Experience Astronomy

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

The past month or so, Silas and Titus have been using Experience Astronomy: Elementary from Journey Homeschool Academy. This has been a great addition to our summer learning and I'll tell you why! First of all, I had planned for them both to study astronomy this coming school year. I figured this would be a great introduction to and supplement for our astronomy studies! Second, they have really enjoyed this course! It is fun, interesting, and super easy to implement!

WHAT IS JOURNEY HOMESCHOOL ACADEMY?

I had never heard of Journey Homeschool Academy before receiving this course to review. Journey Homeschool Academy was created by Luke and Trisha Gilkerson, who have written several parenting and homeschooling books and write a blog together. They offer several courses including Experience Biology: Upper Level for high school and Experience Biology: Elementary.


WHAT IS EXPERIENCE ASTRONOMY: ELEMENTARY?

Experience Astronomy: Elementary is a 1-year course for elementary students ages 6-11 years old. The course has several components. First there is a video. This is the core of the program. The video is around 15 minutes long and it's incredibly interesting and fact-filled! We have all learned so much from the videos. In fact, one morning when the boys were watching it, my 12-year old daughter was sitting with them. She looked at me and said, "This is actually super interesting!" and then proceeded to tell me what she was learning from the video. I know they're effective, too, because both of my sons can answer almost all of the review questions correctly.

Next there is a short memory video. This video goes over the memory work involved in this course - the facts that your children really should memorize. There are also memory cards you print and cut apart that you can use as a drill, review, or even games.

Each lesson has a downloadable activity guide. This includes addition reading suggestions, scripture copy-work, review questions in a quiz format, the memory cards, and a hands-on activity. The hands-on activities are fun and very doable with easy to find supplies and easy to follow instructions. We use the review questions as an oral review and my boys do the copy-work. The copy-work is available in print and cursive. My 8 year old uses the print and my 10 year old uses the cursive.

These are the lessons:

1. Why God Loves Astronomy
2. Who Moved the Sun?
3. Blazing Summers, Freezing Winters
4. Spring Forward, Fall Back
5. Hello, Moon!
6. There are Giants in the Sky
7. From North Star to Southern Cross
8. Stories in the Sky
9. More Stories in the Sky
10. Watch out For Wandering Stars!
11. Around the World
12. Blackout!
13. Bye Bye Moon
14. Falling Rocks and Shooting Stars
15. Galileo's Head Was On The Block
16. Earth- Baby Bear's Porridge
17. Man on the Moon
18. Mr. Golden Sun
19. Mercury - The Swift Messenger
20. Venus - Earth's Fiery Sister
21. Mars - The Red Planet
22. Space Rock and Roll
23. Jupiter - By Jove! It's a Giant!
24. Saturn - Put a Ring on It
25. Uranus - A Topsy Turvy World
26. Neptune - The Blue Giant
27. Ice, Ice, Baby (Too Cold)
28. Planets Galore!
29. The Immeasurable Heavens
30. The Heavens are the Lord's Heavens

You can purchase the student pages and student cards separately or you they are available to download with the purchase of the course for $129. This is a great price for the year-long course!

HOW WE USED IT:

We used this each week. The boys would watch the video, and then I would ask them the review questions and work on the memory cards. They would do their copy-work and the hands-on activity a different day. The first hands-on activity we did was to make Shoebox Planetarium. The instructions were easy to follow and we had a blast with it! We took it into my closet and shined a flashlight through it onto the ceiling. 

We used a waffle box because we didn't have a shoebox. 

We also had to draw the sun, make a blueprint of our house to see which windows got the most sun in the morning and evening, find north without a compass, and more.

WHAT WE THOUGHT:

I really love Experience Astronomy: Elementary! The videos are engaging and interesting. They are a great length - they're not too short where you feel like you didn't learn anything or too long where you child starts to lose interest. The extra materials are also a great addition! The copy-work is nice and the hands-on activities are fun. I like the supplemental reading lists and memory cards. Being able to have the review questions from previous lessons is also a great way to make sure your children are retaining what they've learned. It only takes a few minutes to review the lessons! I love that it is presented from a Christian perspective and the author has such a passion for astronomy. He gets so excited in the video lessons and he really loves what he is teaching. That's always a plus! 

Experience Astronomy: Elementary would be a great science curriculum for any homeschooler! See what other reviewers thought about Journey Homeschool Academy by clicking the banner below.