My Form 3 (gr. 7-8) study guide for Astronomy is finally available! It uses the book The Planets by Dava Sobel (2006), which is a beautifully written book. I’ve had so much fun writing this guide and hope it is just as much fun for your students to use.
I think this will work well for your form 4 (gr. 9) students as well, in case you are looking for something for them, and my form 2 (gr. 4-6) astronomy study guide will be available by the beginning of August, so maybe your whole family can dive into the same science topic this fall. I’ll be using the book Finding the Constellations by H. A. Rey for the form 2 guide in case you want to get a copy of that now.
Enjoy!
Science, a Vast and Joyous Region.––Science is one of these provinces. Here, the stars are measured, the ocean sounded, and the wind made the servant of man; here, every flower that blooms reveals the secret of its growth, and every grain of sand recounts its history. This is a vast and joyous realm; for the people who walk therein are always discovering new things, and each new thing is a delight, because the things are not a medley, but each is a part of the great whole. So immense is the realm of Science that one of the wisest and greatest travelers therein, who had discovered many things, said, when he was an old man, that he was only like a little child playing with pebbles on the beach. -Charlotte Mason, Ourselves, p. 35
So excited you are writing these guides! I previously purchased your biology Form 3 guide and would love to get this one too. I am excited about some of the research you’ve shared about CM science and really want make some tweaks to what we’ve been doing to bring it in line with that. I also have Form 1 and Form 2 students, so happy to see you’ll have a Form 2 guide coming out soon (love that HA Ray book!…tempted to have the 7th grader use that too just because I love the book, lol). Here are my questions:
1. Although I see these various guides can be used for either a term or a semester, do you have a recommendation for an ideal scheduling arrangement in the larger picture of CM science? For example, would it be most ideal to spend just a term doing the astronomy guide, but a whole year on your recently published biology guide because that’s biology?
2. Are you writing other guides for geology, etc., in the other science subject areas you’ve previously discussed in the DE podcast and elsewhere and, if so, will they be available for the upcoming terms this school year?
Stacey, Find the Constellations is fun, but not enough for your 7th grader. It’s the right quantity for a term of science in form 2, but form 3 students need more, at least if we are going to follow Mason’s example.
1. I do have a plan, which I need to get in gear and write out for everyone, including why I do it this way. You will be my motivator! But, the short answer is yes, I think the biology guide should be done all year, and the other subject should be done over one term, which means you would do biology 1 day a week, and astronomy 3 days a week. (More explaination on that to come shortly.)
2. I am working on other guides. My goal is to stay ahead of the new terms from now on.
Yay! I was going to use Rey’s The Stars for my soon to be Form 2er. Should I use Find the Constellations instead? Why did you choose that one? Thanks so much for all you do!
I think Find the Constellations is more appropriate to that age range, and it falls perfectly into the page count range for a term (even the word count,) that Mason would assign for science for that form.
Thank you so much! So glad I found this before I bought it. I want to challenge him but definitely not overwhelm him. I’ll look into Find the Constellations and can’t wait for your guide.
I would love to use your biology guide but the spine is too hard to come by. I heard a rumor that you may reprint the spine. Could this be true?
Thank you,
Sharyn
I like what I see of your ms astronomy. Should I work with constellations before we begin your guide, simultaneously, after or move on? I would like for us both to be somewhat familiar with the constellations and stars of our night sky. Any recommendations?
Thanks again,
Sharyn
You could use the evening object lessons in the elementary guide as a special study to accompany the middle school guide. Just a thought. Or just use the section of The Handbook of Nature Study on constellations to facilitate your special study. That way you can fit in the best of both.