Lois Lenski has quickly become our new favorite children’s author. If you enjoy reading Little House on the Prairie series, you will absolutely love these. She has an entire historical series of novels that are great to read when studying history with children.
I really like the gentle approach to schooling throughout the summer by incorporating a literature study into the season. Since we are studying U.S. History this year, I got all giddy once I found these treasured books!
I fell in love with this book because of the rich history depicted and the spiritual content woven throughout. After reading the Little House books, I think that this book has much more upfront spiritual content. You can read the book summary here.
We followed these sites and literature study resources:
- Central Florida Memory site {Loved this one!}
- As We Walk Along The Road
We also began working on this free strawberry lapbook. Peanut didn’t finish it, but it was up to her to decide how much of it she wanted to do.
I pulled together all of the resources that I had found and created this Pinterest board. Thank goodness for others who have already created such wonderful educational resources!
Library Book Topics
- Florida fact books
- Florida geography books
- How strawberries are grown
- How oranges are grown
- How peanuts are grown
- Books on sugar caning
- Florida wildlife
- Alligators and other reptiles
- Subtropical plants and flowers
- The Everglades
- Manatees
- Insects
- Bird species
- Fish species
- Sea life
The boys are in love with crocodiles and turtles, so they really enjoyed learning about the Everglades.
YouTube Videos
- How to Draw a Strawberry
- How to Draw Strawberry Shortcake
- How to Draw a Manatee
- How to Draw an Alligator-Advanced
- How Orange Juice is Made
- Florida Strawberries
- How Do Strawberries Grow?
- Florida’s Strawberry Festival
- Robotic Strawberry Harvester
- State of Florida Facts
- Curious Kids: The Everglades
- Pioneer Florida
- Curious Kids: History of Southwest Florida
- USA: Alligators| Are We There Yet?
We’ve really enjoyed Nat Geo: Are We There Yet? and Curious Kids.
Other Ideas
- Eat strawberries
- Learn how to draw items found in Strawberry Girl
- Try a strawberry recipe
- Learn about Airboats on the Everglades
- Eat strawberry ice cream
- Grow your own strawberries
- Visit and harvest strawberries from a farm
Furleigh Farm is usually where we go to harvest strawberries. We look forward to going each summer. We also grew a small strawberry patch in our garden this year. Peanut was in charge of tending to it. I think that she successfully harvested a whopping 4 strawberries!
If you are looking to do a literature study next summer, consider this book. Not only did it tie in well with the season of summer, but the rich history and spiritual content made it a top 5 book in our house. Be sure to check out Strawberry Girl and other Lois Lenski books as you study and read along with your children.
We are planning to read Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison next!
The Hen House 