Language Arts Resources For Elementary School

I think I could homeschool a hundred years and still not come up with a perfect list of language arts resources. But that won't stop me from telling you what I am currently using with my grade schoolers, for what that's worth! Here are my recommendations, separated into the ten components that I listed before.

Listening:  I've already proclaimed my dedication for reading out loud to kids. Here's the magic formula: pick a good book, and read it out loud to your kids. Wash, rinse, and repeat. I use the Sonlight and Veritas Press websites as my guide, but any ol' "book about good books" will do. 

Reading:  When I read out loud to my kids, I prefer to read a step or two above their current reading level. But when I pick out books for them to read on their own, I aim right at their reading level or even a little bit lower. I'm a big believer in a child experiencing great pleasure while reading, and using the early years to let them feel "happy" with each book they encounter. Once my kids have learned to read well on their own, they've always bumped themselves up to the next level of book without my interference. As for resources, I use the same things I listed above.

Handwriting:  I have used Handwriting Without Tears for both learning to print and learning to write cursive--both with happy results. And just so you're not mislead, there have still been tears. That, I'm finding, is just the nature of handwriting. In the off years where my kids just need practice, I've used A Reason for Handwriting, with my eye on the Evan-Moor books too.

Spelling:  I've used only Sequential Spelling, which I start in first grade. What this curriculum gives you is a huge list of related words on each page. I can tell you this works well with kids who are naturally good spellers--I've yet to try it with my spelling-challenged child. One online resource I hear good things about is Spelling City, which works alongside any spelling curriculum.

Memory work:  I started having my kids memorize verses when they were young. As the years have gone by, though, I've added other things to our memory work: facts from history and science, grammar rules, multiples in math, Latin roots, and anything else that is pertinent to what we're learning in school. I know many who attend Classical Conversations groups for this very purpose.

Copywork:  Each year, I pick out verses, poems, and quotes that I want the kids to memorize, and each week I have them copy an age-appropriate amount of this text. It's a cheap way to double-up on subjects. The Writing With Ease books also contain weekly copywork assignments. 

Dictation:  Like copywork, you can pick some text from one subject, read it out loud, and have your child write what you say. Unfortunately, I never thought to do this until the kids were older, so I use Writing With Ease to remind me to include this each week. 

Narration:  This is where the Writing With Ease books shine. Each lesson includes an except of a quality story, followed by about ten comprehension questions. The kids are taught to answer in complete sentences, and once those questions are done, the kids are asked to summarize the story in about three sentences. It's really, really good practice for skills they'll use their whole lives. 

Grammar:  A wise old owl once told me to start grammar in third grade. Honestly, there's enough going on in the earlier years with learning just the basics of reading and writing. Oh sure, I probably doled out little grammar bits here and there, but nothing substantial. I use the Daily Grams and Easy Grammar workbooks, which I've found to be quick and easy for my kids to do on their own. They're also effective--there is that. For learning parts of speech, I pull out our Mad Libs books. How else would we learn that "fart" can be both a noun and a verb?

Creative thought:  I've not done much in this area. I know. Help. One year I googled "sentence starters for kids" and used a few of those. Here and there I've used Writing Strands with positive results. That's all I've got.

I'd love to hear what's worked for you! My list is by no means fabulous or complete.

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Language Arts For Elementary School

Before I donned my majestic Teacher Cape, I had no idea what the phrase "language arts" meant. I mean, what a term straight from academia! Back in the good ol' days, when ink wells and slates were the norm, it was simply called "reading and writing." Nice and straight; nice and forward.

At first I thought "language arts" was one subject.

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

It's not one subject, but a big ol' set of subjects. So when I look at ways to boost my kids' reading and writing skills, I work on ten components separately. Ten. Here they are.

Ten Language Arts Components for Elementary School

Listening: Listening to books is something kids can do from an early, early age. Every other language arts skill is more appropriate for grade schoolers, and starting before that is like nailing Jello to a wall. Reading to kids builds their attention span, and exposes them to words, words, and a whole boatload of words. The more words a kid hears, the more quickly the other skills take hold.

Reading: Once a child learns to read on her own, I'm a big proponent of carving out space and time for this to happen at least thirty minutes a day. I stock a shelf in my house with library books of all shapes and sizes. Board books, picture books, science books, chapter books, how-to books--you name it. I find that if books are accessible (and screen time is limited), my kids will pick from the shelf and read at will.

