Christopher Columbus Day!

The more relaxed I am about homeschooling, the more creative I become. The less "school" we do, the more we seem to learn.

Today we threw out our math books (gasp!), and our phonics (gasp), and our spelling... and we had a fun day learning about Christopher Columbus!

Okay, so I made up a game. I was nervous that it would be a flop and it wasn't! It was so fun!
We pretended to be Christopher Columbus and his crew and find new lands.

Things needed:
3 laundry baskets ( preferably different sizes, but not necessary)
Baby dolls for crew- list of jobs in History Pockets- cook,doctor,carpenter,priest, first mate...
Hard tack- mix 1 cup flour, 1/2 t baking powder, 1/8 salt, 1 cup water. Bake 450 degrees for 18 minutes or so. Turn over 1/2 way through
Paper and pencil
long string tied to each laundry basket
compass (if you have one)

Construction paper (preferably different colors) cut in strips with instructions on them
"Good winds. Go North 10 steps"
"Bad Storm. Blown off course. Take 5 steps East"
"Food Break! Eat Hard tack"
"Draw a picture of the ocean all and you see in it"
"Dictate a letter to Diego (Columus' son) about your voyage"
"Sickness. Go back South 5 steps."
etc...

1. Make your hardtack. ( baking, math, measuring, working together! What a wealth of learning!)
2. We "rock paper scissored" for who would be Christopher Columbus and have the biggest boat (Santa Maria)
3. The three year old was the smallest boat... the Nina.
3. Pick your crew.
4. Gather all your supplies.
5. Find a place to begin and a place to end. Our starting point was at the end of our driveway. Our ending point was in our garden in the back yard.
6. Figure out North, South, East and West and teach your children. (great skill for them and me! )
7. Put your construction paper instructions ( about 20 of them) in a bowl.
8. Let the littlest pick first. Off you go.
Everyone follows the instructions together, but they take turns picking from the bowl.

We made it to our destination! We found new land and experienced a little of how hard it was to make that journey. My 3 year old worked on colors (from the different colored slips). My 5 year old practiced counting by counting steps. My 7 year old practiced reading. They all practiced working together. We enjoyed being outside. We laughed and we LEARNED!!

We tried round 2 because they begged for it... only the 7 year old could handle 2 rounds. :)

Good books that we read to introduce Columbus...
The Christopher Columbus Story by Alice Dangliesh
Christopher Columbus by Ann McGovern

We sang:
The Nina, The Pinta, The Santa Maria,
Columbus and his Crew,
they sailed the ocean blue,
in 1492.