by Cindy
Here at Curriculum Choice, we know the importance of language arts instruction from preschool through high school! If our children are to be great readers and writers, consistent language arts lessons are a must.
~don’t miss the fabulous giveaways at the end!
Our Language Arts Curriculum Reviews
Below are some of the many homeschool language arts curriculum reviews our Curriculum Choice authors have written on the vast variety of language arts. You’ll be amazed at all the resources available to you!
More Encouragement from Our Authors
The Curriculum Choice authors have active blogs where they share all kinds of homeschooling advice and experiences. Below, you’ll find links to helpful languages arts posts from a few of our veteran homeschooling authors.
Cindy (that’s me) from Our Journey Westward
Did y’all know I’m the author of the Living Literature Grammar Packets? Yep. And, over the years, I’ve written more language arts curriculum reviews than you can shake a stick at. I’ve found some real gems for all age levels. In this post, I’ll share just a few of my very favorites with you.
- Get Ready for the Code – For my littles, I love these workbooks that lay the foundation of phonics instruction!
- Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons – These gentle, Charlotte Mason style language arts lessons are gems for the elementary years!
- Easy Grammar – I use this program over the course of two years with my middle school children and feel like they have a great grasp on grammar in the end.
- WordSmith – This is an excellent writing program for the upper middle and early high school years – especially for those who may not have focused wholeheartedly on writing instruction already.
- Research in Increments – Writing research papers is easy with this step-by-step manual!
Barb at Harmony Fine Arts
Language Arts in Our High School: I share how we used Spelling Power, English from the Roots Up, Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization, and Daily Grams in our high school language arts plans.
IEW-Give Them Something to Write About:(Institute for Excellence in Writing) “IEW is different than other writing programs because it gives your child the tools needed to write along with giving them something to write about.”
No Formal Latin in Our Homeschool: In this post I share our struggles with learning Latin and how we used various products to give us a basic foundation ( Vocabulary from Classical Roots and Science Roots).
Susan & Megan at Education Possible
Essay Rock Star: The Expository Essay – Perfect for middle and high school students. Even my reluctant writers became “Essay Rockstars” thanks to the guidance and feedback of instructor/writing coach Lily at Fortuigence!
Which Biography Series is Right for Your Middle School Student? – To help your students understand how exciting and relevant the people and events of the past really are it is important to help them find biography resources that are a good match for their own interests and learning styles.
Write From History: A Charlotte Mason Writing Program –This comprehensive yet flexible writing program based on the Charlotte Mason method of education is a great tie-in to homeschool history lessons.
World Study Guide for The Secret Garden – This unique literature unit study/lapbok resource offers a study guide, discussion questions, hands-on activities, writing assignments and more for elementary and middle school students.
Amy Maze at Living and Learning at Home
The Writing Road to Reading – I consider this book a must-read for any parent who is going to teach their child to read. It does not provide daily lessons, but it gives you everything you need to really understand and teach reading and spelling!
Primary Language Lessons – I love this gentle way to teach language arts. Sit on the couch with your child and get ready to observe, discuss, and memorize together!
The Reading Lesson – If you are looking for a simple, open and go way to teach your little one to read, this is a good option. I simply set the timer for 10 minutes, sit on the couch with my little girl, and listen to her read!
Stephanie from Harrington Harmonies
Gregor Medel: Friar Who Grew Peas– (Living Book Review)-We thoroughly enjoyed this lovely little book about the Father of Genetics. We hadn’t talked much about genes and heredity so it was a perfect introduction to it. This post offers free notebook pages and a good look inside the book.
Handwriting Without Tears : Cursive Success– I’ve been thinking and writing a lot lately about handwriting. It was all brought on by a conversation with a friend who’s spouse was in the teaching field. I had just learned that the local schools here had decided to stop teaching cursive. I wondered why they would do that. What about signatures?
Sequential Spelling Review– One of the things this curriculum has done for my child is present spelling in a non-traditional way. Instead of a 20 word list with no relevance for my child the program focuses on word building. This can be a very helpful approach for children with special needs or who simply learn differently and need to try a new method for spelling other than pure memorization.
A Child’s Introduction to Poetry– For every poetry type there is at least one example and for shorter poems there are often many. In addition, a description and brief “lesson” are offered about the type of poem. The history is also given; telling when this type of poetry became popular and how it evolved. It tells what pattern is present and highlights its unusual or particular quality.
Tricia at Hodgepodge
Alphaphonics and More Learn to Read Resources – Basic. Simple. Long-lasting. Used with all of our five children to learn how to read. The phonics book that has been the go-to teaching tool in our family. Alphaphonics by Sam Blumenfeld is a full, logical resource for teaching students of all ages to learn to read.
