Signs & Seasons: Understanding the Elements of Classical Astronomy

Unlike the vast majority of pop astronomy books that focus on “Modern Astronomy,” Signs & Seasons teaches “Classical Astronomy,” the traditional, historical approach to learning the sky. Astronomy is the most ancient science. It had been part of the Quadrivium, one of Seven Liberal Arts of a classical education. Throughout all history, people have told time and found direction from the Sun, Moon and stars. This is the purpose for which the LORD created the celestial bodies – for signs and seasons, and days and years (Genesis 1:14). Signs & Seasons is an evolution-free curriculum that teaches this traditional, Biblical basis for timekeeping and navigation.

Topics include:

* The Phases of the Moon and the Passage of the Seasons;

* Finding the Traditional Constellations and identifying the Visible Planets;

* How our Calendar is based on the Sun and Moon, and how the times of Passover and Easter are derived from their cycles.

Signs & Seasons is lavishly illustrated, with images that depict the appearances of the night sky, to prepare you for what you will see. Learn astronomy through the quoted words of Scripture and many classical authors — ancient, medieval, and modern, Christian and secular alike — from Aristotle and Cicero, Augustine and Basil the Great, Martin Luther and John Calvin, to Shakespeare and Leonardo da Vinci.

Importantly, Signs & Seasons sets the record straight about supposed “pagan influences” in astronomy, and offers challenging Biblical and historical explanations that distinguish the legitimate science of astronomy from the ancient superstition of astrology.

Signs & Seasons also includes 40 pages of Field Activities. These activities accompany each chapter to enable the student of the sky to make systematic observations of the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets. These field activities will assist in creating a field journal that enable a high school student to establish work hours toward high school credit. These activities can also be used by younger students under parental supervision.

Signs & Seasons also includes an extensive Glossary, a Bibliography of Quoted Authors, and Astronomical Tables to assist the reader in finding the constellations and planets. Read Signs & Seasons and rediscover your forgotten astronomical heritage!

Signs & Seasons, 280 pages, list price $39.99 from Fourth Day Press

Special!

Signs & Seasons for 25% off, only $29.99

(if you order before April 21, 2007!)

Read what popular Christian authors are saying about Signs & Seasons!

Signs & Seasons is a systematic and classical approach to astronomy, with a Biblical foundation stone. Children will learn to love studying the night sky, and adults will appreciate being able to finally make sense of astronomy.

– Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn, authors of Teaching the Trivium:
Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style

Author Jay Ryan presents a crystal-clear understanding of the night sky. The excellent, extensive graphics raise the bar for other astronomy books. The unique balance between modern and historical observations may well ignite a lifelong interest in stargazing.

– Donald B. DeYoung, author of Astronomy and the Bible,
President of the Creation Research Society

Readers of Signs & Seasons are sure to become wiser as they discover the lost skills that served as the foundational learning of the early scientists from Ancient Greece to the Colonial era. I highly recommend this book as a follow-up to my Astronomy course, and one that will take the student further with their studies, giving them a near perfect understanding of the expanse of the heavens and God’s purpose for astronomy.

– Jeannie Fulbright, author of Exploring Creation with Astronomy

Our kids are getting the best possible astronomy class with Signs & Seasons. But something else just as wonderful has happened as a result: we as the parents are finally learning about this little-studied science on a deeper level for the first time. Don’t skip astronomy, and don’t just gloss over it, either. Avoid the dumbed-down curriculums. Signs & Seasons delivers. Highly recommended by:

– Paul & Gena Suarez, Publishers, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

About the Author:

Jay Ryan has been involved in popular astronomy writing since 1995. For five years, he had been a Contributing Editor to Sky & Telescope magazine, the definitive mainstream astronomy periodical. He is also the author of Cycles: An Introduction to Astronomy and Time, an educational comic book used in high schools and colleges around the USA and beyond, with over 40,000 copies currently in print.

Along the way, Jay left the mainstream and now devotes his future work to Christian readers, to the greater glory of God. Since 2002, he has written the Classical Astronomy Update email newsletter for Christian homeschool families (2000 readers and growing all the time). He has also written astronomy and other homeschool-related articles for Homeschooling Today, Homeschool Enrichment and The Old Schoolhouse magazines. He is a frequent contributor to the homeschool channel at Crosswalk.com. His article The Astronomy of Easter was picked as one of the Crosswalk Top 6 homeschool articles for 2006.