Tuesday, November 3, 2009

"Peh-tih-ser-nates?" A Weather Unit

This week we finished up a small science unit on weather with Reagan. I don't have a good plan for her this year for science since Jefferson, who read and helped her with Son*light lessons, is now away each day. I don't really know whether to go with the animal study I've used before or a new workbook based on the six days of creation.


So I just opened up one of our Son*light books, a wonderful DK Eye Wonder book of weather and started teaching her about lightning. What a great book! It has just enough info to hold interest but not overwhelm and has wonderful photos. Add to this "The Weather Book" by Michael Oard, a more advanced book but one with wonderful diagrams and a biblical perspective, and I felt like I had enough to keep her busy for a while.

She really, really enjoyed learning about the different kinds of weather and it was obvious that she learned a lot about the magnitude of God in seeing this powerful part of His creation. This is such an exciting part of home schooling! My favorite part was how she would re-tell all that she had learned that day to her daddy or grandparent or anyone who would listen! I'm finding that if the information is presented in the right way for her, she will just soak it all up, remember it, and ponder it for days. And because she is loves to narrate what's she's learned, I can always get a better idea of how much she comprehends. The word "precipitation" for instance is just NOT sticking and always comes out as "peh-tih-ser-nates?" or just "the water stuffs that come from the sky." LOL!


So after learning about the evaporation cycle, precipitation, wind, lightning, and storms, we made a "cloud" in a mason jar (ice on top and hot water inside), a weather vane to observe wind movement, and a precipitation poster showing vapor, rain, and frozen types. And I still feel like we could do so much more! But for now I'll just post the few photos that I have and plan on moving to a new exciting science unit...


(3 types of clouds on the left, rain & flood in the middle, snowflakes, frost, & hail on the right)

1 comments:

Teacher/Mom said...

I just love her toothless smile! She is such a beautiful girl. I'm glad things seem to be going well for you, and it seems as if your stress level has been greatly reduced. I'm glad that the LORD has revealed this plan for you at this time. Blessings, my friend.