Ninth Grade Astronomy Plan

Grace is going to be studying astronomy for her ninth grade year. I feel kind of relieved about that, because she has been studying biology this year and it is a tough subject! Not that astronomy is easy, but I was very into astronomy as a teen, so I feel much more comfortable with it.

This is the plan I put together for her, with her help. We decided on a spine, a hands-on manual, several reading selections, and a couple of documentary series.

* Main Astronomy Spine *

• Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide- as recommended in The Well-Trained Mind, this Wiley guide will be the spine of her study.

 

* Hands-On Observing *

• Binocular Highlights: 99 Celestial Sights for Binocular Users - We already had this on hand, which is always a plus.  I plan to schedule one night a week for stargazing, using this book to help. We'll see how that goes! Staying up late isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I think it could be a really fun year if we were able to dedicate that much time to stargazing.

  

* Readings *

I plan to have her read through these books, one at a time, in any order she likes. I came up with a list of possibilities and she chose these six.

• Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

 

• The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True

• The Story of Astronomy: From Babylonian Stargazers To The Search For The Big Bang

  

• NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe

• Cosmos

 

• The Book Nobody Read 

* Documentaries *

She would like to watch an astronomy-related documentary once a week or so. We'll start with these, then add others in as time allows.

• Through the Wormhole  

• Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

And that's our plan for ninth grade astronomy!