Discoverylearningacademy’s Weblog

Ephesians 6:11-18 

Now that we have thoroughly exhausted the pirate interest (for the moment at least), we have moved on to Knights as our last unit of the school year.  Had we had more time, and not already known so much about knights, I could have probably made this unit a year-long theme!  Isaac loves knights, and we’ve already played, drawn, acted, read about knights so this unit was geared toward the Armor of God.

The Websites
http://www.mrmcgroovys.com/t-plans-cardboard-castle.aspx We used Mr McGroovy’s again, or are planning to.  After passing along our wonderful pirate ship to a cousin, we are planning on constructing this enormous knight castle for Isaac’s birthday party in June.  Had we not had an excuse to create such a monstrosity, I would say that perhaps just one refrigerator box designed like a castle would have worked just as good.

www.BibleGateway.com This is where I do all of my verse research.  Very easy to use and they obviously cover the whole Bible.

www.knightsandarmor.com I found just general knight info here, most of which I have read with Isaac already, but every resource always offers a different tidbit.

http://www.fleurdelis.com/meanings.htm  I used this for the Coat of Arms info.  Very helpful and thorough enough that I felt like we designed some really great CoA’s, and Isaac learned about all the different aspects of creating a CoA.

 www.crossroad.to/Victory/Armor.htm This was where most of the credit for my personalized unit is due.  This website contains an adult Bible study through the Armor of God.  I simplified it and adapted it to fit our needs.  It is great, for adults, and easy enough to simplify.

Our Own Collection

We had all the knight supplies necessary to carry this unit out.  Isaac loves his Playmobil men and has an enormous collection of knights.  These were great for many different activities.  We used them just for playing, for making graphs, observing different armor designs, etc.  He also built with wooden blocks and either included these with his Playmobil men, or built separate castles.  We also have a Waffle Block set that coincidentally is knights.  We have a Veggie Tale movie with a knight theme and also the Quest for Camelot.  Isaac also has tons of knight dress-up stuff – swords, helmets, shields, a breastplate, battle axe, etc., etc.  He also has a large stuffed horse that he galloped around on.  So for us personally, anything that was bought was merely an addition to all of the great supplies we had just laying around the house.

 

All the Details

Again, most of the prep work was fairly minimal.  Most of my prep time was spent adapting the long Bible study into one that was only one page per piece of armor.  I also did a lot of researching for the Coat of Arms, military ranks, military awards, Oath of Chivalry and reserving books from all over our library district (thank you Weld Library District, I know I probably maxed you all out!).

• Introduction  – On the first day of this unit, we read the Introduction and talked about what we would be learning.  We also read about Moses on the hill with Aaron and Hur and what it meant to be in battle and be on God’s side.  We also divided up Isaac’s Playmobil men into Good Knights and Bad Knights and made two graphs of the men and their supplies.  We then compared the two graphs and each corresponding column and decided who would win with that set up.  Isaac also had to sign the Oath of Chivalry.

             

• Belt of Truth – After reading that day’s study. we had a simple lesson in weaving.  I had originally wanted to weave an entire belt, but Isaac quickly got the over-under-over theory behind weaving and lost interest.  So we decided to attach the woven part onto a carboard belt and it is the holder for his sword.  We used 6 different colors of string to symbolize the 6 Truths (King, Righteousness, Peace, Faith, Salvation, Word).  He was then able to see that by weaving these seemingly small pieces of truth together, he was able to create something useful.  We also talked about doing bad work with weaving and what would then happen, and how that related to not putting God’s truths to practice (by reading, memorizing, obeying, walking in truth).  We also talked about filtering for truth.  We poured muddy water through a filter and watched as all the dirt was held back (too bad the water was still yucky, but he got the point).  I also illustrated how truth (bleach) can go into a sinful world (dark food coloring in water) and can shine a light and help others see God’s truth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Breastplate of Righteousness – Isaac loves the breastplate as it is a great piece to decorate and anyone wearing a breastplate MUST be tough and ready for battle.  A knight’s top priority was to protect his lord’s property and to bring more people in as loyal subjects to his kingdom.  We compared the rewards of knights for being brave, and then reviewed our verse from the pirate unit (the lightbulb really went on there for him).We talked about being a part of God’s Holy Army, and how that witnessing to our friends is similar to when knights went out to find more people to join the protection of a lord or king.  We talked about those who chose to join the protection and those who didn’t.  (We also discussed that we must always be kind to everyone, even if they are not a part of God’s Holy Army.)  During this piece, we also learned about Military Ranks, which I put on nomenclature cards and to explain the whole rank concept, we put them on the steps with the Cadet at the bottom and Commander-in-Chief at the top.  Ike enjoyed this because he was able to climb up and down the stairs.  Each week, we also affixed a corresponding military rank promotion to his breastplate to signify his learning more and becoming more skilled as a Warrior for Christ.

