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This month I am joining the annual Virtual Curriculum Fair with Homeschooling Hearts and Minds, where a group of homeschool bloggers are sharing what’s working for them this year. Stop by every Monday for the rest of January and browse these topics:
- Playing with Words: the Language Arts
- Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science
- Exploring Our World: Social Studies and more Science
- Seeking Beauty: the Arts and Everything that Brings Beauty to Our World
- Ready, Set, Read by Barbara Curtis – This is one of my favorite, basic books for getting started teaching my kids how to read. It’s more about games and phonics exercises you can do without fancy curriculum. Some suggestions include playing a “sounds game” in the car, using sandpaper letters, and starting with all lower case.
- Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons – We finished this up a while ago with my oldest and for the most part it worked well. I loved the price, the ease of use, and I could adapt it on the fly so that we only did what was needed. My son was able to read at first grade level about two thirds of the way through.
- AlphaPhonics – My 4 year old is working with this program right now and we like it as well. I’ll be doing a review on this in the future, but after the first few lessons my child was reading the most basic early readers.
- Reading Practice Sticker Chart – We print out blank calendars and put them up on the wall. One is for my 6 year old’s reading chart. He is to read 3 books at level to earn a sticker. When it’s all filled out, he gets a reward – usually a date with Dad.
- Read Aloud Sticker Chart – The other calendar we print is for read aloud time. The goal is at least a half hour each day. When the calendar is full, the kids get a treat or other reward. We often use these more as charts instead of calendars, especially in holiday months when it’s not likely we can do every single day.
- Book Lists – I like to have a lot of good book lists on hand for checking out library books. Some of my favorites are Ambleside Online, Simply Charlotte Mason, Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt, and the Sonlight reading lists.
Spelling and Grammar
- All About Spelling – We’re ready to finish up level 1 and move on to level 2. My son loves this program and so do I! It’s easy to use and adapt if needed. The tiles and flash cards make it fun and quick each day.
- First Language Lessons – We’ve been using First Langauge Lessons by Jesse Wise on and off this year. I like the book and lesson, but honestly I have a hard time remembering to use it.
Handwriting
We have struggled really getting going with handwriting, mostly because of my lack of focus with it. We have the Getty-Dubay program that teaches italic right away and then moves into cursive.
We may check out other programs if we can’t get going with it soon. I love the style of Getty-Dubay, but I have noticed that a lot of practice sheets available online for download follow programs like Handwriting Without Tears. It would be nice to be able to use them! We’ll see.
For now, we are working through what we have when I think of it and trying to focus on real-life writing tasks like letters, pen-pals, thank you cards, etc. We may also start an Observation Journal soon, which will be similar to a nature journal.
Looking for more inspiration?
Don’t forget to check out this great group of Virtual Curriculum Fair bloggers this week. Then scroll down to link up your own language arts posts!
- 3 Reasons to Read to Your Teens by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
- Language Arts {Virtual Curriculum Fair} by Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses
- A Classical Take on 6th Grade Language Arts by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
- The Power in a Word by Michele@ Family, Faith and Fridays
- The Latin Road to English Grammar Volume 1 by Kristi K. @ The Potter’s Hand Academy
- Starting a Foreign Language in Elementary School by Amy @ Eclectic Homeschooling
- These are the words we say by Christa @ Fairfield Corner Academy
- A Peek into our Homeschool: Language Arts by Brittney @ Mom’s Heart
- Our Curriculum Choices 2014 ~ English by Renata~Sunnyside Farm Fun
- Virtual Curriculum Fair: A World of Words by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
- It Starts with the Alphabet by Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset
- Playing w/ Words-Charlotte Mason Style by Lynn P @ Ladybug Chronicles
- 2014 Virtual Curriculum Fair ~ Playing with Words: the Language Arts by Jennifer @ a glimpse of our life
- Our PreK-1st Grade Language Arts Mix by Tauna @ Proverbial Homemaker
- Fun (or Not) With Spelling by Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun
- Word Nerd Love by Lisa N@Golden Grasses
- Our Favourite Resources For Teaching Elementary Language Arts by Kim @ Homestead Acres
- Unconventional Reading Lessons While Homeschooling by Lori@My Journeys Through Life
- My Favorite Writing Curriculum for our Boys by Monique @Living Life and Learning
- Virtual Curriculum Fair: Playing With Words – Language Arts by Stacie @Super Mommy To The Rescue
- Fun With the Language Arts by Mary @ Winecup Christian Homeschool
- Our Grammar Path by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
- Virtual Curriculum Fair !!! by Jessica @ Modest Mama
- Creating a High School English Course (or two) by Debra @Footprints in the Butter
- Language Arts in Our Homeschool This Year by Laura @ Day by Day in Our World
by Stephanie, The Multi Taskin' Mom
This Post Has 6 Comments
AlphaPhonics rocks. We’ve used so much of what you are using!
I haven’t heard of many of these resources and will look into them. Thanks for sharing.
Great tips–thanks for this article!
These are good. I love the book lists with “living books.” 🙂
Language arts is fun with littles, isn’t it? Thank you for sharing! 🙂
We have Alpha Phonics too but my daughter isn’t sounding out the words she says the words. I am going to try again after we do the sight readers. I want to check out All About Spelling as I have been hearing lots of talk about it.