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Here's one for all you Charlotte Mason/Whole Book fans! OK...how many of you LOVE (love, love) the PBS series "Frontier House"? {ME, me, me - pick me!} This is one of my ALL-TIME FAVORITE series EVER. It is BY FAR the BEST of PBS's "Living History" series. And you can either barrow it from your local library OR you can buy it from the PBS website (http://www.pbs.org). My family and I have watched the videos several times and have really enjoyed and learned from them. Many of you know that I am "big" on combining whole learning with unit studies that we write ourselves (I do a workshop on "Creating Your Own Unit Studies" and would be GLAD to speak to your group or convention!), and, like many homeschool famlies we find it a little difficult to get back into what can be the heavy grind of a school day after a lengthy break. So, either at the beginning of our school year or after Christmas Break, we either immerse ourselves in one of our unit studies or in some concentrated whole learning - or a combo of the two. Well, you may have guessed that we are now working on Homestead Living with "Frontier House" as our inspiration! While looking on our library's internet link I discovered that "Frontier House" also has a BOOK about the project. {by Simon Shaw w/Linda Peavy & Ursula Smith.} I immediately ordered it and we are now reading thorugh it. If you are interested - in the least - about homestead living you MUST read this book! Your kids - boys AND girls - will really enjoy it. Not only do they discuss the PBS project (of course) but they interject real facts and stories about real Montana area homesteaders! The stories are many, varied and interesting. They are funny, they are sad and they are tragic and they are inspirational! This is a LARGE, coffee-table-style, 232 page book, so be prapared to spend some TIME in it. Not only will you read stories about real Montana homesteaders, but you will get behind the scene details about how PBS picked the the 3 families who participated out of OVER 5,800 applicants (!), the research behind the hand-made period clothes they wore, interviews, the participants' applications, their training, the supplies they took with them in their family wagons, managing their alotted money, building their log cabins, dealing with injuries and illnesses, managing their food supplies when they could only go to the merchantile (a 10 mile hike over 3 mountain passes) every 4-5 weeks, stresses on their relationships AND growing closer as a family, a real wedding during the project!, the never-ending preparations for the fierce Montana winter, caring for livestock, "parting" with dear animal friends so that you can have dinner...yes, and one family was notorious for cheating (our family always thought they should have been sent home). If you haven't seen "Frontier House" yet, or if it's been quite a while since you've seen it, might I suggest that you not watch it until you finish the book. Cap off the study by watching the 6-part video series. FYI...Two of the consultants, Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith, have also written several other books on homesteading and pioneer life in the West and we have two of them - "Pioneer Women" and "Frontier Children" - on order from our library for further reading. If any of you take my advice and use this book/video series, please let me know how much you enjoyed it! Have fun! Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<>< |
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