Apologia Venus

Venus was a really fun planet to study! 

 It's a great excuse to experiment with volcanoes!  

Here's a walk through our study of this unit in Apologia's Astronomy book.

 

Baking Soda and Vinegar Volacano!

We found an experiment in this book for an underwater volcano!

 Underwater volcano: Put hot water and food coloring in a small container

 (I used an old inkwell).  Fill the large jar 3/4 full of very cold water.

 Use string to lower the small container into the larger.

 Watch what happens!

 The heat rises! 

 Oooooooooh...

Radar is used to take pictures of Venus because it's atmosphere is so thick.

  Bouncy ball radar activity: 

1.  Place the blindfold on the child and hand them the ball.

2. Spin the around then face them towards a wall.             

3. Have the child throw the ball at the wall in front of them.
4. By listening to when it bounces, they guess if they are near or far away from the wall.

5 . Repeat at various distances.  (He loved this activity!).  

Thick atmosphere:

• Craft: Use a plastic container from a vending machine or a clear globe.  Paint clouds inside.  When it dries, play the game below using your new "Venus sphere."

•  Place an object in the Venus sphere.  Ask someone to guess what's in it.  Discuss how radar would help determine the object's size (dimensions).

• Eye Spy container:  Place objects in an empty peanut-butter or baby-food jar and fill it with clear beads or clear poly-fill beads.  Give your child the list of items that are inside the jar.  (This makes a fun travel game, but be certain to secure the lid closed!)  

Drawing Comparisons:

• Earth and Venus are very similar in size, and they are both terrestrial planets, but the are very different.  Daytime on Venus is about as bright as a cloudy day on Earth and the Sun would look like a yellow-orange smear of light.  The ground on Venus is flat (due to the crushing weight of the atmosphere) with some dust, gravel, and flat broken rock.  Mountains are higher than any one Earth.  A valley is longer and deeper than the grand canyon.  The gravity is about the same, but there are always thunderstorms somewhere on the planet and lightning flashes about 25x per second!

• Language Arts: Familiar Sayings relating to Earth and Venus being twins: "Looks can be deceiving" so "don't judge a book by its cover."

• Rotating:  Venus spins the opposite direction of the Earth.  (More proof that the Big Bang theory doesn't make sense).  Activity: Spin 2 tops at the same time, but in different directions.

 

Art:

Line a shoebox with a piece of paper.  

 Dip a "top" in paint and spin it in the shoebox. 

 

 Dip a different color and spin the top the opposite direction.

Check it out- he did it!

Summarizing:

• Use Clothespins and glue a word or picture to them.  Then clip them onto a cardboard (or felt) cut out of Venus.    (Examples: hot, volcanic, thick atmosphere, sulfuric acid). 

 

• Planet Pancakes!  For Venus use strawberries as the volcanoes and chocolate chips for lava rock.  Cut the strawberry top off and a bit off the bottom to expose a hole.  fill it with whipped cream until it comes out the top.  Pour "lava"  (strawberry puree, jam, or syrup) over the surface of your planet (pancake). 

I hope you enjoy your study of Venus as much as we did!  

For more information about how God is calling our family to THAILAND to work with homeschooling missionary families, please visit our website by clicking here.

Jack-splat

The rain fell by buckets the other day so we let the kids play outside.  They grabbed their rain-boots, Callie wore her raincoat and off they went.  We were all smiles watching Callie jump in the puddle by the gutter spout.

Jack on the other hand brought a foam baseball bat with him.  He yelled, "Hey mommy- this is what the Word of God is like" and water dispersed in every direction as his bat made contact with the puddle.  A few things crossed my mind:

• he's such a boy!
• he is realizing the need for the gospel to be proclaimed to everyone, everywhere.

It's so encouraging to watch God prepare our kids to share Christ

 with the people of Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Have you thought about joining us?  We need partners to be the hands of God stretched from the USA to Thailand, through prayer and support. You can learn more about the opportunities we'll have for outreach by clicking here.

What happens when you open a window?

There's a window that few will open.  It's not in a home, but it belongs to over 4 billion people, (that's 2/3 of the world's population).  85% of  them are the poorest of the poor, and most of them have never heard the message of salvation....not even once. Who will open the window and share Christ, His story of redemption that breathes life into lost souls, cleansing hearts like wind moving through a stuffy, stale house?  Let me show you the window.

This area is called the 10-40 window.  For every $100 given to Christian ministry, 1 penny is given to this area of the world. 1 out of every 10 missionaries will serve here.  Our family desires to serve in this window of opportunity.

The Lord has called us to work with other missionaries in and around Chiang Mai, Thailand, providing educational support to their children.  Many missionary families homeschool (most out of necessity) but not all of them have the necessary resources. We will come alongside them, by partnering with Grace International School, to provide testing, training, curriculum and assistance in college preparation.  By serving in this way, 10 missionary families are able to stay on the field and continue the work God has called them to: preaching, caring for the homeless, orphans, and refugees, or learning a tribal language to translate Bibles into the people's native tongue.

99% of the people in Thailand are not Christians and many have never heard the message of Christ. What's most exciting to us is being able to share God's Word and minister to the people of Chiang Mai, and to some of the 120,000 Burmese refugees. 

Please pray for the families already serving and pray that God provides the financial resources for us to join them.  We will not be receiving a salary in Thailand, so we are praying for people (like you) to join our ministry by donating money on a monthly basis or as you are able to give. To help click here.


Do you feel the Lord impressing a need upon your heart to go to the 10-40 window?  You can find more information at The Joshua Project's website.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; 

 and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, 

 and to the ends of the earth.”  Acts 1:8