Prairie Life Week Eight

Reading:

Read chapters ten and eleven this week from Little House in the Big Woods.

Copywork:

Copy the quote from Laura or use it for narration.

Review:

Chapter ten is called “Summertime”. What did people do during the summertime?

What language did Mrs. Peterson talk to Laura and Mary in?

How would you have divided the cookies for baby Carrie?

Why didn’t Pa play the fiddle in the summertime at night?

How did Pa get honey from the bee tree?

Chapter eleven is about the harvest. Harvesting was hard work. Research the machinery used to replace the steps Pa had to do to bring in the grain. Estimate how much more grain can be harvested by modern machines that Pa could have done in one day.

What did you think of the story about Charley in the field? Sometimes we have to do work we don’t want to help our family. What fairy tale story does this remind you of?

Making Cheese:

Making cheese was an important part of life for the Ingalls family. Just like washing clothes and making butter, cheese was a staple chore in their home for making food. Cheese would keep over many months and help them survive winter. Laura and Mary liked to help Ma make cheese so they could eat the curds. Have you ever made cheese? I found a few videos on making cheese with goats milk. Goats milk cheese is popular in our modern day and many people make it at home.

This video is a step by step tutorial on making Chevre cheese with goats milk.  How to make easy goat Cheve at home.

Becky’s Homestead shares a video of milking goats and starting goat cheese.  How to milk a goat and make cheese.

We visited a goat farm and learned how to milk goats too. Check out our adventures in milking!

Ribbon Books:

Ribbon books are simple journals made with cardstock and copy paper. Laura may have made something similar with scrap papers and fabric. Use your ribbon books to write about your time on the prairie. Glue photos of all the projects you have made and write down your favorite chapters. This will be a wonderful keepsake for future reference. Find directions to make a ribbon book in Prairie Life.

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Some of our book club members show you how to make a ribbon book in the video at the beginning of this lesson.

Dancing or “jigging” as Laura called it, was part of every social event in the pioneering days. Harvest parties, sugaring off gatherings and the holidays were a time to grab your partner and go round and round.

Square dancing was required in most public schools until recently. Learning this traditional dance is fun and the whole family can participate. Enjoy this video of square dancing. TRADITIONAL SQUARE DANCE

Continue working on all the projects from past weeks. Be sure to add your experiences in the comments below. We have one more week of lessons in our book club.