The Little Lady has done Astronomy but the Little Gentlman (2nd boy) have not done it. Well, the boys "helped" her with her experiments two years ago but did not do ALL the paper work that goes along with it nor did they have to watch long Science movies and clips. So, the Little Man and the Little Gentleman are being grouped together for this subject. Of course, the little girls will also be in the mix.
Just like with the Little Lady's Swimming Animals we are doing Astronomy in 9 weeks as well. A lot of the experiment are the same from the last time we did this subject but I told the boys we would add on a few other activities and experiments.
The schedule flow for Science is the same too. Monday we read an entire chapter. Since, the Apologia Astronomy book has 14 chapters. I will have to double up on a few chapters. Tuesday through Friday the boys are working in their journals, doing experiments, activities, reading short science books and watching video clips and movies.
1st Chapter:
The First Chapter of the book teaches the planets! And, for some reason as anti-climatic as I think this activity is they like it a lot! So, instead of balloons being hung from the camper which was the last time that we actually did this project, this time they are hung from the walk that leads into my dining room where we are in the middle of some projects. (We don't eat in that room.)
The yellow balloon is the sun. Then, each balloon represents a planet! It goes in order but obviously not to scale! Yes, they know Pluto is considered a dwarf planet. But, we still put it out there since I was born in the 70's, educated in the 80s! So, we just name the planets and say Pluto is the a dwarf planet as I find it difficult not to include him!
2nd Chapter:
The Second Chapter is all about the Sun.
So, everyone's favorite is to burn up chocolate and make it smoke with magnifying glasses. You could do this experiment with leaves but we like to eat chocolate! And, as you can see it does not matter whose science time it is everyone is not going to miss out on chocolate or an experiment!
In the Sun Chapter they talk about compasses. So, the boys spent some time learning about N, S, E, and W along with everything in between. And, we so we made a small sundial and checked the shadow markings every hour from 9am to 5pm.
Movies:
The boys have been watching some of the experiments, activities, and information on living in space by watching Astronaut Chris Hanfield youtube clips. They will watch a few every week. The last two weeks the boys (and girls) all gathered around and watched:
Chris Hanfield: How to Brush Your Teeth in Space?
How to Wash Your Hair in Space?
How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwhich in Space?
How Astronaunts Sleep in Space?
Can You Cry in Space?
The boys also watched Johnathan's Birds: Blue World Inner Space at NASA.
This youtube clip showed how Astronauts prepare for working on the ISS. The Astronauts practice in the under water, football size pool, in Houston where there is a replica of the ISS under water.
I think I would like to be in this class too, especially if it involved chocolate! ;)
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