Exploring Creation With Astronomy (Young Explorers) [Hardcover]

Jeannie Fulbright (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1932012486 | ISBN-13: 978-1932012484 | Publication Date: June 2004

This wonderful book uses the classical and Charlotte Mason methodology to give elementary school students an introduction to our solar system and the universe that contains it. Narration and notebooking are used to encourage critical thinking, logical ordering, retention, and record keeping. Each lesson in the book is organized with a narrative, some notebook work, an activity, and a project. The activities and projects use easy-to-find household items and truly make the lessons come alive! They include making a solar eclipse, making craters like those found on Mercury, simulating the use of radar to determine hidden landscape, keeping track of the phases of the moon, making a telescope, making fog, and making an astrometer to measure the brightness of a star. Although designed to be read by the parent to elementary students of various grade levels, it is possible for students with a 4th-grade reading level to read this book on their own. Grades K-6.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Apologia Educational Ministries (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932012486
• ISBN-13: 978-1932012484
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #32 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Astronomy & Space > Astronomy

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not only for Christians, July 16, 2006

By 

Sherene Silverberg "Homeschooling Mom" (Norfolk, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exploring Creation With Astronomy (Young Explorers) (Hardcover)

It is important for me to note at the outset that we are a Jewish family and this is very much a Christian program, however, it is easy for me as the mother to read around the few bits that are overtly Christian.

I recommend that homeschoolers from other faiths do not dismiss this outstanding program because of the Christian content. This is the perfect science program for all homeschooling families who are giving their children a Classical education.

"Spiral learning" seem to be the current flavor of the month in educational circles. This means that I keep on finding science programs that touch on an enormous amount of topics but don't deal with them in any depth. This is exactly what I do not want.

We subscribe to the maxim, "Multum non Multa" - not many things (multa), but much (multum). Jeannie Fubright's "Exploring Creation with..." fulfills this maxim perfectly. One topic is studied a year, e.g. Astronomy, Botany, Zoology and that topic is studied in great depth.

With "Exploring Creation with Astronomy", our children are immersed in astronomy and learn about the stars and planets in great detail. Rather than touching on many, many scientific concepts, our children are focusing on the heavens for an entire year. By having the children narrate what they have heard after every lesson, I can tell whether our children have understood that particular lesson.

Jeannie adds in really great activities at the end of every lesson that don't require expensive tools. I had most of the tools in our home already. As an example, in lesson one the children make a model of the solar system using balloons of different sizes, string, markers, construction paper, a measuring tape and thumbtacks.

In lesson 7 the children build a model of Olympus Mons on Mars using homemade salt dough, a plastic bottle, vinegar, rocks, baking soda, red food coloring and dish washing liquid.

This course is perfect for families with multiple age children as you can assign extra reading to the older children and require differing degrees of complexity from their narrations.

Other great pluses for me:
- Jeannie has written this in a conversational tone which makes it very easy to read ot the little ones
- There is so much depth in it that I am fascinated all the time while I am doing this with the children, yet, the depth is not so complex that it goes over the children's heads.
- Absolutely beautiful photographs from space adorn the pages
- This last plus, may not be an issue for many of you, but I don't have the best vision and I find this book really easy to read. The publishers, Apologia, have used a bright, white matte paper with a clean font with double line spacing.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review from a homeschooling mom of 6 six years, August 5, 2006

By 

Jennifer Gresak - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exploring Creation With Astronomy (Young Explorers) (Hardcover)

I will start with a confession - I am not a "science mom". I do not like messy experiments. I do not like to gather 42 tiny items to do something that is over in 90 seconds. I do not like paper mache. But most of all- I do not like textbooks. In our house, a science textbook is suitable only for bathroom reading or as a cure for insomnia. The first time I picked up this book however, I was in love. The text is vivid and well written. The projects are fun and EASY!

If you join me in being a non science mom, I stronly recommend ordering the kit that goes with this course from Home Science Tools. It costs less than $30 and has every single little thing for every project. You will not have to rumage for or purchase anything. When it's time to do your project there will be no frantic trip to Walmart. Relax mom, it's all here : )

We are creating an Astronomy Notebook as the book recommends. My son puts pictures, drawings, and written information in his notebook. He is really enjoying adding to it and loves to show it to company.

One of my favorite quotes is "Education is not the filling of a bucket. It is the lighting of a fire." I know this astronomy study is not just filling his head with knowledge of space. Rather, it is lighting a fire in him for learning about our world. It is inspiring him to create his best work and to read more independant of his "school work" on the topics we've studied.

I will definately be using the other books in this series!

Blessings on you and your homeschool!

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent Christian text for elementary students, July 17, 2006

By 

Janny Ruth "Jannyb" (Midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exploring Creation With Astronomy (Young Explorers) (Hardcover)

This Astronomy book doesn't read like a dry, school textbook but has the feel of a mentor sharing with the student, explaining the wonders of space. God is glorified throughout. Instead of worksheets or quizzes, the author presents "What Do You Remember?" questions within the text body. I appreciate this gentle, Charlotte Mason approach. A few, easily do-able projects are laid out in each chapter. Even this experiment-avoiding mom, found these enjoyable. (You can purchase an experiment kit with all the needed supplies from another vendor, but we got along fine without this.) For those who enjoy notebooking, an internet link puts coordinating sheets for each chapter at your fingertips.

I've spent my life avoiding science, but this Apologia book brings the Creator right into the study and leads you to worship as you learn so that I've discovered that science is about HIM!