Bailey's 2012 Science journal, midway through the year!

Some of you might remember back at the start of the year that we decided to embark on a Year of Science. Well I'm happy to report that so far it's been a big success! The idea was to focus on Science subjects for a fair chunk of our Curriculum and incorporate lots of reading and writing on each Science topic as they were covered.

We decided the best way to track their progress was by keeping a Science journal. I was hoping we could keep different subject areas seperate in this book (yes I'm a little OCD at times) but it didn't quite work that way. I allowed Bailey & Dane to lead the way with what they wanted to learn, coming back to our Curriculum to give us ideas on what to concentrate on next. We've already come back several times to Space & The Solar System, mainly because it's a huge interest for our whole family and also because with the recent purchase of our telescope there's been a number of experiences for us to view and write about.

Below is an excerpt of the Science section of Bailey's 2012 Curriculum.

Science Topics we will be covering are:

• Famous Inventors and Scientists
• Greatest Inventions of all time

§  Aeroplane

§  Automobile

§  Camera

§  Computer

§  Laser

§  Light Bulb

§  Printing Press

§  Radio

§  Rocket

§  Steam Engine

§  Telephone

• Medicine (Discoveries, Tools and Techniques)
• Science in the kitchen
• The Solar System
• Weather

So far we've covered about half of the Greatest Inventions of all time, The Solar System and a little of Science in the kitchen. We still have a long way to go but I'm thinking if we don't get it all covered this year we can always just carry it over to next year. There's really no big hurry :)

Below are some pictures of the work Bailey has added to his Science journal so far, at the halfway point of the year. Apologies for some of these pictures being on the side, my laptop is playing silly buggers with me!

A WEEK OF 'ASTRONOMICAL' EVENTS

This week is going to be a HUGE week for our family, being great lovers of all things relating to Astronomy. The fact we recently bought ourselves a Celestron Nexstar 4SE telescope is going to make this week even more enjoyable.

For those who aren't aware tomorrow night (Monday 4th June, 2012) will be a Full Moon in Partial eclipse. The Moon will go into a partial eclipse phase from 8pm until ending at 10:06 pm. Those who do not have a telescope you will still be able to view with your naked eye. It's a perfect time of the night to take your older children out to the backyard to watch the Moon darken. The portion of the Moon not covered by the eclipse will be a brilliant reddish hue caused by illuminated sunlight refracted through the Earth's atmosphere. I'm hoping to get some photos, taken through the telescope, to share with you all here.

Something I am even more excited by happening this Wednesday (6th June, 2012) is the Transit of Venus. This is the last time we will view a Transit of Venus in our lifetime, as another will not occur til the year 2117. Venus will pass across the face of the Sun leaving us being able to view this rare occurrence for a total of 6 hours and 40 minutes. For those of us living on the east side of Australia we are particularly lucky to be able to view the entire transit, dependant on clear skies. So far weather forecasters are predicting that we will mostly have favourable weather conditions on Wednesday which sounds great to me!

For those of you without a telescope you are only able to view the transit using a pair of special viewing glasses (most places are running out of stock quickly). If you are lucky you may be able to pick up a pair from Astro Petes at Palmdale shopping centre, Upper Mount Gravatt. He has back order to fill at the moment but is hoping to have more in stock before Wednesday. Even those of us with a telescope will need to use a special filter to block the sun's radiation as viewing the sun directly with or without a telescope can cause serious eye damage, not limited to blindness.

This is certainly going to be a great week for Homeschooling with our emphasis this year on Science, particularly the Solar System. Along with today's visit to the Brisbane Planetarium to watch the Cosmic Collisions show, this week is jam packed full of learning in the best way possible, the fun way!

DANE'S READING SUCCESS!

Most parents who have been through the process of teaching their child to read will know how exciting it can be when their child finally moves past the emergent reader stage into the beginner reader category. I have found that it is far quicker and easier a process when the child has a strong desire to read.

Bailey was clearly keen to read shortly after the age of 7. I was a little worried at that point that he may be 'too old' to be at such an early stage of reading but now only 18 mths later he is reading books of all kinds of topics and levels, instead choosing to read Science and educational resources as opposed to children's books aimed at 8 year olds.

Dane on the other hand has been keen to read now for around 6 months (since 5.5 yrs old). We have worked consistently using the phonics approach, being careful to move quick enough to keep his interest but not so quick that he became overwhelmed or disappointed by his progress. This week marks an important time for Dane. He declared early this week that he would be reading very soon as he wanted a night reading light the same as we had recently bought for Bailey. The phonics work he has completed this week has blown me away. It came to a point around Wednesday when he had read the word 'smoothies' from a sign and 'fantastic' off a book that I realised he was officially a beginner reader!

The look on Dane's face yesterday when we took him to Masters to purchase his very own nightlight was priceless. Even better still was the massive smile he had tonight when using it for the first time (he couldn't use it last night as we got home from a party too late). He was so excited and even had a book ready to go under his pillow when I tucked him in for the night. My little just turned 6 yr old is growing up!! So proud of our 'Daney', he's come such a long way since officially starting Homeschooling last year.