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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Aug 21 2006 at 7:47pm | IP Logged
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What do you think? Anyone used it for a pre-teen boy?
Any alternate recommendations for a FUN American history unit that is more boy-friendly?
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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TracyQ
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| Posted: Aug 22 2006 at 10:54am | IP Logged
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Theresa,
Everyone seems to think The Prairie Primer is for girls, but it isn't! 
We're going to use the Prairie Primer this year with my 6th grade daugther (and we're SO EXCITED)!  But I used it first with our two boys, when our daughter was only in 1st grade (so the boys were in 6th and 4th grades). She doesn't even remember it, so I'm so glad I have the chance to do this with her this time around, and do more girly things.
But it was SO FUN when the boys and I did it as well! I'll list here from the scope and sequence just some of what's there that boys would like so you can see what you'd be studying................
*There's Bible and Bible Memory (that's gender neutral)
*Crafts- moccasin making, quilting (we used pattern blocks to do some quilt patterns with the boys, but didn't do actual quilting), I added some more boy type of crafts like whittling, and woodworking, etc.
*Health- emergency preparedness, fire safety, first aid sprains and burns, water safety (much is gender neutral)
*History- apprenticeship, banks and bank failures, California Gold Rush, city history, Civil War, Compromise of 1850, Dred Scott Decision, family history, France, geographical terms history of American education, homesteading, impeachment, Indians, John Brown and Harper's Ferry Rebellion, Logging, Louisiana Purchase, Mexican/ American War, Mexico, Minnesota Massacre, Napoleon, Paper production, Pony Express, Postal Service, prairies, Presidents, the Railroad, reconstruction, states and capitals, state history, Supreme Court, territories, Timber Culture Act, U.S. Geography, War of 1812
History (Biographies)- An American Indian, Clara Barton, Frederick Douglass, Thomas Edison, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Samuel Morse, Louis Pasteur, Noah Webster
*Literature- all gender neutral- basic elements of fiction, categorizing works of literature, cause and effect, composition, dictionary, thesaurus, and concordance skills, foreshadowing, homograph, hyperbole, metaphor, oral reports, participation in discussions, poetry, point of view, sequencing, simile, symbolism, understatement, vocabulary
*Language Arts and Literature- art, conservation, cooking (men need to learn to cook too *g*), guns and gun safety (my boys loved this!), manners, music
*Science- bacteria and viruses, communities of living things, density of solutions, distillation, earth’s rotation, earth’s water cycle, electricity, energy and fuels, food preservation, food chain, heat transfer, light and prisms, moon and sun, pollination, potential and kinetic energy, properties of fire, rust, simple machines, sound waves, states of matter, telegraph, trees, underground water tube, water purification, weather
*Science – (animal kingdom)- animal classification, animal tracks, badgers, bears, beavers, bees, birds, butterflies, chickens, cows, fish, grasshoppers, horses and mules, leeches (ick), mosquitoes, muskrats, owls, panthers, pigs, snakes, wolves (we added animals to make an animal book)
Science- (human body)- blood, digestive system, ear, eyes and eyesight, genetics, heart and vascular system, immune system, lungs and breathing, nervous system, reproduction, skin, taste
This is SO easy to add, broaden, or change anything to as well. For instance, this year, I’m going to add in a horses unit study for Sarah (because it’s one of her interests), and it’ll fit in nice, plus broaden the *quilting* by doing a history of quilts as well, bringing it into the Underground Railroad, and how they were used, etc.
We’re also going to add to the science by broadening the weather unit to a bigger unit on *weather and the seasons*, and broaden the prairie unit, broadening it to a bigger unit on *ecosystems/biomes* (prairie, tundra, rainforest, grassland, etc.).
I remember my boys really loving the learning we did about the Indians (a lot of it), and all of the gun stuff, etc. They liked studying Conestoga Wagons, etc. We read a biography of Louis Pasteur, and they loved that too. And the animal tracking and animal studies were great too with the boys.
The Westward Expansion is a huge time period, with many manly men. Pa Ingalls was quite the studly man! 
Anyway, I just didn’t want you to think it was just for girls because Laura Ingalls Wilder was the author, or that they had only girls in the house. There’s plenty of (more than enough) learning there for boys as well, and much that both girls and boys would love!
Hope this helps some.
