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| I have to give all the credit of my love for Laura Ingalls Wilder and her books to my sister. She read them first, I read them, and now I get to read them to my kids! I am so blessed to be able to share these stories with our homeschool friends also. We met as a group last week to do activities based on the first book, Little House in the Big Woods. |
We started the day by having Wyatt show us how to use a smoker. Pa smoked meat in a hollow tree in the book. The kids were quiet and interested in how we were going to smoke the salmon we had brought.
We went inside to share drawings and crafts that each child had made based on the book. We were all amazed to see Abby's lap book full of drawing and pictures from the story. There were so many small details that we could all tell it was something she had spent a long time working on.
Every child was also given time to share something special they did over the summer. The kids had been practicing giving their speech at home all week. It was fun to see them be relaxed and actually smile while they talked.
I love Gracie's look on her face! Dylan was a little nervous since public speaking is not his favorite thing in the world. We were all silently cheering him on, and he did a great job. After this, we made butter together the 2011 way, in my food processor! We ate homemade butter on cornbread as a snack before the rest of our activities started.
I'm so thankful to Denise and Delena Grow who gladly volunteered to help the girls make rag dolls like Laura and Mary had in the books. They each got to make a boy and a girl since the boys had other fun things that they were interested in!
In the book, there are several times that animal tracks are mentioned. We practiced making bear, raccoon, pig, and deer tracks in our pretend snow (playdough).
My mom came to help, and as usual, I don't know what I would do without her there to help keep an eye on Caleb!
Caleb and Weston spent a long time at the playdough table making animal tracks, snowmen, snakes, and many other combinations of things.
Marilyn taught the boys how to whittle in a sweet potato and a piece of ivory soap. In the book, Pa whittles a shelf for Ma, and the boys spent a long time making their own designs.
The girls spent most of the morning happily working on their dolls.
The finished dolls!
After the younger kids lost interest in the playdough, Dylan used most of it to make an elephant.
After lunch we let the kids have free play outside or inside. Grammy read books, the girls pretended to be Laura and Mary, Dylan played football with Weston...
Winona and Luke took their turn at the playdough table. Before we knew it, our day was done. We have all agreed to read Little House on the Prairie this month. The kids are excited to think about the fun things we will do to go along with that book. Reading the books as a mom is so different from reading them as a girl. I'm glad I get the chance to see things through Caroline's eyes this time. It gives me a new appreciation for how easy it is to go the store and buy a block of cheese!
My favorite part of the book is the last paragraph:
"She looked at Ma, gently rocking and knitting. She thought to herself, "This is now." She was glad that the cozy house, and Pa and Ma and the fire-light and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago."
How quickly things do become "a long time ago" but it sure doesn't seem that way when you are 3, 7, 9 or 11!
