In my review of The Well-Educated Heart, I mentioned following a yearly rotation of subjects. This rotation helps me put together a rough monthly curriculum for preschool (if you count a loose gathering of materials as a curriculum…) This month’s focus is on 1800s America: Expansion, Native Americans, the Middle East and birds. As a personal addition, I’m including more church history because the 1800s was a significant period for my church.

What are we reading?

Take a peek at some books I pulled from my shelf and the library:

I write Westerns. As such, I’m really excited to read some of these books with the kids and share a little more of that side of my life with them. So far this month, our favorites have been Cowboy Charlie, the Little House adaptations, and Mailing May.

It has been really enjoyable to share these stories with my children, especially since my aunt has been exposing us to Native American culture since we were little. I also enjoy the balance of learning about pioneers and cowboys while also learning about the people who already lived in these ‘unsettled’ places.

I am focusing more on American history this year, but had to include this book in our readings because it was one of my favorites growing up. Although it is geared toward older children (chapter two is about a woman seducing Enkidu, and the action descriptions can get a little intense), we have been enjoying this as a family read-aloud to learn about ancient Middle Eastern history.

Birds are singing here in Southeast Idaho. It’s been the coldest winter of my life, and I am beyond excited for spring to come. I chose a few fun stories about birds, but have also been taking time to notice the birds returning to the trees in our apartment complex. Millie enjoyed a documentary about birds on Disney+, too! Soon, I hope to find a place to hang a bird feeder and do some nature journaling about the kinds of birds we find.

What else are we doing?

I also recently began rotating the kids’ toys according to the monthly rotation. They always have their stuffed animals available and I have a cabinet I pull projects from daily, but I found that having only a few toys available at all times has helped enliven the kids’ imaginative play and make mess manageable. Right now, the kids have building blocks, toy farm animals, cowboy hats and bandanas and a big tent out. It is so fun to see them engage by building little farms for their animals.

Every time we read Cowboy Charlie I decide to pull out the art supplies. Today we made little clay models (of Bluey, not cattle, but close enough.) I also brought out paint supplies and coloring books to focus more on visual art this month.

For meals related to the rotation study, I did salmon and berries as a PNW Native American meal one night, mujadara as a Middle Eastern meal one night, and plan on chili and cornbread this weekend as an American expansion meal. Do you have any other ideas for fun themed meals? Let me know in the comments!