Columbus Day - Are you teaching them the good, bad, or both?

Just curious. Interestingly enough - we hardly ever have time to do the unit studies I make but today we are going to do the Great Explorers one (see link below if you want it free).

It isn't all about Columbus by any means but I happen to think Columbus was pretty courageous to make that trip. Even though the Vikings made it earlier - it wasn't the same risk in my opinion. They had a whole 'nother attitude about exploration, plus, they already had colonies at Greenland and Iceland. it was a much shorter distance to travel and less time away from land.

So anyway - just wondering how you guys see the whole Columbus controversary and how you will approach it today.

 

Hi,
I'm new to this whole experience, but I couldn't help but comment on your question. I feel the same way you do, I think it was courageous and risky, and he accomplished a lot. I would say talk about great explorers and the importance of it. Hope that helps!

 

Well we celebrated Leif Erickson day on the 9th , he did "find" us 1st afterall. I mean yeah he didn't have that far to go but it was still a great risk IMHO.

We also celebrate Columbus day , but we do the "real" story.
He was not a very nice person and very egocentric, so we study the man, not the myth.
No Disney version in our house.

 

I guess this is a matter of opinion. Just like the opinion that Americans are evil people because of our slave history....or are we?

 

We learned about Leif Erickson, Christopher Columbus (and what he did and did not do) and The Columbian Exchange.

 

We did a lot of Leif Erickson to day too.

 

Whether we agree with Columbus or not, HE is the one that put the New World "on the map". That didn't happen with Erickson. None of us on this side of the pond would be here today if it hadn't been for Columbus. Yes, we discuss his problems as well as his accomplishments; we also discuss Erickson, though Erickson was not the first Viking to discover the New World. He was actually trying to find it, based on reports of another Viking. I've also heard somewhere that there were French fishermen that regularly fished off the coast of Nova Scotia prior to Columbus, but can't remember where or when I had heard it. Possibly when I visited Nova Scotia a good number of years back...?

 

Vicki's history this year is Explorers. We are studying them both.

 

Honestly I didn't teach anything about him at all yesterday. Dd6 did her regular school work, dd13 was out of school for the day and we spend most of the day at a friends making homecoming mums. I guess this is something I will touch on next year.

 

We finished a chapter on explorers two weeks ago. We didn't do anything Columbus related yesterday at all.

I am sick of being taught I need to be ashamed to be an american, and what awful people we are. NO historian, NO culture, NO country has done EVERYTHING right.

When you get into the slave issue, make sure you let your children know that it was the tribal leaders from rival tribes catching and selling the slaves to the americans. Yes. We were wrong for buying, carrying across the sea and enslaving them.

alright...probably said too much. Getting out of here before I get riled up. Haven't had my morning caffeine yet. AND I'm PMS'ing.....sorry.

 

Wow..that is kind of out of left field. Documents from some of the people that were aboard his ships state that he was very mean and abusive.

kbabe1968...don't get me started on that too. My dh just got finished writing a huge college paper on slavery, the teacher was impressed that he knew that some of the slaves own people were the ones that sold them in the first place ( because most students are taught that white people only did this ) and that slavery is still around today in a lot of countries!
So yeah...don't get me started

Jackie, I'm not NOT giving Colombus his due, I'm just teaching my kids that others were here first too. Most Native Americans ( I personally know quite a few myself including an Aunt) will tell you it never needed to be "found" because they already knew it was here

Just a joke..no tomatoes please!!!

 

We are teaching the whole store in our history this year anyway. My dcs have heard me teach on it so many years from k-12twice over lol. now we have had readings from his journals etc and have some interesting facts about his name to think on and research a bit as well so it was fun!
We are learning more abotu Leif again next year so even though it was in his lesson for this year, ,this year they found or announced the finding of a map of what is probably New Foundland area there written in the time of the Vikings trips with some interesting notations as well.
so hopefully someone will make an exibit to visit soon!
But for COlumbus day, since he landed in middle america sorta I think its okay to study his travels and map out His journey, after all it IS apart of our history. I am glad he has his day the same day as Canadian Thanks giving because it is fitting!

I think it is cool to study out every holiday, use the computer or books at the library either one will help, encyclopedias you have on disc or book form as well. Find otu the history of .... ( insert holiday here) each time one arrises.
We love the fact that there are so many to look up and learn about here at Agape Academy!
I just got a slogan for us too quoted from ds' homeschool explaination " Where the Learning never ends!"

 

Nope, didn't teach it here. My kids would have said "mom not again we know that...." I actually did say it's Columbus Day and they said I know that's when ....... Now when they were younger we covered it alot.

