Читать книгу Homeschooling For Dummies - Jennifer Kaufeld - Страница 84

Once the children learn to read, you need to incorporate language, literature, grammar, writing, and the rest of the language arts panorama. This can be as simple or as complicated, as seamless or as segmented, as you choose. Several good, solid language arts curricula exist to help you build from a strong foundation. Here are a few of them.

 Brave Writer: (www.bravewriter.com) Homeschoolers who love this curriculum refer to “the Brave Writer lifestyle.” Tuesdays mean Poetry Tea, where everyone gathers around a table with a favorite poem, a snack, and a favorite drink, hot or cold. Wednesdays bring Movie Day, when a home movie viewing leads to conversation about plot, character development, and falling action. The Brave Writer family of products goes from kindergarten all the way through twelfth grade. Jot It Down, for ages 5 to 8, starts the ball rolling with ten month-long projects (writing a fairy tale, designing a poster, writing letters). If you want in-depth literature study, that comes in the form of monthly reading guides: You select a book guide, or subscribe to a year’s worth of titles, and they lead you through teaching literary conventions, grammar, dictation, and more. The main guiding text, The Writer’s Jungle, guides you in teaching the art of writing. While not for everyone, my youngest nonwriter has bloomed with this method and he sets his weekly calendar by our Poetry Teatime.

 Core Knowledge: (www.coreknowledge.org) This language arts curriculum draws on material from history, science, and literature. Most of the materials are available for free download from the website; be sure to download the sequence document that explains what each grade level learns in language arts (and in all other areas of the Core Knowledge curriculum). Covers K through grade 8.

 Essentials In Writing: (www.essentialsinwriting.com) If English really isn’t your thing, this curriculum comes to your rescue. Each level teaches writing and grammar skills via a DVD or Internet streaming. Your student also gets a workbook where she practices everything she learns. These lessons are short, but they’re designed that way so that the students learn in small increments. Covers grades K through 12. A literature course is available for grades 7 through 12 as well.