Little House on the Prairie Day!

This month we have been enjoying Little House on the Prairie for our home school group.  Gracie has also been working on a report on Sacajawea, so she was able to share the information she has learned with our group.  Dylan did research on the Osage Indians (the kind mentioned in the book) and he shared details on that subject.  Luke decided to talk a little about why wolves howl at the moon, after reading the chapter about wolves.  Last month, all three kids were a little nervous before they spoke, and this time around, they all were so much more relaxed.  I'm so thankful for these opportunities for them to build confidence in their public speaking abilities!

 After each child had their turn speaking to the group, Marilyn took us on a nature walk and we examined the differences between Cottonwood and Sycamore trees.  Marilyn lives in Norco and is surrounded by homes with horses! 

 Once again, my mom came to help me out with Caleb. Caleb always gets excited when she comes to our door, and always wants her to play a game with him.  He told me the other day, "Grammy is my friend!"

 The kids collected different types of branches from the various trees and compared them.

 Marilyn had Dylan show the different types of leaves that we discovered.

 I'm so thankful that Dylan is a good sport about being involved in everything. He's the oldest one of the group, and helps out with the little ones.

 Last week Abby came over and helped us dye macaroni for our patterned Indian necklaces.  I was impressed that even the boys enjoyed this activity.

 We also made Indian headbands.  We really enjoyed getting to spend time with the Medina family. Reuben and Isaac were such a fun addition to our group.

 Sweet Miss Laurie :)

 By the end of the day, Luke's necklace was in pieces and his headband was soaked in sweat. But, he had a great time!

 Winona

 Wade

 I know the Indians in our history books didn't play hockey but our Indians had a great time playing some field hockey!

 Laurie and Abby showed us how to make Indian fry bread.  Abby was very skilled with the rolling pin, and they came out wonderful.  They were so good, warm with honey!

 After lunch, the moms were happily surprised to see the kids organize their own activities.  They wanted to play musical chairs, but didn't have any music.  So, they took turns playing the guitar, beating the hockey stick on the trash can, and playing the drums on the bench.

When it got too warm to play outside, they came in on their own and organized a game of charades in the living room.  I love moments like this, when everyone is getting along, encouraging each other, and just having fun.

Hello Wilbur!

 Thanks to our friend Marilyn, we were able to go to the LA county fair for free again this year with our homeschool group.  The fair has been a tradition in Bill's family for his whole lifetime so it has special memories and meaning for him when we go each year.  This year it seemed like Caleb was noticing everything for the first time.  We enjoyed watching this mama pig with all her piglets.

 I would like to think that Bill is sharing something very educational here with the kiddos, but can't remember what we were even looking at!  I was thankful he could take a few hours off of work to come with us.  We were happy to see that the "Ten Pound Buns" stand was back, but I was very sad to see that my favorite gingerbread house had been torn down :(

 We met up with the McKenzies and the Shorts and enjoyed going through the Kids Educational  building and the dinosaur exhibit.

 Here you can see Luke with a map!  He loves them! Anytime we go to Sea World, he carries one around with him, and it was no different with the fair.  Here he is with Wade Short and Aiden McKenzie.

Here is most of our group except for Caleb, who seems to be at the stage of life in which he insists on never participating in group photos. 

This is now...

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!