The internet is a wonderful tool when one wants to do a unit on
Little House in the Big Woods! I gathered all my resources
and took an afternoon to plan a two week unit, that ended up
being three weeks. I had promised Dev we would do this last
school year, It actually was a good way to get back into the
school year and give me some time to order new curriculum for
the new year.
One activity was baking bread. I have been wanting
to do this for awhile and I had a dear friend share her
recipe on her blog, so we did the same one.
This was the part that was really fun for them and really messy for
me. While they hit the showers, I "hit" the floor and countertops!
We also made butter. This turned out okay,
I should have poured out or rinsed more of
the butter milk.
They loved seeing how the bread rose with the yeast.
We also made pocket squares. These are mentioned
in the book when Laura's pocket square, a little
pouch sewed into her dress, splits open due to all
the rocks she had collected. We went to the fabric
store and Dev picked out a couple calico prints.
Bobo picked out Bat man and could not
leave the store until we had the Batman
fabric because dada would love it so much.
My questions was something like,
"What would Dada like to do with the fabric."
Bobo just knew dada had to have it!
Bobo loves any new carrying pouch for supplies and tools.
Another activity was carving soap as Pa carved out of wood.
We also learned how trees cannot suck up
water, just like the longer the straw, the harder it is for us
to suck up water. Instead, trees use osmosis to force water up.
Making Johnny cakes
Johnny Cakes were a favorite in the Ingall's household.
Bobo loves to flip!
So Dev decided to turn out making Johnny Cakes into a
full on tea party.
Fun until we got a little too silly and listening ears went bye bye!
Again, talking about sap and osmosis.
Watching how food coloring travels up a celery stalk,
through tubes called xylem vessels.
And how sugar added into one potato made more water move into
this potato than the one without sugar.
We learned about braided rugs and made one for Dev's dolls.
We also read all the chapters of the book aloud and answered many reflection
questions. Dev learned spelling and vocabulary, she worked on a math lesson as
we tried to figure out how many pounds we could take in a covered wagon journey,
and both kiddos completed lap books (a visual representation of learning). Dev wrote
a final paper including information on Laura the author.
All of this Deveraux and Bobo presented one evening.
This girl loves to present!
She was a little hit in her prairie attire.
Showing her lap book. In working with Deveraux and her
responses to the book, I really pushed her to tell me Why.
We also talked about translating thoughts onto paper, expression
through writing...something we will work on all year!
Bobo was next. Without me knowing, he began his
presentation pretending he was Pa telling "Laura" a story.
This guy doesn't shy away from a presentation either when he
is comfortable with his audience.
Showing how Ma would churn butter.
His lap book.
Did not know "weapons" would be displayed. There is a lot
of killing of animals in Little House.
In the chapter, Dance at Grandpa's, jigging
is introduced. So we look up jigging
in UTube and Bobo took to it and jigs when
he can. SO he wanted to do a jog!
We made the Christmas cookies Laura and Mary receive in the
second book of the series, Little House on the Prairie. It was
really fun to do a unit study for homeschooling. I was proud
of the work they both did and I hope they remember all the
creations they made and life in the Big Woods from our Island house.
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