We're in a weekly Apologia Astronomy co-op this year.  Three of us trade off teaching about 10 kids and try to supplement the material with hands on stuff they might not be doing at home. 

Today was my day to do the first half of "The Sun."  I was so busy working with the kids I forgot all about my camera!  I even had it right there....!  

Anyhow, after talking about the spectrum of light from ultraviolet (sunburn) to infrared (heat,) I gave them a warning similar to that not to play with matches.  I then took them out to the parking lot into the much hoped for sunshine(!) and had them turn magnifying glasses onto hunks of a Hershey bar.  Talk about excitement and joy on their little faces!

I told them to first focus a larger circle of light onto their chocolate and watch closely to see if the surface started to change any.  Then to focus it more sharply into a tiny spot of light and see if there was any difference.  "Do NOT focus the light onto your paper plate, as it will catch it on fire..." 

Well.  Josiah had already seen me set a piece of chocolate on fire at home by trying a piece that hadn't been refrigerated first.  It wasn't long before he had flames shooting off his Hershey.  The place started to smell like a S'mores campfire site! 

Some of them then started to complain that theirs didn't seem to be doing anything, until I suggested they try touching the chocolate.   Some of those chunks dissolved into an immediate puddle.  Must have been some kind of surface tension or something.  It was so fun to see their faces light up. 

After the chocolate had been devoured, we took this huge ball Josiah had won at six flags, and had them pretend it was the sun, and each of them made a little clay planet according to a cool picture I found online demonstrating relative sizes. 

Then we got out the measuring tape and started placing them at the proper relative distances from the sun.  The first was 4.8" away from the ball. Mars was 14.4" away, so the first four were quite close to the ball.  By the time we placed little disputed Pluto, we were 77 feet out!   

Here is the chart if you want to use it.  Just take the "1" which is assigned to Earth, and make it be whatever measurement you want:  an inch, 6 inches, a foot, whatever.  Then do the multiplication to get the other relative distances. 

Using the Bode’s chart below, place them at a proper distance from the sun

 

Use inches (indoor) or feet  or yards.  (outside with sidewalk chalk to find them again.)

 

                                                1 foot               1 yd

 

Mercury           0.4                   4.8”                  14.4”

 

Venus               0.7                   8.4”                  25.2”

 

Earth                1.0                   12”                   36”

 

Mars                1.6                   14.4”                43.2”

 

Asteroid belt     2.8                   33.6”                100.8”  (8.4’)

 

Jupiter              5.2                   5’ 2.4”             15’ 7.2”

 

Saturn            10.0                   10’                   30’

 

Uranus           19.6                   19’ 2.4”           57’ 7.2”

 

Neptune        38.8                    38’ 9.6”           116’ 1.2”

 

Pluto             77.2                    77’ 2.4”           231’ 7.2”

Anyhow, once they were placed, to get them to think about it, we stood at Pluto and pretended to be explorers just discovering that it revolved around yonder Sun, and we went to see if there more planets revolving this sun. 

We had gone about half way from Pluto to the Sun before encountering the next one, so it seemed unlikely that there would be very many.  As we continued,  and "finally" discovered Uranus, we looked back at Pluto, forward to the Sun and compared the distance and talked about the unliklihood that there would be many more, considering how far we had already come with only finding three. 

Well, after Jupiter it was hard to see anything up ahead, (they were all so tiny) and besides, anything that close to the sun would have probably burned up anyhow.  Imagine our shock and surprise to find anything at all inside that asteroid belt!  SO close to the sun. Comparatively speaking. 

We then had a talk about the Solar system diagrams they see in books and how accurate they were, and why not.

After going inside we looked at how light goes in a straight line, allowing for our hand shadows on the wall and even the shade we stood in.  And how it bends when going through a different substance, like glass or water.  This is because it actually slows down....!

I have a laser light, and Josiah had this demonstration he wanted to do with a clear plastic cup with a little hole in the side part way down to allow a  stream of water to shoot out.  When shining the laser through the cup at it from behind, the light will follow the stream's curve downward.  It was so cool that he told me about it and then got to do it for the class. 

Anyhow, these turned out to be great ideas that really kept the kids' attention.  Next week I'll be working with them concerning color, rotation, revolution, and anything I realize I forgot.  ha.  Elementary is a fun age to work with.  
Thanks for visiting!

My fella started getting this messy looking bunch of white feathers high on the base of his tail a week or so ago.  But look what started to grow out of them.  This little cape of brown and white ones and the longer curved ones. His tail doesn't look like the gals' tails anymore.  I've no idea how many more are coming nor how long they'll get. 

