Astronomy

This year Caleb is in grade 7. One of our main lesson blocks for grade 7 is astronomy. We use the Charles Kovacs book, Geology and Astronomy, and The Constellations - Stars & Stories, by Chris Sasaki.

Caleb really enjoyed this main lesson block and loved the fact that his main lesson book had black pages.Last year he did not want to write at all, and this year he is doing it with ease.


Every Thursday for two months, we woke up early to plot the sunrise. It was interesting to see what happened.

Starting school

We have started school. It is going to be a busy year all round and I am tired already!

Sheth and I have been working everyday and his reading is doing so well. In Waldorf, the children learn to read in grade 2. And, so this is grade 2! We will be doing Nature Stories, and Saints this year. We will be expanding on our maths going into vertical adding, subtracting, times tables, etc.

Hannah will be doing Ancient Mythologies, botany, Greek Mythology going into Greek History, some South African history, and the first block of Geometry.

Caleb will be doing the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Age of Discovery, Physics, Chemistry, the last block of Geometry, Health and the Body, Physiology, Astronomy and some South African history.

We all do Afrikaans, recorder, maths and English. I find it quite difficult to do it all so our recorder and Afrikaans tends to not go as fast as I would hope, but we still plod along with them.

Our extra curricular subjects are Cubs, Scouts, Pottery, Woodwork, Piano and Drama. As you can see we have a full schedule ahead of us.

I am teaching Caleb and Hannah to work alone. I have bought them diaries and write their work in it for each day. This seems to working well for now! Hannah basically works without my help at all. Caleb on the other hand will need alot more of me training him to work alone.

And so the year has begun.

Grade 7 & 8 curriculum: Natural science / Biology

Muscles and Bones
by Charles Kovacs

• www.loot.co.za or www.bookdepository.com

Cost is about R100 to R150 depending on the exchange rate. Book Depository does not charge for shipping. Loot shipping is free for orders over R230 so even if the exchange rate is not doing too well, it might still be cheaper to buy from Book Depository if you are getting a single book.

'This book is an overview of human physiology and anatomy, including health and hygiene.'

Health and the Human Body

1. Uprightness and the spine
2. Posture and Walking
3. Head, Trunk and Limbs
4. Sleep
5. The Skin
6. Care of the Skin
7. The Four Elements and the Body
8. The changing Solid Body
9. Regulating Warmth
10. Warmth and Clothing
11. Digestion
12. Teeth and Saliva
13. Food
14. Bread
15. The Quality of food
16. Drugs, Coffee and Alcohol

Physiology

17. Dr Harvey and Blood Circulation
18. The Threefold Human Being
19. The Three Cavities of the Body
20. Digestion and the Stomach
21. Digestion and the intestines
22. Breathing
23. Breathing and the Blood
24. Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide
25. Blood Circulation, lives and kidneys
26. The Healing Power of blood
27. The Heart
28. The Nervous System
29. The Eye
30. The Ear
31. Balance, Taste and Other Senses
32. The Brain
33. The Brain and the Spinal Cord
34. The Threefold Human Being

Muscles and Bones: Anatomy

35. Calcium and the Bones
36. The Structure of the Bones
37. The Joints and the Bones
38. The Spine and the Vertebrae
39. The Spine and balance
40. More Correspondences
41. Carrying the Weight of our Body
42. Walking
43. The Hand
44. The Muscles
45. Voluntary and Involuntry Muscles
46. Human and Animal Skulls
47. The Shape of the Skull
48. Human Beings and Animals

Grade 7 curriculum: History

The Age of Discovery
by Charles Kovacs

• www.loot.co.za or www.bookdepository.com

Cost is about R100 to R150 depending on the exchange rate. Book Depository does not charge for shipping. Loot shipping is free for orders over R230 so even if the exchange rate is not doing too well, it might still be cheaper to buy from Book Depository if you are getting a single book.

