The Ingalls family traveled all the way from the big woods of Wisconsin to a homestead near Independence, Kansas.
We have gotten to one of my favorite parts of the book, which is when Pa builds their log cabin.
Undoubtedly at this point in the book after seeing the above picture, one of the kids makes a connection about Lincoln Logs.
I pulled out the Lincoln Logs from our storage room and the kids started building and exploring.
Here is a picture of the re-creation of Little House on the Prairie in Kansas, near Independence.
Next, I introduced them to a movie about a man named Dick Proenneke.
He was a man who decided to test himself to see if he could live off the land, all alone in Alaska. He built a cabin from scratch, using only hand tools--he brought the steel parts of the tools, but even built the handles of the tools with local wood. We learned that he was a mathematician when he measured and constructed the cabin, as well as a writer because he recorded his life and experiences in journals.
Today we got to see him building his cabin in the documentary Alone in the Wilderness.
The kids were in awe as we watched him chop and saw, carry tree trunks, construct his log cabin, build a fireplace, make furniture...just like Pa in Little House on the Prairie!
To learn more about Dick Proenneke and his adventures in the Alaskan Wilderness:
or watch this youtube video below:
Do you think you could do something like Dick Proenneke?
