Little House on the Prairie Peg Family

Have you ever seen something on Pinterest and thought ~ I could do that!  Well, I found two cute little Little House on the Prairie peg families (here and here) and decided to make a set since we are reading the Little House on the Prairie books and doing the Prairie Primer.

Emily painted the log cabin (which came from Michaels) and I got busy painting the family.

I still need to find a small peg and paint baby Carrie but, I love the rest of our Ingles family.  I will admit that it took me over 2 hours to paint them due to a little mishap.  I had just finished Pa and set him to the side when I bumped him and he went face first into white paint.

I think they will be a fun addition to our Little House on the Prairie studies!

~Cindy

Our Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 2011-2012

We are actually in our fourth week of homeschooling for the 2011-2012 school year, but I have been such a slacker about posting ~  I figured I should write about our curriculum choices.

Emily is in 3rd grade and Aiden is in doing Preschool (and some Kindergarten). 

Emily ~ 3rd Grade

Emily is using the following daily:

• Teaching Textbooks ~ Math 3
• A Reason for Handwriting Transition
• Daily Geography Practice Grade 3
• Learning Language Arts Through Literature ~ Yellow
• Building Spelling Skills Grade 3

 

In addition we are going to be studying subjects in blocks this year (including grammar and math).

• 2 weeks for drawing ~ we started out our school year doing 2 weeks of form drawing using A Little Flower Garden DVD set.
• 10 weeks Prairie Primer ~ we will reading Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie.  During this time our main focus is going to be on preparing for winter, harvest, different fibers and handiwork. 
• 2 weeks Native Americans/Thanksgiving ~ our focus will be on Indian homes and Thanksgiving preparation.
• 2 weeks telling time and money.  
• 4 weeks (December) cooking/measurement ~ we are going to spend the month focusing on Christmas, baking and measurement (liquids and solids).
• 6 weeks Old Testament Stories ~ we will be using Christopherus Old Testament Stories Manual and Storybook.
• 4 weeks grammar ~ we will be using the World of Language books by Ruth Heller and lesson plans from Serendipity.  During this time we will focus on grammar, sentence structure and cursive writing.
• 3 weeks math ~ focusing on multiplication and division.
• 1 week Easter
• 4 weeks Prairie Primer ~ we will be reading Farmer Boy and focusing on farming and planting.  We are also going to do some building during this time.

Aiden ~ Preschool/Kindergarten

Our focus this year will be Before Five in a Row, along with the amazing Preschool Packs that Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations created. 

In addition to Before Five in a Row we will be using the following:

• All About Reading Level Pre-1
• Language Lessons for Little Ones
• Are You Ready for Kindergarten?
• ABeka Arithmetic K
• A Reason for Handwriting K
• A Child’s Seasonal Treasury ~ which has seasonal poems, crafts and recipes.

We will also be doing circle time together, but I’ll post more about that later.  I’m excited about our year and for once ~ I feel ORGANIZED and READY!!

~Cindy