Homeschooling with The Peaceful Press is meant to be life giving for parents and children. We offer lesson plans that provide a framework, but that don’t overburden families, so that you and your children can chase the spark of ideas and imagination together.
Below you will find one day of lessons from a week of The Playful Pioneers, our Little House on the Prairie inspired American History resource.
Take a break from your regular homeschool program to observe your children as you provide a framework of literature based activities, while also offering some free time for them to develop interest led learning.
Each Peaceful Press elementary resource starts with morning time. This is a special hour spent on community learning activities.
This is where we read scripture, sing, read from literature, and while we are reading the children work on their student sheets. When we finish reading a section, we also ask our children to tell back what we read, or write a sentence or a paragraph about what we read. This takes care of reading comprehension and compostion for the morning.
A typical Playful Pioneers day might include:
Morning Time
Bible Time
Sing a favorite hymn or chorus
Read the Jesus Storybook Bible pgs. 222-227
Review Memory Verses
Pray
Read Aloud
Read Chapter 3 of By The Shores of Silver Lake By Laura Ingalls Wilder “Riding in The Cars” (Find it on Youtube here).
Language Arts
Illustrated Copywork “Locomotive”
Ask your child to narrate the chapter
Point out that Laura was describing things for Mary who could not see. Act out that part of the story and take turns describing your surrounding for each other.
During morning time we might also read a history or science picture book (these are also available as Youtube read alouds). Then we move onto more active learning such as science experiments
Science/History
Read Locomotive by Brian Floca.
Boil a kettle of water and point out the steam to your children. Early locomotives were powered by steam
Add a train drawing to your notebook, along with notes about steam propulsion.
Break/Active Play
After a short break, you will continue with core subjects such as math, phonics, spelling or handwriting.
Math
1 Math Lesson (you can choose your own math program, but we love Right Start Math)
Phonics/Spelling/Handwriting
(we recommend All About Reading for emerging readers)
Dictate New Spelling Words
Review Sight Words
Free Reading
20-60 Minutes a Day (check out this post for history based readers)
Practical Skills/Art
After lunch there is usually a short art or practical life skill activiity such as weaving, baking, looking at art, or painting.
Picture Study- look at “Railway Carriages” by Vincent Van Gogh
Ask your child to describe the picture
Make your own copy with watercolor paints
When you have finished with a simple day of lessons with The Peaceful Press, take a few minutes to observe your children, and take note of the ways that they continue engaging with the content in their free time. Learning to observe your child can help you see how much they have actually absorbed.
Would you like to try a free week of The Playful Pioneers? You can download a free sample and enjoy!
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