Columbus Day is celebrated in our homeschool each year. I love to put together the lessons on a shoestring that teach about Christopher Columbus without worksheets. The true grasp of this explorer is held when we walk in his footsteps. We will never know how hard this voyage was in 1492, but from the books read in our studies, it doesn’t sound easy. Celebrate Columbus Day with us in our inexpensive homeschool style.
On this day we prepare food, games, dress up, read, watch video’s and try to answer questions’ that arise. Dating back to his earlier year’s the very simplistic existence of people in that day are intriguing. Join us in this study of a famous explorer from the past that landed in America.
Imagination Building on a Shoestring
Dress up like Christopher Columbus. The style of clothing was very different from our own. When designing outfits for our adventures, they are very low budget and inexpensive homeschool designs. Rummaging through our vast supply of past Halloween costumes, is one way that I use what we have. Occasionally, an outfit may need a hat, belt, or jacket that we don’t have. For this reason, I have a mismatch bin in our garage.
Another way to build a dress up closet is to post in a homeschool group what you need. Be descriptive. You never know what someone else has, that you may need. State your intentions whether to buy, borrow or trade. I have also found really good costume pieces at consignment shops.
Finally, use this resource to build relationships with other homeschool moms that hold the same common interest. Many homeschool families exist that use dress up as part of their historical learning. em is the hard part. Dress ups, and re-enactments help the past to come alive.
Small Motor Skill Activities
Writing, crafting, and designing are all small motor skills. I use these when planning a lesson on a shoestring for our studies. Putting together my Christopher Columbus Day activities was not expensive. I want them to have fun, and learn at the same time about this explorer called Christopher Columbus. My activities were based around this goal.
Our activity was to make a telescope. I try to use things that I have on hand. With that being said, I keep a lot of items too reuse for our activities. For example I save toilet paper tubes, paper towel roll tubes, yarn, any kind of string, cereal boxes and much more. Usually if I need to design something I can find something in my recycling bin.
Making a telescope was easy. We used a paper towel roll, black construction paper, yellow construction paper and glue. I grabbed a few rubber bands to hold the construction paper in place while the telescopes dried. The requirement was to make a telescope with no directions. I showed them a picture so they would be on the right track, but they all had to create their own. Each one did well, and my oldest son helped his younger brothers line up the paper and hold while glue was being placed on the tube. This was a fun project, and the cost was so minimal. Each one had fun during the re-enactment of his landing when we used the homemade telescopes.
Math, Reading, and Following Directions
Christopher Columbus Day would not be a success without a snack. This snack was simple, edible, but did involve some reading, following directions and of course math skills.
When I make a snack, usually I have a helper. This allows me to have some one on one time with each of my children. Cooking is really a good bonding experience.
Since I was making a snack on a shoestring, we had pears so I implemented them into the day. Pinterest had a lot of great ideas and one was an edible boat. The ingredients were simple. I needed construction paper for sails, toothpicks for a mast, and pears covered with peanut butter.
The Columbus Day snack was edible, and a great finale. What have you tried in your homeschool to Celebrate Columbus Day?
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