This week has been our first of a ten week summer adventure, all about the Little House on the Prairie books:

It is our plan to renovate our play house into Laura’s Little House, T11, as Mr Ingalls, is spending the summer learning all manner of survival skills, whilst the girls, as Mrs Ingalls, Mary, Laura and Carrie, will be learning to sew, cook prairie style and all sorts of other skills which would have been useful for prairie living. We will also be embarking on a journey to discover the chemistry and power of the natural cleaners they used in Laura’s time, with our Spar-Klean science and the children will keep up their writing by maintaining their own blog: A summer of Little House Living.
We have all been kept busy as a family renovating our play house. It has been our primary activity during our first week, and we are nearly finished. Progress so far:







Whilst heaps was going on outside in the play house, much industry was also occurring inside our home. All the children had lots of fun in the kitchen:
T11 made sweet prairie pancakes:

L10 made crispy fried salt pork, mashed potatoes with green beans and a home-made gravy:

C10 decided to make some corn bread:

Whilst A4 and B2 helped me to make prairie pancakes served with crispy bacon and eggs:

Not our most healthiest of weeks, but we had worked hard, so probably burnt it off!
The little ones, in addition to helping with the house, played with their Little House paper dolls:


And A4 made a button string as a toy for B2 who would be playing Carrie all summer:

A4 is also learning to read using McGuffey’s Primer. She is doing so well, and it’s simplicity seems to really suit her:
L10 and C10 made a (slightly lumpy but I’m told very comfortable)
mattress to go on the top floor of the play house which is going to be the sleeping area:

T11, preparing himself for ladder making (which he is a little worried about doing) made some leather twine, turned it into rope and practiced the knots he would be using to make his ladder:
And his pretend dagger he made for practising the knots on:
Last but not least we started to rip up old material to make into a rag rug:

Next week we’ll be finishing off the house, moving the mattress to the upstairs, making hooks and nighties to hang on the hooks, cooking from the Little House cook book and much, much more. We really are having a lovely summer!
Your posts on The Little House series are read, with great interest, by Reese, Jillian, Autumn, and myself. Your summer project is turning out to be a blast for you and your family. Thanks for sharing.
Myra, from Winnipeg, where a cup of tea is helping to prop open my eyes this sunny hot morning.
We are really enjoying it. Thank you so much for following along with us. It really is lovely for the children to be getting comments from your grandchildren on their blog, and I so appreciate the effort you go to Myra. Thank you.
Also A4 asked me if I could telephone her new friend, so they could have a chat!! Seriously, she is a 13 year old in a four year old’s body!
Autumn wanted to invite her over for a sleepover and a pillow fight!!
Myra, from Winnipeg, where it is nearly 1:00 a.m. and I should get some sleep so I can cope with the “darlings” in the morning. I am not an insomniac like you are.
He, he! They are so cute, aren’t they?
What a wonderful start to your summer adventure. I love all of your ideas.
Blessings, Dawn
Thank you. I’d been buying in resources for about 2 or 3 years but the timing was never quite right. It seems to be now though. We’re having a blast!
how fun1 What a great way to share this “period” in time!
Thank you. We’re having great fun so far!
All of your cookie projects look delicious! What a wonderful playhouse! I will be sharing this post.
Thank you!
This is just the coolest idea ever!!! I love the idea of the playhouse into the Little House. What a wonderful Unit Study!!
Thank you so much. We are having a ball! And redoing the play house has got to be the children’s favourite thing!
The house is turning out gorgeous. I still want to steal that.
Steal it as an idea? (in which case go for it!) or as an actual house? I’m thinking postage and packing might be a bit steep to America…just a thought though!
This is an amazing idea – what a wonderful way for your children to really shift into a life on a prairie. Your play house is gorgeous.
Thank you. You’re right, doing this is teaching them so much, with very little ‘schooling’. It has been a huge success, so far!
What an impressive week. So much fun and learning. I love it all.
Thanks Phyllis, it all good so far!
That’s a great idea for a summer unit! I love it!
Thank you!
It is now… As I read this…. 22h20 in lovely freezing South Africa… And all I want RIGHT now are pancakes with berries and yoghurt. 🙂 I am loving these posts! You guys have half the blog-world fired up about your Summer project! Awesome!!
He, he!! Not sure about that, but we are having lots of fun!
WOW , this sounds like a great unit study. The kids just finished listening to the audio book of Little House on the Prairie. I will buy the Farmer Boy next for them to hear at bedtime.
Thank you! They are such great books to do a unit study with.
What a fantastic unit study! This has given me some great inspiration for our fall study!
I’m so pleased Lara. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
It looks like a fun week. I made a rag rug once from old jeans.
We did have a really great week! How long did your rug take to make? Ours seems to be going along very sloooowly!
The painted playhouse looks amazing. I giggled at B2’s “inspection”. C(9) has resolved to paint the inside of ours, now, as well as making curtains!
The mattress looks great – what’s it filled with? (Wondering if you’ve collected that many feathers at the pond?!)
Aha – I see my mattress question is answered on the children’s blog!
It’s getting there. We’re ready to move on to creating now, which I think we will really enjoy!
This is great fun. I especially appreciate all the pictures xxxxxxx
They were put there just for you granny!
Hats off to the kids for all their hard work — clearly motivation is not an issue :)The house looks great!
I’m really blessed because motivation is rarely an issue for anyone or anything (except for maths, L10 hates maths with a passion!). I think I’m so excitable, it must be catching!
That’s a great playhouse and the food looks good. I love that it’s so natural, even if there are some unhealthy parts. We’ve been working on our rag rug for over a year now. I’d love some tips when you get it finished.
Ours is going equally slowly at the moment, so I’ve not got any tips yet!
Looks like a lot of fun! My daughter was into the Little House on the Prairie books a few years ago. We visited the site in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. I bought the cookbook at a second hand store not too long ago, and haven’t tried a recipe yet. After looking at your pictures of delicious food, I’m motivated to give it a try.
It really did taste so much better than we thought it would, especially the fried pork. Really worth giving the recipes a try. Thanks for popping by!
What a FUN unit! I can’t wait to do something similar when my 5 year old starts reading the books =)
I pinned this post. Have a great week,
Beth =)
Thank you so much Beth! And thanks for the pin! ‘See’ you on Friday!
LOVE!! Where did you find the McGuffey primer and the Little House paper dolls? Thanks!
Thanks Amanda. The little house dolls I got from Amazon where you can also get the primer. Or the primer can be down loaded from: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14642
Hope that helps!