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We are starting a study of Earth and Space by Bright Ideas Press. This book was an answer to prayer because my youngest son specifically asked to study rocks and minerals, the weather, and outer space. Who knew I would find them all in one book, with tons of hands-on activities and printables for notebooking, and that I would be compensated for blogging about our homeschooling adventures! Those of you who have heard my finances testimony and understand my prayer life will know how I’m glorifying the Lord right now for embarking on this fun science adventure with my kids!
The first two chapters are about Earth and its structure. We colored a picture of creation and glued it onto black card stock paper. We wrote the title on the black page in silver permanent marker, before sliding it into the front of our notebook binders.
We located the continents and oceans on our maps and on the globe. We talked about the earth’s rotation (spinning), and we dramatized the revolution of the earth around the sun. You can watch these activities in our video demonstration:
Another hands-on activity was to stab a ball of Play-doh with a toothpick, to show how the earth spins on its axis.
Using one of the printables, we colored and cut out the different layers of the earth, gluing them on top of each other. Then we created a model of the earth layers out of clay. We had trouble cutting the clay with dental floss, so we used a table knife. This caused the layers of the earth to mix slightly, as you can see from the picture at the top of this page. I almost wish the clay was edible, because it looks good enough to eat!
