High School Astronomy: The Planets

The Planets

by Dava Sobel

This is such a delightful book through the solar system. There are chapters devoted to each of the planets (and some other astronomical bodies) that cover science along with history, mythology, poetry, and literature. The goal is not to impart all the knowledge possible, but to invite the reader to glory in the wonder and mystery of the universe, and to long to know more in the future.

I read this book a bit ahead of First Son this year as he completed the Astronomy study guide from Sabbath Mood Homeschool. This study is considered required for the Astrophysics one he will be completing in the third term, so I selected it for his Earth Sciences in eleventh grade, even though it's designed for Form 3-4 science. It does include activities and labs, which were relatively easy to implement. Certainly First Son had more success with them than with some of the chemistry and physics experiments we've attempted over the high school years.

I added some work to increase the difficulty level a little.

• I made all the math exercises required. (They are optional in the text.)
• First Son read the skipped chapters of The Planets.
• I also added Brother Guy Consolmagno's Brother Astronomer to his required reading, with narrations.
• I think we'll also have time at the end for him to listen to An Introduction to the Universe.
• I wanted to add some evenings at the local observatory, but between Covid restrictions and our own schedule, we didn't make it there even once. 

I intend to assign this study and book to First Daughter next year in ninth grade. I will probably keep the extra assignments the same for her. I expect it to be a good fit for freshman year.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I purchased the Sabbath Mood Homeschool study guide and will receive nothing if you follow the link. I received my copy of The Planets from a member of PaperBackSwap.com (not an affiliate link). Links to Bookshop are affiliate links.

Winds and Weather and a Bit on Sabbath Mood Homeschool: Look at the Sky and Tell the Weather

Look at the Sky and Tell the Weather

by Eric Sloane

This is the textbook for Sabbath Mood Homeschool's Form 3-4 Weather. It is written for grades 7-9 and is scheduled for the third term of ninth grade in the high school integrated science plan. The idea of studying a bit of biology, chemistry, physics, and earth sciences each year appealed to me. I thought it would bring a bit more interest to science as we'd be moving on to another discipline before becoming overwhelmed. I also thought it might be interesting to have more opportunities for noticing the inter-relationships of the different disciplines. The divisions are sometimes arbitrary as there is, of course, much physics in chemistry and much chemistry in biology, and so on.

Sabbath Mood's courses were appealing to me because of the focus on a living book rather than a dry textbook of definitions and practice problems. I thought this kind of approach would be more likely to immerse my son in the kind of study that made biology, chemistry, and physics a part of his daily life rather than an artificial study of "ideal" and therefore illusive environments.

Overall, I think I still like the idea of Sabbath Mood Homeschool and the integrated science. I have not yet decided whether I'm satisfied with the level of First Son's learning and whether that has more to do with his lackadaisical attitude than the coursework. Certainly the lab work for both chemistry and physics was informative and challenging. The mathematical aspects were missing, almost entirely, though I'm not sure how much of a problem that would be for First Son in college. I took every science class my high school offered (three semesters each of biology, chemistry, and physics) and basically felt like I knew exactly nothing once I sat down on the second day of my science courses in college. Yet I still managed to graduate with a degree in biology.

This particular book, Look at the Sky and Tell the Weather, is a delight. The author's voice shines clearly through along with his love of weather. His illustrations are enjoyable and, when appropriate, informative. The "main character" of the book is cP, the air mass that flows from the Canadian Rockies.

In her voyage from Canada, sweeping down through the middle United States, eastward to New England, and finally out over the Atlantic Ocean. As each person breathes her in and exhales her out, she will have become a part of their existence; not just a matter of rain or shine, but a backdrop to their living moments.

While there is a substantial amount of information about weather in the text, it's certainly not a full year's worth of meteorology. Nor is it intended to be; it's one-third of a credit of earth sciences. Even so, I think I'd prefer something a little more substantial and have my eyes on a few options for my younger children. This lovely book will be a supplemental reading book, I think.

There is a description of a young man who parachutes out of a plane and waits too long to open his parachute. It's not graphic, but may be distressing to a young reader.

The activities provided by Sabbath Mood seemed good and thorough enough. Many of them were weather observations made on homemade instruments, which could foster a life-long interest in weather-watching.

I believe that the sky was created for pure beholding; that one of man's greatest joys can be simply looking at the sky.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post which contains only my honest opinions. Links to Sabbath Mood Homeschool are not affiliate links, but links to Amazon are affiliate links.