Spelling Workout Review – When you stick with a curriculum throughout your homeschool years, I believe it speaks volumes to its success and ability to meet the needs of different learning styles. Spelling Workout is more than just spelling. Besides spelling practice, this series teaches…
Rod and Staff Grammar – We’re heading into our ninth year of Rod and Staff English! We’ve enjoyed all grades from 2nd to 9th. See also Annie Kate’s review of Rod and Staff Grammar.
Steve at Hodgepodge
Letter Writers Ocean App – The object of the game is to “draw” the letters correctly. The letters float beneath the ocean’s surface, and tapping on a letter causes it to float alone on the screen. A friendly fish guides your finger to the correct starting point. As you drag your finger along the letter’s lines, the friendly fish follows your finger–as long as you correctly follow the lines of the letter.
Phonics and Reading with McGuffey App – Once the student is comfortable with the letter sounds for the current lesson, words are presented using the letters. Each word is correctly sounded out. Students are presented with the opportunity to build simple words with the letters and have those words sounded out for them. There are also drills, where the student is required to tap the correct word out of a number of possibilities on the screen after hearing it spoken.
Betsy at BJ’s Homeschool
Reading Success Mini Books “My daughter not only enjoyed making her mini books, but also loved sharing them. She prided herself on her writing, and enjoyed reading it out loud all to her family – especially to her dad at dinner! This gave her a feeling of confidence in the sometimes difficult process of learning to read.”
Explode the Code This program did not require any prep on my part. All I needed to do was read any new letter sounds out loud, or read her “listening sentences” for her to write down. And of course, celebrate the learning!
Spectrum Writing review – 2nd grade “Spectrum Writing for 2nd Grade served as a helpful foundation for our writing activities in the early elementary years. If you are looking for some new ideas to help your children gain confidence in their writing skills, I recommend Spectrum Writing.”
Spectrum Writing – 8 Review “Have you ever wondered how to help your young teens progress with their writing skills? And how to evaluate how they were doing?”
Big Book of Alpha Tales “Are you looking for a fun way to introduce the alphabet to your younger ones? Or do your children need something special to do while you work with their siblings? Scholastic offers a hands-on alphabet program called The Big Book of Alpha Tales. It includes an entertaining story for each letter of the alphabet.”
Sequencing Simple Stories “In this workbook, children practice putting the parts of simple stories together! Through cutting and gluing, they construct their stories, and build a concrete beginning, middle and end to each story. This helped my daughter to understand stories better, as all stories can be broken down to a beginning, middle and end. And this understanding helped her progressed in her reading!”
Evan Moor’s Building Spelling Skills “Gradually there were more correctly spelled words in her writing! And this learning happened naturally. There are many good spelling programs out there but for my family, we liked Building Spelling Skills.”
Oak Meadow – Lit and Comp II “I love this curriculum, as the questions really helped my daughter to analyze the story/novel, and later to do her literary analysis essay.”
Heather Woodie at Blog, She Wrote
The Ultimate Guide to Coaching Writing in Your Homeschool – A resource page of ideas and curriculum we use in our homeschool from preschool through high school.
High School Skill: Analyzing Text – A guide to teaching upper students to read and write about what they read. There’s also a nod to taking on the more controversial titles which require discussion with your high schooler.
Coaching Writers with a Writers Workshop – Our experience with hosting a writer’s workshop all year in our home. Students love to write for an audience and it urges kids to write better when their peers ask for more. I highly recommend it! The payoff is huge for very little investment of time and energy.
Language Arts/Grammar Pinterest Board
We are joining up with our iHomeschool Network friends in a summer hopscotch! Be sure to stop by the rest of the week for more on Choosing Curriculum. Tomorrow we will feature homeschool curriculum reviews for math! Pin each post for future reference! (Each link below will be live on that day).
Now for the Language Arts Giveaway!
Cindy West is giving away two (2) of her Living Literature Grammar Packets!
Amy Maze is giving away one (1) $10 gift certificate towards her Classical Copywork!
Simply follow the directions in the rafflecopter widget below…
Five Days of Homeschool Curriculum Reviews
Be sure to subscribe so you won’t miss any of our five days!
- Monday – Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum Reviews
- Tuesday – Homeschool Math Curriculum Reviews
- Wednesday – Homeschool History and Geography Curriculum Reviews
- Thursday – Homeschool Science, Technology and Nature Study Reviews
- Friday – Homeschool Electives Reviews
~ Hosted by Cindy West of Our Journey Westward and Shining Dawn Books. Cindy is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of 3 from Central KY who loves encouraging homeschoolers!
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