Little (Minecraft) House on the Prairie

Tuna loves to learn. In January, when I brought her home from school, she hated school and had no motivation to learn anything. This is no longer the case. My goal of instilling the love of learning and discovery has been met and surpassed. 

I am happy. She is happy. It's a wonderful feeling. 

As I write this blog entry, she's working at the computer to build a Little House on the Prairie scene in her Minecraft world. 

the inside of her log home, with bedstead

We finished reading Little House on the Prairie today, and she watched a couple episodes of season one of the show named for the book online. Then, she started playing Minecraft and decided to build herself Little House scene there. 

Tuna's Little House garden

When building the hearth, her log cabin caught fire and she worked feverishly to put it out, remarking to me that it was "actually a scene from the book since the chimney caught on fire in the book," and asked if I "remember the prairie fire?" before repairing her cabin with stone. 

the outside of her log home after fire damage forced some reconstruction

She added several elements that show me she loved the story and was paying diligent attention while I read. That is plenty of payment for the pain to my throat of reading all those pages aloud. Though she did read aloud, too, about a page at a time, now and then, most of it taxed my vocal chords. 

Tuna's well. There's a cover for it, too. 

I love the form of homeschooling we've settled into, which is on the verge of unschooling. It works so well. Perhaps one day, we will be full unschoolers, though I do see us teetering on the verge for the foreseeable future. 

Whatever works. 

Tuna's cattle