Our Homeschooling Journey: Hello Mr. Sun

We are now just a few months away from sweet sweet vacation time! I have been going through some homeschooling trainings in order to equip myself better in homeschooling my unica hija. My kid is currently in Kindergarten and so far, we have enjoyed our leaning process. Still I want to make sure that I have enough know how in teaching this little person.

For her Science subject, our lesson is about the Sun. Now, there are tons of facts about the sun that I can talk to her about. We could just go ahead and get to answering her book. But then, I wanted our lesson to be more lively and enjoyable for her and for me.

I tried looking for books that could help us with this goal. I couldn't find any. I actually bought a bunch of books that I thought would help her learn more about the topic. I did not want her though to be overwhelmed by the facts about the sun. So, I found and inspiration to write a mini story that will be filled with facts, has some snippets about some Filipino folklore (which we also discussed and read after our lesson), and is more enjoyable for the two of us.

Hello Mr. Sun

Written by @romeskie
For Lanaya

It was a fine Saturday afternoon. The scorching heat of the sun is felt even under the shade of the mango tree beside Ningning’s house. Her Auntie Amelia was quietly laying on the hammock tied on the branches of the tree, fanning herself to fight the heat. Left with nothing else to do, Ningning approached her half asleep aunt and asked, ”Why is the sun so hot?” Startled by her inquiry, Auntie Amelia sat up on the hammock and while she was thinking about what to say, Ningning then asked, ”Where did the sun come from anyway?”

Trying to remember the stories told to her when she was younger, Auntie Amelia gently grabbed her niece to sit down beside her in the hammock. Wrapping her arm around the curious little girl, ”Do you really wanna know?” Ningning was all ears knowing full well that she is in for another of the great stories of her Auntie Amelia.

”Long ago, there was no land, sun, moon, or stars.” Auntie Amelia started. "There was only waters and skies. Magwayen was the ruler of the kingdom of the waters while Kaptan ruled over the skies. Lidagat, the daughter of Magwayen married Lihangin, Kaptan’s son. They had four children, Likabutan, Ladlaw, Libulan, and Lisuga.” Ningning was intently listening to her aunt’s story.

“That has nothing to do with me!” Said a loud and thunderous voice which startled the two. “I do not know such characters and they do not know why I give off so much heat or how I came about!” Auntie Amelia looked up to see who was talking. ”Oh, Mr. Sun! I was just telling my niece about how the world was created according to how my great great grandfather told it.”

“Bah! Why don’t I tell the story about myself.” Mr. Sun dismissed Auntie Amelia. ”Come now, child. What is it that you want to know about Mr. Sun?” He asked Ningning cheerfully. Ningning glanced at her aunt. She smiled at her and nodded, encouraging her to ask away. Hesitantly, Ningning turned to Mr. Sun who was all smiles at her.

”Uhm, hello Mr. Sun. I would just like to know why it is very hot when you’re high up in the sky.”

”My sweet, sweet child, that is because I am made up of hot gases, mostly hydrogen. My temperature on the outside is around 6000 degrees Celsius.” Ningning’s eyes widened. ”6000 degrees Celsius? Why that’s more than my temperature when I had a fever!”

”And that’s just on the outside. On the inside, my temperature is about 15 million degrees Celsius!” Mr. Sun said smilingly. "But I'm not all hot. I have what scientists call sunspots. These are dark spots that are cooler. Some are bigger than Earth! My sunspots are not visible to the naked eye."

Remember, you should not look directly at me or it will hurt your eyes." reminded Mr. Sun.

He then asked Ningning, ”What else do you want to know about me?”

”Since your temperature is too hot, won’t you explode? She asked, worry written all over her face. ”You don’t have to worry about such things my dear! I am just a little over 4.6 billion years old.”

"4.6 billion years old?! You are soooooo ooooooold!" exclaimed Ningning.

”Easy on the old there, kiddo. Yes, I am a bit old. But as far as stars go, I am just halfway through my life cycle.” Ningning looked up at Mr. Sun. ”Yes, I am a star, and yes, I am the center of the solar system. Moving around me are the planets.” Mr. Sun said.

”Wow! I didn’t know all of that! Thank you Mr. Sun!”

”You’re welcome little girl. I love it when kids ask curious questions about the things all around them. ”

”Thank you Mr. Sun” said Auntie Amelia.

”Don’t forget to put on sunscreen whenever you go out in the sun. My heat and energy is important to all life on Earth. Plants need me to make food. Scientists have learned to use solar power to create electricity. But still, too much sunlight is not good for the human skin.” Reminded Mr. Sun. ”Especially now, that with all the pollution, the ozone layer, has already thinned out.” Mr. Sun added with a sad tone to his voice.

”We will certainly do, Mr. Sun.” Said Auntie Amelia reassuringly. She then turned to Ningning. ”With all the pollution that humans have created, Earth is slowly losing its layers that help protect us from the harmful rays of the sun. This is why we need to make sure that other than using precautions from those harmful rays, we also need to help lessen the pollution we produce.”

”Alright! That’s me! I hope you learned something. Your story about the creation of the Earth is good, by the way.” Mr. Sun winked at Auntie Amelia. ”I just wanted to do something to help pass the time.” Mr. Sun looked at the horizon. ”The Earth is turning now. I’ll be on the other side if you need me. Bye now!”

This story is especially written for my daughter. She had lots of fun listening while I read it aloud to her. She is only 5 years old so I did not have her memorize any of the facts in it yet, but I asked her to try to retell to me what she remembered about the story. Since she's still really young, I do not expect her to remember everything about the story. She is so hung up on how old the sun is, which led to her asking how old the earth is and what will happen when the sun dies out. I also wrote this story after the fact that she already knows how stars are born.

After reading the story aloud, we had lots of fun discussion about it. Since the story also discussed about the sun's harmful UV rays, it was not hard for her to stay still as we out on sunscreen to her when we went out for a swim a few weeks ago. We may also have a recycling police in the house now. She is always on the lookout for things we could reuse or recycle.

I now understand that learning for children should be not all about the output like their grades, their quizzes and exams. It is all about what stays in their memory.

_{Sources:
Online sources:
https://nineplanets.org/kids/sun/
https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-the-solar-system/
https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/how-do-stars-form-and-evolve#:~:text=Star%20Formation,under%20its%20own%20gravitational%20attraction.
Books:
Dreamland All About Space and Solar System Encyclopedia
Can We Live on Mars? A book about Space
All Photos were created through Canva.}