Read Aloud - Little House in the Big Woods

 Read in fall of 2024 when my kids were in 2nd, 4th, 7th, and 9th grades.

We started our school year by reading Little House in the Big Woods together, ages 7 - 14. I read this book aloud to all my girls when they were little, but this year I wanted an "easy" book to start off our year while we are getting back to our rhythm. (And one starting high school.) Let me say, it's been such an enjoyable read. After we read or listen to the audiobook, we talk about different aspects of being a family: working together, telling stories, traditions, hardships, taking pride in ownership of what we have, gratitude, etc. They've all been wonderful, rich conversations where we can see traits of a family striving to do their best. Today my older kids talked about the tone of how Laura remembered her childhood. Clearly she didn't have much, but she remembered so much joy and tradition from her upbringing. My independent writers have been writing down memories of their childhood and things they appreciate about their family. Anyways. Just wanted to share that even those "early childhood" books can still have an impact on your older readers and lead to great discussions.