Mater Amabilis™

  • Home
  • Overview
  • Subjects
    • Religion
      • L1B New Testament
      • L1A- A Life of Our Lord for Children
      • L2-Y1- First Christians Reading Schedule
      • L2-Y2-St. Patrick’s Summer
      • Level 3 & 4 Gospel
      • Level 3 Old Testament
    • Language Arts
    • History
      • National History Outline for Australian Students
      • L1B|L1A-This Country of Ours
      • L1|L2-Introduction to American History
        • L1|L2-Further Reading–American History
      • L1|L2-Introduction to British History
        • British History Lesson Plans
        • L2|Y1-Further Reading–British History
        • L2-Our (An) Island Story
        • L2-Introduction to British History for American Students
        • L1|L2-2year-Introduction to British History for British Students
        • L1|L2-3year-Introduction to British History
        • L2-Introduction to British History for British Students – 3 Year Option
        • L1A|L2|L3-Our Lady’s Dowry
      • L1A -Bible History
      • L1A-Ancient Egypt
      • L2-Ancient Greece
      • L2-Ancient Rome
      • Level 3 World History
        • L3-Y1|Y2 – World History Reading List
      • L3-American History
        • L3-From Sea to Shining Sea Reading List
      • L4-20th Century World History
    • Geography & Earth Studies
      • Introduction to Geography and Earth Studies
      • L1B-Map Location Key
      • L1B-Rivers and Oceans
      • L1A-Weather
      • L1A–Y1– Maps & Mapping
      • L1A-Y1-Earth Studies – Weather
        • British Weather Lore
      • L1A-Y2-Mountains and Volcanoes
      • L3-4 Geography: History of Exploration
      • L4 – Geography of Europe
      • L3|L4-Geology
    • How to Study Shakespeare
      • Shakespeare Plan
      • An Introduction to Shakespeare
      • Comedy of Errors
      • Hamlet
      • Henry V
      • Notes on Julius Caesar
        • Julius Caesar
      • Macbeth
      • Much Ado About Nothing
      • Notes on The Merchant of Venice
        • The Merchant of Venice
      • Notes on The Taming of the Shrew
      • The Tempest
      • Notes on Twelfth Night
    • Science
      • Notes on Nature Study
      • L1B-Nature Study
      • L1A–Y1-Science
        • L1A-Y1-ARCHIVED-Science
      • L1A–Y2-Science
        • L1A–Y2-ARCHIVED- Science
      • L2-Y1-Science In Ancient Greece
      • L2-Y2-Human Body and History of Medicine
      • L3|L4-Science
        • L3-Science Through Time (Secrets of the Universe)
        • L3-ARCHIVED-Science
    • Poetry Plan
      • How to Read a Poem
    • Tales
      • L1A Tales
      • L2 Mythology
      • L3&4 Tales
    • Picture Study
      • Picture Study Resources – All Levels
    • Music Appreciation – All Levels
    • Civics
      • Plutarch
  • Prep Level
  • Level 1B
  • Level 1A
  • Level 2
  • Level 3
  • Level 4
  • High School – Level 5 & 6
    • High School Religion
    • High School English
    • High School History
    • High School Geography
    • High School Government, Economics, and Civics
    • High School Science
    • On Track to Graduation
    • A Sample Daily Schedule

Level 1A – Year 2 Science – ARCHIVED

The Universe in My Hands

This one year introduction to science uses The Universe in My Hands by Mary Daly as a framework. It will teach your child how everything in the universe can be classified by order of magnitude. Your child will set up a binder in which his work, both at this level and in the future, can be kept in a logical scientific order. Certain topics will be explored in greater depth.

Time requirement: Two weekly lessons of approximately 30 minutes.

Teacher involvement: You will need to work with your child for these lessons

Key Texts:

The Universe in My Hands by Mary Daly (available from Ye Hedge School)

Note: You will require both the booklet and the set of dividers. We advise you to read through the booklet before starting the lessons with your child.

