Sunday, January 15, 2006

Piratey things

So last night Superboy was watching Pirates of the Carribean, yet again, and has declared that he wants to learn all about pirates for his next history study.
AARRGG! I could use a little help in the planning of this one, so here is what I have thought of so far...tell me what you think and PLEASE offer suggestions! I am thinking of maybe 2 weeks MAX. Short attention span, you know...
Here are my ideas:
We already have the Book How to be a Pirate and can use that as a jumping off point. He has already read it, but we will re-read it together and make a list of questions to follow-up more in depth. I am trying to think of other areas we can rabbit trail onto without yet another major bookstore purchase.
We have the book Ship, by David Macaulay, so we could learn lots about ships, ship-building and sunken vessel recovery.
I thought perhaps a little geography of the Carribean Isles might also be in order.
We could learn about some famous pirates-Blackbeard springs to mind, being sort of close to home. Maybe we could read Treasure Island? or would that be too much? We LOVE Muppet Treasure Island, so the story line is familiar.
I was also thinking of trying our hand at some knot-tying. We have some boy scout books that could help us there.
I'd like to figure out where exactly the phrase "Davy Jones' Locker" came from...
We've already done alot of mapping and latitude/longitude stuff, so that's out, but we could do a treasure map just for fun. We've also done compass stuff, but that could be fun to include in the map directions..."fifty paces south by southwest..."
I've found a few websites, here, here, and here, but none that I am thrilled to death by.
And that's all, folks. I am really short on ideas for this one.
So, me hearties, I be needin' some assistance.

Again, I don't want to make another trip to the bookstore, so what I'm really looking for are ideas for fun activities related to pirates, piratey websites, piratey crafts, etc. You know, fun and educational... easy, right?

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