We are new to homeschooling. This has been just what we needed.
I cannot even begin to describe how wonderful this curriculum is! My family teamed up with one other family to do all the weekly hands-on projects and also to encourage imaginative play with pioneer costumes. We have loved every aspect of this curriculum! We literally cannot wait to do school each morning!! Thank you for creating a resource that not only makes learning so much fun, but is also giving my family so many beautiful memories together that we'll be sure to treasure all of our lives!!
Here are some fun extra ideas to further enrich a year of Playful Pioneers:
- find another family or two to do the study together and make it a mini co-op!
- take photos of your kids doing all the hands-on projects and recipes and then make a homeschool "year book" at the end of the year
- buy time period costumes for your kids to encourage historical play (i.e. pioneers, colonial dresses, George Washington, pilgrims, cowboys, etc).
- pick up some old tin cups/plates from a thrift store to serve your "pioneer food" on. A bowl with a ladle to dip water out of is a great activity for kids of all ages.
- convert a regular kid wagon into a "covered wagon" by adding some hoops (hula hoops) and a white bed sheet for the canopy. Add a few stick ponies and "saw horses" and a rope for the cowboys!
- plan a cattle drive day! Cook food over a campfire, song some cowboy songs, set up a chuck wagon, try to learn harmonica.
- learn about "branding" cattle and design your own personal "brands". Then wood burn them into a keepsake.
- embroider little fabric squares with different things you learn during your school year, and then create a doll quilt out of the squares. (i.e. betsy ross flag, alphabet sampler, cattle ranch brand, name & school year, etc)
- check out extra books from the public library on whatever topic you're studying
- create a "history notebook" for older students to record their insights and what they learned from all the readings.
- try watercolor painting the weekly art prints as a way of studying them
- put on a skit or play of a favorite history lesson (i.e. the pilgrims and the first thanksgiving)
- the Little House books can be purchased as audiobooks, which make it convenient to not fall behind on readings while driving around town on busy days
❤️😊❤️ We love Playful Pioneers!!
I bought the preschool seasons guide and have really enjoyed it. There are so many activities (too much for us) but that isn’t a bad thing. I can pick and choose what will work best for us. I like that a lot of nature in incorporated into the projects and activities. A few cons for me was the bible verses chosen sometimes were kind of tough for my four year old and I didn’t always get how the song chosen to help memorize actually went with the verse chosen. I also thought some of the phonics was a bit advanced for preschool . I loved that there were lots of visuals and we would actually water color some of the plain white pages to make them a more fun to look at. Some of the book choices for the different seasons were phenomenal! Ones I hadn’t seen before and were really great. Overall a great curriculum.