Little House in the Big Woods Unit Study

I am doing a unit study with Pitty-pat using the book "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. So far we have made butter, baked bread, and rendered lard--all things my mother who lived during the depression taught me. I also know how to make soap and plan to do this with the kids. We are using templates from homeschoolhelper.com for our lapbook to go along with the story.

Home made Butter Recipe:
1 pint whipping cream in the dairy aisle of the grocery store. Put in a clean glass jar with a lid. I recycled a plastic peanut butter jar because it had a very tight fitting lid. Now let kids shake until butter forms. when enough butter forms pour off the buttermilk. Rinse and salt butter if desired. Taste best on warm bread.

Single bar recipe for soap making
(**use caution not for small children Lye is VERY, VERY Dangerous!!)
use safety glasses when handling lye

1/2 cup cold water
2 heaping tblsp. commercial lye
1 cup tallow or lard or mix of each

slowly add the lye to the water, then bring both the lye solution and tallow to about body temperature. Combine the two in a glass bowl and mix slowly and steadily until the consistency is about that of sour cream. Pour mixture into a mold and age. (original recipe from "Back to Basics"book published by Reader's Digest. My mother always used red devil lye and the recipe for a large batch was on the can. The older the soap the better it was for getting stains out.