Going Round The Sun

We have officially started a Apologia's Astronomy book as our Summer Science. This is not part of our official curriculum but more of a test drive to see if we like "textbook science"  The hope of using it is that it will keep us focused and help us learn new things.  I figure summer is the perfect time since we camp quite a bit and can see the night sky much better.  Also with the recent one in a life time opportunities,  (the space shuttle stuff recently and the upcoming VenusTransit) I felt compelled to focus on Astonomy.

Our first lesson was an overview of the solar system.  I tried reading Froggy the textbook passages but neither one of us could stomach them.  So we skipped that.  I will read the textbook and share any sections that contain new information.

 Froggy made a notebook to document her learning through this process.  I was surprised at how much she enjoyed the project.  Her first "assignment" was a pneumonic to remember the order of the planets.

Then we made a scale model of the solar system and hung it up in our school room.  The "sun" is not in scale because it would be impossible to hang if it was but everything else is.  It is hard to see in the picture but we used colors indicative of the planets when possible. 

Since I refused to read the text of the book to Froggy, I found some other books about the solar system that I was willing to read.  We pulled out an old favorite, Going Around the Sun, which we have read time and time again but still enjoy immensely.  We also read Boy Were We Wrong About the Solar System, which shows how scientific thought has changed over time.  It was fun for Froggy to see that even scientists make mistakes and learn new things and what we are teaching and learning is the best information we have but may very well not be right. We also got a book, Stars, Stars, Stars which is more about Astronomy in general than the solar system in specific.  It is written in a very juvenile manner but the information in it is good if you can get past the silly style.