Blog tidy and new unit notes

Obviously our Little House on the Prairie roll has slowed down here. We aren't counting it as gone and done yet, but it has slowed considerably as we drifted onto the Civil War trails. And we intend to get back on track, but we are still running with some Civil War era reading.

American History Links, Ambleside Online  about half way down the page you'll find plenty of Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Grant, and more. Nice unit here as well.
If you are looking for some good titles and need to place an order, definitely visit Amy Puetz for some Civil War resources.
Also plenty of free online sources here at Old Fashioned Education  We have a well-loaded iPad and Kindle with reading to enjoy! 

On our trail ride thru the Civil War, we branched off recently and found a quick summer reading unit from HomeschoolSwag, using Little Women (audio here), Swiss Family Robinson (audio here) and Around the World in 80 Days (audio here).

In fact, if you are on a Charlotte Mason plan with your schooling (or even if you aren't), there are some great planners and prayer page downloads at HomeschoolSwag's network of pages you'll enjoy so go check them out!

I am gathering some extra resources and units to blend into the HomeschoolSwag CM Summer unit above. No, we probably won't just go the as-is 6 weeks schedule, but you probably knew that, right? We will definitely do the whole map/geography skills and mini country lessons with Around the World in 80 Days, of course.  We could really dig deep with such a collection of locations routed  in the book: London, France, Egypt, India, Singapore, China, Japan, Hong Kong, San Francisco, New York and Ireland.  Each with its own rich history, culture, landmarks and more.  The potential for handcrafts and other hands-on propjects, not to mention the culture-rich food studies...the possibilities are quite lengthy, fun and potentially delicious!

An obvious favorite resource here is The Trail Guide series. GeoMatters has a great selection of unit studies and curriculums for geography, and for what it might be worth, I highly recommend them!...Lesson Tutor has some chapter reviews/quiz pages (for several books and authors)...Links to All Things Free for Homeschoolers has a great collection of links, including these for geography and cultures...JoyfulPamela has a nice Squidoo Lens...Homeschool in The Woods geography links...SCORE pages on Around The World in 80 Days...World geography links by chapter and country...Homeschooling Ideas has several great pages, including a page of geography links and Around the World in 80 Days ideas

We will look into various connecting threads with Little Women and do some projects or crafts (might even go ahead and add Little Men to our reading.  Did you know Netflix has brought back the entire Little Men TV series? Definitely a fun watch and I'm so glad to see it back!)

Little Women study from GradeSaver...Little Women vocab lists, puzzles, and more from EdHelper...Various free and paid resources from Lesson Index (The Marching into Civil War Times is neat)...online flashcard vocab listing...Links and ideas from Web English Teacher.

I know we can find many great trails to branch off with reading the Swiss Family Robinson. In fact, we might save Swiss Family and work it together with our My Side of The Mountain reading we plan to do. The nature/animal studies alone in those two stories could easily fill an entire school term science run.

EasyFunSchool lesson plan for Swiss Family Robinson...LessonPlanet suggestions (maybe my olders should read Robinson Crusoe...they liked the TV series Crusoe, and you have the Pierce Brosnan movie...see how I bunny trail so easily?)...I love the links shared in this Squidoo Lens...For My Side of the Mountain we have these: Scholastic Teachers page discussion questions...Scholastic Book File, a 61 page PDF...University of Missouri eThemes page...Kid's Wings Activities page paid unit (a bit loud with the music and roaring, LOL, so check your volume)...Teacher Planet generic mountain pages...a Go Teach It 114 pg Paid PDF unit...Lesson Corner mountain worksheets...

These resource lists can go on and on and on...mountains and islands are one thing, there's the whole survivalist theme that forms the foundation of both stories and that opens an entirely new bunny trail of possibilities for lesson plans. And the nature studies to be had...OH MY!  One could easily go into a 2 year science run with just these two books...add in Robinson Crusoe and we're talking 3 years of some very interesting science lessons, nature studies of plants and animals, survival/wilderness skills, potential field trips and outings...not to mention you get to read some totally awesome books with your children.

What a bonus!

LHOP: Little Town week 4

We Love The Prairie Primer week 4 notes and links

Here in our school, we will be working off most of our Civil War items with this week and the next before we start the next book in the Little House series. See Little Town on the Prairie Intro post for some of our noted links and lists. We will be adding to the reading list options as I find more good books, but top of our reading will be a biography/stories on Lincoln,Clara Barton, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, and assorted reading using books such as G.A. Henty's With Lee in Virginia (found free at Google Books and here at Project Gutenberg), Librivox recordings for the Civil War here, Bookshelves search and their Civil War search, The Red Badge of Courage is a read for the olders, Caddie Woodlawn unit study and some fun paper dolls here.

Monday: chapters 22-23
Tuesday: chapter 24
Wednesday: chapter 25. Finished!

Topics for this week:
Andrew Johnson
diagramming sentences
The Battle of Little Big Horn
The Civil War (see Little Town Intro post)
Presidential Timeline

Who first spotted the blizzard?
Explain what Ma meant (pg 266) when she said "You may be well prepared to teach school and still not be a schoolteacher, but if you are not prepared, it's certain you won't be."
What did Laura put up with in order to be in style?
What was the order of the people sitting in church?
Draw a picture of how your church sanctuary is set up.
What is a revival? What did Laura think of the revival?
Why do you think Almanzo asked to see Laura home?
Read about Clara Barton
How many nice dresses does Laura have?
Write the definition and process of impeachment
What did Laura's first teacdhing job mean to her family? To her?
Learn about The Battle at Little Big Horn with General Custer. Write/narrate a report and include pictures.
What is orthography? geography? grammar?
What is a diagrammed sentence? Diagram the sentences Laura diagrammed using the method you are familiar with.

