Turn Gas Money Into Tuition Payments with Carschooling!
You’re paying more at the pump these days – but don’t let the gas prices thwart your plans for a summer road trip. Think of those gas dollars as tuition payments for your CarSchool! One fun way to get the biggest educational bang for your gas buck is to try Carschooling Unit Studies. Simply adopt a fun theme for your road trip that will enhance learning in the car. For example…
Be A Carrrrrrr School Pirate!
Avast, me hearties! Set sail on your summer adventures with the help of pirates! Cover history, language arts, math, social studies and every subject through a pirate theme. Thanks to Disney and Johnny Depp – pirates are hot! So, your kids will love learning on the road once they’ve been transformed into salty dogs and swashbucklers. On your next car trip invite the kids aboard the good ship Odyssey (or whatever the make/model is of your car). Use a pirate theme throughout your trip to have fun and promote learning while you steer your vessel through streets and byways!
You’ll need a little advance preparation to get your car and crew ship-shape for the voyage! Here are some ideas to get you started…
- Read About Pirates! – Get a list of pirate books and audiobooks that your family can use to learn all about pirates on your trip. You’ll find resources to get a Jolly Roger flag that you can hoist from your car window too! Read “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson online for free!
- Visit Rob Ossian’s Pirate Cove – Rob Ossian (pronounced “ocean”) is a nautical archaeologist. If you’ve got Internet access in the car, visit his website to enjoy pirate biographies, historical timelines, nautical and pirate terminology, pirate music and shanties, an online sailing simulator and much more.
- New England Pirate Museum’s Lesson Plans & Activities – Get free pirate curriculum for carscholars in elementary through high school!
- Mrs. Mitchell’s Virtual School: Pirates – There is so much content on the Internet about pirates that it’s hard to sort through it to find the best of the best. Fortunately, teacher Kathi Mitchell has done that for us and maintains a list of links to fantastic sites about pirates including National Geographic and the Library of Congress. When you get to the site you will see a menu of links that include pirate lesson plans!
- Talk Like A Pirate! – Did you know that September 19th is International Talk Like A Pirate Day? Well, it is. Originally designed as something for grown-ups to do, the creators of the event soon discovered that kids want to talk like pirates too. At this website you’ll find pirate lexicon for the younger set, a bibliography of kids’ books about pirates, ideas for pirate parties, a downloadable pirate curriculum for Talk Like A Pirate Day, and even a downloadable kids’ study guide developed by the San Francisco Opera Guild for Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance.”
- Watch A Pirate DVD! – Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean DVDs are favorites for older kids (PG-13), and at this website you’ll find the DVDs, online video games, and much more. Find suggestions for other pirate DVDs for kids here.
- Dress Like A Pirate! – Create your own pirate costumes – from simple to swashbuckling. Of course, you can just put a colorful bandana or scarf around your head, and make a pirate eye-patch for added drama. Or print out these colorful, pirate masks and activities for kids here.
- Sing Pirate Songs! – Check out Captain Slappy’s Chantey Song. Or print out the lyrics to “This Old Pirate” sung to the tune of “This Old Man.” Watch the free Captain Bogg and Salty’s music video – and then get their terrific pirate song CDs for kids of all ages. Listen and sing along in the car!
- Eat Pirate Food! – Bring some snacks for the crew including Goldfish crackers, snack baggies filled with Cap ‘n Crunch cereal, grog (spiced cider or punch), beef or turkey jerky – and maybe a few gold foil-covered chocolate “coins.” For authenticity, use this recipe to make Hard Tack or Sea Biscuits.
- Play Pirate Games – How about a game of “I Spy with My Good Eye,” or “My Father Owns a Pirate Ship“? Search for “treasure” – just make a list of things the kids should try to find along the way (a flag, a scurvy dog, a drawbridge, a body of water, a graveyard, etc.). Mark each treasure off as it’s discovered.
NOTE: Because this site was originally intended for adults, there is some bawdy material in other sections of the site. As always, parents should preview this site before allowing children to explore it to determine suitability of content.
Want more? In an uncanny coincidence, I was surprised to find Pirates of the Caravan at MomsMiniVan.com. Writer Laurel Smith (The Road Trip Mom) describes the humorous pirate personas that boarded her van – enjoy their jokes, resources, activities, and pun-filled banter! While you’re at the site, be sure to check out the archive of recommended car games (some with free printable activities).
Then, enhance your summer vacation plans by visiting pirate museums and living history reenactments! Here’s a Directory of Pirate Museums you may enjoy.
Make the most of every mile, and may there be fair winds behind your sails! Arrrrrgh!
Diane Flynn Keith, Author of Carschooling
© 2008 Diane Flynn Keith, All Rights Reserved.
Want to use this article in your blog, E-Zine, or website? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Diane Flynn Keith publishes the rave-reviewed Carschooling® ezine with 5,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to have more fun learning with your children while you’re in the car, on the road – get your FREE subscription to Carschooling® now at Carschooling.
Dear Mrs. Keith,
I teach general music and chorus at a 3rd and 4th grade school in McComb, MS. I have received your e-zine now for several weeks and love passing the information on to my 13 yr. old daughter. Although she is not home-school, I do enrich her learning at home with those things I know she is not getting at school.
What I wanted to tell you is that I am turning in your information in to the administrators at our school in hopes that you would be able to come and do a workshop either for the teachers of the district and/or the parents duing our Parents Academy night.
We live in a district where probably 96% of the students live at or below the poverty line. The district is soon to have its first Parent Academy. We are currently trying to get them more involved in their children’s education. It is a very hard thing to do in this area. I believe that is because they don’t believe they can do appropriate learning skills with their children when they are unable to do the skills themselves. It is really unfortunate.
I believe your Carschooling program will spark a genuine interest in these parents. It is also filled with ides that can be used at home, on a walk, or anywhere their imagination can take them. Also, I believe there is a great advantage to some for informaation to come out of a new mouth instead of the same one that harps all the time. It will probably be next fall before they decide anything, but I truly hope that our school district here in McComb can invite you to be part of our Parent Academy or the teacher’s Education Celebration in August.
Due to my own finances, I am unable to purchase the carschool book right now, but I am printing out some of the information to send to the administrators this afternoon! I am so excited about this!!
Angela L. Dunaway
611 Maxine Avenue
McComb, Mississippi 39648
(601) 248-5905
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