Pirates Part 2

As I mentioned in Pirates Part 1, this book took us 2 weeks to do. Here's week 2 outline.

Pirates Outline Part 2

1. Pirate Treasure
I read from the research guide about what the pirates would search for, and how they would hide it.

2. Make a treasure chest
Had each of the children bring in a shoe box. We covered it in brown paper and decorated it with black and white clip art items I found (skull and crossbones, KEEP OUT sign, key hole, etc)

3. Scavenger Hunt
The "prize" was a pirate kit from Michael's that had doubloons in it and various other wooden pieces to color. They each got about 5, to add to their treasure chests.

4.Pirate Flags
Info from the Research Guide

5. Make own Pirate Flags

6. Learn to tie knots
I encourage the children to learn topics and share them with the class (extra credit...not that they get graded anyway HAHAHA!!) They do receive a certificate the next week acknowledging their study and presentation. One of the boys showed us some knots he knew

Extras
Many Pirate Activities
Grid Activity
Learning about Compasses
Compass Rose Poem


My previous posts on this subject are:

Forming a Co-op
Magic Tree House Index
Dinosaurs Part 1
Dinosaurs Part 2
Vikings
Ninjas
Pirates Part 1

Brian's published!

Brian has been fiddling with photography for awhile now...and altering images...being all artsy fartsy. While I don't "get" some of his stuff, I am so proud of his abilities!!

Recently, a picture of his got published...kinda weird picture, but whatever! It's in a British magazine, an article about fluoride treatments...it's Brian's BIG MOUTH you see in the article!

http://www.nowpublic.com/health/southampton-residents-face-fluoride-row

Boys and Their Big Wheels

I don't remember when I took this picture, but I have millions of them that look the same. 2 boys on their big wheels.

Sebastian has his own Big Wheels now...of course that doesn't mean he's always on his...he wants what you have. And, sometimes Elias is wearing his motocross helmet (nope, we don't motocross, but have the cool helmet anyway!). But otherwise, this is the same type of picture I had last year, and will have next year, and maybe even the year after.



I know I am inordinately blessed to have such stability.

Pirates Part 1

The Pirates book took us 2 weeks to complete. Lots of cool pirate activities out there! Many can be found at the publisher's site Pirates Lesson Plans and the Research Guide Lesson Plans I do try to have the research guides on hand...often I read straight from them the interesting facts I want to share with the kids.

It's important to note..often I just write a loose outline and we are free to vere from it based on things that come up in class...things that need more time, things that might not go as well as planned, etc. Some things we talk about while they are coloring, some things we do split up into groups...you do it however you like!

Pirates Outline Week 1

1. Make Hardtack
I tied this in showing how bread has been used historically through time (remember the Vikings?!) Also told them this recipe was used even in Early American History, during the wagon trains and in the Civil War.






2. What Are Pirates?
Lots of discussions...I used the research guide a lot.


3. Famous Pirates/Girl Pirates
The girls loved hearing about girl pirates!

4. The Secret of Blackbeard's Treasure Chest
A book I happen to have...any book on Blackbeard would do!

5. Are there pirates today? This was a discussion to let them know that there are pirates today. I had cut out a recent newspaper article talking about the Somalian pirates.

6. Parts of ship

7. Pirate's Life-rules, food, punishments.
This was again from the research guide

8. Eat hardtack
Yes, I made the gravy again! That was the big question they wanted to know if they could have the gravy too! I had them pretend it was "stew".

9. Make eye patch
FYI- http://www.instructables.com is my favorite website. There are so many cool things there that people have done, that you just follow their instructions and you can make it too! Very good for the non-craftsy folks like me!

10. Make a Pirate Hat






11. Talk like a pirate

12. Give out Pirate Names
Some of these were a little...interesting (ie, wench, drunken, etc) but the kids LOVED it!! They all ended up hand writing their "names" in their binders, and then they decided who was "related" to who (based on last pirate name)


13. Of course, since our version of Sharks and Minnows has been such a hit, we also had to finish off the day playing "Captain vs Pirates"


My previous posts on this subject are:

Forming a Co-op
Magic Tree House Index
Dinosaurs Part 1
Dinosaurs Part 2
Vikings
Ninjas

Awana Games 2009

Elias participate in his first Awana Games on Saturday. He diligently went to practice, every Saturday from 9:30-12:30 and was really looking forward to the games. He had a blast, as per normal.

Here he is before the games


This is some train game...he loved it!


Circle Game..I don't know what it's really called, and truthfully I don't even understand the goal or rules...I just cheered!


Here's how Sebastian spent the games....flirting with the teenage girl behind him. She and her group of friends were so lovely with him, it always warms my heart to see older kids play with younger kids.



Elias' team came in third place. They all got a ribbon and a patch. Love patches (except sewing them on...hate that!) He had such a nice time, we're really looking forward to next year's games!

Salma Hayek breastfeeds another woman's bay

I am all about this.



It's called ACTION. Love is a Verb. Go and DO and DO with love.

