Originally published 4/9/12:
This year for science we are using Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Astronomy. This is our second year using Apologia’s elementary curriculum by Jeannie Fulbright and I feel we have finally found “the one” (all you other homeschoolers know what I’m talking about)! Lord willing, we will use this curriculum all through the elementary years.
We are really enjoying our astronomy studies this year. It is just the right fit for my four oldest kids (9,7,5 and 3). It’s mainly for my older two, but my 5 and 3 year old enjoy listening to the readings (I’m amazed at the things they remember even days later), coloring, and doing the experiments.
We just finished up our study of Jupiter and for our project we made a hurricane tube. And in case you’re wondering what hurricanes have to do with Jupiter…… The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is like a hurricane here on earth. Did you know that the Great Red Spot is really just a huge storm and it moves around Jupiter? And, did you know that it is twice the size of earth and has been going for 300 years? That’s one big storm!!
This is such a simple project – easy to make and requires very few supplies. All you need is two clear, plastic 2-liter bottles, a 1-inch washer, and some electrical tape. Fill one bottle about 2/3 full of water, put the washer on top of that bottle, place the other bottle on top of that and then tape like crazy (on our first flip we had some leakage, so I had to tape it up some more, but after that it was perfect)!
Then just flip your contraption over and move the bottles in a circular motion so that you get the water in the top bottle swirling around. It took us a few tries to figure out just the right motion to get it going, but once we got it, the kids were pros. So, if at first you don’t succeed…….
My 3-year old pretending she is the teacher! Little smarty-pants.
I just love these faces! The looks of awe and wonder! This makes it all worthwhile!!
This was such a hit that all four big kids continued to play with the tube long after our lesson was over. They couldn’t wait to show daddy when he got home from work. Even our extended family members enjoyed playing with it during my daughter’s birthday party over the weekend. Toys are so over-rated! I’m going to rethink Christmas gifts for this year!
Updated on 9/11/19 to add:
As you probably read above, when this post was published, I had high hopes for Apologia’s elementary science curriculum. It’s now been over seven years and I’m happy to report that Apologia is still our curriculum for elementary science; it’s our favorite!
There are so many things I love about the Young Explorer series – the combination of reading, hands-on experiments and projects, narration activities, and notebooking; being able to do it with multiple ages; it being easy to follow and teacher-friendly; and most importantly that it is taught from a Christian perspective.
Now that we have used almost all of the courses in the Young Explorer Series (except for Botany, which we just started last week), I have to say that the astronomy course is one of my favorites (probably in my top 2). There so many neat activities throughout the astronomy course, making it so fun and memorable for the whole family. Some of our favorites are:
- making a model of the solar system
- making a model of Mercury
- making lava
- learning how radar works
- making a hurricane tube (as shown above)
- making clouds
If you are interested in learning more about the Young Explorer Series for elementary science, check out this post. If you have used Apologia’s elementary science, comment below telling us what course you enjoyed the most and what you like about the Young Explorer Series in general. Want to win a science course from Apologia? Check out the giveaway below!
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