August 29, 2026
For one day next week, Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm will blend two familiar pieces of 19th-century life: the real story of Olathe’s Mahaffie family and the world generations of children have come to know through Little House on the Prairie.
Mahaffie’s Fall Homeschool Days returns Thursday, Sept. 3 2026, with this year’s theme, “Stone House on the Prairie.” The event invites homeschool families to experience the farm much as families might have encountered life in Kansas more than 150 years ago — with stagecoaches, blacksmiths, woodworkers, cookstoves and games replacing screens, cars and modern conveniences.
The connection is a natural one. The historic Mahaffie farm preserves an actual 1860s-era stagecoach stop and family home, while Laura Ingalls Wilder’s stories introduced millions of readers to the routines, hardships and small pleasures of frontier life. At Mahaffie, children won’t simply read about that period. They can walk through a historic house, watch a blacksmith work, see food prepared on a cookstove and climb aboard a stagecoach.
The day will include stagecoach rides, blacksmith and cookstove demonstrations, house tours, woodworking, crafts and 1860s games, along with other living-history activities throughout the farm.
Families can choose either a 10 a.m.–noon morning session or a 1–3 p.m. afternoon session, allowing students to move through the activities at their own pace.
Admission is $7 for students ages 5–17, while children 4 and younger are free. One adult is admitted free with each paid student; additional adults are $7.
Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm is located at 1200 E. Kansas City Road in Olathe. Tickets can be purchased through Mahaffie or by calling 913-971-5111.
For families who have ever read Little House on the Prairie and wondered what that world actually looked, sounded and even smelled like, this may be about as close as you can get without leaving Olathe.
Something Different Media Group