 

We did a month on Columbus day last September, so we didn't do much more than note it this year. We tied in the Vikings and Amerigo Vespucci (I know I spelled that wrong), and how Columbus didn't make it to "mainland" America but only hit the islands and died stating it was India, LOL. We also talked about how he treated the Native Americans and how that was wrong. My kids are still young-ish, so we didn't go overly in depth (and I didn't see the personality reports), but we also had about 40 books checked out of the library on Columbus, so they may have got it and I missed it. That happens alot, them learning w/o me.

But nothing this year, we're working on Rome.

 

My kids pointed otu to me that everyone around the world treated people wrong, and they didnt understand why we shoudl point out one more person lol,
They had a point.

 

But if that was what the person really was like then yes, that info should be told to my children. I'm not giving them a Disney version of the person just because "everyone" was bad at one point, why point out another.
He whipped his crew ( as I'm sure other captains did as well), he took credit for spotting land first instead of giving credit to the lookout, Juan Bermeo. Columbus was taken back to Spain in chains because his crimes were discovered and his colonies were in chaos. After 6 weeks he was release because he promised the Queen gold from the new land. He unleashed terror upon the Native Americans , millions died from starvation, torture, murder and forced labor. That is who he was and so we need to learn that too.

I don't understand what is so wrong about telling the truth about a person...I'm not going to laminate over that to my dd's.
I told my kids that Leif Erickson wasn't a very nice person either ( most Viking weren't nice) .
I tell the good , the bad and the ugly of people , they need to know that IMHO.

 

exactly I share what knowledge we can trust with the journals, we dont even knwo if Columbus was his given name or not.
its so much fun reading about it. because his best friend even said he went by two names.
Pretty funny guy anyway and good to study out as much as you can and not take anything for granted thats for sure, not just with this dude, but with anyone really. That is of course one of the joys of homeschooling that I love!
we totally tear apart history and read it through various ways then decide for our selves , ds loves to discuss what he is reading in MOH and even when I am reading it we stop and discuss sometimes go look things up.
Its all good stuf!

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with telling both sides. And if you can name one explorer or great leader that was "nice" from history I'll be amazed. I think the "most Vikings weren't nice" comment really depends on whether or not you were a Viking, now doesn't it? They were one of the first democratic governments, they gave their women rights, and they loved their families and children. Yet, they killed everything that moved that was "other" when necessary. So be it. Survival of the fittest ruled the world in 1000 AD. Kill or be killed.

It is what it is. They did what they did. No man or woman is perfect so there is nothing wrong with stating imperfections. However, the government schools started this politically correct notion that Columbus doesn't deserve to be praised for ANY reason, and I think that is a naive way to look at history. (Or maybe it is just self-righteous?)

Columbus was a great man, he was courageous, he was brutal, he was ruthless, and he was not even smart enough to realize that he was lost and found a new land. Surely Europeans would have found the New World eventually, whether or not Columbus took that trip. Regardless of his years of suffering and humiliation as he tried to raise money from the different nations.

But it doesn't matter. Columbus WAS the man who took that trip. He WAS the man who found the money. He WAS the man who kept his crew on task when they wanted to throw him overboard and turn back. So he is the man we learn about. A weak and lesser leader would have never even gotten off the shore.

I think sometimes you have to be able to see the "historical" nature of a figure like Caesar, Columbus, or Egil Skallagrimson, and be able to remove it from the "social" aspect.

Is Hitler worth studying? Was he not a GREAT leader? Regardless of his deeds, did he not convince an entire NATION that he was the man? Ignoring that kind of power and influence because of the social aspect would be a huge disservice to humanity, in addition it would not be accurate. There is more to learn from him, even if the only thing learned is how NOT to lead a country, or maybe more importantly, how NOT to follow blindly.

 

DS who is 6 got the "Disney" version this year. That was all he needed to know. In high school, we look at the whole picture.
I just get so fed up with the need to tear down every hero that we have. No, they weren't perfect; but they did do great things. We focus on the positive and minor on the negatives.

 

Crystal, my mil has enough Cherokee blood in her to be able to live on a reservation. So I do understand the Native American's POV.

What I found interesting when we studied the explorers was WHY Brazil belonged to Portugal instead of Spain. It had to do with the fact that Spain, through Columbus, headed WEST. Portuagal, on the other hand, was heading EAST around the coast of Africa. Then dispute arose around certain islands. So the Pope intervened, and said Portugal would have all explorations EAST of a certain longitudal line, and Spain could have everything WEST. Turned out the Eastern tip of Brazil stuck out across that line, so Portugal was able to claim it, even though it was technically "west".