Wednesday, October 27, 2010

And He Shall Be Named Christopher--which means--Christ Bearer

Here is Maddie as Christoper Columbus
 In honor of Columbus Day, October 12th, we've been doing a unit on Christopher Columbus for this entire month. We've learned many exciting things about him. The kids have put on two plays about him, too. 


Did you know??
*His mother felt that her new-born son had a great mission to do for God. She knew that he would some day do great things and bring God's light and His truth to far-off lands. 
*It is for this reason that she named him Christopher--"Christo-ferens", which means the "Christ Bearer".
*When Christopher was a young man he read in his Bible in the book of John. He came to chapter 10. Jesus was teaching His disciples and he said..."I am the good shepherd. There are other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. "Christoper realized then that there were other people in the world that no one else knew about, and he felt his mission from God was to find them.


Here Christopher is pondering the far off lands and how to get there.

He prays about it, and has an idea!

His pockets are empty and so he decides to take a trip and try and find some money for the trip.

His first stop...England and King John II--He explains he has no money, but the king denies him his request.

Next stop...Spain...and King Ferdinand

And the lovely Queen Isabella

Columbus explains his needs and the king and queen ponder it for quite some time. They end up having to say no.

 Did you know, though, that Columbus didn't stop there? He ended up going back to the king and queen multiple times over the next many years. It was finally when he pleaded with Queen Isabella and shared the bible verses with her about the lost sheep that she finally asked her treasurer what she could do.
Here she consults with her treasurer. All that is left in the treasure box is her precious jewelry. She decides to sell it to help Columbus. Just then she hears about Spain winning a battle and having more gold. She sends the messenger off to find Columbus.
The messenger finds a sad Columbus and gives him the great news!
Columbus rides his mule quickly to the queen!

Queen Isabella makes him Admiral Christopher Columbus! God has answered his prayers!



See how strong Admiral Columbus is! He'll do a mighty work!
Meet the cast!

The children had a marvelous time performing this play for Daddy one evening after supper. The story doesn't stop there, though, we learned all about the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. We learned how Columbus depended fully on God even as to what direction to sail toward the new land, even when those thought he was crazy for headed in the "wrong" direction. We learned how God directed his path and delivered he and his crew safely to the new land. We learned that he named the new land: San Salvador--"Island of the Holy Savior".

The children acted out another play for Daddy and our friend Martha the next week of the voyage to the new land.

This is a quote from Christopher Columbus:
"I believe with all my heart that I am on an errand for my God--and I can not fail!"

This my dear readers is the beauty of homeschooling. These are wonderful truths not taught in our public schools today.  

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