Homeschool Unit on Stars
Homeschool unit on stars includes Bible, language arts, history, science, art, music, and some math. There is something for every age group. Preschoolers will enjoy singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Your older children can read about Galileo and Kepler. Everyone will enjoy observing the night sky.
Bible
How could we not start a homeschool unit on stars without first looking at the Bible? There are so many verses that talk about stars and the heavens. When I looked in the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance I found 67 verses that had either the word star or stars in the verse. There are a lot of other verses that deal with heaven.
From studying the Bible verses about stars I saw that:
- God created the stars
- We are not to worship the stars
- Abraham's descendents will be more numerous than the stars
- Stars are used in prophecy
- The angles are sometimes referred to as stars
Some verses to get you started on your study:
- Genesis 1:16 God created stars on the 4th day of creation.
- Genesis 26:4 I will make your descendents multiply as the stars of heaven.
- Deuteronomy 4:19 And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all people under the whole heaven as a heritage.(NKJV)
- Job 38:31-33 Job mentions several constellations.
- Mathew 2:2 - 10 the wise men followed a star to find Jesus.
You can also study verses that deal with heaven. One of my favorite verses is, the heavens declare the glory of God Psalms 19:1.
Have you older children find verses in a Bible concordance.
Language Arts
Your homeschool unit on stars should include some poetry. There are several poems written about stars. Some are nursery rhymes such as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Star Light, Star Bright. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star comes from the poem The Star by Jane Tayor. Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Frost, and other great poets have written poems about stars.
After you have read some poems have your child try to write a poem about stars. Cinquains and Haiku are usually easy for children to write.
Pre-readers can find words that rhyme with star or words that rhyme with sun.
Older children can research and write a report about the names of constellations.
History
For history your child can study about navigation. Teach your child about the sextant and how sea captains used it to sail ships. Also have your child study about the history of astronomy. Start with Babylon.
Read about Johannes Kepler and Galileo. Johannes Kelper by John Hudson Tiner is a good book. It is one of the Sower series books. The book Men of God Men of Science by Henry M. Morris also has a short biography about Kepler.
Science
A homeschool unit on stars would not be complete without observing the night sky. All you will need is a star map and a clear night. To see a lot of stars you will need to be where there is not a lot of a light. City lights make viewing the stars difficult.
If you have too many city lights or the night is cloudy you can make your own constellations. Take a can and cut the top and bottom out. Cover the cut edges with masking tape. Secure a piece of black paper to one end. With a pen punch holes into the black paper to represent constellations. Go into a dark room with a flash light. Place the flash light into the can. You should see your constellation on the ceiling.
You can also make a telescope to view the night sky better. All you need are two cardboard tubes and two lenses. One tube needs to slide into the other tube. The lenses will need to have different focusing lengths. Place the longer focusing lens on the outer tube and the other lens on the inside tube. Now you have a refractor telescope.
Make your astronomy unit complete by studying the planets and other things in outer space. Have your child study the difference between a star and a planet.
Have your children find other stars in nature. Look at star fish. Another example is to cut an apple so that the seeds make a star design.
Art
Have your children make constellations. On a black piece of paper, place stars in a constellation shape. You can have them use white crayon to outline the constellation.
Have your children make the six sided Star of David.
Older students can study Vincent Van Gogh. Make sure that they see the picture Starry, Starry Night. They could also try to make a similar painting.
Music
Music can make a homeschool unit on the stars fun.
Have your children listen to Don McClean's Starry, Starry Night.
Listen to the Christmas carols We Three Kings and O Little Town of Bethlehem.
Look in hymn books and online for other songs that have "star" in the lyrics.
Math
Homeschool unit on stars can also involve math. Have your child research how the distance in space is measured. Have your child research what a light year is.
Homeschool unit on stars took me about two weeks to complete. It took me a week to read a book about Johannes Kepler to my children. To finish up your unit you can take your children to a planetarium.
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