This is the mini class/discussion we'll be having today in our studies and through the remainder of our unit. I'll also post some links to websites we'll be using as additional resources. Hope you enjoy and find some good info to help if you choose to teach along this topic!

Understanding stars

Stars were formed on the fourth day of creation. As we read and study the word of God, we can learn many things about the stars that are important to our daily lives. We know that there is a finite (countable) amount of stars in the sky, but can you count them all? Abram was told by God that his descendants would be as uncountable as the stars in the sky. Who can be counted among Abram descendants? Can you tell by looking at someone if they are one of Abram’s descendants? How often is that number changed or added to?

Some scientists estimate that there are at least 10 million trillion stars in the universe, but that number can only be an estimate because our equipment is not strong enough to see the end of the expanse of the universe. Scientists have discovered stars that cannot be seen using our most sophisticated equipment. These stars produce sounds, and by using mathematics and measuring gravitational force of stars, we can estimate where they would be located…but we cannot see them all.

Our nearest stars are so far away that if you traveled at the speed of light (7 miles per second) it would take you 115,000 years to reach them. We measure space distances in light years rather than miles, feet or inches. A light year is a unit of distance used to measure the space between stars. It is the distance traveled in one year by a pulse of light. One light year is 5.88 trillion miles. A jetliner traveling 500 mph would fly 1.34 million years to travel just one light year.

Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri are our nearest stars (Not counting the Sun). The three largest stars in our galaxy are: Mu Cephi (1500 times the sun), Betelgeuse (900 times the sun), and Antares (530 times the sun). These stars are so large, that they would more than fill the distance between the Sun and the Earth.

Stars are made of gases like Hydrogen and Helium. The temperatures in the middle of stars are so hot that nuclear reactions take place. This produces the light we see emanating from stars. The radiation produced by stars does not harm us because the atmosphere around the Earth filters out the harmful radiation produced by nearby stars, including the sun.

Astronomers use the evening and nighttime hours to study stars. Why? Stars are still in the same places during the daytime as they are at night. If you turn on a flashlight during the day while you are playing outside, can you see the light beam from the flashlight? It is the same with the stars. The light produced from the sun washes out the light produced by stars and makes it impossible to view during the daytime. Where you live can also play a factor in how well you can see stars. If you live in the city, you will have a harder time viewing dimmer stars than if you live in the country. A full moon may also make it difficult to view dim stars at night.

Depending on the time of the year, when you examine the night sky you will see different constellations, or groups of stars. If you live in North America and view the night sky, will you see the same constellations as your friend who lives in the Southern Hemisphere?  No, the tilt of the Earth depending on the season affects our ability to see all the constellations all the time.  Constellations exist in large groups, or families called galaxies. Our galaxy is the Milky Way. There are many other galaxies that have been discovered by astronomers.

Another job of an astronomer is cataloging stars that we already know exist. One way stars are cataloged is by magnitude or grade. First magnitude or first grade stars are the brightest. Here is a chart that shows how stars are classified:

1.       Very bright – First Magnitude

2.     Bright         -

3.     Fair            - Second Magnitude

4.     Medium       - Third Magnitude

5.     Faint           - Fourth Magnitude

6.     Very Faint   - Fifth Magnitude

Well, today was the last day of our unit study. I dislike it when we wrap up a unit in the middle of the week. I need to finish out this week's L/A and spelling planned, but other than that I think we'll have a mini "Grace Week".

A "Grace Week" is similar to an unschooling concept but with defined goals and projects. My 10 yo daughter needs to finish out her reading assignment and my son has found a new joy in cursive writing using this wipe off practice board I picked up for him on Ebay. I want to encourage him to have some fun with it! My oldest daughter still has a bit of paperwork to finish since I give her a more intense workload(She's in 8th grade). Typically I give her an outline of what her assignments are for the week and we go over them together if she has any questions. I will point out important due dates with her if she has a research paper due, but I allow her to set her study schedule.

Does anyone else homeschool a teen? How do you work their assignments with them? I would love to hear your tips and what your typical routine is like.

