Columbus Day

Well today is Columbus Day in the United States. Today is the day we honor Christopher Columbus and his discovery of America. Although my oldest daughter will remind you that others found this area before Mr. Columbus, thank you history for that lesson!

So what did you do in your home school for Columbus Day?

Today for us we read some books about Columbus and his travels. We set up a ship and went on our own discovery of America in the living room. We made paper boats as well as Columbus hats.

I believe all holiday's should be studied and incorporated into our home school, this is just one way to help make history relevant to today's world.

So in honor of today......HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY!

Oh and for any readers from Canada....HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Joys of Cutting

Have you ever noticed how much kids love to cut with scissors! Oh my gosh I have really noticed this recently. My, now 3 year old, loves to sit and cut for hours if I would let him.

So I was thinking how can we make cutting into fun and learning.

I found a book called Preschool Skills this book is great way to work on cutting. There are several pages on cutting. For instance the most recent page we completed at co-op was of a car. The car is at the top of the page and we have the road going back and forth on the page. The idea is to cut on the road. Thus you are working on cutting in straight lines and going up and down, back and forth.

How easy it is to make up pages very similar to this one. Just take a sheet of paper and draw a few lines on it in various ways. Have your child cut the lines you have created.

Cutting it is a good thing!

History

I remember learning History/Social Studies in school. I remember learning maps of the world and about different parts of the world. I remember reading text books about government and laws. With this memory also come a dislike for the way it was taught to me. History in school for me was boring. It was one of those "I have to do this" type classes.

Thank gosh for home schooling and freedom we have. Here at the Pierce Family School we use the series "Story of the World"

As their web site reads:

The Story of the World is an award-winning resource for families looking for a history curriculum they can fall in love with. Told in the straightforward, engaging style that has become Susan Wise Bauer's trademark, this four-volume set covers the sweep of human history from ancient times until the present. Africa, China, Europe, the Americas — find out what happened all around the world in long-ago times. This read-aloud series is designed for parents and teachers to share with elementary school children. Enjoy it together and introduce your child to the marvelous story of the the world's civilizations.

This is our second year of using this series and each time we do our history lesson I always have the same comment "If history was taught to me in the way it is to my children I would have loved it."

The chapters go in chronological order of events. Each chapter is told in a way that you can feel like you are really living in the time period. With each chapter there is a map activity to help with map skills as well as understand the world during the time period. Each lesson included craft activities as well as other projects and reading to enhance the learning.

Take a new look at history and you may soon discover that "This isn't the same old History."