Spring 2023 Catalog

SCIENCE

Earth Science God’s World, Our Home Kevin Nelstead, M.S. Earth Science: God’s World, Our Home unites a Christian perspective with up-to-date geological science. Topics studied include lunar phases and eclipses; rocks and minerals; volcanoes and earthquakes; weathering, erosion, and soils; landforms and glaciers; geological history; oceanography; weather and climate; and Christian stewardship. Earth Science features eight, in-depth Experimental Investigations , which range from rock and mineral identification to studying volcanoes with topographical maps.

EIGHTH GRADE

Where to Purchase? Go online @ chcweb.com/Grade8 for direct links to purchase this program. Earth Science Textbook (2nd ed.) ISBN: 9780986352911 Earth Science Digital Resources Order from classicalacademicpress.com

The program consists of a full color textbook and Digital Resources (PDF and Word files). The Digital Resources are essential for the course and provide a complete answer key to the questions in the textbook, an experiment manual, quizzes, exams, and weekly review guides.

Highly Recommended CHC’s daily lesson plans for Earth Science are a must-have! The plans coordinate the text and Digital Resources in a way that is helpful for homeschoolers. These plans are included in CHC Lesson Plans for Eighth Grade (see pg. 17) or can be purchased separately as Earth Science Daily Lesson Plans (see pg. 70).

Cranium (Skull)

Maxilla (Upper Jaw)

Mandible (Lower Jaw)

Vertebrae (Neck Bone)

Clavicle (Collar Bone)

MUSCULAR AND SKELETAL SYSTEMS

Sternum (Breast Bone)

Humerus (Upper Arm Bone)

Rib Cage (Ribs)

Ilium (Hip)

Pelvis

C hordates

Femur (Thigh Bone)

Chordates All animals in the Phylum chordata possess a dorsal nerve cord, an internal skeleton and, at some point in their development, gill slits. Chordates have complex bodies with bilateral symmetry. The name “Chordata” refers to the notochord which grows along the dorsal side of chordates while they are embryos and which develops into the backbone. There are several chordates in special subphyla whose noto chords do not develop into backbones. You, and most familiar animals, belong to the Subphylum vertebrata . Each piece of the backbone is a vertebra, thus the subphylum name is Vertebrata (Figures 13.2–3). The Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Vertebrata is divided into seven main classes.

Patella (Knee Cap)

157 What do these two creatures, one a krill-slurping ocean dweller and the other a cave-roosting plant eater, have in common? Both are warm-blooded mammals, give birth to and nurse their young, and were designed by the same Almighty God. Yet, there are components of creation even smaller than the bumblebee bat. Organelles— tiny, specialized “organs,” each with its own func tion—are found inside living cells. One of these organelles is the mitochondrion, a cell's “power house.” We can compare the energy-providing mitochondrion to a battery; tiny flashlights might utilize a single, tiny AAA battery, while a lantern might require a whole fistful of D batteries. In somewhat the same way, our Intelligent Designer equipped body cells that require lots of “fuel” (like muscles) with an abundance of mito M ItoChondrIa and G od ’ s d esIGn Did you know that the world's largest mammal, the blue whale, can grow to 100 feet in length? (Stretch this whale across a basketball court, and he would be out of bounds on both ends!) On the other hand, a mature bumblebee bat is often less than an inch long.

Tibia (Shin Bone)

FIGURE 5.16. The bumble bee bat lives in caves in a small area of western Thailand and adjacent Myanmar.

Venerable Jérôme Lejeune Jérôme Lejeune (1926–1994) was a French doctor who discovered the genetic cause for Down syndrome. People with Down syndrome have mild to moderate intellectual disabilities and often look different from other people. Dr. Lejeune discovered that people have Down syndrome because they are born with an extra copy of one of their chromosomes. As you know, chromosomes are double strands of DNA and contain the information to operate the cell. Normally, human beings have 23 pairs of chro mosomes in each cell. Down syndrome is caused by having an extra copy of chromosome number 21, so its official name is Trisomy 21. Dr. Lejeune dedicated his whole life to searching for a cure for Down syndrome. Meanwhile, he also became involved in another battle. Some people were starting to say that since children with Down syndrome looked different and had handicaps, they were not worthy to live. Instead of caring for children with Down syn drome, these people said, their parents should have aborted them before they were born. Dr. Lejeune knew that an extra chromosome could not change a person’s soul or make him less of a person, and he was not afraid to be a witness for the rights of unborn children. Chapter 13

FIGURE 9.18. A FERN FROND The entire fan-like piece of this fern is the frond.

