Over the summer, we definitely took a vacation from our schoolbooks, but not a vacation from learning. Last spring I realized that there are certain things I had never taught the kids, and I thought summer would be a good time for learning those things. For instance, I had never taught the kids their phone number or address because we have moved around so much that shoot...I didn't even bother learning it myself! Now that we have settled somewhere more permanent I figured that it was high time to teach them those things so that they come across as civilized and stable children when they are asked where they live! There are other things too that are always useful in life that we worked on this summer such as how to use a compass, how to read a map, solving riddles, using clues to answer questions, Scripture verses, etc.

So, starting in May I began telling them a story on nights that Ryan was at meetings, at worship practice, speaking engagements, etc. It gave them something to look forward to on those nights, and took the spotlight off of him being away. I just made the story up as I went and I incorporated all of these learning opportunities into the story. The kids always had a "homework" assignment they had to work on before I could tell them another addition to the story. Basically, it was a story about a very naughty little 7 year old boy named Tobey, who had a dog named Sparky. He lived in our very same house years and years ago, and found a pirate treasure map in the attic of his house.

One of the clues that my kids had to figure out was: Eph6 1 2 3. Of course if you are reading this YOU probably know that stands for Ephesians 6:1-3 out of the Bible. It actually took Molly and Luke about a week to solve that one. They looked in dictionary's, in the phone book, etc. trying to solve it. Then when they figure it out, looked in the Bible to see what the verse said there was "the actual pirate map" tucked in their Bible. (just between you and me, it was a map I tore of the phone book and doctored up a little!) Then they had to memorize those verses in order to be able to hear the next chapter of the story, it was really cute seeing them helping each other memorize those verses!

Using the "Pirate Map" along with the story, they had to find co-ordinates for latitude and longitude, use their compass, and get a good grasp on North, South, East, West. Of course I dragged the story out over the whole summer, and ended it with an actual "treasure hunt."

This was the "pirate treasure" that I hid. A very cheap thrill...chocolate coins, a few dollar bills, pirate eye patches, plastic pirate earrings, and a few quarters. They thought they had really stumbled upon something awesome!

Here's a picture of the infamous phonebook "pirate map."

I even wrote some clues on various locations with chalk. This one said " N5- Tobey beware of Muggles!" They had to walk 5 steps North to find their next clue.

Another clue: "follow the row of 9 east"

The row of 9 was referring to fence posts.

Here they are looking for the treasure. You can see the treasure box in the tree over their heads. It took them some time to find it.

Anyway, you get the idea. We had a ton of fun and they learned a lot. They just didn't know that they were learning! That is the beauty of homeschooling!