Building a Telescope: Child-Led Science

We built a telescope, a cardboard telescope from a science kit box…

Can we say child-led homeschool astronomy?


child-led homeschool astronomy

How did child-led homeschool astronomy look in our home on this day?

We bought a science experiment box with a whole lotta directions and let the kids rip into the box.

Now I’m not one for reading directions, but this activity struck me as a non-starter without them, as my telescope-building understanding is somewhere near zero.

I own a telescope. An expensive telescope.

And I loved playing with it until we moved into a valley, where routine star-watching would require going outside my neighbourhood, or at least to the neighbour’s backyard to see the summertime wonders.


child-led homeschool astronomy: zach figuring it out

The kids loved this activity.

We hot glued the ocular lens, the field lens, and the objective lens into the right directions, so refraction would occur–instead of staring at one’s eyeballs. Rachel was thirty seconds ahead of me on every step.

Her innate logic/telescope-building skills will exceed mine before she’s twelve, I’m certain.

Checking out the neighbour’s afternoon activities…

child-led homeschool astronomy

Can’t forget to record our activities–the least favourite part of building a telescope…

Though I don’t expect to challenge any of Galileo’s presuppositions or proven theories, I am certain I am gaining this one thing…one step farther away from Alzheimer’s in my old age. I hold this notion that if research were completed on veteran homeschool parents, their likelihood of Alzheimer’s would be reduced.

No daily sudoku or crosswords are required! Today, we build a rocket…

child-led homeschool astronomy

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Teresa Wiedrick
Teresa Wiedrick

I help overwhelmed homeschool mamas shed what’s not working in their homeschool & life, so they can show up authentically, purposefully, and confidently in their homeschool & life.