The upper level courses (both the basic and the advanced) are designed for students in the junior and senior high years:

• Video lessons are longer than the elementary-level videos and taught using language more suitable for teens.
• The concepts taught in the upper level course go much deeper than the elementary course, which is more basic.
• The upper level has weekly outdoor observation activities (often in the late evening or early morning) which are more appropriate for those looking for an observational/lab science. Activities in the elementary course include more hands-on creative projects, better for younger children.
• The recommended reading for the upper level courses is a textbook geared more towards teens. Reading assignments for the elementary course are living books that can be used as read-alouds or assigned as independent reading, geared towards students ages 6-11.

The Advanced Mastery program is an opportunity for students to learn even more about Astronomy while earning high school credit for this science course. In addition to all of the training and information made available in the Basic course, your student will be given hands-on projects, history and literature assignments, field trip ideas, and Bible-based projects.

Your students will also be able to participate in 6 live, interactive trainings with Mr. Gilkerson where they’ll go deeper in the study of astronomy and have opportunities to ask their questions and get answers (typically last about 1.5 hours each). Training will be recorded for Advanced students who are not able to attend live.

Schedule for 2020-2021: September 21, November 9, January 11, February 22, April 5, and May 17 at 11:30 AM (EST). 

The extra assignments and trainings will be enough to allow students to earn high school credit for this course.

That depends on if your student takes the Basic course or the Advanced Mastery Course.

On average, video lessons are 20 minutes long. Most of observation activities take 15-30 minutes, though certain weeks might be slightly longer or shorter. Quizzes are also offered weekly, and these will be relatively short (about 5 minutes). The midterm and final exams are longer (about 2o-30 minutes). There will be weekly reading assignments assigned from Sign & Seasons.

If your student takes the Advanced Mastery program, they’ll also have 6 live interactive trainings with Mr. Gilkerson that each average 1.5 hours. To acquire enough hours for high school credit they should also complete 10 of the 20 assignments suggested during the Advanced course.

The course officially starts in early September. Students will have access to one new video every week (except for a three-week break around Christmas when there will be no new assignments). Videos go live each week on Sunday morning (EST), but students can watch them any time throughout the week. Once released, each video can be reviewed as many times as the student wants through the end of the course.

Lessons correspond to weekly outdoor observation activities. Because one of the goals of the class is to see the changes and movements in the sky over the course of nine months, the course is paced so students cannot “get ahead” by doing a lot of lessons all at once. Because the sky is always changing, it is important for students do their best to keep up with the assignments week by week.

In the upper level course, each student receives their own grade, online portal, and auto-graded quiz so each student should enroll separately. We do offer generous multi-student discounts for families enrolling more than one student in the class at the same time.

If you have multiple students (in the same immediate family) enrolling in an upper level course, we offer a 50% discount for the second student, and 75% discount for the third and fourth student.  

There are 33 outdoor assignments in all. All assignments involve observation with the naked eye (no telescopes needed) and some kind of note-taking or drawing of what is seen.

Most activities can be completed in 15-30 minutes, but all of these activities involve going outside at specific times. Some will require students to go out at 10pm, at midnight, at 5am, etc. So while the course activities are relatively easy, they need to be done at specific times.

There are some areas where viewing the stars at night is more difficult because of manmade “light pollution.” And of course, bad weather is inevitable, making star observation difficult or impossible at times. A few things to consider…

• Be sure to always take advantage of good weather. However, most outdoor activities can be postponed a week or so without a problem.

• The course focuses on the brightest, most-obvious constellations, many of which are viewable even in suburban locations.

• When the bad weather doesn’t let up or activities can not be completed due to light pollution, there is an alternative. You can use an online planetarium to complete your assignments. (You will receive instructions for how to do this as part of the course.)

While this class touches on the reasons why God created the stars, it does not get into concepts about the age of the universe or scientific theories about the beginning of the universe. The course does not touch on how to interpret the days of creation in Genesis 1. The focus of the class is to discover the motions of the heavens, not the creation or history of the heavens.

In most states, students need to accumulate at least 120 hours of instruction and course work to receive a high school credit.

We now offer the Experience Astronomy: Advanced program so your child can accumulate these hours. They’ll need to complete all of the following to accumulate the necessary course hours:

• complete all the course lectures
• take all the quizzes and exams
• complete all recommended readings
• complete all outdoor observation assignments as part of the regular course
• attend all live trainings and Q&A events (or watch the recording)
• complete a minimum of 10 of the 20 assignments from the book Experience Astronomy: Going Deeper

Please note: Experience Astronomy: Basic program does not include enough hours for most students to receive credit. If you are intending your student to earn high school credit, be sure to select the Experience Astronomy: Advanced program option upon sign up.

Yes, but this course is for those who live in the Northern Hemisphere. We’ve had students take this course in all parts of North America, Europe, and most of Asia. This course is not for those living in the Southern Hemisphere.

This course is a “naked-eye” astronomy course. That means, you won’t need to purchase any telescopes, binoculars, or other specialized equipment for your student.

Though not required, your student would benefit from a small red flashlight. Since students will be outside in the dark, drawing what they see in the sky, a red light will help them see their paper without destroying their night vision. You can easily purchase one online, or there are a variety of apps you can download that will turn a smartphone into a red light. The first class of this course gives students instruction about how to make their own from a regular white flashlight.

It is highly recommended, though not required, that you purchase the textbook Signs and Seasons: Understanding the Elements of Classical Astronomy, by Jay Ryan*. This is the finest textbook on the market for learning about the motions of the heavens.

*Textbook required for Advanced Mastery students seeking high school credit.

Yes, we recently added the option to use this in a co-op. The course is set up slightly different to accomodate co-ops, you can check out all the details here.

The instructor for this course is Luke Gilkerson. Mr. Gilkerson and his wife Trisha are authors of multiple homeschooling and parenting books. They blog together at Intoxicated On Life. During his undergraduate program, Mr. Gilkerson worked in his university’s Astronomy department as a stargaze instructor, and for the last several years has taught astronomy at his local homeschool co-op along with 1000s of students throughout the world through Experience Astronomy.