Please review these FAQs if
you've looked over the other resources and still have some
questions about Signs & Seasons.
If you have any additional questions, please
feel
free to contact
us.
What age level is most appropriate
for Signs & Seasons?
Signs & Seasons was especially designed as a
self-directed program for highschoolers, with the field activities
especially
for producing high school work hour credit. However, my own
son understood and enjoyed Signs & Seasons at
age 10, so we recommend the curriculum for students 13 and
up. Since it is
heavily illustrated and light-hearted, Signs & Seasons can
also be suitable for any younger
age under adult
guidance. Signs & Seasons can be the
basis of a family unit study.
What is the term for this course? A semester? A whole school
year?
Signs & Seasons could be read quickly by older
students, probably in a couple weeks or less. A casual, adult-led
plan with small kids could be dragged out for perhaps a whole
school year.
However, the substance is in the field activities.
If a student was to collect and analyze all the indicated
data,
it would
likely take three to six months. It takes at least
a year – a
full annual cycle of the Sun – of consistent observing
to really learn your way around the night sky. Also, many
places have
cloudy weather in the cold months which makes sky observing
a challenge.
For these reasons, it is difficult to break up
this course into a "one size fits all" lesson plan. However,
it is a self-guided course that a motivated highschooler can
finish early, or complete over the summer without a significant
burden.
Can
readers in the southern hemisphere use Signs & Seasons?
The illustrations and descriptions in Signs & Seasons present
the sky as seen from the mid-northern latitudes - North America,
Europe
and
Asia.
Unfortunately, it's nearly
impossible to present a "generic" astronomy lesson
that works for both northern and southern hemispheres. Plans
are currently in progress to create a southern hemisphere supplement
to Signs & Seasons that would make
the lessons of each chapter relevant to the southern skies,
for the benefit of homeschoolers especially in Australia and
New Zealand.
In the meantime, Signs & Seasons would be helpful
to readers "Down Under" as an informative, edifying
curriculum that would add Biblical balance to a secular astronomy
program. Signs & Seasons would also help in understanding
the historical influence of astronomy in western culture, such
as "why clocks move clockwise" and other aspects
that do not line up with the appearances of the southern sky.
Signs & Seasons is available in Australia through
Homeschool
Heaven, who is selling the curriculum bundled
with additional resources for observing the southern hemisphere
sky. We hope this will make Signs & Seasons relevant
to observers south of the equator.
(For what it's worth, our family is good friends with a family
from New Zealand . We've
visited the southern hemisphere and appreciate the wonderful
southern sky, much more interesting than
its northern
counterpart. We also understand that the interests of folks
in the southern hemisphere are not well represented in the
literature of the northern hemisphere.
We hope to soon rectify this situation, as soon
as feasibly possible.)
Is
Signs & Seasons
a "young earth" or "old
earth" curriculum?
Signs & Seasons is directed to teaching how to
observe the sky in the "here and now." Signs & Seasons does
not delve into the subject of origins one way or the other.
However, the book is heavily Biblical and quotes Scripture
throughout, as had been historically done in science books
in the era prior to Darwin.
If an ideological "litmus test" is required, the
author holds to a literal reading of Scripture, opposing any
attempts to rationalize Scripture or line up with the shifting
sands of modern science, and is therefore on the "young
earth" side of the aisle.
Are there any exams or question
and answer sets?
By popular demand, Fourth Day Press has published an accompanying
workbook, the Signs
& Seasons Field Journal and Test Manual,
to help students observe and understand the cycles of
the
Sun,
Moon, and
stars.
This workbook includes the
40 pages of field activities from the curriculum, and will
help high school students document
120 "lab work"
hours for a full high school credit,
depending on individual state standards and requirements.
The tests are designed to measure actual observational
skill, rather
than contrived
vocabulary or reading comprehension questions. A
second volume in this series is envisioned that will incorporate
mathematics and will include traditional work problems
and other such classwork.
Is there a lesson planner or
daily assignment schedule?
The Signs & Seasons course is designed
so that students will learn to observe the sky and thus gain "real
world" experience
with the subject matter. It's hoped that this approach will
help the students to learn a few things about scientific methodology,
and not just believe what they are taught as with many other
science curricula.
However, the S&S course
must be used by students in a number of different climates
and under a wide range of sky conditions. A student in Florida,
California, or Texas will have more clear skies than a student
in Vermont, Ohio, or Washington state. Also, rural students
will see more stars than those under the light polluted skies.
Anyway, for these reasons, it's difficult to devise a "one
size fits all" lesson plan or assignment schedule. The
workbook Introduction explains
that the observations should be self-guided and made as opportunity
permits. A student should be able to complete them
at a leisurely rate throughout the school year, but it can
be
completed
in
a half-year by an ambitious kid with good weather.
Credit for the S&S course is
established by documenting 120 hours of work,
which can include the time spent reading the chapters and
taking the tests. These hours can be completed anytime, either
all
at once or spread out over a long time, even longer than
a single school year if necessary.
While we can't provide a lesson plan laying out what families
should be doing on Tuesday of Week 3, it is hoped that this
program fits the freedom and flexibility we have as homeschool
families.
Will I need a telescope for this
course? If so, what type of telescope?
No, a telescope is not needed for this course. All the subject
matter in Signs & Seasons is "classical" in
that it teaches the historical, pre-telescopic techniques for
observing
the sky, particularly for telling time and navigating by the
Sun, Moon, and stars. We do not advocate telescope ownership
and our position on the subject of telescope ownership
can be found in the article, Before
You Buy a Telescope. The
only materials you will need for Signs & Seasons are
craft materials, a notebook or the Signs & Seasons
Field Journal and Test Manual for certain
field activities, and optionally a 12-inch world
globe.
Make this the year that your family studies
astronomy!
Order Signs & Seasons Today!
Please use the Mail
Order Form to pay by Check or Money Order.
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