Earth Sci

	Highland Dove Homeschool

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Earth Science

We do Earth Science for 1 semester and Astronomy for the 2nd semester. It coordinates with our history when we study the middle ages.

What does Earth Science include?

What does Earth Science include?

Geology

	composition of Earth materials
	Earth structures
	Earth processes
	organisms of the planet and how the planet has changed over time.

Meteorology

	Meteorology is the study of the atmosphere
	how processes in the atmosphere determine Earth's weather and climate
	weather

Oceanography

	composition of Earth's oceans
	movement
	organisms
	processes

Astronomy

Elementary

Earth Science has been a huge struggle for us for the 1st - 5th grade crowd. I just couldn't find curriculum that was complete enough, or interesting enough, or not too challenging, or explained things well enough....those things all seemed to compete in every book I opened.

As a last ditch effort, I borrowed Geology Rocks!: 50 Hands-On Activities to Explore the Earth by Cindy Blobaum from the library.

This was a FANTASTIC find!! It had everything I needed. I will definately buy this book for the next time through Earth Science. It covers minerals, gems, rocks, crystallization, Mohs' scale, streak test, meteorites, Earth's make up, plate tectonics, volcanos, earthquates, water table, weatherization, glaciers, fossils, caves...there's a lot you could pull out of this book -- plus a few historical scientists tossed in for good measure.

In addition, I borrowed Rainbow Resource's Classroom Collection of Rocks and Minerals (Item #: 002263 Retail: $41.25 Rainbow Price: $33.75) from a friend *Thanks, Tina!* This turned out to be just what we needed. The elementary kids REALLY enjoyed their work and they learned ALOT in a REALLY short time!

In addition to the above work, I also had some weather books that I'd picked up used (weather books were super easy to come by and we found some great websites, too!)

	http://www.geography4kids.com (old earth)
	Free online Christian Geology Course - http://www.answersincreation.org/curriculum/geology/geology_curriculum_home.htm

Jr. High

For my oldest girl in middle school, we used Prentice Hall's Dynamic Earth, Exploring Earth's Weather, & Exploring Planet Earth. I had a lot of reservations about it and it was a compromise -- it came as close as I could find to what I wanted, but I didn't really find ANYTHING that I thought would be great for that age. It wasn't as bad as I had feared, but not as interesting as I'd hoped. She can handle material that's not as interesting, so it worked out...but I can't exactly recommend it. Just wanted to let you know about our experiences!!

High School

(these are really just notes for myself -- I haven't used any of these, yet)

Galileo Course for Middle Grades (CHC -DGS) $21

ACPL - The Teaching Company
* Understanding the universe [videorecording] : an introduction to astronomy

Classical Astronomy - http://www.classicalastronomy.com/

Kolbe's Astronomy - http://www.kolbe.org/science_curriculum/

Memorization

(1) 7 Continents

(a) Name them (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia)

(b) Find them on the world map

(d) Which continents touch another continent (North America & South America, Europe & Asia & Africa)

(e) Name some animals from each continent

(f) Vocabulary : Geography, Geology, Equator, Tectonics, Steppe, Savannah, Plateau, Desert, Tropics, Rain Forest, Farm land, plains, volcanoes, mountains, polar icecaps, island vs. peninsula, ocean vs. sea

(2) 4 Oceans

(a) Name them (Atlantic, Pacific, Indian & Arctic)

(b) Locate them on world map

(3) Mediterranean Sea & some countries surrounding it

(a) Italy (find the boot)

(b) Greece

(d) Africa

(e) Bering Strait

(4) Major Mountain Ranges (4)

(a) Name them (Himalayas, the Alps, the Urals & the Andes)

(b) Locate them on world map

(d) Which are older? The higher a mountain range the younger it is, since they’re worn away by wind & water.

(5) Major Rivers (7)

(a) Name them (the Nile, the Rhine, the Danube, the Yellow River, the Yangtze, the Amazon & the Mississippi)

(b) Locate them on world map

(d) Nile = the longest on earth

(e) Amazon = the second longest

(f) Mississippi = the longest in the USA

(6) Major Deserts (5)

(a) Sahara – Africa

(b) Arabian & Gobi – Asia

(d) Coastal (or Andean Desert) – South America

(7) Tropics

(a) North & south of Equator up to 23 degrees latitude.

(i) Tropic of Cancer - North of Equator

(ii) Tropic of Capricorn – South of Equator

(8) Temperate Zones – lie roughly halfway between frozen Polar zones (the coldest regions of the earth) and the Tropic zones (the warmest regions of the earth)

(9) Water Cycle - http://geology.com/articles/what-is-earth-science.shtml (illustration)

for upper elem & jr. high :

(10) Elements of the earth’s crust

(a) table - http://education.jlab.org/glossary/abund_ele.html

(b) pie chart - http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/lessons/Minerals/Minerals3.html

(11) Parts of the earth (crust, …)

(a) description & illustration - http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?content_spotlight/earth/exploring

(b) click on the links - http://www.awesomestories.com/disasters/san-francisco/earthquakes

(12)

(a) explanation and interesting activities - http://msteacher.org/epubs/science/science1/science.aspx

(b) free puzzle to download - http://quake.usgs.gov/research/deformation/modeling/teaching/puzzle/index.html

(c) quiz - http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/activities/radiobuttonquiz/Tectonicspz.shtml

(13)

(a) description - http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/nonpwdpubs/young_naturalist/earth_sciences/clouds/index.phtml

(b) illustration - http://www.stmarysmedia.co.uk/jb01/project/clouds.htm