Lewis & Clark: Teamwork and Respect

We started by having the boys help me with a chore.  They worked as a team to lift some heavy objects and after they were done we talked about how working as a team made the job go faster and it was more fun. 

Then we ended up doing an obstacle course because it was Veterans’ Day and so we wanted to recreate a bit of basic training for the boys.

Then we did burpees and pull-ups since we were short on time for our workout.  All of the boys are improving so much!

We then did the Pledge of Allegiance and went over the class rules:

• 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 the Constitution (we didn’t talk very much about last week's hero since we needed to lay the foundation- “What is a law?” “What is the Constitution?”).  We then went to a map to talk about the Louisiana Purchase in order to  introduce our new heroes: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.

We began by reading selections from How We Crossed the West by Rosalyn Shanzer. This book is awesome!  I highly recommend it.

I tried to emphasize how the Corps of Discovery (the name of their group) worked as a team- so much that they showed great respect for every team member (including Sacajawea and the slave York, both of whom were treated as equals and even given an equal vote when the group made a big decision.)

We were going to watch some of my favorite parts of Ken Burn's documentary, The Corps of Discovery but we ran out of time!  

Concepts that you can learn from these men include but are not limited to the following:

• The group's #1 goal was to find a Northwest Passage.  Though they didn’t find it, that doesn’t make their voyage a failure
• They established good relations with the many, many Native American tribes they encountered as they traveled (with only one violent exception)
• They showed the potential the United States had for equal opportunity and tolerance with the slave, York, and their guide, Sacagawea.

Other activities a group could do would involve climbing (walls or ladders), "portaging" or carrying boats (or other heavy objects- the Corps had to do this a few times), learn how to make a fire or work on other survival skills.