Kingdom Legos

 Our house is turning into knight battle ground.

The boys and I are going to spend the next few weeks studying the age of Knights and Castles. Many battles will be fought as they play out this high interest era of history.

To start the adventure, we read the book Adventures in the Middle Age. This helped the boys get an overview of the age of knights and castles.  They were also able to pull out 3 major themes that we will be learning about more in depth over the next few months.  Knights, castles and peasants are the big themes.  Both boys will read many books, create word webs and many art projects. Bryce is very excited about making costumes to hopefully wear to the Renaissance Festival in the fall.



All three boys, loved that we were able to read Defend the Castle. Then start building.  For three days, they worked hard and built the entire Lion Kingdom and the Dark Dragon Wizard kingdom.  Bryce added up all the pieces, 1749 legos were assembled by the boys. I put together the medieval village.  The plan is for the boys to use these legos to show what they are learning through out this adventure.

Building is hard work.

Lion Kingdom

The knights seem to be enjoying the jester show.

The Dragon Wizard army is ready to attack.

Medieval Village

Dragon Week

Dragon = a mythological creature, knights fought in the middle ages.

The boys spent the last two weeks reading and drawing dragons. I planned to start studying castles but the boys had other plans.  All they could talk about was knights fighting dragons. So, I checked out lots of books and let them learn as they so strongly desired. Bryce loved that dragons ate metals so they were able to breath fire. Micah was excited that he was able to do copy work about dragons and practice drawing them.  Matthew was thrilled to read and reread the two books I found about How to Train Your Dragon. 

We spent time practicing drawing dragons. I have found that having an interesting drawing to complete is a huge motivator for the boys in all of their school work. Drawing is also improving their hand writing skills.  As a final project, we completed a gold leafing project from our art book. The boys drew a basic outline of their dragon, cut out gold paper as their gold leaf, then used water color to complete their painting. It was fun to watch the boys work hard on each of their draws and the difference in how they each approached each project. 

I love being able to allow the boys to follow their desires for learning.

Pinewood Derby

Today, Bryce was able to race his dog bone in the Pinewood Derby with Pack 246. His car was fastest in Den 7.

Happy 8th Birthday Bryce!

So this is a little late.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYCE!

Bryce had a week of celebration last week.  He was able to take two friends to Look Out Ridge - the indoor playground in Woodbury, go out to Famous Dave's for ribs, go to the Rib Shack in Knoxville, Iowa for more Ribs, have a Howarts Castle Cake and a Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake.  What more could a little boy ask for? Not much, Bryce had a wonderful week.

Bryce is a wonderful son. He loves to read and write stories. Ribs are one of his favorite foods along with ice cream. Bryce is full of life and ready to take on the world.

Happy Birthday Bryce may this coming year bring you much joy.

Harry Potter Party At PopPop's

Saturday February 19, 2011, PopPop hosted a Harry Potter Party.  The boys had so much fun. They were welcomed into the Three Broomsticks, where they were served caldrun cakes, every flavor beans and pumpkin juice.  They were all sorted into their house. All the kids took this very seriously as PopPop read them questions to see what house they were in.

Once sorted, they all received thier robes and wands.

Then it was time to head to the basement and watch the movies.  In the morning, they watched the first movie. For lunch they had Dragon Meat Pie (pizza) with chocolate frogs for dessert. After lunch they watched the second movie.  They also recieved some gallons - not sure what they did to earn money.  The boys had a wonderful day.  Thank you, PopPop this will be remembered for a very long time.

A Beautiful Random No School Day

Yesterday, the boys and I left the books in their drawers and went to the Zoo. It was beautiful outside. We walked the Northern Trail, then headed inside to Discovery Bay and the Tropics Trail, ending the day walking through the Minnesota Trail.  The boys loved watching all the animals and many were quite active.  The boys loved being able to run on the outside trails and to see many animals. 

Today, both boys wrote and drew about things they saw at the Zoo. Micah dictated his sentences to me, then copied them. Bryce wrote his own narrations. They love to draw, so this was another chance to practice their drawing skills using the books Draw Write Now.

Micah's Writing and Drawing of Monkeys

Bryce's writing and drawing about bears.

Matthew had fun finding and matching upper and lower case letters today.

Thinking hard and making sure the letters are in alphebetical order.

3+1= Fun

Three boys plus one castle equals hours of playing together.