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Today we read about the Osage Indian who persuaded another group of Indians from masaquering all the white people who had settled on this particular part of the prairie that was really Indian territory. The reading today kept us on the edge of our seats, as we imagined what Laura described in the book.
Have a joyful day of learning! PPM |
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Our first week back after Christmas vacation flew by!!! It was great to be back on schedule again! I think my whole family functions better on a schedule.
We are starting the last week of 4 weeks in "The Little House on the Prairie" book. We have talked about fires, and Indians, and in being good stewards, and about respect to others. All great to discussions to have with your children no matter what you are studying!
I think the best field trip we could go on would be to visit some of the historic sites mentioned in the books. My children love looking at "The Little House Guidebook" that I purchased. It gives pictures and descriptions of the different places Laura lived.
Have a joyful week of learning! PPM
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We read about a fire in the Ingalls' chimney today. We discussed fire safety and talked about why their chimney caught on fire. It felt so nice to be "back in saddle" after a long break.
I hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas!
PPM |
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Over the week-end, we read how Pa Ingall's hand-dug his well. This led to a discussion about our well and how hard it would have been for our "Pa" in our family to dig our well. We live in an area with a lot of granite rock in the soil, so hand-digging a well would be very difficult.
Yesterday, we read about the cattle drive that Pa helped with and how he was paid for his help.
Have a wonderful day learning with your children! PPM |
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We learned how Pa made doors for the house and barn today without nails. Just thinking about the time and talent it took for him to make the wooden pegs is amazing to me. I look at our solid, wooden door today, and it does not have nails holding it together. But it does have heavy screws holding the hinges on to the door and door frame.
In the next chapter that we read today, Pa built a fireplace and chimney. I watched my father-in-law build our fireplace and chimney many years ago, and I compared my memory to the story today. Pa Ingalls had a very hard job with very little material at hand. He just used what he could find in the creek bottoms for rocks, and he made mud to hold it together. He did not have scaffolding to make taller than the house, so he improvised.
Have a joyous learning day! |
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We've had a bit of a slow start, since we returned from vacation. But we are up to chapter 6 in "Little House on the Prairie." We are enjoying reading about the Ingall's journey in a covered wagon. It is very hard to imagine how they traveled compared to our trip last month. We have all sorts of amenities available to us along the way now with restaurants, gas stations, convenience stores, hotels, even campgrounds.
In comparison, the Ingalls family had to pack everything they needed to survive. I was struck by the portion I read about Mary grinding the coffee. How easy is it for us today to get a cup of coffee along the way on a journey. We take it for granted that we can have a cup of coffee whenever we want it. I don't know about you, but we do not even own a coffee grinder. And let's not even start the discussion about the types of coffee that are available! LOL
Enjoy your day of learning with your children! Prairie Primer Mom |
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Actually we go tback last Saturday. It has been a week of getting back into routine and doing laundry for us. And two of us came back with colds. I think we are on the mend now.
We started the "Little House on the Prairie" book yesterday. I had an interesting discussion with my children about heaven and our pets. My 6-yr-old simply siad, "you know pets don't have souls, so they can't go to heaven." Such insight from such a little one.
Have a great day of learning in your homeschool!
Prairie Primer Mom |
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This has been one of those weeks where life has been hectic, so our schoolwork has been on the backburner a bit. We have been going full throttle with school since August, so we needed a bit of a break anyway.
We have some Holiday traveling coming up, so I probably won't start our next book for a few weeks. I'll be blogging about it when we get started back.
Prairie Primer Mom |
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YEAH!!!!!!! The boys and I finished reading Little House in the Big Woods today. I am so amazed at their comprehension and discussion from this book. It has been a lot of fun, too.
One of my favorite discussions happened on Tuesday. We discussed how Laura's cousin was being deceitful and how it caused him personal pain. This was a very good lesson for them to hear about someone else making a poor decision and living with the consequences.
Day 3 brought about a discussion about horsepower and where we get that term when we refer to engines today.
Day 4 was enlightening as to Pa's character when he chose to not kill several animals for food, just because he was so struck with their natural God-given beauty. My 10-yr-old said he would not have been as gracious, and we would have had meat that night for dinner. Of course, Laura and Mary were not upset that they did not have any meat that night after a long summer of only eating vegatables. Proverbs 15:17 was a great way to end our discussion of this.
