Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Solar System

We went to the soccer field at the park today and made a "solar system." I taped a picture of the sun and each of the planets (and I had to include poor little Pluto, although we talked about the fact that it is not really considered a planet anymore) to a bamboo skewer to make a stake of each one. Our curriculum told us how many baby steps to Mercury, how many giant, giant steps to Saturn, etc... There is still snow on the ground but it is crunchy by now, so it was actually very easy to put our stakes in the ground. Granted, my "planets" were not very big and were on white paper, but by the time we got to little ole Pluto, we could not see the "sun" stake anymore. (I was disappointed when I got there and realized I had forgotten my camera. Grrr.)

The idea of the activity was to get some sense of the huge scale of just our solar system - this activity tied in the with bible lesson of God telling Abram that he would have more descendants that he could count stars in the sky. I was truely struck by the fact that out of the hugeness of creation, God sent his Son to die for us little peons.

We also talked about the sun. I'm also blown away by our Creator God and the fact that the Earth is the perfect distance from the Sun - any closer and we would be burned up, and any farther away and we would freeze. I find it hard to believe that many feel the more "reasonable" theory is that that just happened. Ah, but that is a topic for another time.

And, we discussed the order of the planets and how important the sun is to our well-being (science), how to protect our skin from the sun (health), counted our steps and measured our steps in feet and inches (math), and got some good exercise (PE). Overall, one of our more active and integrated school days - I love those days!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for commenting on my blog. I tried to visit your site, but couldn't. Hope to hear from you again.

~ Amy ~ said...

A few years back I taught a group of 6th grade girls. I used an example of our time on earth compared to our time in heaven. You take a spool of thread and tie a knot in it. The knot represents the time we spend on earth and the rest of the thread represents our time in heaven. The spool I used was so long it could have gone out the window. It was a real eye opener for the class and for me too.
I know I couldnt be a home-teacher. But you sound like you really get into it and enjoy it. I'm sure your children love all the time, extra activities, and field trips with their mom.

weavermom said...

Amy -
What a great activity! I'll have to remember that one - I think I'll save it for when she is going through something that seems horrible. ;)

I do enjoy being with them and teaching them. I think anyone COULD do it - but I defintely don't think God calls everyone TO do it. I'm glad I get to (well, most days :) )- at least for this season.

Momma Roar said...

I'm sure it was fun to get out and play in the snow :)
You make me so excited to start vol 1!

Momma Roar said...

Back here stalking old posts - was hoping for pictures!!! LOL! I think we may actually finish vol 1 this year - yippee - then I can send your folders back to you. If I haven't told you in a while - they are wonderful to use when planning!

I wanted to see how you did the planets. Did you make some kind of sign? I want something sturdier enough not to blow away in the wind, and large enough to be seen. I think from the end of our driveway to our woods will be the perfect length and it's flat, just getting a little higher in the backyard. We need to GET OUTSIDE!!!

Thanks for letting me ramble on an old post!