Blessings!

My older daughter, age 13 is using a rather comprehensive program called High Way to English Grammar that I absolutely love! When I first purchased it, I wasn't sure if this program was going to provide a full language workup and wondered if I was going to need a supplement. After looking through the teacher's notebook and student text I discovered that this program will do all that is required for the next 2 years if worked by the schedule recommended. It uses diagramming to break down what a sentence is really saying. In doing this, the child learns all aspects of language, what the role of each word is in a sentence (adverb, preposition, conjunction, adjective, etc.).

Yesterday, I overheard a conversation between my oldest daughter and her friend who came over to spend the night. It went something like this:

d=daughter

f=friend

d: I can't believe you said that, that is an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

f: what is that?

d: You don't know what an oxymoron is?

f: No, what do you mean?

My daughter went on to explain it to her in typical teenage fashion.

For my oldest, this program has helped her to unlock her creative potential. She's started writing a book. At this point it is about 13 pages, front and back, on notebook paper. She writes poetry as well. She has her teenage moments of course, but overall I would have to say that she speaks very well and can articulate her thoughts both verbally and written.

She also wrote a wonderful report on J.J. Audobon for a class assignment that was wonderful! Perhaps I'll post it and share.

Blessings,

Homeschool mom

I have always struggled with the straight-forward concept of teaching children grammar using worksheets. I guess it just baffles me to treat a child like they know nothing of the english language since we've been teaching them to speak and voice their opinions since they were old enough to toddle! I guess this is why I've been kicking around the idea of teaching my kids the concept of how to put their thoughts down on paper and doing it successfully BEFORE they really need to fully understand the label of a preposition is and it's function or a conjunction.

We've always used a very wide vocabulary with our kids and they know if they don't understand what a word means that we look it up together and compare it's definition with synonyms that the kids are familiar with. In doing this since they were very young, our children have developed a rather impressive vocabulary...something that has not gone unnoticed by my MIL, a public school teacher.

I was appalled to find that my 3rd grade daughter, upon removal from PS (public school), had no idea how to formulate a paragraph. Punctuation wasn't present and the basic rules of spacing words and capitalization was completely absent. The same symptoms of neglect were apparent in my 1st grade son also, and worse yet, he felt so overwhelmed with the idea of writing that he flat refused to do it at first. Since then, I have completely rethought the idea of "grammar" and all it entails for success and have decided that using quiet reading, reading aloud, penmanship and creative writing we are going to give our kids the building blocks to succeed in writing.

My two youngest have begun to bloom under this new format. They are writing freely and really thinking about how writing works. Punctuation is not a maze of dots and dashes, but code symbols to tell your reader HOW to understand what you are reading!

I'll post more as our new "curriculum" begins to flesh out.  

I started this chapter with some reluctance as I wasn't sure how well it was going to be received. However, my children have really enjoyed this unit thus far. We've studied about coins and how they are minted, the differences in the minting process, foreign currency, what it means to be good stewards of what belongs to us, giving and money management. We'll also go into the Civil War and the Great Depression.

Here are some links to sites that I found most helpful in our studies. Even if you don't use Weaver, you may find these to be of interest to you in developing your own unit study.

http://www.usmint.gov/mint_tours/index.cfm?flash=yes&action=vtShell

What a great site! These streaming videos walk you through the entire process of what the U.S. Mint does and the responsibilities of each office nationwide.

http://www.usmint.gov/kids/index.cfm?fileContents=coinnews/preshow.cfm

This kids' site offers printouts of common and popular U.S. coins and some fun educational games as well.

http://www.rulesforuse.org/pub/index.php?currency=aud&lang=en

This site allows you to search what is accepted currency in a given country. Detailed images allow you and your children to see what is printed on banknotes across the globe.

http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-15481_19268_20778---,00.html

Among the many other interesting PDF files available at this site for Historical studies, there is a great printout for kids to design their own wampum belts. Not only used as currency, wampum belts had great significance in marking historical events. My kids loved this!

I'll come back and add more sites later.

Blessings,

Christine