Awesome stuff!
Yeah you all rock!
Wilbur Keith's books were the go-to source for me as a kid, he did a number of books covering 18th and 19th century woodworking, log cabin building, get a good used hardcover copy, sometimes you can get them super cheap at a thrift shop, they are more collectable online. I now wish I had all his books!!! There are several designs for pioneer lean tos of the 19th century too.
Additional inspiration can be had from looking at schematics of
iron and bronze age house mockups.
Get the kids into making their own
ceramic blocks for floors using native soil hopefully with some clay in it, some manure and straw.
Save cooking oil and let them make some mud/oil/soil and stomp a good floor in and you are achieving about the level of comfort of the early years in Jamestown, VA.
In cold weather try casting an "ice window" in a large baking pan and use it for your window glass.
With supervision of course because these are kids, you might try to integrate a stone and mud
rocket type stove outside for a little impromptu barbecue
You are just technologically below a
wattle building, after you have a frame, start to weave in the little twigs. Finish with your favorite mud/oil/manure mixture
Watch swap meets for a good
old fashioned hand auger drill and start drilling and pegging your wood together.
Be careful where you build---
falling branches can injure. Look up!
Remember you can
char the lower couple of feet to your main support beams (which go into the ground) it will prevent rot.
Start thatching with grass.
Looks like tons of fun.
M