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Do you have a space lover? Maybe just want to do a years study of Astronomy with your homeschooler? Consider Apologia Astronomy! This program has amazing science experiments and will make space exploration fun for your whole family!
My middle is an animal lover. If there is not an animal involved. She really doesn’t want to learn. This kind of makes homeschooling hard! This school year, she had made it through the three zoology books from Apologia. I save Anatomy for 6th grade. That left the options to study, Chemistry or Astronomy. My oldest was studying Chemistry, my youngest chose Astronomy She got to choose between the two. And, skeptically chose Astronomy.
I’ll be honest, she drug her feet at first. She grumbled. Complained. And really begged me to let her study something else.
And then, after the eclipse, she started to “get” it. And slowly, through the past year, she has begun enjoying space exploration with Apologia Astronomy. This guide has been a lot different from the prior guides ( learn how to homeschool with Apologia Science here). We had ZERO Astronomy experience or knowledge prior to this, and I have been amazed by how much she has learned this school year.
Apologia Astronomy Project Kit
The best thing about Apologia Astronomy, in my opinion, has been the experiments. These have all been so much fun, and have been things we hadn’t done or even seen before. We did have the Apologia Astronomy Kit, and I have to say that this is a must-have. It made experiments SO easy. I will never homeschool science again without a kit. Life. Saver. And worth EVERY penny.
Our Favorite Apologia Astronomy Projects
There are so many amazing Science experiments in this kit, I can’t show them all. But, we chose our top five and wanted to let you all see them. There is a Facebook group for Apologia and families share experiment photos in there as well. So be sure to check it out.
SOLAR SYSTEM
One experiment we really enjoyed was creating our own solar system in our playroom. We did not have the kit yet, so our balloons were not quite the right size, but it was still really cool to see the size difference of the planets and get an idea of the scale of our universe.
MARS
Her favorite project by far has been the Mars Community. She really got into this one and blew me away with the detail. In the back of her mind, I really think she is planning on visiting Mars in a few years 😉 She still talks about it!
NEPTUNE
Another one she really loved was painting Neptune. Neptune is her favorite planet because she loves the color of it. The photo here does not do this project justice. The finished result was gorgeous! You can see the sparkling crystals. It is hanging on her wall in her room now 🙂
SATURN
The Saturns ring project she was really excited about, but I want to share a few tips. Do NOT use regular markers. They do not stick to the foam. Use permanent markers instead. Then let dry before you cut the ball in two. Also, use a hot glue gun or a sturdy craft glue to glue it together. Regular glue does not stick well.
MERCURY
Creating a model Mercury was a lot of fun. The kids did this together, and it was cool to see the craters, and different sizes you can make them. The dough mixture didn’t make a whole lot, so be prepared to double or even triple it if you want to make more than one
Overall thoughts on Apologia Astronomy
The only con I have with Astronomy is not knowing when cool space phenomenons happen. Like the red moon. We missed so many things that popped up this year because we didn’t know about them. Part of this, I am sure, is my fault. I should have planned better. BUT, chasing these dates is something I obviously forget to do. So, if you do plan on studying Astronomy I highly recommend getting a print off of the space dates ahead of time and putting them in the textbook. Maybe even set up reminders on your phone.
Overall, I am SO glad I did not give in to her and let her quit this study. I think we both learned a valuable lesson. Interest led learning is a nice perk of homeschooling, but at what point do we put our foot down, and have our kids study things they NEED to learn, even if they don’t want to? If I would have allowed her to ditch Astronomy and pursue an interest-led study this year we would have missed SO much. She told me the other day that this has been one of her favorite studies (after land animals, but before birds, which is HUGE for her!). It really has been a fun year, and I can’t wait to do it again NEXT year with my youngest (he wasn’t quite ready for it this year, even though he wanted to be, he did do many of the experiments with us though).
Have you used Apologia Astronomy? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!
