Techie Homeschool Mom Solar System Online Unit Study Review

You guys know how much we enjoy learning about space!  Today I want to share with you the tech-based learning discovery experiences of the Solar System Online Unity Study from Techie Homeschool Mom.

Solar System Online Unity Study

Who is this for?  The online unit study is designed for children mid-elementary to middle school age who can read and navigate the Internet on their own (students access websites, videos and complete digital projects).  Younger children can participate with assistance.  We chose to do this study together as a family.  Although G and F (2 and 5) mostly played with their rockets and I had them complete a Solar System puzzle.

F and G with their puzzle

What materials do you need?  Along with the outside book that you choose to read as a companion (you could choose a book that you already own or check one out at the local library), you will need some supplies for hands-on projects.  And since it is a digital study, you will need a computer or device with Internet access to use it.

How is it scheduled?  How long do you have access?  This course is self-paced.  You can choose to do bite sized lessons or sit down and tackle larger chunks in less time.  This is what we chose to do.  Again, flexibility.  The completion time for this course will vary depending on how you chose to approach it but it is estimated that each module takes around 2-3 hours to complete.  I say each module because there are various to choose from:  Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Famous Artists Vol. 1, Famous Artists Vol. 2, Famous Inventors and Solar System.  Once you enroll, you have unlimited access to this course across all devices that you own.  Sweet.

What content does this digital study cover?  This course focuses on:

•  Solar System Overview
•  The Sun
•  Planetary Orbits
•  Gravity
•  Planets
•  The Rocky Planets
•  The Gas Planets
•  Comets, Asteroids and Meteors

Within each section there are videos, information and hands-on projects for each topic.  Students are introduced to Google Sheets and shown how to record and evaluate scientific data.  There is also a Book Club section in which you are encouraged to select an outside book to read along with your study.  Suggestions are listed but you can ultimately pick your own book that goes along with the Solar System theme.  This study concludes with a final project of creating a solar system model.

How did we use it?  First, we chose to use our YWAM Publishing Heroes of History Alan Shepard for our Book Club book since it lined up for us really well.  Secondly, as I mentioned above we sat down for larger chunks to work on our study.  There is a nice section at the very beginning called Before You Start that includes a great list of project supplies needed.  I skimmed through this and determined that we had everything we would need already.  Score.  We also used our Ipad for most of this course.  We did move to our PC when making Google sheets.

Solar System Online Unit Study

The website is user friendly and easy to navigate.  As you can see above it has each main section listed in the left column of the site.  As you go through and complete the course, the bar at the top will show you your progress.  Above it is at 24% complete.  There is also a previous button arrow that takes you back as needed along with a complete and continue button that continues through the course.

The first video to watch

Watching the video

My kids enjoyed watching this video explaining the scale of the Solar System.

The kids really liked the videos.  They were fun and engaging.  What's an example of a hands-on project?  The kids first hands-on project was to create a chalk pastel of the solar system using one of the images provided.  This was a simple activity and the kids had fun making their pictures.

A starting her chalk pastel

Completed Work

D and E choose the same image.  Here is E with her completed work.

And D

Here is C's finished work.

Artwork side by side

Within the Sun Spot Lab project the kids created their first Google sheet using the data provided for sun spot activity from 1960-2014.  The kids had never done this before so I helped.  There are other opportunities for them to make more Google sheets within this course.

After making their sheet and line graph, there was a 4 question quiz within the lesson that referred to their chart.

Quiz

The questions were simple but I liked it because it helped the kids use their graph and think about what the data meant.  There are several interactive opportunities throughout this course.

When you make it to the final project, you are 97% done with the course as you can see above.  This is your last assignment.

Play-Doh Model of Solar System

The kids are working on a few things for their final project.  This is the Play-Doh Solar System model they created but they know that it isn't completely to scale.  They are also planning on adding in moons and details.  I am having them think of more ideas of ways they could make a Solar System model.  Stay tuned!

I don't want to show you everything that we did in this study but I hope that I have shared enough that you have an idea of the feel of this online study.  My family has enjoyed it.

Be sure to click on the banner below to visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read more reviews of Techie Homeschool Mom.

I look forward to checking out the other modules from Techie Homeschool Mom, especially Famous Inventors.

 

CrossWired Science Sound, and Fluid Dynamics Review

We have been enjoying learning about science through Global Topics with CrossWired Science.  We were given access to the first two Global Topics:  Sound, and Fluid Dynamics.  This is an online curriculum from a Christian worldview and emphasizes God in important aspects of science.  I have mostly been using this program with A but I am looking forward to adding the other kids in as it is designed so that our entire family can learn and study science together!  It is a multi-leveled curriculum so students K - high school can use it.  Love that.

CrossWired Science website

This program has a unique method of integrating multiple science fields and showing how they connect and relate to each other.  There are 8 core videos within each Global Topic along with hand-on experiments and activities, research ideas, reading suggestions and more.  There are built in quizzes and testing in which the students get immediate feedback - I like that.  CrossWired is self-paced but there is a great calendar section which gives lots of ideas on how to use and approach all the material.  I am finding this to be super helpful!  

So what is a Global Topic?  Is that the same as a unit study?  A Global Topic is a topic that integrates a large amount of Sciences across the Science Fields so it is quite a bit different than a typical unit study.  Sound, and Fluid Dynamics fall into this category of Global Topics.

Here you can see the lesson page for First Timers.

It is also worth noting that there are two tiers to the curriculum - First Timers and Second Timers.  It is exactly how it sounds.  You will use the First Timers section the first time going through the material and then you will go to the second timers for the second time through.  Just as most topics, you can glean even more with extra exposure.

More of what's available on the lesson page.

Here you can see the link to print the worksheet for the corresponding video.

On the lesson page there are 8 core videos to watch which have corresponding worksheets, a great research section, general links, an experiment section full of experiments and activities to do, suggested reading plan schedule, and digging deeper sections or gold digs.  Within the digging deeper and gold digs are dozens of devotional sections and numerous ties to God and His Word.  Remember, this program has a Christian worldview.  I personally love this!

Here A is working on one of the sound experiments, a Bird Song Hunt

Currently A is about 20% through with Sound and 20% through with Fluid Dynamics as a First Timer.  She has learned so much and there is a lot left to learn as well!

At present, CrossWired can be used as a full curriculum for 3 months of Science for any student.  With the two additions coming up this range will extend to an entire year of Science for your student.  And with the other upcoming additions planned it will eventually be good for up to 6 years of Science, wowza!  It can also be used as a supplement to another curriculum as well.

Do you want to try CrossWired Science for yourself?  I have a discount code for you to use, life24.

Be sure to click on the banner below to visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read more reviews of CrossWired Science.

I look forward to using more of the constantly growing library of lessons and experiments with the kids.  I like that they are geared to work with a wide age range!  I am looking forward to seeing how this program works for my crew all together.