FIGURE 17.8. THE HUMAN SKELETON The skeleton supports muscles, protects organs, stores minerals, and produces blood cells.

Frond

FIGURE 13.2. VERTEBRA Cross-section of spinal column showing how vertebrae in the backbone protect the spinal cord.

Chapter 17

FIGURE 9.19. SORI Sori of the western

FIGURE 9.21. WHISK FERN

sword fern ( Polystichum munitum ): a low-power microscopic view of the fern’s sori, the clusters of sporangia which con tain the spores.

FIGURE 16.5. VENERABLE JÉRÔME LEJEUNE

Pinna

When Dr. Lejeune first discovered the cause for Down syndrome, he became very famous and received many awards. All that changed when he became involved in the pro-life movement. Although Dr. Lejeune always spoke and acted with charity, he was often treated with ridicule by his fellow scientists. Instead of supporting his attempts to find a cure for Down syn drome, the university where he worked kept him in a low-paying position, and there were even threats to his life. Dr. Lejeune refused to back down, and continued to defend the unborn for the rest of his life. Dr. Lejeune died of cancer in 1994, a few weeks after St. John Paul II appointed him the first president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. In 2007 the cause for Jérôme Lejeune’s canonization was opened.

FIGURE 13.3. SKELETON The spinal column, or backbone, is

FIGURE 5.17. COLORED SCANNING ELECTRON MICROGRAPH OF A MITOCHONDRION Mitochondria oxidize sugars and fats to produce energy in a process called cellular respiration. A mitochondrion has two membranes: a smooth outer membrane and a folded inner membrane where the chemical reactions to produce energy take place. Magnification: approximately 15,000×

sori

plainly visible in this illustration of a crocodile skeleton. The spinal column is made up of many individual vertebrae which protect the bundle of nerves called the spinal cord.

Rhizome Spores

118

chondria, while other cells with “low-energy” needs have only a few. “Low-energy-consuming” cells may contain only one mitochondrion, while “high-energy-consuming” cells may contain thousands! How is it that each cell comes equipped with the right number of mitochondria to perform its designated function? (Think of how well that large lantern might function with only a single AAA battery rat tling around inside.) Does the placement of mitochondria sound like a random accident, or the work of an Intelligent Designer? My vote is with the Intelligent Designer!

FIGURE 9.22. CLUB MOSS Like the ferns this club moss cannot make seeds and must reproduce by spores. Unlike the mosses however, the club moss has a vascular system.

FIGURE 9.20. A TYPICAL FERN All the parts of a fern may be seen in this diagram of the New York fern. Its scientific name is Thelypteris novebora censis. The plural form of “pinna” is “pinnae.”

FIGURE 5.18. ILLUSTRATION OF BLUE WHALE ( BALAENOPTERA MUSCULUS ) Blue whales are found through out the world's oceans, feeding on small crustaceans called krill, which they filter out of the sea. It requires 3–4 tons of krill a day to support a blue whale.

FIGURE 16.6. CHILD WITH DOWN SYNDROME

Figures 9.18 and 9.20 show the frond of a fern. Each frond is divided into sections which are sometimes mistakenly called leaves. The small parts of the frond are leaflets, correctly termed pinnae. The undersides of some fronds are dotted with small brown bumps called sori , made of clusters of sporangia containing the spores (Figure 9.19). Some ferns have their sori on a separate stalk. You may try to pull up a fern frond and find that it is attached to several neighbors by a horizontal, underground stem called a rhizome . The small, root-like rhizoids anchor the fern to the ground (Figure 9.20). The ferns grow taller than the mosses because of their vascular systems, but they still need a film of water to reproduce. That is why ferns are found with mosses in wet, humid places.

Did you know? Jérôme Lejeune was homeschooled during high school. When Jérôme was fifteen, his father took his two sons out of the local school so that he could guide their education him self. During this time, Jérôme and his brother founded a theater company, became fluent in Latin and Greek, and constructed various contraptions and projects of their own.

Sample pages from Life Science

Chapter 5

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FIGURE 9.23. HORSETAIL Northern giant horsetail ( Equisetum telmateia )

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Chapter 16

Chapter 9

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