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making a compass for Apologia Astronomy lesson

By Joy on April 18, 2013 in 2013, homeschooling

The next project for our Apologia Astronomy lesson, was making a compass. It is the last project on our lesson about planet Earth and tied in with the last section that we read about, “Perfect Magnetosphere”. What is a “Magnetosphere”? A magnetosphere is a huge area of magnetic power that is around Earth.

The Earth has a huge magnetic field that is made in the outer core of the earth. This magnetic field pulls harmful particles away from the earth. The harmful particles is called a solar wind. Without this magnetic field, we wouldn’t be able to survive on Earth. Isn’t that amazing?

The magnetosphere that is around the earth actually blocks some of the solar winds that come from the sun. The solar winds that are able to get through are mostly around the North and South Poles. As they are traveling past the North and South Poles, they start running into gases in the earth’s atmosphere. This is where those beautiful lights that are called “auroras” come from!

Now on to the fun part of this lesson, the project of making a compass! The supplies for this project that you will need is a cork, permanent marker, a lid from a yogurt or sour cream container, a sewing needle and a magnet (needs to be a strong magnet).

Claire running the needle over the magnet.

What you do first is label the lid with (N)orth, (S)outh, (E)ast, (W)est. Then you run the needle over the top of the magnet several times, making sure that you move the needle in the same direction. Then you will cut off a little piece of cork and put it in the middle of the needle.

pouring water in the lid.

Then you will fill the lid to the very top with water. You will then put the cork and needle in the lid so that the needle is floating roughly parallel to the surface of the water. Then watch what happens! Turn the compass and you will notice that the needle continues pointing in the same direction.

Needle is pointing North.

Regardless of how you turn the compass, one end of the needle will always point to the north and the other end to the south. Yes, this really works!

Checking the direction the needle is pointing.

How does this work? Since you turned the needle into a magnet by running it over the magnet, it is affected by the Earth’s magnetic field!

My kids had a really fun time with this project. Well I have to admit, I did too! We can’t wait to begin the next lesson on the Moon!

I am linking up with The Homeschool Scientist and Apologia. Be sure to stop by Apologia and check out the other projects that have been linked up!

Have you done any neat science projects or activities? I would love for you to share them with us!

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The Ultimate Homeschool Planner from Apologia

By Joy on April 9, 2013 in 2013, homeschooling, review

When it comes to homeschooling, I think to help make it a success and something I need to be more diligent about is organizing your homeschooling. This is an area that I have struggled in a lot. I was thrilled when I found out I had the chance to review The Ultimate Homeschool Planner and The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens, that Debra Bell created.

The Ultimate Homeschool Planner.

Just how “ultimate” is this planner? It is a huge book, with 263 pages. What do you ask that takes up so many pages in this huge planner? Let me give you a littl run down of everything that Debra Bell covers in this amazing planner.

A User’s Guide (which is extremely helpful!)
A One Year Planning Grid
Student Goal Setter
Pre-Planning Guides
Monthly Planner
Weekly Planner
Records
Teaching Tips
High School Planning Guide and a High School Planning Guide Example
Year in Review
and a Notes section

As you can tell, Mrs. Bell did not forget anything in this planner. She has been homeschooling for many many years and used her experience to put together this planner to help others. One of the things I enjoy as I am filling out the different sections is the little sayings and scriptures that she puts on the pages. The really brighten my day and give e the encouragement and hope to continue on what I am doing. Not only for my family, but to glorify God as well.

Inside the Ultimate Homeschool Planner.

Another thing I really love about this planner, is I can not only use it for my homeschooling plans, but I find the spaces big enough to allow me to put other information there as well. I can make notes of appointments for all of us in our family, I can make notes about any reviews or posts that I have due. There is even room for me to write down ideas that I have pop into my head.

I had chosen The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens for my oldest daughter. She is in 9th grade this year and while she has been doing all of her work on her own, I knew it was past time for her to be keeping track of everything for herself. I think helping and teaching kids to be more organized will help them in the future. Mrs. Bell did an excellent job creating this weekly planner for teens. Like with the Ultimate Homeschool Planner, she really did think of everything, even fun things that are important for teens. What all does Mrs. Bell include in this amazing 168 page planner?

All About Me section (their favorites)
1st and 2nd semester schedules
Monthly planner
Weekly planner
Grade pages
Reading List pages
Activities Log
Credit and High School Records page

Mrs. Bell also includes wonderful sayings, quotes and scriptures throughout the pages of the planner. She als has several pages dedicated to a list of books that she recommends to the teens to read. There is a Guide to Punctuation, Italics and Capitalization, Cite Right, Fractions, Decimals, Percent Equivalency Chart, Periodic Table, Measurement Equivalency Chart, Algebra and Physics Review, a Map of the World and the USA, as well as a Timeline. She also gives a lot of high school and college admissions help, with several pages to just write down any notes that you may need to keep track of.