Home Science Adventures: Microscopic Explorations

Adventures With Atoms and Molecules: Chemistry Experiments for Young People (Vol.1), by Robert Mebane and Thomas Rybolt

Home Science Adventures: The Astronomy Adventure

Recommended Resources:

Heaven and Earth: Unseen by the Naked Eye, by Katherine Roucoux
This book is a collection of photographs taken through either a microscope or a telescope, arranged in order of magnitude. This book will enable your child to see both the smallest items (electron trails in a bubble chamber) and largest items (a galaxy field) discussed in The Universe in My Hands – and items of every size in between. It is available in both a large hardcover or a mini paperback edition. The larger pictures have more impact, but pictures from the small book could be scanned, copied, or even cut out for inclusion in your child’s binder.

or

Powers of Ten: a Flipbook by Charles and Ray Eames
Another photographic journey, starting with a view of one billion light years and moving inwards by powers of ten down to subatomic particles. Directly correlates to magnitude studies, with postcard sized pictures.

Optional Extras:

The Films of Charles and Ray Eames, Vol.1 is available on DVD and includes Powers of Ten, a nine minute film exploring magnitude.

Usborne Internet-Linked Mysteries and Marvels of Science

Teacher Resources:

CD for the Universe in My Hands and A Doorway of Amethyst (Beginning Geology) by Mary Daly
Note: We highly recommend listening to this talk if you are unsure about how the orders of magnitude work, or how to teach them.

TERM 1

The Visible World

MAGNITUDE: The Universe in My Hands (One lesson weekly)
Note: When using The Universe in My Hands, try to have your child draw or paste in as many pictures as possible as each order of magnitude is studied

Unit 1: What is size? What is small?

Lesson 1: Size and smallness; What is a magnitude? (pp.10-12)

Have your child set up a binder with the tabbed dividers.
Optional activity: Memorize Bible verse (Ws. 11:20)

Lesson 2: Page Zero – One meter (pp.13-15)

Lesson 3: Page (-1) – One decimeter (pp.16-18)

Lesson 4: Page (-2) – One centimeter (pp.19-21)

Lesson 5: Page (-3) – One millimeter (pp.22-24)

Lesson 6: Magnitude review (pp.25-27)

Unit 2: My Home on Earth

Lesson 7: Page (-4) – One tenth of a millimeter

Lesson 8: Big Things (pp.33-34)

Lesson 9: Page (+1) – Ten meters (pp.35-38)

Lesson 10: Page (+2) – One hundred meters (pp.39-41)

Lesson 11: Page (+3) – One kilometer (pp.42-43)

Lesson 12: Page (+4) – Ten kilometers (pp.44-45)

EXPLORATION (One lesson weekly)
Note: Remember to relate your child’s studies to the orders of magnitude, and file activity sheets and narrations in the appropriate section of the binder.

Magnitude (-3) and (-4): MICROSCOPIC WORLD

Home Science Adventures: Microscopic Explorations (14 lessons)

Optional Reading
Usborne Internet-Linked Complete Book of the Microscope

TERM 2

Beyond the Visible

MAGNITUDE: The Universe in My Hands (One lesson weekly)

Unit 3: Down to the Quarks

Lesson 13: Page (-5) – Cells (pp.48-49)

Lesson 14: Page (-6) – Light, Bacteria (pp.49-50)

– discovery of the microscope

Lesson 15: Page (-7) – DNA, Molecules (pp.50-52)

Lesson 16: Pages (-8) and (-9) – smaller molecules (pp.52-55)

Lesson 17: Page (-10) – Water molecules, atoms (pp.55-57)

Lesson 18: Pages (-11), (-12) and (-13) – Electrons (pp.57-59)

Lesson 19: Pages (-14) to (-19) – Quarks (pp.59-61)

Lesson 20: Page (-34) – Planck’s Constant (p.61)

Lesson 21: Review

Unit 4: Up to the Stars

Lesson 22: Page (+5), 100 kilometers (pp.64-66)

Lesson 23: Pages (+6) and (+7), 1,000 and 10,000 kilometers (pp.66-67)

Lesson 24: Pages (+8), 100,000 kilometers (pp.68-69)

EXPLORATION (One lesson weekly)

Adventures With Atoms and Molecules
Choose any twelve experiments from the book.
Note: If you are enthusiastic scientists and have time, do two experiments each week

Optional Reading:

Pasteur’s Fight Against Microbes (Beverley Birch)

