Looking for an Age of Exploration homeschool curriculum? This Charlotte Mason study examines world history and famous explorers!
Discover the Age of Exploration with this Homeschool Adventure!
Ready to transport your family to the age of discovery, where grand ships sailed the sea, exploring and mapping the unknown? This Charlotte Mason curriculum whisks you away to this momentous era, helping your family sail the waves of history through homeschool activities and studies!
Each week is packed with creative, fun learning experiences like tea time recipes, living book reading selections, poetry, art, and music studies, handicrafts, and so much more! Every project is designed to give your primary through high school-aged students a unique chance to bring what they are studying to life through engaging, hands-on activities. Want to find out more? Check out a small sample of what we have in store for you below!
Age of Exploration Tea Time Recipes & Reading
Try a taste of history with these Age of Exploration-themed sweets, each adapted from an actual recipe that people would have made during this era! We selected traditional recipes from each of the main countries involved in the Age of Exploration: America, France, Scotland, England, Germany, and the Netherlands, so that you and your family can go on a culinary journey around the world. Take a sneak peek at each tea time dessert below!
- Pastel de Nata
- Bread Pudding
- Cherry Clafoutis
- Speculaas
- Torrijas
- Giobi
Each historical recipe is paired with a tea time reading selection for a delightful learning experience. Bake the treat as a family (one per week), and then enjoy it over a warm cup of tea, read that week’s story, and discuss its themes!
Add a Historical Poem to Your Tea Time:
To fit with the Age of Exploration theme, we chose several poems to study from Sir Walter Raleigh, the famous writer and explorer! Read about his fascinating life, then study the poetry selections and practice handwriting and memorization with our copywork sheets for primary grades through high school! Here is a sample of one of our favorite pieces:
Hymn
by Sir Walter Raleigh
Rise, O my soul! with thy desires to heaven,
And with divinest contemplation use
Thy time, when time’s eternity is given,
And let vain thoughts no more thy thoughts abuse;
But down in darkness let them lie;
So live thy better, let thy worse thoughts die.
And thou, my soul, inspired with holy flame,
View and review with most regardful eye
That holy cross whence thy salvation came,
On which thy Saviour and thy sin did die!
For in the sacred object is much pleasure,
And in that Saviour is my life treasure.
To Thee, O Jesu! I direct mine eyes,
To Thee my hands, to Thee my humble knees;
To Thee my heart shall offer sacrifice;
To Thee my thoughts, who thoughts only see;
To Thee myself, myself and all I give;
To Thee I die, to Thee I only live.
Discover History with the 200+ page “Age of Exploration Morning Time Session”!
Set sail on a journey through one of history’s most adventurous eras with the Age of Exploration morning time curriculum! This 200+ page guide has everything you need to study this fascinating period through creative, hands-on learning activities.
Inside, you’ll find:
- 6-week Calendar with each subject scheduled on it
- Prayer and scripture memorization
- Copywork selections from The Ship of Life Prayer, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8, The Passionate Man’s Pilgrimage, Song of Myself, and Hymn, in primary, elementary, cursive, and a notebook sheet for high school students (and moms)
- Memory Work: Prayer, scripture memory, and poetry memorization
- Living Books recommended reading list
- Artist & Picture Study: Albrecht Dürer
- Composer & Music Study: Tomás Luis de Victoria
- Poet & Poetry Study: Sir Walter Raleigh, with the poems As You Came from the Holy Land, The Passionate Man’s Pilgrimage, The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd, Song of Myself, Hymn, and Now What is Love
- Hymn Study: O Love How Deep, How Broad, How High with sheet music and listening links
- Folk Song Study: The Golden Vanity, with sheet music and listening links
- Age of Exploration Teatime Recipes: Pastel de Nata, Bread Pudding, Cherry Clafoutis, Speculaas, Torrijas, and Giobi
- Tea Time Readings: Winnie the Pooh, Ch. VIII, “In Which Christopher Robin Leads An Expotition to the North Pole,” by A. A. Milne, Excerpt from A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama, by Anonymous, Excerpt from The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Díaz de Castillo Part One: The Conquest of New Mexico and Spain, by Bernal Díaz de Castillo, Don Quixote, Chapter One by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Every Child Can Read, Chapter One, by John Bunyan, Sea Lore and Legends
- Geography: 10 Explorer Biographies, World of Columbus and Sons, by Genevieve Foster, and Age of Exploration Map Studies
- Handicraft: Ship’s Log (Hand Sewn Journal)
- Art Lesson: Map of the Ancient World
- Nature Study: Age of Exploration Nature Study
- The Children’s Plutarch: Stories of the Greeks, “Three Powers”
- And more!
Ready to explore history in your homeschool? Get your guide today and let your adventure begin!
Old World Map Art Lesson
Step back in time and create a map inspired by the “Old World,” as it might have appeared before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the discovery of the Americas. In this lesson, we design our own aged map using simple mixed-media techniques that give the artwork an authentic, antique look. Using coffee as our base, we’ll create a warm, weathered background—much like the look of old parchment—that makes the colors beautifully faded and timeworn. The result is a richly textured map that looks as though it could have come straight from a centuries-old explorer’s journal.
Enjoying your art lesson too much to stop? Grab these history-themed lessons from the Masterpiece Society to keep the fun going!
Living Books to Explore the Age of Discovery in Your Homeschool
From squids to sea anemones, check out these living books to dive further into the study of ocean life!
Elementary
Who Was Christopher Columbus?
Who Was Ferdinand Magellan?Who Was Ponce de León?What Was the Age of Exploration?Follow the Dream: The Story of Christopher ColumbusPonce de León: Exploring Florida and Puerto Rico (In the Footsteps of Explorers, 8)A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus (Picture Book Biography)ColumbusMagellan: A Voyage Around the World (Expedition)The Voyagers: Being Legends and Romances of Atlantic DiscoveryPedro’s Journal: A Voyage with Christopher Columbus, August 3, 1492-February 14, 1493The World of Columbus and SonsExplorers of the New World: Discover the Golden Age of Exploration With 22 Projects (Build It Yourself)
High School
Don Quixote (Wordsworth Classics)Treasure Island (Wordsworth Classics)Robinson Crusoe (Wordsworth Classics)Gulliver’s Travels (Wordsworth Classics)Around the World in Eighty Days (Oxford World’s Classics)The Pilgrim’s Progress (Penguin Classics)A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco Da Gama, 1898 (Classic Reprint): 1497-1499The Imitation of Christ (Dover Thrift Editions)The Conquest of New Spain (Classics S)The Four Voyages: Being His Own Log-Book, Letters and Dispatches with Connecting Narratives.. (Penguin Classics)Magellan’s Voyage : A Narrative Account of the First CircumnavigationThe Journals of Captain Cook (Penguin Classics)Over the Edge of the World Updated Edition: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
Sail Through History with The Age of Exploration Morning Time Curriculum!
If you are looking for a way to make studying history engaging, meaningful, and FUN, this curriculum is just the thing! Beyond just dry facts on a page, this Age of Exploration study helps spark curiosity, joy, and wonder through art, music, nature, living books, and hands-on activities! So what are you waiting for? Grab your copy today to set sail on a homeschool adventure your family will never forget!
“It may be that the souls of all children are waiting for the call of knowledge to awaken them to delightful living.”
~Charlotte Mason
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