Watch out for quicksand!

"On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand".  While singing this song in church on Sunday, I thought of how pirates sometimes get caught in the quicksand when they are in search of their treasure in unknown territory.  How desperately Jesus wants us to follow Him and let Him guide us in our journey of life.  His way is the best way.  In Micah's Jesus Calling Devotional (kids version by Sarah Young) this week he read:

"I have planned out a perfect path for your life, and I am leading you along that path.  In the distance, you can see the mountaintop.  That's our goal.  I know that you want to go straight to the top, but don't take shortcuts.  Follow Me instead.  Shortcuts can take you into dangerous places.  There will be difficulties along the way, for sure.  But I will use them to bless you with courage and strength.  At times it might even seem that I am leading you away from the goal.  Follow Me anyway.  I have lovingly planned every inch of your journey.  Hold My hand and walk with Me.  When the path gets rocky and steep - when problems get in your way - hold even tighter to My hand.  Together we will make it to the top!"

Verse:  The Lord God gives me my strength.  He makes me like a deer, which does not stumble.  He leads me safely on the steep mountains.  Habakkuk 3:19

The Pirate Cruncher

Wow!  We found this book at the library a few months ago and I knew that it was one to use for this unit.  God kept pressing it in my mind because it ties in Colossians 2:8 beautifully.  The Pirate Cruncher is written by Jonny Duddle.  The lessons from this fun book are:  that we need to keep our hearts focused on our treasures in heaven; we must hold tight to the truths we know by keeping them pressed upon our hearts; we can be deceived/tricked so easily by human philosophies and the spiritual forces of this world.  We must be alert at all times and take captive every thought and desire to make them obedient to Christ.  Read it ... and you'll see how you can get all of that out of it.

Language Arts Land Lubbers

Lilly's lasting longer on some of the 'lessons'.  So, while Micah is looking up some of our words and getting ready to read the definitions, Lilly is pointing out the letters, that make up the word, on her alphabet strips.  She even runs her finger over the lines to begin learning how to 'write' more of them.  Nice job land lubbers!

Digging for gold

Yukon gold that is.  It's time to harvest some potatoes.  We made soup with our potatoes, parsley, and carrots.  Wow - good stuff!

A larger "crew"

On Wednesday we had the joy of playing with two friends from Eastside Explorers.  Their mom is within weeks of having their fourth girl.  We felt she needed some 'rest time' (or she'd have to walk the plank!), and we needed some 'play time' with the 2 older girls.  We picked up Victoria (7) and Olivia (5) and gave them a full day (from 9 to 6) of "scrubbing the deck" (well, more like biking, climbing, eating, and dressing up).

Pirate Flags

Pirate flags were representative of the ship's captain and were hoisted to scare their enemies.  The best flags scared the captive ship's mates so bad there wasn't much of a fight, they just gave up.  The kids designed their own flags and then we waved them on our ship.  So far, no battles.

"Ahoy Mateys"

Our first day started out with me coming into the playroom/school room all dressed up.  The kids were thrilled and began digging through the bag of pirate accessories I had ready for them.  We went outside to board our pirate ship and read some books.  I started out with Pirate Mom by Deborah Underwood.  The kids each got a 'treasure map' that I made for them, got their shovels, and dug for chips of gold.  Then Micah made one for me.

Pirate Unit

Our Pirate Unit is beginning.  I'm excited for Micah on this one.  Boys like pirates!  He got a really cool pirate book for his birthday and it will be perfect to read this month.  It's called 100 Facts on Pirates by Miles Kelly.
We'll learn some general information about pirates, past and present.  We'll learn about what their focus was in life and how they obtained those goals.  We'll integrate maps and map skills using treasure maps.
Our verses are: captive-related (since pirates take people captive)

• Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.
• Acts 8:23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.
• 2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere.
• 2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
• Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
• 2 Timothy 2:26 ... and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.