Chemistry and Politics: Antoine Lavoisier

Antoine Lavoisier: Scientist and Citizen

by Sarah R. Riedman

I posted recently about Stuff Matters, which I was considering for our chemistry supplemental reading in tenth grade. One of the comments suggested a biography of Antoine Lavoisier instead. I searched our library catalog and came up with a few options. This book was the best and an excellent choice.

It's a little easier to read than a high schooler would probably need, but the discussions of the phlogiston theory are sophisticated enough for high school. It includes extensive descriptions of Lavoisier's political and philanthropic work, as well as a detailed chapter on the French Revolution.

First Son will read this book in tenth grade as a supplement to Sabbath Mood Homeschool's Chemistry Part 2. In the future, I think I'll assign this book in ninth grade with part 1 and move Uncle Tungsten to tenth grade. It's a little more mature.

I have received nothing for this post; all opinions are my own. Links to Amazon are affiliate links. I borrowed this book from our library, but purchased a used copy for our use in school next year.

Modern Materials Science: Stuff Matters

Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials that Shape our Man-Made World

by Mark Miodownik

In ninth grade, First Son read Uncle Tungsten as supplemental chemistry reading. I liked having an additional book to read alongside his Sabbath Mood Homeschool chemistry work and Uncle Tungsten was an inspiring book (my post about it). The Sabbath Mood plans suggest finding a biography of a chemist to read, but I have struggled to find one I like; they tend to be too long or too short or too anti-religion. Stuff Matters showed up when I was browsing chemistry books online.

In Stuff Matters, the author blends history, chemistry, physics, and the experiences of his own senses to share how common materials developed and shape our modern world. These materials include steel, paper, concrete, dark chocolate, foam, plastic, glass, graphite, porcelain, and implants.

A wide variety of chemical and physical properties are encountered with a handful of useful sketches of molecular structures to aid understanding the relationship between structure and material properties. When discussing the transparency of glass, he explains the structure of atoms and the amount of empty space within it.

This suggests that there should be plenty of room for light to travel through an atom without bumping into either an electron or the nucleus. Which indeed there is. So the real question is not "Why is glass transparent?," but "Why aren't all materials transparent?"

While many of the materials featured are common ones, the conversation the author presents around them introduces a wide variety of topics. Readers will learn about a material harder than diamond (lonsdaleite) and a material that is two-dimensional (graphene). Miodownik also shares the story of Bottger, who served his prison time systematically experimenting to discover the method to make porcelain for the king of Saxony. The descriptions of this process fascinate and delight.

Then, as the temperature increased further still to 1300 [degrees] C and the whole kiln became white hot, the magic would have started to happen: some of the atoms flowing between their crystals would have turned into a river of glass. Now they were mostly solid, but also part liquid. It would have been as if the cups had blood running through their veins in the form of liquid glass. This liquid would have flowed into all the small pores between the crystals and coated all the surfaces. Now, unlike almost all other types of ceramic, the cups would have felt what it was like to be free of defects.

In the last chapter of the book, the author provides a kind of overview of materials science, bringing together the concepts from each of the earlier chapters.

This book is a probably choice for First Son to read as a supplemental chemistry book in tenth grade. It provides a glimpse into both the materials of the modern world and the scientific research and struggles of their development. (The new book, Liquid Rules, is already on my list to consider for eleventh grade.)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own. I checked this book out from our library. Links to Amazon are affiliate links.

Hurricane without Warning: Isaac's Storm

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

by Erik Larson

As I mentioned in a previous post, this year, for First Son's ninth grade science, I decided to use Sabbath Mood Homeschool's study guides. First Son is spending one term studying Chemistry, one term studying Physics, one term studying Weather, and a whole year studying Biology (but only the equivalent of a term as it's only once a week). The study guide for weather, like the others, contains a list of suggestions for independent reading during the term related to the science. Isaac's Storm was the book I selected for our term on Weather. I was able to request a copy from another member at PaperBackSwap.com.

(Side note: I seriously considered having First Son read Warnings, which I read many years ago, or another book on tornadoes, which would be appropriate for Kansas. Another good Kansas option might be The Worst Hard Time, which is a fantastic book, but I couldn't remember how much actual "weather" is described in it. In the end, I picked Isaac's Storm, partly because the reviews looked good enough that I wanted to read it and partly because I prefer to own our assigned books and this was the easiest one to get in hard copy. For First Daughter in a few years, I'll probably put them all on a list and let her choose one...and she'll probably read all of them.)