Next week, we will learn about the California Gold Rush
Have a wonderful week-end!!!!
Prairie Primer Mom |
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WOW! Today we learned how they made cheese during Laura Ingalls Wlider's time. Hmmmmmm, I think I like buying mine at the grocery story! The way they made it sounds like a lot of work!
I made hasty pudding over the week-end, and my son compared it to eating grits. If you are from the south, you know what grits are! If not, then they are a corn-based breakfast food that you prepare like you are making oatmeal.
We will be finishing our first Little House book this week, and then we are taking a few weeks off for a vacation.
Have a blessed day! Prairie Primer Mom |
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Today we discussed how maple syrup is made. It makes a person wish we were in a place where we could tap maple trees when the sap is rising! The boys enjoyed our discussion about how the maple sugar was made. I am going to have to buy some pure maple syrup, so we can compare the taste to the fake flavored syrup I normally buy.
We also enjoyed the story about the Dance at Grandma and Grandpa's, and we tried our hand at dancing a jig! It helps that I purchased Diana Waring's History Alive! music cassette for the Laura Ingalls Wilder time period. You can also view her blog here at HSB.
I see she is having a special now, too, so please be sure to read about that.
Until another time, Prairie Primer Mom
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Hello, day two of this week had us discussing bears. The boys would really like to live back in Little House times, I think. They are so into the storyline right now. They were hanging on the edge of their seats as I read about Ma and Laura's encounter with a real bear and Pa's encounter with a not-so-real bear. If you want to know more, you need to pick up the book.........
Until later,
Prairie Primer Mom |
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After reading about how Laura's family observed the Sabbath, my boys discussed how happy they are that they can play football with their cousins on Sunday afternoon.
Our normal Sunday activities are:
Go to Sunday School and Church, Eat lunch at my DH's parents' house, Kids get to play with cousins after eating while the adults socialize, Come home for naps, I work on my grocery list and menu based on the coupons in the paper; Then I will take one child with me to grocery shop, or I will go alone; After the groceries are put away, we eat a quick bite of dinner; And DH will take the older children back for evening service at church; I keep the youngest at home for some one-on-one time;
We normally do not do any household chores on Sunday unless it is absolutely necessary, such as a sick child during the night or wet bedding. I did have the children pick up all their toys last night, and that helped my Monday start off much nicer.
Have a nice fall night! Prairie Primer Mom |
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Looks like this is going to be another fun week. I believe we will enjoy the discussion about how they observed the Sabbath Day. I know we are very different today in our observances of the Sabbath.
How do you observe the Sabbath Day in your house? I will post more about how we obeserve the Sabbath in our house later.
Warmly, The Prairie Primer Mom |
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So, do you have a specific day of the week to do chores? We discussed that this week as we read chapter 2 in Little House in the Big Woods.
Here is Ma's chore list:
"Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Mend on Wednesday, Churn on Thursday, Clean on Friday, Bake on Saturday, Rest on Sunday."
I think this was pretty standard for the time period. I did some more reading on my own on the Large Family Logistics web page. This makes for very interesting perspectives on laundry and chores, especially for large homeschooling families.
Personally, what I have found that works for us is to have daily chores, such as sweeping the floor, cooking and dishes. And then we also have weekly chores, such as cleaning the bathrooms, dusting, windows and mirrors and mopping. We do laundry daily except for Sunday. I try to space our the linen washing. I will do the younger children's bedding one day, then the older ones have a day to do their bedding. And then I will do my and DH's bedding. In the winter, we will do around 23 loads of laundry per week, and in the summer it is closer to 21 loads per week. I think I can just wash more summer clothes at a time, and in the winter, we have a blue-jean load every other day or so.
What kind of chore schedule do you follow? Any MOTH users here? I confess I have the book; I have just never sat down to fill out the chore charts! Maybe someone will encourage me to do so. I did try Flylday, but I couldn't keep up with the emails, and I didn't feel that she really understands a homeschool mom's perspective on scheduling and cleaning.
Until later, The Prairie Primer Mom and Homestead Wannabe |
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Hello, we are a homeschool family who just started using the Prairie Primer. We are currently reading
Little House in the Big Woods.
Join us as we learn more about the Ingalls family and homesteading. |
