We decided to take a three week break from Sonlight (Noah's core curriculum) in order to board a ship and go to pirate school. :) Noah donned his fancy pirate garb (that would even make Sir Henry Morgan proud), grabbed his cutlass, adjusted his eye patch, and we went on a swashbuckling adventure with some of the most terrible pirates that ever lived!!
Before sailing the high seas, however, one first has to do a little "research" to see if you have what it takes to be a brave buccaneer. These were some of the books we used:
Books
Tough Boris by Mem Fox
Pirate Pete by Kim Kennedy
Roger, the Jolly Pirate by Brett Helquist
Pirates: Robbers of the High Seas by Gail Gibbons
Do Pirates Take Baths? by Kathy Tucker
How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long
The World of the Pirate by Val Garwood
Pirate Diary by Richard Platt
We also grabbed a few additional resources...like this FANTASTIC 100 piece floor puzzle that we snagged off Amazon, Imaginetics Pirates from Thinker Toys (also found here), and the Pirate Creativity Book from Costco.
Lessons
Learning to be a pirate on the high seas was certainly tough, but we survived. We had to read maps (and follow the stars), swab the deck, tell a good yarn, memorize parts of the ship, and master pirate "talk." There always seemed to be threats from other ships and Noah was constantly on the look out for sea monsters, ghost ships, and smugglers and he ALWAYS avoided the captain - one wrong look and he would make ye walk the plank!!
(Sample Lessons)
Day One
Words/Definitions learned: yarn, finery, glum, masthead, colony, ship's log, diary
Read pp. 5-7 (Pirate's Diary)
Defined "yarn." Noah made up his own tale about sea monsters attacking the ship.
Described italics and why names on ships are written as such.
Listened to Pirates of the Caribbean "Swashbuckling Sea Songs: Pirates of the Black Tide"
Made a ship's log. Noah entered his name.
Discussed 13 original colonies, England's rule, and how people traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to get to America.
Day Two
Words/Definitions learned: plank, glower, hoist, reel
Read pp. 8-12 (Pirate's Diary)
Viewed diagram of the Greyhound and located the following: bow, stern, starboard, and port sides of the ship
Practiced walking 30 paces (length of the Greyhound). Discussed need for standard measurements.
Discussed why ship's deck had to be kept wet. (Experiment: Introduce red dye to a water containing a celery stalk)
(go to Homeschool Share for more ideas)
Additional Resources
Noah had many additional "duties" while learning aboard the pirate ship. I have provided a few of those below:
- Reviewed the Five Senses using a pirate theme.
- Reviewed the points of a compass and colored a treasure map.
- Used knowledge of a compass and a "treasure map" to locate "buried treasure" in our backyard.
- Counted by 5's up to 100 (the worksheet goes up to 500).
- Completed a pirate lapbook.
- Jolly Roger dot-to-dot (1-72).
- Dug for buried treasure (coin identification).
- Matched pirate words to pictures (reading skills).
- Completed a Lego pirates activity unit (skip counting, phonics, months of the year, etc.)
- Uncovered (made) his own treasure chest filled with gold and jewels!
Well, that was our pirate unit study...what did you think??? :) Noah had a great time doing all these activities and he learned a lot in the process. As I've mentioned before unit studies are a FANTASTIC way to explore an exciting topic while educating your child(ren) in multiple subjects. If you have children that are kinesthetic (active) learners - like many boys are - then there are definitely unit studies designed to keep you up and moving your body. Pick a topic of interest - photography, roller coasters, Ireland, animals - and I bet there's a unit study out there just for you!
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