Valentine's Day Parties

We just finished with 2 fun-filled days of Valentine's Day parties! We are so blessed to have such good friends, and such neat groups to belong to.

Yesterday was one support group's party. It was indoors, and had lots of activities for the kids to do, and 90 kids participating in the exchange. They split it up so we all only had to bring 30.

Here's Elias putting in his Valentines


The biggest hit every year is the Cake Walk. He did it so much he won two cakes!


Pin the Kiss on the Froggie...too cute, except I think they could see around their noses....they'd all be walking the wrong direction and miraculously end up right on target! Something fishy, err....froggie, about that!


Then today, we had our usual Homeschool PE, then all convened to the park for another V's Day Party, complete with potluck. This party was more about letting the kids just play outdoors and have fun. Sadly, the weather wasn't sure what it wanted to do...I was prepared to be the Plan B, at my house...and sure enough, it started getting really windy and cold with dark looming clouds, so many of us packed up and went to my house.

Here's the Group Picture before the winds came.


Here's Sebastian waiting in line. He's so big!!!



I just can't stand how much I love this boy! I'm so proud of him! He did not end up going bag to bag, but he stood in line and posed for the group pictures, like a biggie big boy!


It was a really good day! Tomorrow for the REAL V's Day, we have Awana Games bright and early in the morning. Whole family's going to that, then we'll come home and crash...oh no, that's right, all of Brian's events are tomorrow! So, we'll be shuttling him back and forth between 2 events! Crash early I guess!

Hope you all have a good day!!

First Cowboy Boots

It's been pretty nice yardsale weather here (well, the weekend before last was anyway!) While perusing the goods recently I found these cuter than cute cowboy boots. With Sebastian's new love of footwear, I figured he'd love them. Sure enough, he wanted them right on. They are a little big though..he could barely bend at the knee! Didn't stop him from playing basketball though.





He's such a hoot!

Pine Wood Derby- Tiger

This was Elias' first Pinewood Derby for cub scouts. He had such a blast.

We got the car kit a couple of weeks prior to the event. Daddy did all the sawing and sanding, then I helped Elias paint the car. Then we glued in the little Lego racer and steering wheel. Voila!


Daddy took the night off of work to come see Elias' big night!


Here's the car



It's ready to go! His is lane 2, #7



Elias getting his participation award. His car didn't win but he didn't much care. He had such a blast watching everyone racing and then the "free racing" at the end.



Elias and award


Now we know what to expect next year. Maybe we'll get a little more creative.

Trying to get a teenagers picture

Well, truth be told, I was trying to torture him and give him a hug. These days the only way I get any physical contact with my lovely Brian is if I need to "punish" him I tell him, "Ok, that's a 1 minute hug" or "Ok, that's a kiss"....it's sad, but also fun to torture him!

So, this started off as a hug, then turned into, "Well, I can take a picture of me hugging him!" That's even moooooorrreeee torture.

Sadly (or funnily to him) the darn flash worked against me!


So, I half dragged him out of the bathroom, by then Elias was involved and eager to help torture brother, so he offered to take our photo!


I love this boy!

Footstools and faucets

This is that fun stage where toddlers are exploring...with ZERO FEAR and ZERO ability to obey. I can't find my footstool lately....that's because it's not in it's right place. Where is it?

Under any given lightswitch!! Yup, Sebastian carries it around to switch on and off lights.


And to play with the faucets. It's getting very messy here.



Man I love this kid...but he's got to slow down!!

A Big Truck

The other day I kept hearing this noise out front....I finally looked out the window and there was this big truck in the middle of the road. Didn't think much of it...except I kept hearing it out there. Finally I REALLY looked at it. Couldn't really figure out what it was doing...but it had cones all around it and appeared to be near a manhole.

So, I called to Elias and showed him and we ended up running out the door to get up close and personal with it, whatever it was.

I've found that when you show interest in someone's job, they are usually very willing to talk to you about it. So, we carefully went up to the truck and asked what they were doing. These two wonderful older men explained that they were cleaning the sewer. Not like the poopies, but all the rocks and things that clutter up the pipes.

They explained how they had flushed for a few streets, and then at our street had vacuumed it all up. Sadly, we missed the vacuuming part. That would have been great fun to see. They told us about all sorts of crazy things they've seen down in the drains...bikes, bowling balls, etc. I can't even imagine! They said some people lift the manhole covers and throw stuff in there. Sometimes I am shocked at behaviors because they are just not something I've ever seen or thought of doing...this was one of those times. How rude...but anyway...

So, we got to look way down into the manhole, looked at the water at the bottom, the ladder on the side....it was a great time. Elias loved it.

Big truck..the black hose is the vacuum.



Soon the men packed up to go, but they didn't go far! They went to a fire hydrant just down the street. We ambled on over and watched as they attached their hose and filled their 4 big tanks.






How neat and unexpected. We've really learned to grab life as it comes and make the most of experiences. Now we know what's down manholes!