Marie Curie’s Search for Radium (Beverley Birch)

The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System (Joanna Cole)

TERM 3

MAGNITUDE: The Universe in My Hands (One lesson weekly)

Unit 4: Up to the Stars

Lesson 25: Pages (+9), (+10) and (+11), 1 million to 100 million kilometers – Stars (pp.69-71)

Lesson 26: Pages (+12 to +15), 1 billion to 1 trillion kilometers – Comets (pp.71-72)

Lesson 27: Page (+16), 1 light year – Measurement (pp.72-74)

Unit 5: A Universe Just Your Size

Lesson 28: Page (+17), 10 light years – Why stars burn (pp.76-78)

Lesson 29: Page (+18), 100 light years – Constellations (pp.78-79)

Lesson 30: Page (+19), 1000 light years – Orion (pp.79-80)

Lesson 31: Pages (+20) and (+21), 10,000 and 100,000 light years – Milky Way (pp.80-82)

Lesson 32: Pages (+22) and (+23), 1 million and 10 million light years – Andromeda Nebula and Virgo supercluster (pp.82-83)

Lesson 33: Pages (+24), 100 million light years – Galactic superclusters (pp.83-85)

Lesson 34: Page (+25), 1 billion light years – Universe and time (pp.85-86)

Lesson 35: Page (+26), 10 billion light years – Creation (pp.86-89)

Lesson 36: Review

Note: These are complex ideas! Don’t worry if your child doesn’t grasp them at this stage. This is just a first introduction to the universe, and will be revisited again at Level 3.

EXPLORATION (One lesson weekly)

Home Science Adventures: The Astronomy Adventure (16 lessons)
Lessons 1 to 11 and 16 to be used during class time. Lessons 12 to 15 are observations of the night sky, one for each season.

Optional Reading

The Stars: a New Way to See Them by H.A.Rey

Find the Constellations by H.A.Rey

One Small Square: the Night Sky by Donald M.Silver

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Primary Sidebar

A Catholic Charlotte Mason Homeschool Curriculum

St. Thomas Aquinas & Charlotte Mason

Mater Amabilis

Join us in a private Facebook group for support implementing Mater Amabilis curriculum.

Overview of the Curriculum

VIEW HERE

Getting Started Guide

Click here to download and print our helpful guide to getting started with Mater Amabilis ™ curriculum.

Helpful Resource Pages

Religion

Language Arts

History

Science Overview

How To Study Shakespeare

Nature Study

Geography & Earth Studies

Picture Study

Music Appreciation

Plutarch

Search MA

Amazon Affiliate

This site contains links to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Maureen Wittmann earns affiliate income from qualifying purchases made through linked purchases from this site. We are grateful for your support which goes toward the maintenance and upkeep of Mater Amabilis.

Mater Amabilis

“. . . our Blessed Virgin Mary is called Amabilis, or lovable, as being such to the children of the Church.” -Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman

Copywork Made Clear

Here is a new video on the value and process of copywork.

A Tour of the MA website

Here is a brief tour through the website, including how to find the introduction, overview, subject helps, and level landing pages. We have also included a tour of level 1A as an example of the resources available for most levels, and a quick look at the high school levels.

The Joy of Copywork

by Sally Thomas I’ve always loved copywork. In grade school, the nicest days – aside from the days when the art teacher read us Amelia Bedelia – were the days when the teacher handed us a poem, purple, damp, and vaguely vanilla-scented, fresh from the ditto machine. Generally it was a poem of the season, … Read More about The Joy of Copywork

Mater Amabilis gratefully accepts donations toward the maintenance of the site.

Privacy Policy

Mater Amabilis does not collect, use, or store data from visitors.

Third parties (including Amazon and any other site we link to) MAY collect, use, or store data from visitors, and place or recognize cookies on visitors’ browsers. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of any other site that collects personally identifiable information.

Disclosure:

Mater Amabilis is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to offset fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Usage:

Copyright © 2003 – 2022. All Rights Reserved. Use of this material is subject to the terms of the Mater Amabilis™ License Agreement.

Use of the Mater Amabilis™ name and/or image is not permitted without written permission.

Follow us on Social Media

Copyright © 2023 · Mater Amabilis