Handwriting: Part of the writing process is the ability to put words on paper. I know. Seems kinda obvious, right? But I've known a lot of parents (*points to self*) who expect their kids to journal and create and express their loving hearts out on paper before this skill has taken root. For some kids, the fine motor control just isn't there until age eight or so. Until then, don't feel like you're "cheating" if your child is verbalizing answers and sentences while you write them down.

Spelling: Again, I've learned not to marry "spelling" with "handwriting." One of my boys would end up in a puddle of tears every time I made him s-p-e-l-l a word on p-a-p-e-r. I then started having him spell the words out loud, which quickly showed me that spelling wasn't the problem--handwriting was. Ah. That I sorta knew how to fix, and we were both a lot happier.

Memory work: This is the brain's way of "practicing" with good words. Choosing something of quality to memorize is great exercise for the brain.

Copywork: The practice of seeing something on a page (or board) and copying that to paper trains the brain to hold larger and longer chunks in memory in the process. First it's one letter at a time. Then it's a word or two, then a phrase, and then a sentence. And guess what? *ding ding ding* This is the kind of skill that "writers" call on every time they sit down to write. Choose wisely when picking things out for your child to copy--good vocabulary words, solid sentences, quality poems and verses. Why? Because a child who copies good writing becomes a child who creates good writing.

Dictation: I gotta be honest. The first time I read about "dictation," all I could picture was the ginormous machine I used during my secretarial days. You know, before everyone could type on their very own computers at their very own desks. Granted, that was fifteen years ago, but that is my one and only association with "dictation." In the language arts world, it simply means--the child writes down exactly what the teacher is saying. It's another exercise in holding a thought in memory and then getting it down on paper.

Narration: To “narrate” is to “report” on something. If you've been paying attention, the best reporters speak in longer than one-word sentences and tell their stories in a clear, concise manner. Therefore, it is good for our future writers and speakers to learn how to answer in complete sentences and summarize what they've heard or read.

Grammar: No, this is not the gal married to Grampar. It's the good ol' parts of speech, sentence structure, and all the lovely rules about capitalization and double negatives and how ain't ain't a word cuz teacher says it ain't.

Creative thought: This is where originality comes in. Most of the skills listed above deal with writing and reading other people's words. But grade schoolers have thoughts and feelings of their own, and it's good for them to express them, even if they're nothing more complex than, “I like pizza.” You know what? I do too.

Is there anything I've missed from this list? Soon I'll take each of these components and list what resources I've used that have worked.


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Banana Pancakes

My husband won't eat a pancake unless I serve it with a side of saliva. I know. I've been tempted to follow through on that request.

So, like a dutiful wife, I have searched the world over to prove him wrong to him that a pancake can be moist. It can.

This recipe is now my go-to pancake recipe that we all happen to like. Well, hubs will never admit to being wrong liking a pancake of any shape or size, but I know better. I do.

The quickest way to make the batter is to blend the wet ingredients in a food processor first, and then mix the dry ingredients in after that. Serve with a side of smugness and satisfaction.

Banana Pancakes

2 ripe bananas

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 dash vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

chocolate chips, optional

In a food processor, blend together the first five ingredients. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the batter and blend to combine. Pour the batter onto the griddle and top with chocolate chips if desired. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot. 4 servings.

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Lewis And Clark National Historic Trail: Ecola State Park

There is something very otherworldly and endearing about the Oregon coast. I love it so much that our family took a second trip there this year, just a couple of months after our last visit. I always try to soak in as much beauty as possible, and to be expected, as much historical trivia as the kidlets can swallow.

As part of my quest to see every stinkin' Lewis and Clark spot in the U-nited States, we made the trek to Ecola State Park. "Ecola" (ekkoli) is the Chinook word for "whale," which is what Lewis and Clark went to find at this site. They had heard it through the grapevine... that some beached whale coulda been thine... blubber blubber, yeah!

Well, the words "beached whale" and "blubber" are enough to get me on the move too.

So. While wintering at Fort Clatsop, Lewis and Clark hiked a team off in search of the "monstrous fish." Sacagawea had begged to walk along; I assume she needed to see something other than the four walls of the room in her fort. Just guessing! 

