We had a real treat on Columbus Day this year. Replicas of the Nina and Pinta were docked near where we live on the Ohio River for a week. We took a “field trip” on Columbus Day to tour the ships. I am doing a unit on explorers and the discovery of America with Jacob for his history lessons, so the timing was just wonderful.

There were some groups of school students there touring the ships, so even though we were on a “self-guided” tour, we heard some of the explanations of the crew members. At one point, Jacob was standing right with a group of school kids and he raised his hand and asked the crew member a question! Such a shy boy.

It was really interesting to see the ships, and amazing to think about those men venturing out into unknown waters on those little ships. They really had a lot of courage, and maybe some greed, to make them do it!

You can find more about the replicas here!

I ordered the Book It! program kit from Pizza Hut, and started it with Jacob yesterday. I set his goal to read 2 chapter books (Magic Tree House books) by the end of the month. I was thinking that he could read one chapter per day and finish by the end of October. He has not been reading his chapter books much lately, so I was trying to get him interested in them again. Yesterday I explained to him that if he read the two books by the end of the month, he would get a certificate for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. I even told him he could read one chapter each day and he would get them finished. He immediately went and got the first book and started reading.

Today he finished the second one. Yes, the second one.

He read two chapter books in two days.

I think I underestimated him a bit (again). I knew he could read them that fast, but I didn’t think he actually would! Needless to say, his goal is going to be a little higher next month .