Family Home Evening: Patriotism

While we were on vacation, we were able to have a Family Home Evening with my in-laws and some of my husband's other siblings and their families.  It is so comforting sharing spiritual experiences with my extended family.  My mother-in-law shared a lesson on patriotism.  We talked a little about the Constitutional Convention and she read a few stories of her ancestors.  We finished it off with reading some funny kids quotes. 


We finished off the evening with a couple of kinds of cookies.  It was a very simple and informal evening where enjoyed being together and celebrating our faith.

Cub Scout Campfire Program

April's Cub Scout character connection was faith.  We took the boys and their families outside for a campfire program.  We sang camp songs, enjoyed a great skit by the Bears, then settled down and retired a flag. Most of the kids and many of the adults hadn't been a part of a ceremony to retire a flag.  It's something every Cub Scout should experience.  I never really thought about how closely related patriotism is to faith.


I definitely want to incorporate a camp fire program into a Pack Meeting every year!  I was nervous about the children roasting marshmallows, especially the younger siblings.  So we made Oven S mores ahead of time and served them at the end of the meeting.

Military Themed Pack Meeting

With the business of the holidays, I neglected to post the details of our Pack's military Pack Meeting. Which is truly sad because it was so fun!  The Character Connection we focused of was citizenship.


My favorite parts of the evening was the skit and the activity.  The Webelos had us laughing with their over the top disregard of being a good citizen by blatantly littering.  When the were approached by a police officer (one of the boy's dads in his full police uniform), they mouthed off to him to the point where one of the boys was handcuffed and drug off the stage.  I think it's interesting that picking up trash and not littering are the most common example of being good citizens for that age group.  We tried to expand their worlds by including abiding by the rest of the laws and voting.

Our Cubmaster and her husband set up a super fun obstacle course that included putting on military fatigues, rolling on the ground, swing across a "river" and crawling through tunnels.  They also had to answer several civic minded questions along the way; like when is Election Day.  


The meeting accomplished teaching a principle in a fun manner so the boys and their families would pay attention.  I don't expect the boys to remember the answers to all the questions, but I do expect them to remember they had fun and the knowledge to seep into their brains and eventually strengthen them to men of character.

Cub Scouts: Waves of Fun

A new month brings a new theme.  We are having a lot of fun with the Waves of Fun theme.  Most of the boys think of water when they think of waves.  I also think of the flag waving in the wind or a friend waving hello.


We started off with a water related word search. Following up with our Pack Meeting, we worked on the picture or story element of the United States Heritage Award. We finished up our meeting with Elective 12c, the boys mixed drops of food color in water to create orange, purple and green from the primary colors.  Do you like how we worked water into something to earn them an arrow point?


We sent them home with a patriotic Popsicle. 

Cub Scout Celebrate Freedom Pack Meeting

We finished off this month's theme, Celebrate Freedom, with a fun activity where kids 6 - 18 could earn the United States Heritage Award (not just the boys).  Actually there's two awards, one for children 6-10 and another for the older kids.  We spent the most time remembering the original 13 colonies!   Fortunately our Cubmaster had done her homework ahead of time.

Celebrate Freedom and Plan a Party

We continued with Cub Scout's Celebrate Freedom theme.  We reviewed how to show respect to the flag (Requirement 2c) and reviewed the history of the Arizona flag (Requirement 2d).  I thought it was interesting that the flag was used for several years before Arizona even became a state.


We spent the rest of our meeting time letting the boys plan an end of the summer party for next week (Elective 9a).  (Some Arizona schools start as early as next week.)  They boys chose a Star Wars theme, which made it easier to plan since I did one a few months ago.

History Camp, Part 2

My follow up piece of our History Camp was posted quick over at Arizona Mama!  (It's amazing how that happens when I actually write and submit articles quickly.)    We brought out the big guns and finished the week with a bang - literally. 

History Camp

One of my children wanted to learn about World War I this summer as part of this year’s Summer Camp.  Fighting, bloodshed and carnage isn’t exactly my idea of a fun filled week, but...

To see what cookies have to do with History Week click on over to Arizona Mama!


(Please forgive the typo in the first paragraph.  I quadruple checked it and I still missed an obvious mistake!)

Celebrate Freedom

This month's Cub Scout theme is Celebrate Freedom.  The entire Achievement 2 section in the Wolf Handbook is about the flag. We discussed what the Pledge of Allegiance really means.  Then we reviewed how to respect the flag.  I must admit that I didn't know very much flag etiquette before I became a Scout leader.  My goal is to help the Cub Scouts be more informed than I was.  


We learned how to raise a flag properly and practiced one formation during our flag ceremony.  Then we took the flag down and the boys leaned how to fold the flag.  For most of the boys, this was review and they did great.  The repetition helps them to remember until it becomes second nature.  


For the last few minutes of our meeting, I divided the boys into two teams, each with some red and white strips, a blue rectangle and 50 stars.  They worked together as  team to assemble their flags.  The results were too close to call.  Everyone worked together and had fun, so we all enjoyed some banana bread.

