Little House on the prairie

You could get more information about that era if you look up other topics such as “The Oregon Trail” http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Oregontrail.html While Laura and Mary’s parents didn’t go that far west, they did travel in that direction.

Also, when I was in elementary school, we played this very basic computer game (I think Apple IIE was the rage then!) http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/otrail.shtml where the player has to decide how many provisions they need to take along with them on the trail (thinking of robbers, food spoilage, etc).

You could also develop the theme by doing simple crafts or home skills such as making a sock doll, sewing on buttons, teaching cross-stitch (I learned by working on Gingham fabric with largish squares. The teacher taught us to make an “x”, gradually spelling out some word or picture on the fabric), doing basic quilt patterns in paper or cloth, and making butter.

Our most recent Singapore Science Centre magazine shows how to make butter (hope you’re interested ??)… you need: a clean glass bottle with a tight fitting cover, 200 grams of heavy whipped cream, salt (optional), cling film, a spoon.

Pour the cream in the bottle, add 1/4 tsp of salt. Close the bottle and ensure that the lid is secured. Shake the bottle vigorously, watching the liquid get thicker. Pass the bottle to a friend to shake, until you start seeing butter form.

You’ll see a clearer liquid and a yellowish solid. Finally and suddenly the cream will separate into butter and buttermilk. Pour off the buttermilk (and drink it with ground cumin if you are like Indians- a cooling drink) and rinse the butter in cold water. Put the butter into any form that you like (eg yogurt pot.

There is a science-y bit at the end which I can type up if you would like. (sorry for taking too much space if you aren’t interested)

Raihanah

Another nice ‘girl’ series is the American Girl series.

http://www.pleasantcopublications.com/characters/kirsten/kirsten.aspx

They have stories from the different eras with story books of what they went through. For the pioneering days, there is Kirsten and I believe Addy-a slave. Would give a different side of the story. I’ve been thinking along the same ‘themes’ for Hazel. Plus–the dolls would be great (though expensive) gift ideas for birthdays!

We’ve been using homeschoolstore.com a lot recently for project ideas and help.
They have this which may be interesting?

thanks all for such helpful links. Sorry Hannah that you got akismeted [our automatic spam filter – but unfortunately it hides half of the comments, so we can’t always tell.