A is for Astronomy

I'm starting a new blog challenge this week --and it will be a long one.  A Homeschool Crew friend is hosting a blog through the alphabet, one letter per week.  That's a half a year's worth of posts!   My mind is already thinking ahead to tough letters like "Q" and "X."  Of course you have to start at the very beginning and I've picked A for Astronomy.

So far it's been Fritz's favorite science subject-- I think that's because it's Daddy's favorite too.  The Toolman has a 10 inch Dobsonian telescope and  a pair of astronomical binoculars. Until the nearby town builds its new sports park with its big lights we have a fairly dark sky--you can just make out the Milky Way if there's no moon.   We used Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy two years ago and now we're revisiting the subject so Fritz can earn his Astronomy Merit badge in Royal Rangers.

The great thing about astronomy is it's available to anyone--just step outside your door after sunset.  Even in the big city you'll be able to observe the moon and watch it go through it's phases.  If you have a good pair of binoculars you can study its various craters and other features.  A word of caution though, you won't believe how bright the moon is when you look at it for long.  It can make your eyes water.
Move further away from the bright city lights and now you can see constellations.  Orion and the Big Dipper (which is technically an asterism not a constellation) our my favorites.  Schnickelfritz can also identify Cassiopeia and the Great Square of Pegasus.  And did you know that some of the brightest objects you see aren't stars at all--they're planets!    Last night when we stepped out our door we saw a fingernail moon with Venus and Jupiter above it.  We kept checking  on it till it disappeared below the horizon. 

Want to learn more but aren't able to afford your own telescope?  Check around for an amateur astronomy club in your area.  The Toolman belonged to one on the outskirts of Indianapolis.  He hardly needed to haul his own scope because everyone was more than willing to let him look through theirs.  They take a lot of pride in being able to focus in on specific items of interest (usually referred to as Messier object) and love to share what they've found.

Photo by John Green 2/23/2012

Astronomy is unfortunately one of those sciences that has been dominated by folks that do not hold to the Christian worldview of creation.  We prefer to think of it as a missionary field, but you need to be prepared to back up your beliefs.  The Exploring Creation with Astronomy text is a great place to start with elementary school kids.   An even simpler (and shorter) book is The Astronomy Book, part of the Wonders of Creation series.

If you or your older students would like a more demanding study of astronomy, try the materials by Answers in Genesis' Dr. Jason Lisle.  The Toolman actually traveled down to the Creation Museum for an astronomy night hosted by Dr. Lisle.  When the lines to view the two telescopes got too long, my husband set up his astro-binoculars for people to look through (remember I said astronomy buffs like to share).  After the event Dr. Lisle said thanks with a donation of his Taking Back Astronomy book and several DVDs.   The book is filled with gorgeous photographs from the Hubble telescope.  The text (and the DVD's) are challenging even for me and I got A's in my two semesters of college physics--topics like the distant starlight problem  and the recession of the moon (did you know the moon was moving away from the earth about 3.8 cm/year?)  

If this is all too much, then don't neglect the simple things.  Our favorite summer pastime is to start a campfire and watch the stars pop out at dusk.  We're the family laying on the driveway looking up at the night sky (sometimes we go out early to watch for bats too).  Like I said to start,  astronomy is there to be enjoyed at whatever level you can manage.

If you'd like to see what others chose for their "A" topic, check out the post at Ben & Me.  I gave it a quick perusal and saw adoption, advice, Amazon, and apple.  And be sure to check back next week to see what I chose for "B."  Will it be basketball, butter, or biology?

Review: Celestial Almanack

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;

What is man that You take thought of him,

And the son of man that You care for him?

                                                                                            Ps. 8:3-4

One of the first things we noticed when we moved from the suburbs of Indianapolis to rural Missouri was how much darker the skies were.  That orange-ish haze that hung over our Indy home hid so many of the stars.  Now one of our favorite activities is to set up a campfire and watch the stars pop out one by one.   My husband, the Toolman, has had an interest in astronomy for years.  He's been a member of an amateur club and I got him a 10 inch Dobsonian telescope for his birthday one year.  Schnickelfritz has an interest in the stars (because Daddy does) and can hold his own at finding Venus, Mars, and Jupiter in the skies; locate the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, Orion, the great square of Pegasus, and Cassiopeia (which he calls the big "W").   I appreciate looking at the stars as a whole, especially nights when we can make out the Milky Way.  I can probably recognize the same constellations as Fritz and I can tell a star from a planet although I may not know which planet it is.  So this review of the February edition of the Celestial Almanack should be right up our alley. 

The publication is available for download ($3.00) through Currclick.com.  The February edition is 19 full color pages (with an additional two pages of sponsor ads).  This issue had an introductions which thoroughly explained the Leap Year Day and our calendar system, a chart of February with important events and phases of the moon  It is FILLED with large sky charts so make sure your ink cartridges are full before printing.

Toolman: Appreciated the graphics, especially those that gave a perspective as if you weren't standing on the Earth but viewing the solar system from above or at least beyond Earth.  He could read through and understand the articles but he admitted it wasn't remedial text.  He also thought it important that the author explained in both picture and word that the view of a nebula through binoculars or even an amateur telescope would not allow you to see the vivid and colorful pictures we've been priviledged to get through the Hubble telescope. 
Schnickelfritz:  The text was over his head but he could look at the sky charts and locate Orion and then find other constellations based on their proximity to Orion.  He interest was piqued about the Orion Challenge (learn 35 constellations in a year) in upcoming editions.

Myself:  I tried to read through and digest information so I could share it with Schnickelfritz.  There is a lot of Astronomy lingo here: declination, right ascension, analemma, etc.  I could find explanations for some terms (I had to highlight them so I could refer back quickly when the term came up again). Often the text mentioned that the subject was covered in the January issue or in the Curriculum text or would be covered in future issues--which sort of  left me in the lurch for now. 

If you really have a passion for Astronomy, you will appreciate the depth of information in the Celestial Almanack.  If you just have a passing fancy to know the names of some constellations, this material may overwhelm you.  You can view a sample on Currclick.  You may also be interested in the Signs & Seasons homeschool curriculum for $39.

You can read what others on the Homeschool Crew think of the Celestial Almanack by clicking here.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the February Celestial Almanack for the purpose of completing this review.

Paperclip Solar System

It's one of those frigid days when you don't want to step outside of the house so my Schnickelfritz and I have had to amuse ourselves indoors.  We just completed a project to discover the relative distances between the planets of our solar system.  I found this in the supplemental website for Apologia's Astronomy book.

This first photo represents the first four planets.  The wall to the right is the sun so Mars would be the pink Lego on the left (we didn't have a red Lego).  We had to count 3-4 paper clips to find the releative orbits for each planet.

The white blob is Mars washed out by the flash.  The ball down the hallway represents Jupiter.  You can see we had to count a lot more paper clips.

 Many, MANY paperclips later we put down Neptune.  We actually ran out of hallway and house before we reached Pluto (which is technically not classified as a planet anymore).  Since it was in our book and since it's still a favorite in my mind we "went around the corner" to finish our paperclip line.