Hello, I am 16 years old and I am getting homeschooling this year because I'm being treated for cancer and going to school might expose me to covid. Today I had my first meeting with my AP US history teacher. During the lesson he told me that Christopher Columbus never actually landed in America, his first voyage brought him to the Caribbean Islands and the second voyage brought him to Bermuda. A little while after that he said that Paul Revere never did the midnight ride. Instead Paul Revere was placed under house arrest by I think he said the British and there were others that did the midnight ride and said the British are coming. I have learned my whole life that Columbus discovered America and Revere did the midnight ride so when my teacher told me this it was hard to believe. Is any of this true?
It very much depends on your definition of North America. Columbus made four journeys to the Indies, basically exploring the greater and the lesser Antilles.
Cuba, for example, is definitely an American country, and most definitely in the North. In fact, it is only some 90 miles from the coast of Florida. The same can be said about the Bahamas or Bermuda. All of these countries are normally referred to as being in North America, though not part of the continental mass of North America. Nobody would argue that Great Britain is in Europe despite it not being part of the continental European mass.
Then, there is the whole concept of where does North America end. When one talks about the continents, at least in the US as far as I know, America is considered to be divided into two continents: North and South America, and the division line is considered to be the Darién isthmus. With that definition in hand, Columbus definitely set foot in North America, as in his fourth voyage he explored a good part of Central America, and that would fall within the geographical definition of North America.
So, the problem may be with your teacher's really narrow definition of both America and North America. My understanding is that by "America" he means the United States of America, and by North America he means the USA, Canada, and Mexico.