'An overview of world history from the time of the Crusades to the Renaissance, including Saladin, Joan of Arc, Columbus, Magellan, Queen Elizabeth 1 and Francis Drake'

1. The Threefold State
2. Roman Law and Germanic Law
3. The Monks
4. Roman Wealth and Germanic Wealth
5. The Feudal System
6. Knighthood
7. Christian Europe
8. Muhammad
9. The Crescent of Islam
10. Arabian Civilization
11. Charles Martell, Pointers, Charlemagne
12. The New Empire
13. The Vikings
14. King Alfred and the Danes
15. Alfred the Great
16. The Norman Conquest
17. The Crusades
18. Godfrey de Bouillon
19. Saladin and Richard Lionheart
20. The Changes in Europe
21. Gilbert and Rohesia
22. The Growth of Cities
23. King John and the Magna Carts
24. Scotland and England
25. England and France, Joan of Arc
26. Printing and Gunpowder
27. The Age of Discovery
28. Columbus
29. The Year 1492
30. America
31. Pizzaro
32. The fall of the Incas
33. Magellan
34. Crossing the Pacific Ocean
35. The Renaissance
36. Leonardo: Childhood and youth
37. Leonardo in florence and Milan
38. The Last Supper
39. Intentions and the Mona Lisa
40. Raphael and Michelangelo
41. The Wars of the Roses
42. Borgia and Savonarola
43. Martin Luther
44. Luther and the Reformation
45. The Diet of Worms
46. Calvin and knox
47. Henry VIII
48. Mary Queen of Scots
49. The Great Armanda
50. Elizabethan Times, Shakespear, Raleigh
51. Francis Drake

Grade 7 curriculum: Astronomy

The Constellations Stars and Stories
by Chris Sasaki

I bought this book second hand at ABE books online. It was $1.50 plus postage. There were no customs charges as the value was so low.

This book is fantastic as it has beautiful pictures of all the different constellations. It gives lovely stories about each constellation, and how to find them in the sky. At the back of the book there are maps of the Northern Latitudes and seasonal maps for the Southern Latitudes.

Grade 6 & 7 curriculum: Natural science / Geology & Astronomy

Geology and Astronomy
by Charles Kovacs

• www.loot.co.za or www.bookdepository.com

Cost is about R100 to R150 depending on the exchange rate. Book Depository does not charge for shipping. Loot shipping is free for orders over R230 so even if the exchange rate is not doing too well, it might still be cheaper to buy from Book Depository if you are getting a single book.

The first part of this book describes the different kinds of rocks, soil and mountains found on our planet, and explores how they came into being. This section deals with the depths of the earth, and the long ages of time.

In contrast, the second part examines the heights of our universe, in the movement of the sun, moon, and stars. There bodies give us our sense of day, month, and year.

Throughout, Kovacs links the phenomena he describes with human experience, how they affect people in different parts of the world.

Geology

1. The Children of the Earth
2. The Story that the Mountains Tell
3. Young and Old Rocks: Granite
4. The First Rocks
5. Volcanic Rocks
6. The Restless Earth
7. Some Different Rocks
8. More about limestone
9. Coal
10. The Work of Water
11. The Circulation of Water
12. Winds
13. Glaciers
14. The Story of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh

Astronomy

15. The Heart and the Sun
16. The Sun's Daily Movement
17. The Sun During the Year
18. The Calendar
19. Sundials and Time
20. The Circling Stars and the Pole Star
21. The curvature of the Earth
22. Longitude and Latitude
23. The Circle
24. The Stars and Sirius
25. The Daily Movement of Stars and Sun
26. The Zodiac and Procession of the Equinox
27. The Cosmic or Platonic Year
28. The Seven Classical Planets
29. The Moon
30. Tides and Other Lunar Influences
31. Easter
32. The Planets
33. Pythagoras
34. Ptolemy
35. Copernicus
36. Tycho Brahe
37. Johannes Kepler
38. Galileo and the Telescope
39. Through the Telescope
40. Comets and Meteorites
41. The Atmosphere of the Earth

Geology would be taught in grade 6 - I would do a three week block for this - and astronomy in grade 7 - this would be about a six week block.