FAA: Mice caused small plane to crash

NORTH STONINGTON, Conn. (UPI) -- A pilot whose single-engine Cessna crashed in North Stonington, Conn., said investigators told him the crash was caused by mice aboard the plane.

Danny Hall said his 1968 Cessna suffered engine failure and plummeted into the Pawcatuck River Aug. 2. Federal Aviation Administration investigators told him a mouse nest was the cause of the engine trouble, WSFB-TV, Hartford, Conn., reported Wednesday.

Hall, 42, said the investigation found mice had built a nest in the plane that was sucked along with its occupants into the carburetor after he activated a device designed to prevent icing.

The pilot, who suffered only minor injuries from the crash, said there would have been no way to detect the mice and their nest prior to takeoff without opening up the plane completely for an inspection of its innards.

We had a really huge mechanic's bill once because mice had gotten up into the engine area of my son's car and chewed their way through all kinds of stuff.  This seemed to have happened practically overnight, as he was driving it regularly.  That time of year is coming up again...when they start looking for shelter.
So, what do we do?????

P.S. Please pray for my son.  A long term relationship that ended recently is suddenly taking a big toll on him.  He had wanted to marry this gal, and he's realizing it's over.  He's not doing well.  Thanks

Beware: Things you really don't want to find out the hard way...

1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2,000 sq. foot house

four inches deep.

2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with rollerblades, they can ignite.

3. A 3-year-old's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a superman cape. It is strong enough, however, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 foot room.  

5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using the ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.  

(My own edit:  see what happened when my son's replica civil war gun was thrown up and hit the ceiling fan: civil war injury post)

6. The glass in windows (even double pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a

ceiling fan.

7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "Uh-oh", it's already too late.

8. Brake fluid mixed with bleach makes smoke,  and lots of it.

9. A six-year-old can start a fire with a flint rock, even though a 36-year-old man says they only do it in the movies. A magnifying glass can start a fire even on an overcast day.

10. Certain Lego's will pass right through the digestive tract of a four-year-old.

11. "Play-Doh" and "microwave" should never be used in the same sentence.

12. Super glue is forever.

13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.

14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

15. VCR's do not eject PB&J sandwiches even though TV commercials show

they do.

16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

18. You probably do not want to know what that odor is.

19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on. Plastic toys do not like ovens.

20. Some fire departments have a 5 minute response time.

21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earth worms dizzy. It will however make cats dizzy. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

 

I don't even want to know how all these were compiled.......

 

He's the one who is all alert to everything, and he'll call to them if they get separated from him when I'm working in the pen.  They frantically run around in a little hen clique, trying to get next to him. 

I'm glad I figured that out, because when I went out after dark to see if they had figured out their routine for the night, there they were in a little huddle on the ground.  Not the best situation.  I quickly discovered that when I approached them with a flashlight, they would just sit there mesmerized.  So I decided to pick up the little fella first and pop him into the straw-filled nesting box.  Yup...he didn't jump back out looking for the others as I suspect a hen would have done, but instead extended his neck and called to them!  One by one I popped them in and they were so happy to snuggle down with him into that straw! 

So now, we're about to discover if we're cut out to be chicken farmers.  They won't start laying for quite some time, and when they do there'll be these little bitty eggs, as these are Bantam chickens.  I remember my parents had these little Bantee eggs, and I only remember that the yolks were a richer color. 

So if the kids can get used to that, we'll do alright.  And if we can handle having to tend to them in the cold of winter.  And if the critters don't get them.  And if we can set them up well for when we want to go away for a few days.  And if the chicken feed doesn't offset any savings we realize on eggs. 

They're really too little to eat, for all the work involved in butchering them.  So maybe we'll end up naming them after all.  If we end up keeping them, right?  They seem to have cuteness going for them...or is that just something about me and all my little pets?  Oh...did I say "pets??"  (Shhhhhhh)

(8 days after the broken windshield...)

Please pray for my homeschooler friend Stephanie.  She and her daughter Katie were in a car hit by a guy running a stop sign, and now she has blood clots in her lower leg.  Her 18 yr old daughter is recovering well, with injury lingering in her right hand.

I don't understand why Stephanie's at home instead of in the hospital.  She'll be talking to her practitioner today about it.  Too many questions. 
I'm concerned that:
I don't get it....this is life-threatening if one were to travel to her lung or heart. 
She lives way out in the county far from any medical facilities. 
Please pray for her condition and for her medical treatment.

Can you hear my concern and frustration?

Thanks,