If you can't beat 'em, join 'em...

My boys are obsessed by football right now. I might send them to do their math or reading independently, then go do the dishes, laundry or other chore and then next time I turn around they are outside playing football...or playing Madden on the Wii...or playing football in the house (with a balloon)...or looking at their football cards...or playing some football game on facebook...or checking Fantasy Football... You get the pictures. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy football season. I like to watch the games on Sunday and Monday (if we get the channel.) But this is ALL day, EVERY day! So, I decided for school, I would pull out Amanda Bennett's Football Frenzy for a unit study. We are taking it really slow and in-depth. They are LOVING it! Even my 4th grader, who hates to write, doesn't mind writing about football. It's amazing how I don't get the complaints!

For example, the first day is scheduled to look at some videos, talk about the object of the game (which I had them write in their notebooks), look at the defensive line, offensive line, special teams and penalties. We looked and wrote about each position and wrote down 12 of the most common penalties - understood what each one was and wrote down the yardage penalty for each. We have taken 2 days so far to do just these things. Also on the first day, we are to talk about scoring, the quarterback's job, find out what NFL stands for and fill out team profiles for 6 teams (including their hometown, their stadium, the head coach and what year the team was founded.) I'm thinking we could do all this in one more day, but we might take 2. So each "day" will take us 3 -4 days each.

Another obsession they are having right now is Toby Mac. I'm not sure I'm ready for a unit study on him!!