Reflections of a Prairie Summer Homeschool

In this post I thought I would write about our reflections of a prairie summer homeschool.

The children have had a marvellous summer learning many new skills — from 1800s cooking to hand sewing, from woodwork to knot making, and even doing the laundry 1800s style. It has been great fun for all of us, and now that it has come to an end we find ourselves feeling a little sad that it’s over.

Over the past weeks we have been immersed in our Prairie Living project, bringing history to life through practical, hands-on learning. The children worked hard creating items for the little house, learning traditional skills, and spending hours playing and imagining life on the prairie.

Before we closed this chapter, I asked the children to sum up how they felt about their summer of Prairie Living. Their responses were thoughtful, honest, and quite heartwarming.

Here are their reflections in their own words.

Reflections of a Prairie Summer Homeschool:The Children’s Reflections

L10:
“Wonderful, real learning, best summer ever, cooking-new experiences of 1800s cooking. painting. so much fun. I’ve never experienced anything like it before. Inside the little house was very hot in summer. I would have liked to have done daily cooking as I feel there was a lot more to learn, and also I prefer to be busy and therefore would have liked the activities to have continued right up to the end rather than slowing down towards the end.”

C10:
“Amazing! I really enjoyed this summer, although I didn’t enjoy the painting of the house after the first coat! My favourite part was watching the costumes flourish and come to life. So fun making all the items for the house. Best summer I’ve ever had! Thank you mummy! I really enjoyed learning how to hand sew properly, hopefully it will be the sewing machine next! It was the perfect summer for me, primarily because we were learning so many skills.”

T11:
“I really enjoyed the whole summer. In particular I enjoyed learning the survival skills and hands on aspect. There was definitely too much painting! Bit samey. I feel like I’ve come away from the summer with more skills. Would have preferred to have kept up the momentum towards the end, as I like to be fully occupied and have busy days. In general this was a very successful summer, far better than last summer.”

A5:
“I enjoyed playing in the finished little house the most, all dressed up!”

B2:
“My mummy!” (said cuddling my leg.)

What Worked Well This Summer

Looking back, there were several aspects of this project that worked beautifully.

Themed-Based Learning

Having a strong theme, Prairie Living, tied everything together. Every activity, skill, and project related back to the same historical setting, which made learning feel cohesive and purposeful.

Skill-Based Learning

The children loved learning practical skills. Cooking over a simple stove, sewing by hand, woodworking, knot tying, these kinds of experiences felt meaningful and exciting.

Book-Based Learning

Our reading helped deepen their understanding of the time period. Stories brought the prairie world to life and inspired much of their imaginative play.

Keeping Busy

The children thrive when they are busy and engaged. Having a full schedule of projects, skills, and activities meant there was rarely a dull moment.

Learning Together

Perhaps the most important part was being involved alongside them, teaching skills, guiding projects, and watching their excitement grow as they created things for the little house.

At the same time, they had plenty of opportunity for free play, enjoying the fruits of their hard work in the environment they had helped create.

A Clear Beginning and End

Having a defined start and finish helped the project feel complete. The celebratory party at the end marked the conclusion of our Prairie Living adventure perfectly.

(Although I may have a few future ideas quietly brewing…)

Variety of Activities

Because we did such a wide range of activities, boredom simply never had a chance to set in.

Daddy’s Involvement

Having Daddy involved throughout the project was wonderful, especially for T11. It added another dimension to the experience and made the project feel like a true family effort.

What Didn’t Work Quite So Well

Not everything went entirely to plan, and that’s part of the learning process too.

The Children’s Blog

I was very excited about the idea of the children keeping a blog throughout the summer.

Initially, they enjoyed the novelty of it and kept it updated regularly. But eventually they discovered something important: writing a blog still involves… writing.

Typing also takes longer than writing by hand, and before long I began hearing things like:

“Mummy, where is the apostrophe again?”

They did brilliantly to keep it going until week seven, but after that it quietly faded away.

Because this summer was meant to be a fun learning experiment, I had already decided I wouldn’t push them if their interest waned. I wanted to be Mummy rather than teacher for once.

Limited Opportunities to See Friends

We only have one car, which Gary uses for work. While we are fortunate to have good public transport nearby, travelling with five children, one of whom can be somewhat unpredictable, is not always practical.

As a result, the children didn’t have as many opportunities to meet up with friends as they might normally during the school year.

During term time they attend various clubs, but most of these stop running during the summer.

For most of the summer this wasn’t an issue because the children were so busy. However, in the final couple of weeks a few of them mentioned missing their friends.

Next summer I will need to plan more regular social opportunities, perhaps inviting friends over or arranging outings a couple of times each week.

School Planning Took Me Away

Towards the end of the ten weeks I had to begin planning for the upcoming 2012–2013 school year.

This work is essential, but it inevitably meant spending more time at my desk and less time involved in the Prairie Living project.

The children entertained themselves happily for the most part, especially playing in the little house. Still, I could sense some restlessness in the final week.

The difficulty is that the planning must be done, and I already take advantage of my insomnia by working until 2am most nights.

So finding extra hours in the evening simply isn’t possible.

If anyone has brilliant solutions to this particular juggling act, I would love to hear them!

Reflections of a Prairie Summer Homeschool: Final Thoughts

All in all, our Prairie Living summer was a huge success, one I suspect will be very difficult to surpass.

The children learned new skills, built confidence, and created something together that they could enjoy throughout the entire summer.

I do have a couple of ideas simmering away for future projects…

Unfortunately, both would require a second mortgage to do properly.

So perhaps it’s back to the drawing board for now.

But what a wonderful summer it has been.