just some Laura Ingalls Wilder links...

 Just a few odds and ends I've found and thought I'd share....

Laura's Little Houses has some neat pages and information

Little House on The Prairie Living...shares a few goodies, as well as some great Little House style recipes.

Need ideas for sites to see connected to Little House? Check out the reference pages at Beyond Little House blog.

Laura's Sweet Memories looks promising, and such delicious recipes shared!

LHOP: Big Woods Week 2 intro

How was your first week sharing in the adventures of Mary, Laura, Ma and Pa and little Carrie?  We had a blast.  My children love the adventurous tales Pa shares.  It didn't hurt that we actually had black bear sightings only about 3-4 miles from our homestead, either! They aren't terrible common around here, but they aren't that rare, either.  Seems during June and July, the young males between 2 and 3 years old, leave their mothers and head off to stake their own territory.  Most often found in the Delta area of our state, they can be seen farther north here, as well as throughout Alabama as well. Of course that meant we had to pay close attention to things here.....like making rounds to check the animals in the barn, you know, just in case of bear attack!

Now we head into Week 2, reading chapters 5-9 this week.  We'll learn about how Laura's family spent their sabbath time, we'll read of the great adventure Grandpa's pig took (LOL), Ma and the bear, and Pa's "bear".  We'll work on learning some church hymns for our own Sunday time, including Rock of Ages, as Pa sang for the family. We'll also get to learn about the sugar snow....maple syrup time.

I've linked the Week 2 pages in the tab along with this post.  I'd love to hear if anyone sharing in the reading here has made their own maple syrup.  We have friends in Tennessee who do try each year, though it's a bit more difficult down here as opposed to the wintry north country Laura and her family are from!

Enjoy Week 2, and if you are working on any crafts along the way, or have plans for some local field trips that tie in with the story,or activities you're doing, please share them with us!

Here is the link to We Love The Prairie Primer blog's Week 2 lessons....enjoy!

added note: Here is another blog with a few goodies on Little House and Laura herself...

Westward Ho Everyone!

This week begins Little House in the Big Woods.  Each day we'll read one chapter, ending with chapter 4 on Friday.  Be sure to check out We Love The Prairie Primer blog for some great links and YouTube resources for each chapter as we go along! Don't have the books? Check out some sources here and here, including other titles of interest with Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Vocabulary lists can be made as you read, or you can use these great lists over at Garden of Praise.
There is also a great lapbook for Big Woods here at HomeschoolShare and another great one at Lapbook Lessons. Be sure to check out EasyFunSchool's Little House pages for ideas for crafts and more, as well as puzzles and games connected with the various books. A page of Laura Ingalls Prairie Books resources are here, with some crafts, some musid and more.

Pa spends time whittling...a great way to make this story a little more "boy friendly" might be learning to whittle, or easier yet: soap carving!  Ivory Soap Carving. There is a great book for kids on soap carving, Soap Carving for Children of All Ages.

There are plenty of resources for crafting corn cob dolls...but if a corn cob isn't available, try easy corn husk dolls instead! Most large grocery stores or specialty food stores carry bulk corn husks in the section with Mexican foods. Native American Corn Husk Dolls...NativeTech...and a great YouTube source.

Some other things to discuss this week....food preservation such as smoking foods,drying foods and root cellaring, gun safety and hunting regulations for your state, God's Umbrella of Protection in the home and His Order of Authority, etc.  There will be plenty of ideas coming to life as you read through this week's chapters and find areas of interest with your children!