Saturday Sentament

Off with your hat, as the flag goes by!
And let the heart have its say;
you're man enough for a tear in your eye
that you will not wipe away.
~Henry Cuyler Bunner

Patriotic Stars

Here’s an easy and fun craft to do this week with the kids.  Have everyone decorate a star as they wish.  The stars can be strung together as a garland or hung individually.  To make a garland, we taped one of the points of the star to make a loop.   Then we threaded the yarn through the loop, wrapped the yarn around the point, and threaded it through the loop again to keep the star from sliding down the string.

Saturday Sentament

"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave" - Elmer Davis

Thanks to all the men and women who have sacrificed for our freedom and those who continue to do so!

Take Flight: Balloons

There was so much going on last week, I didn't get a chance to post the final Take Flight Cub Scout meeting.  We focused on balloons. We started off outside with a silly game of balloon tag. All but one of the boys stood in a circle facing each other passing a balloon around the circle, while the boy outside the circle tried to tag the boy holding the balloon. When he succeeded, the boys traded places. The winner was undoubtedly the wind!

Next we spent quite a bit of time learning how to do an outdoor flag ceremony.  Not exactly balloon related, but totally Scout related!  We finished off our meeting with a Nose Balloon Relay.  We did this game inside.  The boys were in two teams.  Each team had a balloon to push with their noses only to the line at the other end of the room then back to the next person on their team.  They only needed a few reminders that Cub Scouts play fair and use only their noses!

Now it might seem like Cub Scouts is all party and games, but there are life lessons being learned in a fun way.  The boys learn sportsmanship and teamwork.  They learn respect and patriotism.  They learn they can have fun without a screen (as in TV, computers, or video games) and exercise is fun.  Most importantly, they learn that they can be a part of something bigger than themselves, serve others and make the world a better place.

Honoring the Flag

I said the Pledge of Allegiance when I was in school, I knew you didn't let the flag touch the ground, and ... well, that was pretty much the total of all I knew about honoring our country's flag. I've been working with the Boy Scout organization for a few months and I felt very unsure of when to stand and salute. Fortunately, I was able to spend some time with a Wolf Pack and learn proper etiquette during a flag ceremony. The first thing I learned was when the flag is being carried into a room, stand as it passes you. Do not to salute a flag in the furled position, I didn't even know what a furled position was (in case you don't either - it when the flag is held to the pole, not waving). And finally, after the flag is unfurled, salute and begin saying the Pledge of Allegiance right away. I'm so glad my children have the chance to learn how to show respect to our country's flag!

The Grand Finale of the 4th of July Week

We finished Fourth of July week by reading a story about Ben Franklin and learning about the Liberty Bell. I didn't know the one I saw was the 3rd casting of the the Liberty Bell - and it still cracked! We also made a birthday cake for the good ol' USA, food activities are a very important part of summer school you know!

Forth of July Week, Days Three and Four

We're still having fun with the Fourth of July! Yesterday we found a fun choose your own adventure type story online. Then we learned more about the Revolution. I didn't remember the war lasting so long. How sad that so many people had to die. I'm eternally grateful for those who sacrificed their lives, from the 1770's until now, so we could enjoy this great country. I'm grateful for those who are willing to put not only their lives on the line, but also leave their families to protect our freedom. I hope we will support their sacrifices by continuing to fight, in our own way, upon the freedoms this country was founded.

We finished off the day by making these fun "windsocks". They are made from cardboard tubes, construction paper and streamers. I found he idea on It's a Daisy Day blog. http://itsadaisyday.blogspot.com/ Here's how ours turned out.


Today, we learned about George Washington. He's a pretty impressive guy. We also did a word search and an acrostic. Here's how they turned out.

Fireworks
Our country
Red
The president
Honest

Firework fun
Obeydens (aka Obedience)
United
Red
Truth
Honoring our country

Freedom
Our beautiful country
United
Red, white & blue
The constitution
Honor

I was impressed that the kids really thought about words that represented the independence of our country!

Forth of July Week, Day Two

Yesterday was another fun day at Summer School. We read a story about Paul Revere and learned about the Revolution. We sang "You're a Grand Old Flag" and learned about the song "Yankee Doodle Dandy". I didn't know that the British started the song as an insult to the colonist. The highlight of the day was fireworks in a glass - don't worry there were no explosives in the house. Here's the link http://www.ehow.com/how_2077266_make-fireworks-glass.html. Monday's lesson about the 13 colonies, reminded them of Pocahontas. We watched that in the afternoon.

Forth of July Week

In honor of our nation's birthday, we're celebrating the Forth of July all week! Yesterday, we learned about the original 13 colonies. Then one of the kiddos shared the meaning of our state flag and the Pledge of Allegiance. We looked at a picture of the first flag of the Revolution. After it sent a mixed message, George Washington visited Betsy Ross with a sketch for a new flag. It included six-pointed stars. Betsy Ross showed him a cool trick to cut a five-pointed star - and the rest is history. Here's the link to make your own 5 point star in one snip star www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagstar.html .