 

 

   

           

 

• Shoes of Peace – These were really fun and Isaac spent a lot of time creating a beautiful patchwork/calico design on them.  We used four different colors of yarn (which didn’t work so well, next time I would use real shoelaces even though they would cost more) to symbolize reading, memorizing, obeying and living with peace.  We talked about walking around with untied shoes versus tied shoes and translated this over to walking daily in God’s Word.  Had I had more umph, I would have cut out construction paper footprints to put on the floor with the four steps, verses or words of peace, etc. for him to walk across.  We learned about Military Awards, just four of the most known ones, on nomenclature cards.  I then cut out a separate set and we assigned specific things I was looking for in his behavior (being brave, resisting disobeying, overcoming something large, and being a warrior even when the battle is long and hard).

 

   

• Shield of Faith – This was by far the funnest piece for both of us.  We learned about all the parts of a Coat of Arms.  Isaac designed his own shield, picking the background and four pictures to illustrate things he is as a Soldier of God.  He did a really great job picking those (leader, ready for battle, following the rules and safety).  He also put a “label” across the top (looks like the top of a castle) which symbolizes a first born son.  We also designed a shield for Satan with “bad” symbols (chaos, tough, ready for war and mortality).  Again, he had a really great grip on what were “good” symbols and what were “bad” symbols (sometimes I worry that he thinks anyone with a weapon is “bad”).  We also designed a Coat of Arms to hang on his door – I printed out a fancy shield that was blank and he copied his shield onto the paper.  We also put his last name on a scroll/banner and used the motto “Honi soit qui mal y pense” (Shame to him who evil thinks).  This he hung on his door so that any other knights (good or bad) that came through would know where the knight in the house lived.  Again had we had more time, I was planning on making arrows with lies that Satan “throws” at you and saying them while attacking Ike.  I would have like to have him find a response arrow and throw it back at me while we tried to block them with the shields.  We talked about Paul and Silas’ wrongful imprisonment and how much faith they had to be locked away for no true reason but to know that God had a greater plan.

 

                             

• Helmet of Salvation – The helmet was pretty self-explanatory.  But I will explain it anyway. )  I told Isaac that the helmet of salvation goes around his head to remind him that God is around him.  This was pretty hard to design from a flat piece of cardboard, so don’t laugh too hard.



 



• Sword of the Spirit – We just did this piece today, and the finished product is not in the photo, just the basic template.  We covered the “metal” part with tinfoil and Isaac decorated the handle.  This was done while discussing Jesus being tempted in the desert and how he fought Satan’s suggestions.  Isaac was most excited about this piece because, after all, it was the weapon, and that’s where all the intrigue is.  (Plus it’s about twice as big as any of his other swords which helps with looking innocent after attacking your sister.)

Books

As usual, we read close to a million I believe – here are some:

• Knight (Gravett)
• The Bravest Knight (Mayer)
• Take Care, Good Knight (Thomas)
• Happy Birthday, Good Knight (Thomas)
• Knight: A Noble Guide for Young Squires (Steer) – absolutely GREAT
• The Knight Who Took All Day (Mayhew)
• Imagine You’re a Knight! (Megavere)
• Catle and Knight (Star)
• Good Knight Sleep Tight (Melling)
• You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Medieval Knight! (MacDonald)
• The Princess Knight (Funke)
• Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland (Neuschwander) – GREAT for math, I will get this again in a year or two
• Knights and Castles (Osborne)
• Life of a Medieval Knight (Corrick)
• In the Time of Knights (Tanaka)
• The Making of a Knight (O’Brien)
• Good Knight (Rymill)
• The Knight Before Dawn (Osborne)
• Knight (Dann)
• The Kitchen Knight (Hodges)
• The Knight and the Dragon (de Paola)

The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne has been a great supplement to everything we have done and are planning on doing.  We found them on CD and Isaac has listened to these for hours and spouted facts that I had no idea he could retain!  I would recommend the story books, informational companion books and the CDs to any unit, and there is actually a curriculum guide with activities for each of these books as well.  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+Magic+Treehouse Is just a few that are out there.  We have enjoyed all the ones we have read/listened to.

Review

This unit was so much fun and I only wish that we had done it earlier in the school year.  There are so many great resources and activities that I keep coming up with after the fact, that we may just have to do another Knight unit in the future if we somehow manage to exhaust my other endless plans.  Everything was budget friendly, and I really feel like this helped Isaac understand the whole mysterious concept of the Armor of God a little better.