Columbus Day 2025

October 13, 2025

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What is Columbus Day? Let’s review history today. Christopher Columbus is an early Italian explorer that discovered America for Spain in 1492. Did you know?

  • Columbus Day is a federal holiday in the United States
  • Columbus Day celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492
  • This day also helps recognize contributions of Americans of Italian descent
  • Columbus Day is the second Monday in October each year
  • The flag of the United States is displayed on all government buildings on Columbus Day
  • This day is observed by banks, the bond market, the U.S. Postal Service, other federal agencies, state government offices, businesses, and most school districts
  • Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator
  • In 1492, he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain in the Santa Maria, with the Pinta and the Niña ships alongside, hoping to find a new route to India
  • On October 12, 1492, after 36 days of sailing westward across the Atlantic, Columbus and several crewmen set foot on an island in the present-day Bahamas
  • On this day, Columbus planted the flag of his sponsors, King Ferdinand, and Queen Isabella of Spain in the new land (the continent of North America)

Homeschoolers-Parents-Educators: sketch/color an illustration like the one above. Theme: Discovering new places. Put these words in alphabetical order and use in a sentence: king, Columbus, explorer, navigator, ocean, America.  Finish this sentence: I want to go to …. List three facts about this day. Read the story called The Flying Trunk in Learning to Read: Fairy Tale Adventures. Write about Sven’s many adventures traveling around the world. Share one of your favorite adventures. (Skillset: identify, comprehend, apply, alphabetic order, creativity, history, sentence usage)

By Martha Quinn

Book author, licensed teacher, master's degree (Reading K-12, Social Studies 7-12). Former homeschooler. Happily married Christian with two terrific children. Loves animals, swimming, music, fishing, gardening, cooking, traveling, exciting movies, good books, and the great outdoors.

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