My daughter and I are really enjoying our planners. I think it will help both of us become more organized as the year continues on. We both need to be more diligent about keeping track of all sorts of information as we make plans for the rest of our homeschooling years. Both of these planners have given us the tools we need to do this.

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Earth and its seasons ~ Apologia Astronomy activity

By Joy on April 1, 2013 in 2013, homeschooling

We have made it to the planet Earth in our Astronomy study. With all the sickness and then dental issues that have happened in our house, our science, Astronomy by Apologia was put on hold.

We had already talked about how the earth rotates and it takes 24 hours to make a day. We also learned that while the earth is rotating, it is also revolving around the sun and that takes 365 days, to make a year. This lesson, we read about how the earth has a tilt, the equator, the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. As the earth revolves around the sun, the tilt allows the hemisphere that points to the sun to get that direct sunlight and they will be much warmer. The hemisphere that is not pointed toward the sun will obviously get less sunlight, making it the cooler months.

Our activity for the lessons was getting our globe out (it has a tilt to it) and a lamp. We put the lamp in the middle of the floor, had each of them to take turns walking Earth (the globe) around the Sun (lamp), counterclockwise.

Claire rotating the Earth around the Sun.

By doing this, the kids could see what hemisphere of the Earth was getting the most sun at that time and what hemisphere had less direct light.

Sammy rotating the Earth around the Sun.

The kids and I had fun with this lesson. It was fun to learn about how the tilt of the Earth provides the different seasons as it revolves around the sun.

Have you done any fun activities or projects in science lately? I would love for you to share them!

I am linking up with Adventures in Mommydom’s, Science Sunday.

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Venus, Volcanoes and making lava ~ Apologia Astronomy

By Joy on December 11, 2012 in 2012, homeschooling

You may be wondering what lava has to do with Astronomy. Well, we are studying Venus and we have learned that there are a lot of volcanoes on Venus and lava flows around a lot. Venus stays hot all day and night because it has clouds that cover it, holding the heat in its atmosphere. Can you imagine being on a planet that is 870 degrees all the time?

Samuel melting the lava (butter).

We started off melting butter (lava) on low heat in a small pot. While Samuel was melting the lava, Claire was busy making a little volcano by using a glass cup, a plate and some flour.

Claire forming the land (flour).

Once Claire was finished with the volcano, Samuel then had the job of pouring the lava over the volcano. The point of this little project was to see how the lava can flow down the volcano.

Samuel pouring the “lava” over the volcano.

Once we observed the lava flowing over the volcano, we then had to wait for it to harden. We had read in the book that lava will harden into rock and form land once it cools off and dry.

watching the “lava” harden into rock.

After a few hours, the lava had harden the land that it had flowed on. I loved how this lesson was able to show the different elements of lava from when it starts to flow, to when it is finished flowing and hardens.

What have you been learning in science? Any fun projects this week?

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craters on Mercury and a model of Mercury ~ Apologia Astronomy

By Joy on November 27, 2012 in 2012, homeschooling

The kids and I are finishing up Lesson 3 in the Exploring Creation with Astronomy book. This lesson is on Mercury. The kids learned that it is the first planet in the solar system and is the closet planet to the sun. Mercury is a terrestrial planet, meaning it earth-like. While the planet can get extremely hot during the day, it can reach a temperature of -300 at night.

From pictures that have been taken of the surface of Mercury, you can tell it has been hit with a lot of asteroids. There are craters all over the place. This is what brings us to our first activity. We made craters in a bowl of flour! My kids love to collect rocks, so we used those as our craters. I dumped some flour in a bowl and then the kids stood over the bowl and dropped the rocks in the flour. By the different size of the rocks and how high they held the rocks above the flour would depend on how big of a crater they made. The kids had fun doing this.

Claire dropping an asteroid

Samuel dropping an asteroid

Craters made by the asteroids

The final project in the chapter on Mercury, we were to make a model of Mercury. We made a simple dough of flour, salt, oil and water. Samuel mixed it up to form a ball, while Claire went to find a marble/bead and a pencil. They were to use those items to make craters on the surface of Mercury, like asteroids. I then let Claire paint the planet red!

Samuel and Claire mixing up the dough.

Samuel and Claire making craters

Claire painting while Samuel is still making craters

Mercury is now drying. I am thinking we might do this with each planet as we finish their chapter. It would make for a great solar system display!

The kids and I really had a great time learning about Mercury. Now that we have finished this chapter, we will be moving on to Venus, the next planet.

What fun project have you done in science lately?

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