Category: Language Arts – Grammar Spelling Reading Writing Categories

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Writing Activity to Spark Kids’ Imagination!

This writing activity captured the imagination of my kids and definitely tapped into their creative sides! When we had a warmer day, we took our writing workshop outside.  I always try to wrap our activities in an air of mystery to try to build the kids’ curiosity and anticipation.  They were pretty excited about this one! The kids grabbed their writing journals and I then handed them each part of...

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Long i Word Sort – Christmas Theme

ED is continuing to work through All About Spelling. She is just starting to work on some long vowel words with silent e and vowel teams.  I made this spelling sort to help her with her Long I words. These are free to download if you can use them. Long I Word Sort ED really liked these and did them a number of times last week: Clipart Credit: We love...

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-er Sound Spelling Printable

This new printable reviews some of the /er/ sound words. I made this to help DD with the different er sounds such as er, ear, ir, or, ur and our. As many of you know, we have used (and loved) All About Spelling (affiliate link) for years!   We stepped away from our beloved spelling program, All About Spelling, for a few months. This fall my older two have been using...

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40 Journal Writing Prompts (Free Printable)

In a blog post a few weeks ago, I talked about why we use the writing workshop and how it works. But this year, I also added in Journal Prompt Writing  as part of their checklist of things to do.  Here’s why.  ED started writing with us right from the start (even before she officially started kindergarten.) She enjoys writing, but her “stories” are always about a cat (or dog...

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Contraction Matching Practice Cards- He’s They’re Can’t I’m etc.

This is quick printable contraction practice printable I made for ED. I used to have some matching cards we used for my other kids, but I misplaced them, so I made this set. It’s fall, so I used squirrels and acorns! 🙂 I made this set for her; she wanted squirrels and acorns. (Perfect time of year for that, right?! We have a couple of squirrels constantly coming up near...

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Writing Workshop: What We’re Doing for Writing This Fall

In this post, I wanted to talk about writing in our homeschool this fall.  Last year, we shifted to a writing workshop model.  I had a reluctant writer and up until that point, writing was a chore for my son.  Well, after switching to a writing workshop… writing became one of his favorite subjects! So, what do I mean by a writing workshop? In brief this means: We have a...

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Finding a Language Arts Curriculum (Writing, Grammar, etc.)

Welcome back to the our series on how to start homeschooling. During the past week, I have provided information about some of the homeschool curriculums available out there in the different subject areas. Today I wanted to share some of the writing and grammar programs available to homeschoolers. This is not an exhaustive list. You may want to order the (free)  Rainbow Resource Catalog, which is packed with homeschool reviews.  But these...

Shakespeare for Kids (Books, Audiobooks, etc.) 0

Shakespeare for Kids (Books, Audiobooks, etc.)

This summer we spent a couple of weeks reading and exploring some of Shakespeare’s famous tales. If you visit your local library you’ll find tons of Shakespeare books in the junior section. I thought I’d highlight some of the ones that we really liked. Bruce Coville (author of the Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher) has retold a number of Shakespeare’s famous works. He incorporates famous lines into his own prose. This...

Australian Books for Kids 0

10 Australian Children’s Books

 Some of you may not know that we lived overseas for many years. In fact, all three kids were born in Central Australia.  ED was just young enough when we left that she doesn’t remember very much about Australia any more. We’ll be doing a short unit on Australia when we start back up with school. With the help of one of my Australian friends, we came up with a...

12 Books Celebrating America 2

12 Books Celebrating America

With the 4th of July right around the corner, I thought I would highlight some books you and your kids can read that celebrate America. I’ve selected books about the American Revolution and Constitution, but also wanted to point out some books about our beautiful country. If I were to recommend just one book, it might have to be They Called Her Molly Pitcher by Anne Rockwell. It is the...

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6 Native American Picture Books to Share with the Kids

I was looking for Native American children’s books written by and about Native Americans.  I found Debbie Reese’s website, American Indians in Children’s Literature. What a great resource! Today I’d like to share some of the books we read together this past week.  I went with the books that were available at our library and that were appealing to the kids. 1) Buffalo Bird Girl: A Hidatsa Story (affiliate link) This is a...

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Greek Myths for Kids – Download Free Stories at StoryNory

This summer, hubby and the kids are going on a long road trip and will spend a lot of time in the car.  (I’ll stay back at home because I’m recovering from ear surgery.)  For years and years we have loved and listened to the free audiobooks provided by Natasha over at StoryNory.  We love her Katie stories and fairy tales.  This summer, though, it is time to revisit some...

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Do we Homeschool in the Summer?

I was recently asked if we planned to homeschool throughout the summer.  We often start back to school a bit earlier in August than our public school friends, but our family has decided that we need most of the summer off… at least from our more formal approach to school. For one thing, the majority of the kids’ friends have “off” during the summer, so we set up more playdates...

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Books and Series My 8-Yr Old Has Been Racing Through

My daughter reads all the time. She will grab anything that’s out and about… from the easy readers that ED brings home from the libraries to books that LD recommends.  I thought I’d share some of the series that she’s flown through this semester. Dog Diaries: She’s read them all… Ginger, Buddy, Barry, Togo, Dash. She said they were wonderful.  I notice there is also a series called Horse Diaries...