"The Prairie Primer" is a unit study written to cover the westward movement/pioneer era using Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" series as the spine. Topics covered in this unit study are: Bible, literature, art, science, creative writing, cooking and history. The pluses of this curriculum are:1. The curriculum is extremely affordable. The unit study can be done over a period of one to two years. 2. The study emphsizes character developement from a Biblical perspective. 3. The author has included a section on the study of Native Americans.4. The unit study method works well for all types of learning styles. 5. The unit study method is great for teaching younger children basic library skills. In regard to the older student it reinforces library skills and teaches research skills. The minuses of this curriculum are:1. Several of the books which are required for the curriculum have gone out of print and are no longer available. The parent/older student will need to search for materials to replace those which are gone out of print.2. The description of assignments seems vague.The author gives you an idea, but it is up to the parent/older student to expand on the idea and locate the resources necessary for the student to complete the assignment. Overall I think the concept of studying the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder is a fantastic concept in teaching the pioneer era/westward movement of United States History.
Clearly organized for easy use, Gray makes the lesson planning process simple for busy mothers. If youve tried planning your own unit studies from scratch youll appreciate the effort that goes into choosing appropriate resources, developing activities and conducting research. Grays provision of a general overview to each book (including relevant historical and background information), weekly planning guides that are invaluable in gathering knowledge and material in advance, and the clearly laid out daily lesson plans with scheduled readings, comprehension questions and a plethora enrichment activities are the keys to a simple unit study.While the presentation and organization pull everything together for homeschooling parents, the content is excellent as well. Reading through the Primer provided an additional level of depth and understanding as Gray tied together Ingalls life with historical events, revealed the actual chronological order of the events of the books, and shared additional background information from Ingalls life. The daily activities provide far more options than a typical homeschooling family will be able to accomplish in a single day. Many times lengthy assignments are suggested, involving research, report writing, and presentation a project requiring more than a single days effort. Picking and choosing from the available activities will result in your children learning through a variety of modalities (visual, hands-on, tactile, auditory etc.) while working in a number of subject areas each day.Of particular interest to Christian parents is the integration of applicable Bible passages and scripture memorization suggestions that are tied into the study of the text, enlivening the selected passages. The ease of use paired with Ingalls much beloved series guarantees a delightful educational experience for both you and your children.
This is such a fun book to use. It allows for very little planning time. Just look through a few weeks worth of plans and highlight what you will be using with the kids. It takes about 15 minutes per week. The books it uses for suggested reading are readily available. Or if you are book person like me. I like to purchase the ones I will use and then after we are done it goes into a special Little House box along with all the Little House books. This will be bought out later for the other kids and hopefully one day all the books will be able to be used by the grandkids. It's a great product for multiage groups. Currently I am using it for my 9 and 12 year olds. An absolutely wonderful teaching aide.