Anyway, the team was just in time to see the whale stripped to its bone, with the local villagers "busily engaged boiling the blubber." However, they were still able to barter for 300 pounds of blubber and a few gallons of oil. From the journal of William Clark: 

“Small as this stock is I prise it highly; and thank providence for directing the whale to us; and think him much more kind to us than he was to jonah, having Sent this Monster to be Swallowed by us in Sted of Swallowing of us as jonah’s did.”

A thankful and witty character, that Willy!

We hiked much in the way that Lewis and Clark did, that is if they'd traveled via a classy red minivan. But that didn't stop us from seeing the same views, as Clark described, "the grandest and most pleasing prospects which my eyes ever surveyed, in front of a boundless Ocean.”

I hope you enjoy the pleasing prospects (taken from Indian Beach) as well.

More from the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail: The Salt Works, Cape Disappointment, and Fort Clatsop.

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Lewis And Clark National Historic Trail: Fort Clatsop

For most of my life, "history" has been very inaccessible to me. I pretty much have to see something to believe it, and in case you need the reminder, I ain't been alive for most of what we call, "history."

You see my dilemma.

And seeing as I don't have a time machine and can't rightly go back and watch history in the making, I have to patch together my knowledge via book after boring book after documentary after book.

So. You can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon Fort Clatsop, a piece of history come alive right before my beady green eyes!

Fort Clatsop was the "home" built by the Lewis and Clark team while they wintered near the Pacific coast. The fort housed twenty-seven enlisted men in three separate quarters. Lewis and Clark shared the captains' quarters, and Sacagawea and fam got a room of their own. It is thought that Clark's slave, York, stayed in the orderly room. That means that 31 men, one woman, an infant, and a dog all shared about 250 square feet of space.

Hell-o!

And did I mention that it rained for 94 of the 106 days they were there?

WELCOME TO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, GUYS.

They spent the winter making notes, prepping for the trip back east, and losing their ever-loving minds. Why? Let's take a journal sample from our spelling champ, Clark:

December 31, 1805

"Last night was Cloudy and Some rain, this day prove Cloudy and Showerry are day."

January 1, 1806

"This morning proved cloudy with moderate rain, after a pleasent worm night during which there fell but little rain."

January 2, 1806

"A Cloudy rainey morning after a wet night."

January 3, 1806

"The Sun rose fair this morning for the first time for Six weeks past, the Clouds Soon obscure it from our view, and a Shower of rain Suckceeded."

SUCKceeded, indeed!

My family toured Fort Clatsop right at the time we were studying it at home, which made the whole experience eight bazillion times more exciting. Well, for me, at least. And for you, you know! You get the official tour via pictures. You're welcome.

More from the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail: The Salt Works, Cape Disappointment.

Next stop on the Lewis and Clark trail--a beached whale! Or, the site of where one was. You know. One of those.

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Homeschooling With Small Children Around

I've not once schooled my kids without having other small kids around. I started schooling when I had a preschooler and a toddler, and then I eventually added an incredibly busy and talkative baby to that mix. My kids are just now nine, seven, and five--and for the most part, I school only the older two boys while the youngest drives us insane delights us with her presence.

I have to admit, this is one of the hardest parts about homeschooling. It's also one of those things that most families have to deal with at some point or another. I'm going to list off a few tricks I've used through the years--and then allow others to chime in at the end.

Tips For Homeschooling With Small Children Around

1. Use edutainment. Yep. I put that as numero uno. I do my best to play educational DVDs like ones that teach sign language (for babies, too) or immerse my kids in a foreign language. Next after that, I click on the public tv station, and after that, a round of soap operas. Oh, I kid. Anyway, I try to limit this to only when necessary and generally under an hour a day.
   
   
   
2. Have an older child play with the younger child. This works if you have more than two kids and are trying to school one without the "baby" underfoot. My daughter is more social than a bazillion butterflies combined, so I pay my son a dollar for every half-hour he entertains his sister AWAY FROM MY SIGHT. Win all around!
   
   
   
3. Let the younger child "write" alongside her siblings. In the past, I've used everything from crayons, pencils, white boards, color wonder, a magna doodle, and an aqua doodle.
   
   
   
4. Take advantage of nap time(s). I know. This is the worst one yet. And yet, there are some parts of schooling that can't be done unless the wee babe is asleep.
   
   
   
5. Make "school time" for the older kids "craft time" for the younger ones. Ideas for the different age groups include playing with PlayDoh, cutting with scissors, pasting with a glue stick, paint with water, coloring, and decorating with stickers. You'll notice I didn't include markers. Nope. Nooooo markers.
   