Depending on how long we tarry with the Civil War, we will return to Little House on the Prairie: These Happy Golden Years in late May, reading it thru for the month of June. This will set Farmer Boy for July, and The First Four Years for August. I apologize for the branches here and there during our read-a-long here. If you wish to continue along without our eclectic breaks and bunny trails, definitely grab yourself a copy of the Prairie Primer and visit the great links and notes shared at We Love The Prairie Primer blog.

LHOP: Little Town, week 1

Monday: chapters 1-3
Tuesday: chapters 4-5
Wednesday: chapters 6-7
Thursday: chapter 8
Friday: review and finish

Topics to cover and read about:
Begin Memorizing Romans 12 to complete by end of book
We Love the Prairie Primer week 1 Notes and Links
George Washington
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
The Louisiana Purchase
Sheep sorrels herb
Learn about the care of chickens
Apply Acts 20:35 and Galatians 6:7-10 to chapter 4 reading



What did Laura think about having a job in town?
With what and how was the baby calf fed? Why didn't they allow the calf to nurse?
Why did Laura not play in the freshly plowed ground?
On a sunny day what did grace discover?
What was the Ingalls' problem? How could a cat help?
What character qualities did Pa show?
Was Springtime a time for visiting? Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
What are 3 reasons the Bible gives for suffering in II Corinthians 1:3-11?
What is a cockerel? What is a pullet?
What did they put on their salads as dressing?
Narrate the amazing surprise story
What was Laura's first day of work like?
How had her life at home prepared her for this job?
What did Laura do with her money?
Because of homesteading, where did the wives, boys and girls live during the summer?
What did the husbands do, and why? (pg 49-50)
How did they keep bugs from their homes?
What was Carrie's job? What was Grace's job?
Write/Narratee a report on the proper care and management of a chicken flock
Draw a poster showing the health and safety shown in Proverbs 23:29-35
Draw a picture of your own chicken coop design and label
Learn about the Louisiana Purchase
What were the Ingalls' awakened by?
How far did they walk into town? How far is town from your home?
What important US document did both Laura and Carrie know by heart?
Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
Who won the buggy race?
What handicap did the horses have to overcome?
Apply Proverbs 12:10 to Almanzo's character

LHOP: Little Town on The Prairie, intro

Yes, I know.  I left everyone hanging with The Long Winter. We trekked off the course I had planned and totally disappeared from Little House on The Prairie reading. Somehow a sudden and deep interest in Medieval Times, King Arthur, Knights, and more entered in and we went with the flow.

I suppose I need to have some sort of heads-up, a disclaimer notice of some kind, alerting friends who visit and maybe don't know us that we are a wide and varied eclectic sort here.

I love structure. I believe structured days, expectations of routine and so on, really hold our schooling (and homesteading) together here. I do. I know for some of you that is near impossible to believe given my seeming flighty nature and all, but really, structure and routine is a big thing around here.

But I also know that when the interest level hits a peak, we need to run with it. A quick movie on Arthur and bingo...Laura and her family were left to fend for themselves on the Prairie and we ran off to search out castle and slay dragons. And we had a blast. But, Laura deserves our attention again, and as we have an interest in the Civil War getting started around here as well, what perfect time to collect Laura and visit Little Town on The Prairie.

Events and projects for Little Town include a family Spelling Bee, a History Bee and more.  The Primer suggests a Presidential Timeline, and study of key facts from the writing of the Constitution thru to 1882...covering our interest of the Civil War and the trails we will be taking here. a Presidential Study to work along with runs from George Washington to Chester Arthur taking over as President for James Garfield. There is a great 50 page Presidents of The United States to download found here.  For your own narration and memory work, take the chosen Presidents above and write out their dates of office, facts or famous quotes and accomplishments. any special notes you can find about them. Study 2-3 each week and try to memorize your card of facts for each.

Biographies we will read throughout the Little Town work will include many Civil War titles and biographies. We are using book lists from a few sources, as well as some unit study and lapbook components. Here are some of the resources I have gathered from online friends and blogs we will browse through as we go along:
Our Homeschooling Expedition blog has a great Civil War unit study with booklist
USA People Search has some great links for all sorts of Civil War information
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids
Guest Hollow American History 2
Civil War.org has some good lesson plans for our unit
Small Planet's Civil War unit
The American Civil War Homepage
History.com's Underground Railroad pages
Scholastic Teacher Comparing North and South in the Civil War World
Abraham Lincoln Facts
History Place The Civil War
Pathways to Freedom, Symbols of the Underground Railroad
Timeline of the Civil War


The key memory selection for Little Town is Romans 12. And as always, our Primer and the great links at We Love The Prairie Primer blog are being utilized.

Some Unit Study Goodies...

Oklahoma Homeschool site has LOTS to offer:

• Ancient History Unit Study (in progress)
• Ancient Rome Unit Study w/Timeline (pdf document) and Timeline Pieces (pdf document)
• Archaeology and the Bible Unit Study
• Ben Franklin Unit
• Civil War Unit
  
• Explorers Unit
• Government Unit Study Ideas
• Immigration Unit
• Oklahoma History Online (Fee Charged)
• Pilgrim / Thanksgiving Unit (based on The Checklist)
• Presidents/Elections Unit
• Revolutionary War Unit (Coming Soon!)
• World War I Unit (based on The Checklist) 

Even one for Simple Machines to go along with our upcoming Ancient Egypt fun :o) 


A great set up for The Civil War as well!  It looks like a definite addition to the list here.

Enjoy!