Secular Charlotte Mason

As part of our US History: 1800s studies we are reading Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich.  I think there are suppose to be seven books by the time she is finished with the series.  Currently there are three published; The Birchbark House, The Game of Silence, and The Porcupine Year. They are a fictionalized account of her Ojibwe ancestors. My daughter and I just love the one we are reading now. I have to admit that these books hold a special place in my heart as I grew up in Northern Minnesota, in Ojibwe country, and when I read them I can easily picture the landscape in my mind's eye. I can't wait to take my daughter there on our vacation this fall. If we are lucky we will even get to go to Louise Erdrich's bookstore in MN (Birchbark Books in the Twin Cities) even though we did get to meet her at a book signing this past year. 

Resource books:

If you are interested in studying the Ojibwe as you read these books I recommend using The Good Path: Ojibwe Learning and Activity Book for Kids and The Four Hills of Life: Ojibwe Wisdom, both by Thomas Peacock and Marlene Wisuri.  Chapter 7 of The Good Path is particularly relevant to Birchbark House as it is about the island that the story takes place on. To be quite honest I may have first heard about these books and Keepers of the Earth (a nature conservation curriculum from a Native perspective) on Ms. Erdrich's website or one of the Minnesota Anishinabeg websites. It's been a while since I did that research and the memory is a bit wobbly.

Related series:

I have to add that if you are reading, or intending to read, the Little House books you should also read this series.  Part of the Little House series takes place just south of where the Birchbark House books take place(LH is in southern MN and BH is on an island in northern MN/WI) and reading both series will really let the children see what life was like for both the white and native children of that time period.  You can then discuss the biases of both sides and how all people tend to see things from their people's perspectives.  To be quite honest I find the literary quality of the Birchbark books to be just a smidge above the Little House books. If you have younger children or want picture book read to go with Birchbark I LOVE Sootface Girl by Robert & Daniel San Souci.  It is an Ojibwe tale told in the Cinderella format. The illustrations always remind me of Minnesota.

Related/follow-up activities:

While reading the Birchbark books we will have a meal of Ojibwe foods including bannock bread, fish, wild rice, berries and maple syrup. It is my daughter's task to make up her idea of a menu from foods listed in the book so she may come up with a slightly different list depending on what she finds (she is currently trying to remember if they ate the maple syrup on corncakes) but the foods I've listed are the ones that are easiest for me to replicate since I usually have all of it, except the fish, in the house. If I can get my hands on some venison or elk jerky we will also have that since all the Ojibwe I know eat fish, beef, venison or moose jerky. We will also go on a field trip to our local art museum since the book describes their beadwork in detail and we happen to know our art musem, as well as the Lalooska Museum in Washington, have Ojibwe items with beautiful beadwork.  We are particularly fond of bandolier bags which are also described in the book. I'm not sure if this last project will happen or not since it require sibling cooperation and 14 yo are not always the best at cooperating with little sisters.  Kody has asked Drakon if he will show her how to make moccosins (how do you spell that word?!) the way he learned in survival camp last summer. I figure if nothing else she can spend her allowance on one of those moccosin kits at Michael's craft stores if he doesn't co-op. She already has seed beads if she wants to try to bead them as described in the book or of that is too hard she can just do an Ojibwe pattern in puff paint on the leather.