   
   
6. Give the kid something to eat. This is a tried-and-true trick for kids of all ages. I often give my youngest child a snack while I'm reading to her brothers. During the week, I eat my lunch while I'm prepping everyone else's (take that, enjoyment police!) and then I read to all three kids while their faces are stuffed full of food. I pick things to read that are applicable to everyone--poetry, science, geography.
   
   
   
7. Pull out the educational toys. The quiet ones, that is. Lacing beads, lacing shapes, blocks, Duplos or Legos, Lincoln logs, wood puzzles, stacking and sorting toys, pattern blocks, and play vegetables. These kinds of things end up on my Christmas wish list every year.
   
   
   
8. Make room for messy play. Nothing enthralls a young child more than a mess. Scooping and pouring out water, making bubbles in water, playing with sand, and using edible finger paint. I used to let my preschool boys dump beans on the carpet and they'd drive their matchbox cars through that for hours. At least it felt like hours. Or maybe that was just the cleanup. But still, they loved getting out that bin of beans.
   
   
   
9. Hold the youngest child on your lap. What baby / toddler / preschooler doesn't love to be held by her mom? (Okay, mine. So she sits beside me. And wiggles and rubs my leg raw.) However, there are days my girl will sit and listen quietly to the journals of Lewis and Clark, and why shouldn't she be allowed to listen if she wants to?
   
   
   
10. Sit on the floor and "play" with the young child while schooling the older. Moms are magnificent at multitasking. There's no reason why you can't stack blocks and dole out spelling words at the same time. The only one who complains is Oma Achin Back. I've also ridden my exercise bike *while* holding a toddler *while* giving out spelling words. See? The options are limitless.

Okay, let's hear from everyone else. How do you keep the little'uns occupied while the big'uns do school?

Disclaimer: No one asked me to promote any of the items linked to above. But if you do click over to amazon and make any purchase, I happen to get a small percentage of the sale. It's how I'm funding my kids' college education. If they choose the public library as their school, that is.

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Thinking About Homeschooling? Here Are Some Tips.

I'm just about to finish up my fifth year of homeschooling, and I can say with certainty that this choice has been one of the best I've ever made. I wasn't so sure when I started, and there are particular days I'd like to burn from the books--but still. I feel a great sense of contentment in my daily "job."

That being said, anyone starting out on the homeschooling journey always feels overwhelmed. ALWAYS. And it seems that each spring I get a handful of people who wonder if this crazy thing called "homeschooling" could work for them. This is the shortened version of what I tell them.


Ten Tips For Those Thinking About Homeschooling

1. Don't obsess about curriculum. Okay, so some things are better than others, and what works for one kid might not work for another, AND YET. At the end of the day, remember that school used to consist of McGuffey Readers and a chalk slate--AND THAT'S IT. There are no magic bullets no matter how deeply you bury yourself in the internet. Just pick something you think is good and go for it.
   
   
   
2. Find someone similar in personality to you who's a bit further down the homeschooling road. Ask her for advice on curriculum. It helps to talk things over with a human, especially one who approaches the beast in a similar manner as you.
   
   
   
3. Think like a one-room schoolhouse. You'd be amazed how many subjects can be shared across the age groups. For a while, I attempted to teach US history to one child and world history to another. You know how crazy that made me? More crazy than usual. A few weeks into the school year, I ditched that plan and got everyone on board with the same topic. And much like a one-room schoolhouse, I ask my older kids to read to the youngest one, and to lead her through some basic workbook activities. And that is a lovely, lovely thing.
   
   
   
4. Make the library your new best friend. Each child should have his own card, and you should get a teacher card too. You know how many items I can put on hold on my teacher card? A WHOLE HECKOFA LOT. (Bliss!)
   
   
   
5. Build a support network. One or two friends to share the crazy is sufficient. Beyond that, having a larger group to hang out with and do field trips with is ideal.
   
   
   
6. Know why you want to homeschool and write it down. You'll need this for the harder days. And you'll also be asked this question by friends, family, and strangers alike.
   
   
   
7. Determine what homeschooling is going to take the place of. You can't spend a good chunk of time schooling your kids without something else having to go. For me, that thing I don't do is keep an immaculate house. I figure I have the rest of my life to scrub and dust, but only a short time to spend with my kids.
   
