John Smith and Jamestown: Hard Work and The Need for Families

We began by having the boys play for 30 minutes so they could get tired.

Then it was time to start the class.

Today's workout was different-

We gave the boys 30 seconds to complete as many repetitions of the following exercises as they could:

• Sit ups
• Pushups
• Squats
• Pullups

We recorded their numbers.  We will do this fairly regularly so we can keep track of the boys' progress.

We then did the Pledge of Allegiance.

We went over the class rules and affirmations:

• I am a warrior
• I play hard
• I work hard
• I respect others
• I never quit
• I defend those who can't defend themselves
• I fight for what is right
• I am a son of God

We then reviewed last week's hero, Christopher Columbus, before introducing our new hero: John Smith.

We read Captain John Smith: American Hero by Juliana Brennan Rodgers
Here is a video with some of my favorite sections of the book.  It's not narrated but parents who would like to can pause and read the pages.
As we read I used this PowerPoint so the boys had extra images to view while listening to his incredible story.

Believe it or not, John Smith fought in the Crusades and recorded an amazing story about how he won three times in a row while jousting (to the death!)  So we did some "jousting."  The boys took turns.  One would dress as a knight with a hobby horse, holding a paper towel lance (so it would be safe and collapsible.)  Another would sit on our rocking horse holding a diving ring out to the side for the "knight" to aim for with his lance.   Once our cardboard lances gave out we used pool noodles.  

We then watched another Animated Classics video entitled Pocahontas.  I started it at 6:30.

The boys were then sent on a treasure hunt following clues and a map to some chocolate "gold."  They were allowed to eat the gold as soon as we had cleaned up everything.

Materials to gather: Book, pool noodles and/or cardboard to make a lance of some kind, stick horse, knight helmet and armor, tunic, diving ring taped to a stick, rocking horse, treasure hunt map and clues, chocolate gold.