LIW= Laura Ingalls Wilder

[heket]

Ok, so the Little House series is popular with homeschooling groups. What I want to know is 2 things. Is it also popular with unschoolers (i could see why it would be)? And if so, is it popular because in a sense that the Ingalls children were unschoolers in those early years? Thoughts?

[SagMom]

Originally Posted by heket

Ok, so the Little House series is popular with homeschooling groups. What I want to know is 2 things. Is it also popular with unschoolers (i could see why it would be)? And if so, is it popular because in a sense that the Ingalls children were unschoolers in those early years? Thoughts?

:

I went to school and I liked those books. (I'd still love to live in a little house in the big woods!) But all three of my unschooled kids declared them "boring." Then again, they laughed at my Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books and rolled their eyes at Dick and Jane--I just figured it was a generational thing.

[Ruthla]

I absolutely loved the Little House books as a child. DD2 has read the series but wasn't impressed by them. She devoured the series the way she devours all kinds of books, and quickly moved on to other reading material. DD1 read one of them (or maybe only part of one of them?) and grew bored before completing the series.

I could see them getting involved in a whole Pioneer activity/unit study kind of thing, practicing traditional food preparations, clothing making, etc, and using the Little House books as one of many resources, but they're just not "into" the characters the way I was.

[LoMaH]

Originally Posted by SagMom

:
I went to school and I liked those books. (I'd still love to live in a little house in the big woods!)

.. with Ma and Pa and Mary.

I have the books and my kids haven't shown an interest in them....... yet?

[Aeress]

My dd got into the first book. It took almost a month to finish- she wasn't interested everyday. In general, she is interested in that time period and likes to pretend she is cooking in a fireplace, making quilts etc.

I think most families were fairly unschooly for many generations due to lack of formalized education, the need for help at home and ability to travel.

Having to make do and do for yourself are always great skills to learn.

[Arduinna]

I shared them with dd because I loved them as a child. No other reason really.

[zinemama]

Not a HS'er, but my boys love these books. For them, the appeal is the strong characters, good stories, and learning about how folks did stuff back in the day. (Grinding wheat in a coffee mill to survive seven months of blizzards!) That's why I liked them as a kid.

[majikfaerie]

i might be weird here, but i never read them as a child, and never saw the tv show either.
and now i live in a really little house in some really big woods :

[UUMom]

I give Ma Ingalls like tons of credit for not offing all of them during The Long Winter.

That has to be the most depressing book, evah.

Although, ok, my fav book as a 3rd grader was Little House in The Big Woods. I love that one most of all.

[Linda on the move]

I liked them as a child, but my DDs hate them. They find the sexism and racism offensive, and religious and child rearing practices bizzare.

The chapter describing how they spent their sundays really freaked my kids out.

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by UUMom

I give Ma Ingalls like tons of credit for not offing all of them during The Long Winter.

[zinemama]

Heh. The Long Winter was always my absolute favorite of the series. I liked stories about tribulations.

[Rivka5]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move

I liked them as a child, but my DDs hate them. They find the sexism and racism offensive, and religious and child rearing practices bizzare.

The chapter describing how they spent their sundays really freaked my kids out.

We just took our 3.5-year-old to Colonial Williamsburg, and when we visited the Presbyterian meetinghouse I reminded her about the "Sundays" chapter in Little House in the Big Woods. She insisted that we spend some time sitting quietly on the benches without talking, moving, or smiling. Maybe five minutes - which is a very long time to a three-year-old! For some strange reason she was really into it.

At home, of course, waiting the 15 minutes or so before children are released from "big church" to Sunday School is absolutely INTOLERABLE.

[KaraBoo]

I never got into those books. (Now, Little Women, I loved as a kid but hate as an adult) DD has some of the picture books but she's not really into LIW stuff.

[nathansmum]

I never read these as a child so I wanted to read them to my ds for my own interest too.

We've got through the first 4 books and he's interested when we get into them but it is slow going coz he's not really captured by it but does enjoy it. The books have also led on to activities and things he's wanted to do but not in a big way.

[annakiss]

I won't read them because of the sexism and racism. It's not what I want to normalize for my children. Children's literature has enough as it is that we can contend with.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by annakiss

I won't read them because of the sexism and racism. It's not what I want to normalize for my children.

yes, we've found that more recently written books often are more in line with our values than the "classics."

[folkymom]

In addition to the sexism and racism is the ageism and violence against children which is so normalized. We've had a lot of family issues with some of the "classics," hitting kids with switches, etc. It can be a historical learning opportunity for older kids, but I hate the idea of normalizing that stuff in the minds of littler ones.

As for the OP, my daughter (the only reader among the kids) never got into LH, although she has them all in her collection and reads like a maniac for about 4-5 hours a day, lol.

[Aeress]

My dd never normalized it- in fact, she said how sad they got hit etc. We have had many discussions based on the books. Bella likes Laura's spunk and curiosity.

[MamaMonica]

I loved the books and so did dd. What I loved about them was her descriptions of the prairie, the way the sky looked, the light coming in between the boards of the house pa was building. This was her life... there is racism and sexism in the books, so I talked about that with the kids.

I read them over and over and so did dd-- we even went to see some of the LIW homesteads.