   
   
8. Give it two years. It took me that long to get my "school legs." I had no idea what I was doing when I started off, and needed quite a bit of structure and help at first. But then I developed my own opinions (oh, did I!) and my own ways and now the planning and daily execution goes a lot more smoothly. "Daily execution," heh heh heh.
   
   
   
9. Make a plan, but hold it with an open hand. No matter how sparkly the books or how stately the schedule, nothing ever works in real life as well as it does on paper. Prepare to tweak, tweak, and tweak--and even trash something completely if it simply isn't working.
   
   
   
10. Realize that no homeschooling mom is a saint. Not one. We are just as lovingly inadequate as the next gal. If you clash with your child in your parenting, you'll likely clash in your teaching. Realize also that where you adore your child in your parenting, you'll also adore your child in your teaching--and have opportunity to do so more often. This is perhaps my favorite thing of homeschooling.

Well, that's all my shriveled mind could come up with. What would you add to the list?

More tips over at We Are That Family!

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Book It Reading Program For Homeschoolers

I'm reading yet another lighthearted poetry book to the kids these days. I find that we actually enjoy the stuff when we don't have to cut through thirty-eight layers of meaning just to grasp the gist of the poem. Poetry is also a lot better when the subject is food--take for example this small excerpt by David Canzoneri and Bill Martin Jr.:

Let there be pizza on earth, 
And let it be eaten by me,
Let there be pizza on earth,
As far as the eye can see...

I love pizza so much I could write a poem about it myself. That's why when I saw that Pizza Hut has a BOOK IT program for homeschoolers, I signed my kids right up. There's nothing more important than gettin' my pizza fix encouraging kids to read. Besides, the whole thing reminds me of the thrill of filling up my BOOK IT button before my older brother could recite the words "MY SISTER REIGNS SUPREME."

Speaking of supreme, that's always my pizza of choice. Hubs and I like to split a large while the kids each get their own (free!) personal pan.

With the homeschool program, the dictator teacher gets to set the rules herself, determining the number of books or pages or hours the kid has to read (per month) in order to earn his coupon. The program runs for six months, October through March, so each eligible child (grades K-6) can earn up to six free personal pan pizzas a year.

Enrollment starts now and runs through September 1st. It's easy to sign up online, and the packet with a year's worth of coupons arrives via mail early fall.

Does anyone else participate in a reading rewards program?

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How To Save Paper At Home

I have one child who goes through paper like it grows on trees. Paper airplanes, paper villages, paper to scribble on, paper to rip up and shred in every last corner of the house. Paper.

We used to go through at least one ream a month. And at four dollars a ream, that was sorely eating into my Ghirardelli budget for the year. Not to mention wasting a whole bunch of paper.

One day, my boss came up to me, and said Joe are ya busy I said no he said push the button with your left hand! Oops. Wrong day. On a different day, hubs brought home a box of unused letterhead from the office, all headed to the recycling bin because of a misprint. Cha-ching. We now use that paper for nearly every single use of paper around the house. We stock this paper in the printer and keep some strewn around the house for the kids. I now use fewer than ten sheets of clean paper a month. Quite a difference.

Besides the office, where are some other good sources of scrap paper?

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Got My Poetry Panties In A Wad

It's National Poetry Month. You know how I know that? Because every single last cotton-pickin' thing on my library's "MUST READ" shelf is currently a poetry book. Big clue.

I'm no poetry buff. My right-brained hubs tells me that reading a poem should evoke a feeling. A feeling other than boredom, I presume.

I start each school year with high hopes, plodding through Poe, butchering Blake, sleeping through Shakespeare. And then spring time comes around and every poem feels like I'M BEING EATEN BY A BOA CONSTRICTOR, AND I DON'T LIKE IT ONE BIT. So, I feel a bit strangled, in other words.

I was glad to see that sitting beside the other cobweb-ridden books was one with Tighty Whitey in the title. I mean, how can that not be a book for all time?

"The Tighty Whitey Spider" 

(to the tune of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider")

The tighty whitey spider went down the water slide.

Got a water wedgie halfway down the ride.

Jumped up and screamed and ran around in pain.

Now the tighty whitey spider will not do that again.

What do I think of a poem about underwear? This is it, and nothing more.

(Not a paid review. I'm merely sharing some nonsense.)


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