Learning from Laura Ingalls, a True Pioneer

Homeschool Unit Studies

Laura Ingalls Wilder

I went to public school and had never read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books. Why? I do not know. Sadly, I don’t even remember being aware of them. It wasn’t until we decided to homeschool our children, as I began to read widely everything that I could find that could help me teach my children, that I discovered the children’s literature that I had missed when I grew up. The Little House series of 9 books was highly recommended, no matter what the source. So we purchased the whole set of paperback books encased in a sturdy, colorful bookcase box.
As I turned to the first page, Lane (7) and Nathan (5) were sitting on either side of me while baby Robert (1) slept nearby. I only hoped that they would be as interested in this “chapter book” with very few pictures as they had been in the many short picture books that we had enjoyed before. There was no need for worry, Little House in the Big Woods proved to capture their interest, and rarely did I end a chapter without their pleading with me to read the next one.

We spent about three or four weeks reading each book. Most of Little House of the Prairie was read during our long car trip to visit their grandparents. Somewhere along the line, we took a detour from the Ingalls family and their pioneer adventures and read Farmer Boy which is about Almonzo Wilder’s (Laura Ingall’s husband to be) childhood on a farm in New York. My little boys loved this book! I was delighted since it taught wonderful character traits and values in a marvelous story. We were amazed at how hard everyone in Almonzo’s family worked. The work ethic of that day was so apparent..and they reaped what they sowed in abundance.

These Little House stories have stuck with my children. The older children were happy when I decided to read through them again because we added a sister and two more brothers to the audience.

Almost everyone has heard of Little House on the Prairie because of the TV show, but the other books including On the Banks of Plum Creek, On the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, These Happy Golden Years, First Four Years and of course, Little House in the Big Woods are equally memorable and satisfied our curiosities as we wondered what would happen next to Laura, Mary, Pa & Ma and all the family and community.

We used Konos Curriculum for 8 years with our children. We needed a unit study approach since we all wanted to work together when possible and our boys were very activity oriented and thrived on such an approach to learning. The Konos unit that uses the Little House books is Resourcefulness-Frontier Life and is in Konos Volume 3.  I never used Prairie Primer, but I have read marvelous reviews on it. If I had it to do over, we probably would have used Prairie Primer. It just looks too good to miss.

Be sure to check for Little House books, Prairie Primer(sometimes not available), and Konos Curriculum bargains on the store pages. If you need these items for homeschool or to supplement traditional school, you are bound to find discount prices on these and other homeschool books that you may need.