This book describes the hurricane that devastated Galveston, TX, in 1900. Told from the viewpoint, mostly, of Isaac Cline, the resident meteorologist, it also includes descriptions of the storm as it moves through space, escalating in strength. In 1900, there were no satellites to track hurricanes from space so the author relied on ships' logs and current knowledge of hurricanes. Moving over the open sea, it was completely hidden from everyone on shore until it struck with unprecedented force.

The author visited Galveston and spent hours poring over surviving photographs, augmenting the story with vivid descriptions of the bustling city before the storm. Besides Cline's experiences, interviews and written memoirs of a few others weave through the book, providing eyewitness accounts of the storm from different vantage points.

The Galveston hurricane was horrifyingly deadly. There are no pictures in the book (though some exist) but the descriptions of the death and destruction will be difficult for sensitive readers.

It's a masterful account and a compelling complement to our Weather study.

I received nothing in exchange for this post. This review contains my own opinions. Links above to Amazon and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

The Thrill of Illumination: The Electric Life of Michael Faraday

The Electric Life of Michael Faraday

by Alan Hirshfeld

This year, in ninth grade, I decided to use Sabbath Mood Homeschool's study guides for our science courses. First Son is spending one term studying Chemistry, one term studying Physics, one term studying Weather, and a whole year studying Biology (but only the equivalent of a term as it's only once a week). The study guides suggest students may enjoy reading a biography each term of a prominent scientist of the field. I had trouble finding many of the ones recommended in the guide, but this one was available at PaperBackSwap, so I decided we'd give it a try. I finished it ahead of him as he's been focused on his history independent reading. (I think he's just going in order of his list, rather than trying to match them up to his course-work.) It's a wonderful book on Faraday, covering his personal and professional life in a way that presents the science without overwhelming the non-scientist (or student) reader.

The wonderful aspect of reading biographies like this is how they reveal to the reader the vast intellectual leaps (through often brain-numbing repetition of experiments) by placing scientists within their own time. It also emphasizes the kinds of characteristics that provide a foundation for strong scientific practices.

If there was one overriding element to Faraday's character, it was humility....Faraday approached both his science and his everyday conduct unhampered by ego, envy, or negative emotion. In his work, he assumed the inevitability of error and failure; whenever possible, he harness these as guides toward further investigation.

I was pleased to find one of First Son's first experiments of the year described in the text: splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. (This experiment was relatively easy to do at home and yet one I would never have considered or attempted without it being listed right there in the study guide. It helped to have Kansas Dad home to supervise, too.)

Faraday's humility and dedication to unimpeachable laboratory experiments are an inspiration. When searching for an effect of magnetism on light, he adjusted polarity, magnetic strength, and pole positions, without any indication he would ever find a change.

Paragraph after paragraph, page after page, nothing but mind-numbing particulars, penned with drab uniformity in his own hand. Until September 13, 1845, paragraph 7,504. Here appears, in stout capital letters and underlined three times, a large exclamatory "BUT." That single word, an island rising above a tedious sea of ink, illuminated Faraday's joy as surely as the lamplight that suddenly illuminated his eye.

There are points where the scientific accounts are more difficult to follow. A student may need to read some chapters more slowly than others. Many of the descriptions are beneficial, though; I still often confuse current and voltage, but there is an excellent explanation of the difference in the book.

Near the end of his career, Faraday devoted some of his time to campaigning for better and extended science education in schools. He wanted students to learn real science not just to draw them into the field, but also to equip them with the knowledge and skills to assess assertions and ideas they would encounter throughout their lives.

During a career that spanned more than four decades, Faraday laid the experimental foundations of our technological society; made important discoveries in chemistry, optics, geology, and metallurgy; developed prescient theories about space, force, and light; pressed for a scientifically literate populace years before science had been deemed worthy of common study; and manned the barricades against superstition and pseudoscience. He sought no financial gain or honorifics from any of his discoveries.

This is an excellent biography for our science studies and complements well the work First Son did in the Physics part 1 guide.

I received nothing in exchange for this review which is only my honest opinion. I found this book recommended in the Sabbath Mood Homeschool study guide above (not an affiliate link). The link to Amazon is an affiliate link. I purchased this book used.