Prairie Tuesdays
Written by admin on May 19th, 2009I had an idea today that I’m excited about! I’m calling it Prairie Tuesdays. Every Tuesday — for awhile, Michaela and I are going to dress in our very best prairie clothes and live like in the “old days.”
Well, “prairie clothes” may end up being something just a bit more old-fashioned than usual, and “old days” may end up being a meal by candlelight and an old recipe for supper. Still, I want Tuesdays to be prairie days.
I chose to call this endeavor Prairie Tuesday because I’ve been reading to Michaela from the Little House
Having plenty of bonnets and aprons will be no problem because my mother makes them!
A little bonnet my mother made for me.
Some of the ideas I have had for Prairie Tuesdays are:
- rising early to do “farm chores” (think garden and bunnies)
- writing letters to our imaginary cousins who moved west and telling them how things are going back here on the farm (I wondered if any of our pen pals would want to participate)
- writing letters from the Wild West to our imaginary cousins back home on the farm
- reading first-hand letters and stories from the 1800s. In fact, I know one of our first choices will be “A Letter From A Pioneer” in our book Real Life Stories and Literary Selections
- baking bread
- making a craft
- sewing
- hanging laundry on the line
- our school journal entries on Tuesdays will be all about old-time living or something pioneer we are studying
- studying 1800s history and people
- listening to music from the 1800s
- old-time arithmetic (I know I have some old school books around the house)
- nothing electronic, i.e. games, computer, movies
- visits to local antique stores and historic sites
I know my time could be limited as far as Princess of the Universe being willing to dress in “prairie” clothes, but maybe not. After all, I’m still doing stuff like this and I’m way past the 10-year mark. 
I’ll be going through my home library tonight to begin getting books together. I know I have plenty of good things on our shelves. I just need to go through and mark them and make notes.
Maybe you are wondering what made me think this up?
Well, I’ll tell you anyway.
Today Michaela and I took the ladder outside and picked mulberries. It was so much fun and it just felt so clean and old-fashioned compared to CD ROMs, DVDs, being cooped up inside, etc. I thought how fun it would be to dress the part and spend the day doing old-fashioned things. An idea was born.
In other news…
Around the garden, there is a shift from early spring to summer-coming-on, even though the last couple of nights have been chilly. The day lilies are getting taller.
The yarrow, or soldier wort, is blooming.
I have a “gold flame” Spirea that’s in bloom.
The Doll House…
On a final, fun note, the dolls received gifts last week! You simply must visit the doll house.
Happy Prairie Tuesday!
Lynn
for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
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What a fun idea! If you are interested in doing some reenacting as part of your Tuesdays let us know. Joshua asked me tonight if we could just be reenactors at our house and act in the backyard. I said sure. Neighbors might think we are crazy – but they may think that already. lol
You are a fun mom!
Love
Leslie
20
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Allie and I did something like this when we read “The Long Winter”.
We did it for a week and it just happen to be an actual long winter with lots of snow.
We ate baked potatoes everyday for lunch as they did in the book. Wrote on a slate board, made
bees waxed candles and ate by candle light at dinner. Allie did chores like stacking firewood, sewing on buttons and washing laundry by hand with a washboard.
I think the best part was the evenings when the whole family came together; we would linger after dinner by the word stove and entertain ourselves with hand shadows on wall.
Enjoy your Prairie Tuesday, I envy you….
Louise
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Your daughter is so blessed to have you as a mother. This is a great idea. I think I might try to do something like this with my Abbie.
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Leslie, I would love to! I left you a couple of comments on your blog. I love your workbox ideas.
Louise, those are fantastic ideas!! Thank you so much for sharing them.
Thanks, MamaHen. (I love typing your name.)
I think it’ll be fun. I want it to be casual and fun and a real learning experience. I’m also trying to help her create some good habits from this!
Lynn
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Great idea Lynn!
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Your pictures are always so pretty : )
I updated my site for the first time in MONTHS! :p
–Vikki
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Dear Lynn,
What a fantastic idea! Of course, we try to live old-fashioned every day, but actually having a PLAN to it would be different!
The Little House books are so inspiring; I know that a seed was planted when I read them at a young age. I didn’t know someone nowadays someone could live like that, though, till I discovered Tasha Tudor. That was a life-changing event for me.
I think I know a few pen pals that would love to play “Pioneer cousins”~~~
We’re getting excited (And some of us are calculating the estimated time of arrival)about the package coming!
Love,
Marqueta
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Thanks, Jen. I enjoyed checking out your blog this morning.
Thank, Vikki. I will be over in moments! Have fun fishing today!
Marqueta, I know you love to live an old-fashioned life. I love that about you, and it appeals greatly to me as well. You inspire me to try harder. The package did go out this morning. I hope it arrives safe and sound!
Lynn
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oh lynn.. what a fun idea! we have been reading the little house books this year as well.. in fact we are almost done with little town on the prairie and only have these happy golden years after that.
i know just what you mean about being inspired by reading how they did things back then. i found farmer boy to be especially so. what an incredibly prosperous and self sustaining farm they had!
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Feel free to write to me since I live in the wild west now! I would write back! Have fun on Prairie Tuesdays!
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oh Lynn, how fun!
Can anyone join in on Prairie Tuesdays? My family has been trying little by little, to do as much as we can without depending on electricity and such. except for the computer
I think I will join you on Tuesday’s. I can’t wait to see it next week!
blessings,
lady m
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Diane, I read the whole series when I was young. I am enjoying so much re-reading them. Michaela and I have not gotten to Farmer Boy yet. I can’t wait!
Jessamy, you are on our list of wild west cousins! Expect a letter soon.
LadyM, I would love to have you (and anyone interested) to join us! I think it’s going to be so much fun. As I mentioned before, I’m hoping to cultivate some lady-like habits as we go and I’m hoping that some of this old-fashioned stuff will spill over into other days.
Lynn
3
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my daughter and i are both intrigued with this idea. She is 7 and i am hoping not too young to grasp it. Do you have any good pointers for another homeschool mom…we don’t have aprons or bonnets but want to make some attempt…
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Leslie, I don’t think she’s too young if she’s interested. In fact, I wish I had started younger with Michaela. I would just do fun stuff. So many things come to mind. Nature walks. Working with dough to make biscuits. Paperdolls cut from package paper (was that Little House) and then decorated with crayons. You seem so great with sewing, maybe make an apron from old clothes or something as a lesson in hand-me-downs or reusing. A little garden to grow your own food. Radishes are one of the best for this. They grow quickly and are fun to harvest. Putting hair in rag curls. Doing lessons on a little blackboard. I can’t wait to hear what you do!
Lynn
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thanks so much…you have encouraged me not to over think it, which i tend to do. I love all those ideas. We have been reading chapter books together and will be starting Caddie Woodlawn this week just to get a mindset. I hope i can make this happen. I suspect that i will be back here often checking in for more great ideas.
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Oh, good! I worried about just throwing thoughts out there, but I think simple is best. After graduating two, I know that simple has always worked best for us. There are Caddie Woodlawn paperdolls on line that we enjoyed.
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/kids/dolls/caddie/index.htm
Lynn
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this is great….i am now sharing all this with my sister. She and her daughter are thinking about doing this as well.