Woody’s class read about Christopher Columbus right after Columbus Day and he has been fascinated with the man ever since. We started reading about this legendary explorer at home and Buzz got into it too. Given that it is Thanksgiving real soon, we also starting to read about the Mayflower, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians. And this had led the boys back to the American Revolution and watching Liberty’s Kids for maybe the 10th time this past Friday and Saturday nights! Also the middle schoolers at Woody and Buzz’s school are reenacting the American Civil War complete with authentic costumes. The boys were both very curious about what that was about and I am think of starting down that path as well.
So all this has turned into a lovely and completely inadvertent lessons in American History that I suspect will continue through the end of the year and perhaps even beyond given how interested they are. I want to record the resources we have been using and will likely use. I also want to make a note of some ideas for projects that we will likely be working on very very slowly over weekends.
I am using the History of Us by Joy Hakim to help me guide the boys through this. I am currently using a copy from the school library but am seriously considering putting this set on Santa’s wish list for Christmas! You can check out her blog here to get more of a sense of some of the chapters in these really wonderful books.
I will likely do have other posts about the Mayflower/Pilgrims, the American Revolution and also the American Civil War further down the road. This first post is about Christopher Columbus.
There is, understandably, a lot of controversy around this explorer. What we have did is stuck to the facts about his early life, his perseverance in getting his trip to the New World financed and then we plotted his actual voyages.
BOOKS:
We started by reading Meet Christopher Columbus and You Wouldn’t Want to Sail with Christopher Columbus. There are so many books on the topic but I am always on the lookout for books that have a high visual appeal – both boys love pouring over the illustrations and pictures.
Here are some books we have been reading and re-reading:
PROJECTS:
Woody and I then charted Columbus’ different voyages on Google Maps. This was a really fun exercise for him given his love of all things maps and of Google Maps in particular. He learned some research skills as he looked up Columbus’ destinations online on these sites as he plotted. Finally he also worked on some Math skills as he calculated distances between ports on the different voyages.
A Christmas tradition in our house if for all the family to work on a complicated puzzle together. We tend to open the puzzle on Christmas Eve while drinking some good red wine and finishing up the last of the gift wrapping. Last year I think we worked on a 5000 piece puzzle, we obsessed about it for three days and finally completed it two days after Christmas. And I wonder where the boys get their intensity from! It usually tends to be a really fun family activity qith lots of laughter! My DH and brother tend to be the last men standing as they painstaking finish the puzzle. This year, given the boy’s interest, I am thinking that we might work on building a replica model of the Santa Maria like the one here.
MOVIES & DOCUMENTARIES:
We are big fans of Netflix and here are the movies that we have in our queue to watch.
WEBSITES:
We also found a number of fun sites that talk about Christopher Columbus. We mainly used these to help us chart his voyages.
FIELD TRIPS & PLACES TO VISIT:
We tend to be homebodies but I wanted to start this list of places to visit because we mean to start to travel with the kids a whole lot more now that Buzz is completely toilet trained! Here are some Columbus related places to visit:
We tend to have a lot of fun reading these books, watch some of these movies, browsing the websites and I know the boys are enjoying it but I am never quite sure how much they are soaking in. But the other night, I got a full demonstration of their knowledge as they sat taking their bath. They pretended that three of their toy boats were the Santa Maria, Nina and Pinta. A plastic Diego bath toy was Christopher Columbus! Then they commenced a narrative of Christopher Columbus complete with dates, the troubles with financing his trips and the details of his different voyages!
Onto our next American History adventures!
Oooh, those look like fun books! Thanks for sharing! If your boys like quirky humor, try You Wouldn’t Want to Sail With Christopher Columbus! Uncharted Waters You’d Rather Not Cross by Fiona MacDonald. Have fun with your history adventures!
Hi Amita,
I hope things are OK with you. I have been meaning to write… I have missed your writings here. I hope someday you will return and share all the wonderful things about your boys and family.
Best Wishes.
Subadra