Columbus

[goldenecho]

I hope this is ok to post here, because it's my own post.   This is the result of months of work and tons of research involving multiple biographies and original translated sources to fact check some really bad history that keeps getting spread around Columbus.   I finished it last year and can't remember if I shared it here, but I just updated it with some extra information, so...

https://imaginativehomeschool.blogspot.com/2018/10/fact-checking-columbus.html

And, I want to ask a question.  If you've read this, do you know of any good, kid friendly resources (books, videos, etc.) about Columbus that...

1).  Don't contain any of those errors I mentioned in my article

2.) Manage to teach about Columbus in an interesting way without making him into a hero or a villain

3.) Don't totally ignore or trivialize what happened to the Native Americans under Columbus

AND, any resources on Columbus and Spanish Exploration/colonization for High School age things that also....

- Adequately cover what happened to the natives not just under Columbus but in the generations afterwards

- Don't vilify all missionaries or proselytizing, but do address some of the ways that the way the early New World colonists/priests handled this harmed the natives (and definately deal with both the religious and political reasons for proselytizing, which were often contrasting).

- Also talk about the priests who were helping as well as the ones who were joining in the oppression (since there were groups of priests speaking out about the injustice going on)

- (Bonus if any of these are Christian resources that actually deal with these questions Biblically, ask hard questions, and deal with ways that Christians sometimes have been misguided)

And...really, if you know of any resources about Bartolome de las Casas that are suitable for kids I'd love to hear about them to.   One of my favorite historical figures!

Edited September 28, 2019 by goldenecho

[HomeAgain]

We don't use hardly anything for elementary.  DS discovered Adam Ruins Everything which talks about Columbus, and we used the book Pedro's Journal while discussing treatment.
In high/jr. high, we use the actual journals from Columbus' journeys and other primary sources, like the paperwork from the islands.

I'm not going to apply a Christian cover to this.  You can either explain this yourself, and compare it to modern day mission-cations where unskilled people go go "help" and change people from one sect of Christianity to another, like the Dillards did, or your can find false information like most homeschool glurge is, where it puts intent into the mouth of God.  There doesn't seem to be an inbetween.