Happy Columbus Day!!

So today is the actual Columbus day to commemorate Columbus landing on San Salvador in the Bahamas, October 12, 1492.  We did do our activities on Monday and Tuesday, but I don't feel late at all posting all we did today since it is the REAL Columbus Day. :)

When I started Home school I was confident in reading, writing, and math.  I was worried about the Social Studies and Science.  But I have found that those areas are where we are having the most fun!

We spent the entire day on Monday learning about Christopher Columbus and his first voyage.  First we made "sailor hats" to start off the day.  I got my sailor hat directions from DLTK's Crafts for kids.

Next, we learned about the three ships the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  We learned that the Santa Maria was the flag ship that Columbus sailed on, as well as a lot of other cool things about the ships.  Then we painted egg carton cups to make the three ships.  I even glued two egg cartons together to make the Santa Maria, since it was the flag ship and bigger than the other two.

It was so cool making these ships.  Handsome did the painting, but I did make the sails, maybe next year he'll be old enough to do them.  Then he put a little play dough at the bottom, stuck in the sails, and there you go.  I got the idea from here.

Then we took a break from projects, we read and learned more stories about Christopher Columbus and his voyage.  Then we also read 1 Nephi 13:12.  We talked about how Nephi saw Columbus many years before he traveled to America.  And how Columbus was lead by the Spirit of God to the Lamanites.  How wonderful to be able to use the Scriptures in teaching.

We learned about Columbus's first voyage.  We learned that he sailed to the Canary Islands, then went out into the water, not seeing land for a long time, longer than anyone had done before, and the sailors threatened mutiny.  Columbus convinced them to go 2 or 3 more days and if there was not land they would turn around.  But of course they found The Bahamas, which Columbus thought was Asia.

We learned that the Santa Maria was destroyed on Christmas Day, while there in the New World.  So they sailed back with just the Nina and the Pinta.  But there was a storm and they were separated.  The Nina arrived at the Azores and waited 10 days, no sign of the Pinta.  Then they went to Lisbon and waited there for 10 days, still no sign of the Pinta.  They then went to the home port of Palos and within hours the Pinta also arrived safely.  What a cool story!

We painted the journey.  I got the idea from here.  I had so much fun I couldn't resist and had to do one myself, and of course Handsome did his, drawing the ships and labeling the lands as well. 

Then there was time to "play with all their new ideas!" and build their own boat to go sailing in and discover new lands.

And lastly everything got set out on our learning table.  I'm still playing with this.  I want a place to display all the cool things Handsome learns and makes.  This may be the place....we'll see.