Topics Covered by The Prairie Primer

As mentioned before, you don’t have to have a copy of the Prairie Primer. It isn’t a hard fast rule for enjoying the Little House on The Prairie books. It will, however, give you a great direction to follow to get as much out of the books as you can. Here are the Topics and their entries, as listed in The Primer itself.
Bible Concepts/Character Builders
Bible Memory
Crafts
Health
History, Government, Social Studies and Geography
History – Biographies
Literature and Language Arts
Living (as in conservation, manners, music, gun safety)
Science (bacteria, viruses, light and prism, heat transfer, food chain, electricity, energy and fuel, distillation, pollination, properties of fire, rust, simple machines, trees, telegraph, water table, water purification, weather)
Science – Animal Kingdom (animal classification, tracks, and a wide variety of animals)
Science – Human Body (digestive systems, ears, eyes and eyesight, genetics, blood, heart and vascular, immune system, lungs and breathing, nervous system, reproduction, skin and taste)

Some additional suggestions shared in The Primer are creating a historical timeline on butcher paper. We have several kits from Homeschool in The Woods History Time Travelers that we love, but you don’t need anything fancy.  Use what you have :)  Also making note of your memory work along the way, on index cards kept in a file, or worked out with drawings and copywork or as lapbook coponents. 

You can also add in some good old fashioned (and so often better) math and handwriting curriculum to give a complete schooling adventure. For a curriculum from the 1800s, try Ray’s Arithmetic and the Spencerian System of Practical Penmanship.  Folks just don’t teach good handwriting anymore. Most schools have worked over the past few years to cut cursive writing altogether. It’s a shame. I suppose in an age of computerized everything from ebook texts for school and assignments handed in on flashdrives, folks just don’t need to use real penmanship anymore :(
So there you go.  The Primer has all the guidance and direction you need to get the most from your Little House on The Prairie series. You can add and subtract at will, the ideas throughout the Primer will certainly spur your creativity along…but it will carry you along very nicely on those hectic days when gathering and planning just aren’t going to happen.

Enjoy! I look forward to hearing from everyone joining the summer reading series!