Portraits of American Girlhood OR Prairie Primer?

[Ann in IA]

I know this has been discussed on the old boards but I thought it would be good to discuss again to get it in the system here for future reference.

I love what I've read and reviewed for both unit studies. I'm going to do one of them this summer (and take it into the fall if needed) as a fun alternative to our "typical" lessons we do now.

This will be primarily with my almost 7 yr old DD and my 9 yr old son will follow along. I know my DD is a bit young for the target age but she loves both series and we've been reading them aloud for the last year. My son really likes the Little House books as well.

Is one of these a little easier to implement than the other?

How long did it take you to complete each one? Did you do it a certain # of days each week or just jump right in and do only this for a few months?

Would I be better off to hold off on the Amer Girls for another year so my DD could get more of the history meaning out of it? That's what I was thinking but thought I'd ask here.

Thanks for your thoughts.
Ann

[Tina in WA]

I haven't seen AG, but I have seen (and own) Prairie Primer. My kids (boy and girl) took a PP class at co-op. My dd was 7 (at the time) and LOVED it as much as my son (7-8) loved this class.

The PP book is planned out for you to use each week. You can always cut down on things if needed. Do you know that PP is a year long curriculum? You could make it shorter by picking out a book or two to do and save the other books for another time.

BTW, my children enjoyed listening to the books on audio. We did this a lot while we were driving around. :D

Sounds like a great summer study!

~Tina

PS: our last year's summer study was Time Travelers Colonial Life (http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/TTS/ColonialLife.htm). The kids had a blast!

[Dayle in Guatemala]

when my dds were about 8 and 10. We had such a great time with it and loved the lessons. It was easy to do and not a lot of prep time for me.

If you are doing it with your ds, I would maybe do Prairie Primer first since he's already familiar with the books and likes them. American Girl is great, my ds doesn't mind them, but, it might work better including him in Prairie Primer.

[momtomygirls]

This is an old thread. I am considering using one of these and was wanting some more feedback on them and which people prefer.