K-6th Science: The Solar System

I don't normally start new classes for the kids in MAY!!  This is when I want to be winding down and wrapping up!!

But as I mentioned in my previous post, my 12yo daugther finished her classes at her online school early this month and needed more to do for the next 6-8 weeks!  I asked her what she'd be interested in learning for the rest of the year one of the things mentioned was Astronomy.  Surprise!  So I looked high and low for something we could all do together and settled on Exploring Creatoin with Astronomy from the Young Explorer Series.  It's supposed to be adjustable from K-6th, so I went for it.

I bought one textbook, one regular notebooking journal, and one Jr.. notebooking journal.  I made copies of each journal so that all 4 kids would have their own notebook to work in, and I read the text outloud.  I also bought the kit of ready-to-go science experiment supplies so that it would ease the burden of teaching this class. I love science. And my kids adore it.  But I've always dreaded the experiments because I hate rounding up all the supplies the night before at 1:30am.  So the pricy kit was totally worth it to me.

We've only finished our first lesson so far.  The kids are loving it! I find it easy to teach and enjoyable. I'm not reporting on this class to the PPP we participate in (mentioned in previous post) so this is the first text I've ever used from a "christian perspective".  It feels a little odd, even though we are very active Christians.  It's refreshing to have the option, but sometimes I feel the text is a little heavy handed.  We'll have to see how it goes as we progress.

So here's our model of the solar system we put up today.  It's balloons hanging from the ceiling.  Our sentence that we made up to help us remember the order is:

My Very Eager Monster Jumps Silently Under Nasty Pillows.

Yes, we included Pluto.  The text let's you hear both sides of the debate and decide if Pluto should be included.  We thought that it should be!!

PreK, 6th, 2nd and 4th graders

I hope our little one was there participating too somehow.  She would be 15.5 months old now, being totally underfoot and keeping us super busy.   I would give anything to have her here making messes and destroying our projects.    We miss you baby H.


Update: Today I repeated this lesson with my youngest two daughters, Ivy and June.  It sure brought back memories of these bitter-sweet days.

June (K) Ivy (2nd)