Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Farris:
Jay, in your homeschooling curriculum Signs & Seasons, you talk about the “science of direct observation.” Can you explain what you mean by that and how it ties into appreciating God’s creation?

Jay Ryan:
Well, Mike, when I was a student in public school, we read about science in books and we were tested on what we read. And at the higher grades, the courses included lab work. But somehow, I failed to make a connection between this approach and the real world.

In Signs & Seasons, the entire course is directed to learning the sky, and God’s creation becomes the classroom. Students will learn to measure the passage of the Sun during the day and understand how this changes across the four seasons. They will learn to follow the daily and seasonal motions of the stars, and understand the elements of how to tell the time of day and the time of year from observing the sky.

The students can measure the progression of the Moon’s phases over the course of the lunar month. They can confirm with their own eyes when the Moon will line up with the bright stars and planets. They can learn the traditional methods of keeping the calendar, and come to appreciate how our methods of tracking the days, months, and years are historically taken from the cycles of the sun and moon.

In this way, we hope that a new generation will rediscover the Lord’s purpose for creating the sun, moon, and stars, as we read in Genesis 1:14.

Mike:
Jay, I know a lot of people are going to be interested in your book, that it’s available at www.classicalastronomy.com. I encourage people to go look at your website. I’m Mike Farris.