Whenever it comes to homeschool language arts curriculum, there is a lot of things that you need to know. To begin with you should know that there are some things that a homeschool language arts curriculum will need to have in order to make it useful, interesting and comprehensive.
It is also important to take into consideration what types of homeschool language arts lessons plans need to be included within a language arts curriculum. Some of the most commonly included types of lessons are:
- Reading both aloud and to oneself
- Writing skills from handwriting to actually writing sentences, paragraphs and a wide variety of different types of compositions (i.e. essays, fiction, non-fiction) while also including sentence grammar and structure
- Speaking from discussing character, themes, actions, morals and personal application to how to make a presentation
- Listening (i.e. having stories read to you)
- The use of words
Clearly there are quite a range of skills that must be included within this type of curriculum. So, how do you choose a homeschool language arts curriculum that achieves all our these things? Fortunately, there are a few different options available to homeschoolers today, including:
- Using a few different textbooks or workbooks to teach the various language arts lessons. Unfortunately, this can be expensive and it usually isn’t very engaging and there is little room for meaningful, interactive, thoughtful discussions. The literature that is used within these books are usually only excerpts that are difficult to get excited about. Plus lauguage arts lessons usually aren’t spread out over a 12-year period so there will always be a lot of repetition so you can’t really see what your child is actually learning. On the other hand though, you can make sure that all of the bases are covered for your homeschooling curriculum.
- Using a program that focuses on a specific language arts skill. This is an effective way in which to homeschool your child as long as it is done over short periods of time. For instance, grammar doesn’t have to be taught over a period of 12 years. Instead it can be taught in stages (i.e. teach each part of speech, diagramming sentences, study and implement grammatical concepts, ). This is the approach that the Winston Grammar curriculum takes.
- Teaching language arts across all curriculum areas in the context of other studies. This works well because every curriculum area has books to read. Herein you need to choose the best literature for each subject. These books will provide your child with content for their writing. They need to simply read, enjoy and discuss what they are reading in order to be able to cover all of the different areas of language arts.
- Playing language arts games for homeschoolers is a great way for children to learn and engage their brain. English language arts games for homeschoolers can be fun, educational and entertaining all at the same time.
Reading The Classics – Language Arts Lesson Plans
The classics bring us into a time period. These books allow us to live alongside real characters so that we can experience their life for a while. This will compel us to question, analyze moral judgments, enjoy and be moved by the characters, their decisions and the circumstances that surround their lives.
These books also bring us in touch with great literature. This isn’t only based upon the book’s content but also upon the author’s writing style. These things will encourage your child to model their writing on what they have read and enjoyed.
Now your child will need to familiarize themselves with grammatical terms in order to describe both the structure and the style of their writing. This is all because they are able to copy and learn from what is considered to be great literature. With this method they will be able to improve their writing through a method that is based upon natural immersion.
Copy Work For Young Children
Young children need to be involved in doing a lot of copy work. They need to be copying great passages so that they can practice their handwriting. As the child gets older they will begin investigating the structure that made the writing so great.
Then they will move onto using this structure for the base of their own writing. Of course, you can also engage your child in a conversation and discussion about the author, the techniques that were used, the allusions and metaphors that were used, the characters, the plot, the decisions that were made and the final outcome of the piece.
In Conclusion
These things will encourage your child to learn more about language arts. At the same time it will also cover what you would normally think should be included within a language arts curriculum. This is the great news about the integrated approach to language arts that most homeschoolers use today.
Of course, there are some programs that are more useful here than others. Most of these books are for the teacher to use as a reference to learn how to teach instead of being told what to do each day. One such program is called “Teaching the Classics: A Socratic Method for Literary Education.”