Tracy
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
 homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Aug 22 2006 at 12:30pm | IP Logged
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Thanks so much, Tracy! That is exactly the kind of input I was hoping to get! I was thinking this might be something we could do all together (K girl, 6th boy) in the second half of the year. From what I understand it is written to be used over an entire year. What is your impression of compressing or editing to make it doable in a semester? We already have enough with our "Sail Away" and "Around the World" units to keep us busy for the first half of the year at least! But I thought it might be nice for the last half of the year to have somthing I didn't have to design myself, kwim?
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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TracyQ
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| Posted: Aug 22 2006 at 2:04pm | IP Logged
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Theresa,
This is written to use with the 9 book Little House on the Prairie series, using one book per month for the study.
Margie Gray has put SO MUCH in there, probably an average of 12 things per day to do (or choose from). You can't possibly do all of them in a day! It's a huge variety, with too much for a year as it is. However, it's not meant for you to do everything she suggests, but to pick what is necessary to their education.
You could try to squish it in a half a year, and do two books per month, I'm not sure how much work in a day you're accustomed to doing. But I do think you might be sorry that you are missing out on doing some of the wonderful things you'd have to miss out on.
I'm just wondering how I'm going to fit it in in one year's time! 
But you know what your children need, and what you're capable of doing, and if you're a good decision maker, not feeling badly leaving things out that you might like to do, then go for it! 
I hope this has helped some anyway.
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Aug 22 2006 at 4:21pm | IP Logged
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Very helpful, thanks!
I have heard that there is ALOT of activites and suggestions in it. More than enough. But I also know my son well enough to know that he won't want to do ANYTHING more than a few weeks at a time. He thrives on variety (like his daddy!)I do not have a problem with taking what we need and leaving the rest, so I think that will be fine for us. Great to have a wide variety of activities to choose from!
One other question, if you don't mind.
The only other resources I "need" are the little house books, and a couple of others like the cookbook and LIW Country, etc. Where does all of the info on the historical topics, science, etc come from? Is it in the Primer or is the Primer just suggestions like "find a book on Lewis and Clark and map their route" or "research Native American tribes and write a one page report on one of them" kind of things?
ACK! I wish I could get my hands on it ahead of time to look through it myself!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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TracyQ
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| Posted: Aug 22 2006 at 5:42pm | IP Logged
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Well then, it sounds like a perfect fit for you!
At the beginning of each unit, there is a summary of that time period for your help, but mostly, when there's information, it's a find a book in the library, then study it type of thing (or internet, or book at home, etc.). I like that she will do some research with me though, as she needs to begin to learn how to do that.
You'll find a TON in your library. There's so much LH stuff in my library that we'll have more than enough!
Prairie Primer is a mix of hands on activities, discussion, and reports, and research, etc.
You can look inside the book a bit here:
Cadron Creek Publishing
You can also read FAQs, and there's a drop down menu to help you see some more there. In fact, the topics covered if I'd just sent you here before, would have saved me a TON of time in typing today!
You can get a REALLY good idea of how the Prairie Primer is laid out here at that site above.
Here's another look:
Christian Books
I hope this helps, Theresa.
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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time4tea
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How old do you think a dc can be before Prairie Primer would not be challenging enough? Would it span, for example, up through the 8th grade?
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~Tea
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TracyQ
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Tea,
This book is written for grades 3-6 in general, but on the website it says:
This award-winning curriculum has been utilized by government, private, and home schools for both regular academic programs and as a summer supplemental course. Although developed for students in grades 3–6, it has been used successfully with younger as well as older students.
It would really be easy to tailor it to older students, and I'd say through 8th grade for sure. It would be very easy to add higher level read alouds to add on or independent reading for an older student. You could add activities and projects too at a higher level very easily.
Hope this helps.
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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JennyMaine
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| Posted: Aug 26 2006 at 3:04pm | IP Logged
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Tracy:
Now, do you go through the work of adding in specifically Catholic people & happenings for this time period?
After tossing about on various waves, I'm really seeing a need to return to unit studies for my daughter. But there are no Catholic unit studies. So, it's back to tweaking them. She's always wanted to do PP and I'm tempted!
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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TracyQ
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| Posted: Aug 27 2006 at 8:56am | IP Logged
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Jenny,
I haven't really thought too much about it yet, other than that I'll do that as I go along, but I haven't physically sat down to plan bringing the Catholic faith in yet. That doesn't mean that I won't though. I definitely will. I thought of using Our Pioneers and Patriots as a resource to do that, and I also have a few other things I can use.
It shouldn't be too difficult to do. But there's so much as far as character and values in the books themselves, that we'll definitely be using that aspect of the books. If I do a bit more real planning with the faith, bringing it in, I'll post here. Thanks for bringing this up.
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Prairie Primer: Too Girly?
