We began a new U.S. History program this year, using YWAM’s Heroes of History series. The first book is Christopher Columbus and we all LOVED it!  It took us about 6 weeks to read the entire book aloud together, reading 2-4 days per week. During that time we also did some fun activities, which became more and more engaging as we got further in the book.

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I had no set plan when we began.  Honestly I wanted the reading to be the main focus of our learning time and I knew if I over planned I would lose that focus. So, when we began I had nothing besides the book and the chapter review questions {which come with the Heroes of History Unit}. As we went on I brought in some additional activities, but not too much.

My kids are 5, 8, and 12.  A wide age range and yet they ALL learned so much from this unit together.  I am just thrilled that I invested in this entire series so we can keep learning U.S. History this way. Our plan is to just go through the books in order, I am in no rush, we may take years to finish them all!

Christopher Columbus Activities

We used Draw, Write, Now Book 2 and my printables to go along.  As the certain events popped up in the story, we worked on these drawings together. Below you can see me reading as the kids colored their drawings.  We did the drawing together and then they colored it while I read aloud. My boys used the blank versions of my printables to practice cursive, and Ladybug used the traceable printables.

 

Another thing we enjoyed was some simple coloring.  My kids love to color, all of them. I found some free coloring pages online for the kids to color as we read. Below they are coloring this one.

 

When we finished our book, we watched the Christopher Columbus video from Nest.  Thankfully our library had it {and my great friend surprised me and got it for me without me knowing since she knew I wanted it}.I am glad I didn’t purchase this, after reading for 6 weeks, watching the 30 minute version left my kids feeling cheated!  They said, “That’s all??”

 

Our final activity was to create maps documenting the key places we learned about: Italy, Spain, Portugal, The Azores, The Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Bahamas {San Salvador, Hispaniola {Santo Domingo}, Jamaica, and Cuba. I seriously can’t say enough about the geography these kids absorbed through this unit. While doing the maps I was amazed with how much I didn’t have to tell them.  Even Ladybug took in and remembered some facts. We went through each location and gave it a color code and discussed why that place was significant in the book.

I love how Ladybug drew the ships with BIG men on them.

I am so thankful to be able to do this all together with all of my kids! My knowledge deepened so greatly, I love feeling smarter as I learn alongside of my children.

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