (we’ve got young kids so we’ll be up anyway) and get on the road we can beat some of the traffic.
It’s kind of funny because when I told friends and family back in February that we were planning this big summer road trip to see the Total Solar Eclipse they kind of laughed at me, but now it’s all over the news and excitement is building like crazy.
I’ll be putting up a post on my blog with photos from our big trip after it occurs if anyone is interested:
I live near you Jamie, near Lexington SC! I’m right in the path of totality and there are so many activities around here to choose from. My kids are a bit young though, so I think I am more excited than they are!
We’re excited too! We’re traveling to my mom’s house about three hours away. If you’re traveling, make sure you leave a day or two early and make sure you have gas!!
I used this program last year and we really liked it. It’s free and since some of you were asking about something to use about Solar Eclipse, they just sent this to me!
FYI – Don’t hurt your eyes! Make sure you and your kids are safe… We ordered some eclipse glasses, but it took a while to figure out which ones were really safe. There are tons of fakes out there! If you need glasses, a bunch of libraries and local places are giving them away for free. Here’s a map of some of those organizations across the country: