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What You Must Know to Teach High School Unit Studies

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Until my sons reached high school, I didn’t know if my unit study approach would meld with tracking credits and courses. Check out my how to homeschool high school page for awesome tips.

Also, there didn’t really seem an abundance of prepared high school unit studies.

Between determining if unit studies were a good fit for high school and understanding record keeping, it was a lot to wrap my mind around.

Until my sons reached high school, I didn't know if my unit study approach would meld with tracking credits and courses. Also, there didn't really seem an abundance of prepared high school unit studies. Click here to read these 3 must know tips!

Sorting out myths from truth, I hope these 3 tips will help you to easily homeschool high school with unit studies. Or at least give you a beginning place.

3 Tips for Teaching High School Unit Studies

ONE/ Understand first that high school is just a continuation of the lowers grades – really!

Yes, it’s true that you’ll need to track credits and courses, but before stressing out about them, plan high school subjects like you’ve done in the lower grades.

That’s right. Begin with what you know.

In my article How to Choose the BEST Homeschool Lesson Planning Pages for THIS Year, I not only give you tips on how to do that, but each lesson plan form lists subjects by general categories; math, language arts, science, history and electives are the framework of well-rounded out high school courses.

It’s not hard to plan when you understand that you’re covering the same basic subjects albeit in more depth analyzing views instead of just a question answer format like your child did in younger grades.

TWO/ Look for resources which teach 2:1 or two-fer resources.

A two-fer resource is another secret tip to homeschooling teens.

Using a resource which teaches two subjects is vital when your child enters high school.

You don’t want your time wasted and neither do teens.

More important though is the reason that unit studies rocked in the younger grades is the same reason which holds true for high school.

Learning makes more sense when subjects are tied together instead of studied as separate subjects. Additionally, unit studies have always been a research-based approach.

This is a skill which is needed on into adulthood.

Living Books for Unit Studies

Resist giving up your unit study approach because it may require a bit more time to put together.

Sure, it’s easy to assign a text book and move on, but you and I know that high school is just hard sometimes. It’s a challenge to plan but still doable.

Begin again with something you know. Look at these things you may already know how and are doing with your kids in the younger grades.

  • Reading history living books and having your child choose writing topics based on history.
  • Reading science living books and choosing writing topics based on science.
  • Reading math living books and having your child choose writing topics based on math.

Now that you understand that high school courses fall into general categories and understand to look for two-fer resources, here are some examples of how to put it together.

We love the book Undaunted Courage.

Just a side note here.

When I look at a book which can serve as a springboard for high school unit studies, I note 3 things:

  • that it’s a living book,
  • that it’s high school level so that I can legally note on my high school transcript that it’s a high school level resource,
  • and I mull over how hard it will be to add external resources to enrich the study.

Not only is your teen covering part of his credit toward history when reading Undaunted Courage , but he is covering credits for literature too. Writing is part of a literature credit.

So your teen is covering 2–3 subjects at once depending on what credits you’ve lined out for the year.

Because covering literature in high school means more than just reading, you’ll want to have a variety of resources for analyzing literature and for guiding your teen how to write well.

A literature-based unit study which has a history setting has been the easiest to start off with at the high school level.

For example, I find it a challenge to round out a history book with literature analysis than a great book suited for literature analysis.

How to Put Together High School Unit Studies

It’s been easier to add history and science of a time period to a great read.

One super helpful resource we only discovered this year and that is the Thrift Study Editions by Dover. 

Not only are the books for high school level, but each one comes with a study guide in the back. 

For example, while reading A Tale of Two Cities, we studied about the culture of France and England and learned about the issues of the French Revolution.

With a resource like that, doing unit studies are a cinch at the high school level. This brings me to the third point you want to know.

THREE/ Fill your teacher nook with specialized how-two books for you and your teen.

Tackling how to teach a subject with out a curriculum can be daunting, but you can go from research to reward if you choose specialized teaching books.

Here are a few of my favorite resources. You don’t need all of them, but I’ve used them at one time or another to round out our unit studies.

Literature Unit Studies

  • The Design-A-Study series are timeless. This series of books about science, history, and composition gives an overview of what to cover in each grade.  Instead of giving you subjects, it’s helpful because it gives you the big picture of what your child needs to know from K-12. A resource like this is especially helpful if you want to cover a skill or topic that your highschooler may have struggled with in the earlier grades.
  • Warriner’s English Complete Course. This set of books have been around for years and helps to hone writing. Christine Miller of Classical Christian said, “This excellent reference can be used throughout all three years of the dialectic to teach writing. It thoroughly covers grammar in detail, which provides a nice review for those children that need it, or for those children that missed some grammar instruction in the grammar stage. It also covers writing in detail, with a complete section on writing mechanics, usage, writing correct and clear sentences, paragraphs, and papers, the research paper, using references, and even public speaking.” Read the rest of her review here. Before we started using Rod and Staff high school levels, we used Warriner’s. Rod and Staff’s Communicating Effectively I liked one year because I felt like it was more streamlined. It helps to.understand that I used Rod and Staff in the younger grades and their grammar is very rigorous and by 8th grade formal grammar is completed. When you click the link above you can see the sample of their English and what is covered in the high school years.
  • Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School. Don’t get overwhelmed by this book. There is no need to have to read all of it. Focus only on the grade level for this year. Having a handy reference like this will guide you to subjects for each grade.

In an upcoming post, I’ll show you how I plan credits now that you can see how easy it is to satisfy two to three subjects using carefully selected resources.

What You Must Know to Teach High School Unit Studies. Click here to grab the tips!

Also, check out Diving into Homeschool Unit Studies: The Dos and Don’ts and 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together and Homeschool High School–How to Log Hours for High School.

Hugs and love ya,

How to Transition a Child From Reading to Literature

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When I was in 8th grade I had an English teacher who loved words and literary analysis. I picked up her love of words and reading, but not so much her affection for literary analysis. Later in life, my fondness for literary analysis and literature was ignited but my earlier aversion affected how I started teaching reading.

When I was in 8th grade I had an English teacher who loved words and literary analysis. I picked up her love of words and reading, but not so much her affection for literary analysis. Later in life, my fondness for literary analysis and literature was ignited but my earlier aversion affected how I started teaching reading. Click here to get tips on understanding the difference between teaching reading and literature.

Determined that my boys would not be aliterate, I did some things right and some not so right when I first began to teach reading.

What I should’ve done with my first son was to introduce elements of literature earlier than I did. I’m grateful I didn’t totally mess up my kid because his love for excellent literature is apparent today.

From Reading to Literature

Let me back up first because understanding what is literature and what is reading can be confusing to the non-professional. It was to me.

And because there are so many facets about comprehending what is literature, it can seem almost over the top to grasp.

I’m going to speak in broad terms here because it’s important to see the big picture before you know how to transition a child from reading to literature. Teaching a child to read has these elements:

  • from the time he can sat on your lap, you begin reading aloud;
  • you teach him to associate symbols, which he later understands are letters with sounds;
  • you teach him that grouping together more than one letter helps him to blend sounds;
  • you begin to engage in formal and direction instruction which is phonics;
  • you continue with assisting him in learning phonics to about the fourth grade if necessary;
  • while you’re teaching him letter sounds, he cements those sounds by reading them in books, which gives him a purpose for reading;
  • you progress from early readers to chapter books; and
  • all throughout the years, you should be very picky about the quality of literature so that you hook an emerging reader on to lifelong reading.

Not focusing just on how to read but fostering a love of it in the early years is the key. That’s a tough enough job.

Here is one of my favorite programs to teach reading!
All About Reading

Switching gears to teaching literature is a gradual process as I’ve learned. It’s my opinion that whether or not you take a literature course in college, you’re not really prepared to know when to introduce all the features of literature to a young child. Of course, if you’re an English teacher that is different.

Before I go further, it’s important to also look at the elements of teaching literature which gives you a starting point in how to teach it. Here are some easy to understand features:

  • it’s about using good books that inspire readers;
  • it can effect the lives of people;
  • it may be praised for its literary value;
  • it may be famous for its historical value;
  • it’s about learning genres along with the elements of fiction;
  • it’s about exposure to a higher level vocabulary;
  • it’s learning how to extract meaning beyond what the author is stating;
  • it’s appreciating why literature can move us;
  • it’s about choosing a method, whether it’s an oral discussion only or part worksheet or part oral discussion to find one that suits your child’s learning style; and
  • it’s about moving from soft or fun literature to sophisticated literature which may not always be so fun.

As you can see, literature is an immense area to study. Knowing when to transition to teaching literature and not teaching reading is not an exact science.

Taming it doesn’t have to be a struggle if you know what to focus on at which ages or levels.

Now that you have an overview of the difference, here are a few strategies that won’t overwhelm you.

One/ Introduce genre in a natural way and not like I did with a workbook.

Even though I messed up with one child, I still had time to for a do over.

Instead of pulling out a worksheet to match genre types for books which your kids may not have read, simply explain the type of book it is.

As we read together from about third grade on, I saw the need to start explaining the genre and setting.

Now that two of my sons are young adults, I get different opinions from them.

One son critiqued me and wished I was more formal at the time when explaining the type of literature we were going to discuss and to include more worksheets. The second son critiqued me and said he wished there were no worksheets at all.

Teaching literature should take your child’s learning style into consideration but I also remember that I’m doing the teaching. And just because something is forced, it doesn’t mean it’s not good for my sons.

A balance between discussion and workbooks I feel gives a well-rounded approach and I ended up adapting to both learning styles

Two/ Book reports are not always required but you’ll want to determine a standard in how to analyze a reading.

What you would expect from a middle school student is not the same that you would expect from a high school teen.

Instead of doing book reports, take time to discuss the book with them. This means they read and come back to tell what they learned. I know it takes time, but literature is about taking time to let it move you.

In the beginning, they will just want to tell you what the book is about. Believe me after hearing the retelling of To Kill a Mockingbird numerous times, I thought I would lose patience. But seeing expressions on each of my son’s faced as they read it, made each time feel new. Each kid will identify with the protagonist, Scout, whether they agree with her or not. And understanding a six-year-old with a great wit is what drew my sons into learning about the story.

Three/ Analyzing  and teaching literature is a gradual unfolding.

I did this part wrong too. When Mr. Senior 2013 started middle school, I thought that instantly he was going to understand things like a figure of speech, the elements of fiction, author’s point of view, and etc.

I needed to slow down and realize that from about middle to high school, analyzing literature is a gradual process. Just like higher level math requires a more mature thinking, so does literature.

Don’t be locked into grades, but evaluate each child’s reading level and comprehension.

If a child can’t read well yet or is still struggling to comprehend, it’s hard to delve into a deeper meaning of a novel.

Let him lounge in the learning to read stage a while longer.

If You Can Read, You Can Teach Literature

Although I didn’t completely turn my son off to excellent literature, I almost made the mistake by several educators which is to make learning about it too mechanical.

With my next sons, I added in hands-on learning in the elementary grades and middle school.

For example, while discussing the setting of a book, my sons drew what they thought a time period looked like.

When we read Winnie-the-Pooh they drew a forest for the Hundred Acre Wood. A simple map brings the setting of the book to life.

More Language Arts Resources

I didn’t know using puppets would be such a great hit with understanding If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

Those are just a few tips in such a broad topic but I wanted to dive into sharing with you what worked and what didn’t work for me.

I’m going to continue on this topic by sharing some upcoming posts with tips about teaching your kids to high school.

Would you like to get some more tips? Tell me what kind of help you need the most.

Hugs and love ya,

3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

It’s a scary feeling choosing a writing curriculum when you don’t have a professional background in education. Also, look at my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter.

Knowing that thousands of parents embark on teaching their children each year, I too made the leap to choosing the perfect writing curriculum.

But you and I both know that perfect writing curriculum doesn’t exist, or does it?

3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

Looking back now that two of my sons are graduated, there were some things I did right although I didn’t feel that way at the time.

WRITING CURRICULUM

Hoping to spare you the same agony I went through because of my aversion to teaching writing, I learned 3 ways to choose the best writing curriculum for a growing homeschool family.

1. There is a right way to teach writing. No smoke and mirrors are involved.

A writing program needs to give you and your children structure and sentence variety.

Short and compound sentences are only two sentence types, but a beginner writer needs plenty of practice developing them.

Moving from basic sentence writing to a paragraph is foundational to strong writing skills.

As your child matures, he widens out in his ability to write creatively, but the foundation is first.

Does your writing curriculum give numerous subject topics, practice with sentence variety and instructions to the non-professional educator?

2. As the moods of your children change, your writing environment can’t.

When it comes to scheduling, I could easily be known as a Nazi mama.

I’ve been hard on myself through the years so that I don’t push too hard.

But years later, I’ve learned my structured environment was key to my boys learning how to write well.

I fully appreciate now that relaxed homeschooling is not lazy homeschooling. Finding balance is key to being a good writing teacher.

A well-rounded writing curriculum should give you guidance through each step of the writing process and tips to accommodate your kids changing needs and moods.

For several years, my sons needed to write about boy topics.

Easy Writing Curriculum Tips

Getting them in touch with their warm and fuzzy feelings didn’t work for them. An excellent writing curriculum really needs to serve the needs of both girls and boys.

In my inexperience, I learned a valuable nugget which is that a structured writing environment nurtures creativity. It worked opposite of how I thought it would be in the beginning.

Instead of focusing on the grade level, a writing curriculum needs to give you a clear picture of the process.

For example, does it move from planning, prewriting, drafting, revising to editing/publish? Does it help you to teach each step clearly?

If the writing curriculum is written for multiple ages, then you can teach to the writing ability for each child.

It’s a costly mistake to buy a writing curriculum that does not give you abundant teaching tips at each stage of the writing process.

For example, just because a child is in middle school doesn’t mean he is ready to write high school essays. After all essays are just a lot of practice in paragraph writing combined to make a lengthy paper.

Practice in paragraph writing can span many grades and it’s more about maturity than age.

When you’re given clear short-term goals and long-term goals of the writing process, your child can advance based on his maturity or simmer at one level for a while.

Again, teaching writing from the novice to the accomplished is about giving kids a structured environment which should be one of the important details in your program.

Writing, like math, is a skill that needs to be practiced each day. Skipping writing for numerous days and then asking your kids to write 5 paragraphs in one setting is pure torture.

Like other skill subjects, writing quickly becomes boring if a child is not writing about what interests him.

Does your writing curriculum give you writing prompts or ideas, encourages your child to write about topics that interest him and remind you to give praise for your child’s good communication skills? It should.

3. Lessons must be geared toward ensuring writing success.

Writing programs aim for writing success, but many miss the mark.

Not having a teaching background makes me require more of a writing program than just telling me about the writing process.

Look at these key bullet points to help you gauge a top-notch writing program.

Writing Structure Gives Kids a Strong Edge

  • Equipping teachers with scripted lessons is the start to creative writing. Like cooking, not everybody needs a recipe but sometimes you need exact measurements. However, in the beginning an inexperienced cook starts with a pattern or recipe and adjusts a recipe as she hones her skill. She adjusts a recipes to fit her family’s needs. Teaching writing is similar. Learn from seasoned writers by carefully following a script and then adjust it to meet your family’s needs.
  • Providing detailed instructions for budding writers is an essential component. New writers seem to have no fear when it comes to ideas. They need structure and guidance daily. The challenges are quite different for a more mature writer.
  • A program should ensure writing success for older writers who have more experience in life but may have experienced many writing failures. They may lack confidence. If a writing program fails to ensure that each writing adventure is a success, why would you choose it?
  • Ample ideas for editing, revising and giving feedback are necessary. My boys never responded to the red pen marks on their paper. It didn’t take many times for me to do that until I realized that writing is very personal. Tips in my curriculum like discussing topics beforehand, having my child explain his thoughts to me prior to writing and having my child listen and watch me as I thought outloud while writing were key teaching points I learned.

Teaching Kids to Write Clearly and Creatively Without Crushing Them

One year when one of my sons was in middle school, I thought he was a very creative writer. At least more so than I was at his age. What I was helped to appreciate from teaching writing was that my son needed to make a point with his writing while entertaining readers.

Having eight pages of words which sparked his imagination was beautiful and creative, but honing it for meaning is equally important.

As a mom of bright boys, I refused to believe that just because boys came later to the writing table that it meant they were delayed.

They were not, they just needed more entertaining than girls. A boy’s need to wiggle, move, and use up their energy had to be incorporated into the lesson plan.

I’m not telling you that teaching writing is easy, but it can be less intimidating when you choose the best writing curriculum. Take your time choosing one and ask a lot of questions.

3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

What is working and not working for you right now?

More Writing Curriculum Tips

Also, look at how to teach writing with these other tips.

It’s a scary feeling to choose a writing curriculum when you don’t have a professional background in education. Knowing that thousands of parents embark on teaching their children each year, I too made the leap to choosing the perfect writing curriculum. But you and I both know that perfect writing curriculum doesn’t exist, or does it? Looking back now that two of my sons are graduated, there were some things I did right although I didn’t feel that way at the time. Click here to grab the 3 tips on how to choose the BEST writing curriculum.

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

The Ultimate Guide to Poetry for Multiple Ages (For the Intimidated)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

In creating this ultimate guide to poetry for multiple ages, I’ve recalled my own lack of experience in teaching poetry. Unlike other areas of language arts, poetry can be intimidating to teach.

Taking the abstract to concrete, associating images with thoughts, limited experiences of child and teacher to appreciate figurative language, and comprehending the difference between imagery and metaphor are just a few of the elements that caused me to delay teaching poetry.

The Ultimate Guide to Poetry (For the Intimidated). Like living books, poetry needs to be appreciated first for the ability to move a reader. Rhythm and meter are art forms of poetry. And choosing the right words, a pause or space in between stanzas, and giving life to soulless objects are ways that a skillful poet evokes thoughts, feelings and imagination. Click here to learn how to skillfully teach poetry!

Crippled with my lack of education in understanding the language of poetry, I used prepared lesson plans to teach it in the early years of homeschooling.

Gaining momentum in the middle and high school years to move away from laid out resources and learn alongside my sons, I learned that poetry is similar to my love of reading; it’s more about the experience of reader to language than identifying all the poetry elements.

Like living books, poetry has to be appreciated first for the ability to move a reader.

Rhythm and meter are art forms of poetry. And choosing the right words, a pause or space in between stanzas, and giving life to soulless objects are ways that a skillful poet evokes thoughts, feelings and imagination.

Releasing the Inner Bard

Poetry is now one of my essentials in a reading program.

Although it may seem strange to an avid writer or reader, one point I appreciate more now is that a person is not obligated to share the joy of reading, writing or an emotional connection with a poem.

It can be intrinsic and the reader can possess an inner satisfaction without feeling compelled to tout all of his life’s experiences,  positive or negative to the whole world.

Personal views and intimate thoughts about poetry can stay as an inner secret. Or if you want to join the great conversation of the world, a poem can pull you and others into discussing feelings, thoughts and experiences.

Like discussing a great book, agreeing with another person or not when discussing poetry isn’t the point. It’s about the power of moving you to think beyond your own life’s experiences or predetermined cultural values and expressing yourself with profound meaning.

Conversations with others, like reading words painted by a poet, are educational, entertaining, and expand our understanding of them. And reading poetry is like conversations with ones you love, like your children. It’s about speaking the right words in the correct order.

It’s taken me almost my whole journey of homeschooling to grasp those two very different views I can take to poetry. I hope it won’t take you that long to look beyond teaching the elements of poetry and peer into the hidden power of poetry.

Poetry Needs to Be Read Outloud

In this ultimate guide to poetry for multiple ages (for the intimidated), I hope to give you a starting point in reading and writing poetry.

Encourage your children to write poetry. Even the simplest word from their heart is rich with meaning and it is the stepping stone to creative writing. Encourage your children to read poetry outloud. They’ll love the option of keeping an inner secret or delighting others by publicly expressing their emotions through picture words.

General Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides, and Unit Studies

Haiku Writing Lesson
Poetry and Prose Lesson
Traditional Sonnet Forms Lesson
Immigrant Poetry Lesson
Culture Through Poetry Lesson
Line Breaks in Poetry Lesson
T.S. Eliot Biography for Children
Middle to High School: The Odyssey 104 page download.
Shape Poetry 2 page download.
Leaf by Leaf Autumn Poetry Lesson Plan		Writing Acrostic Poems Lesson
Rebus and Rhyme Lesson
Cinquain Poems Lesson
Emma Lazarus Lesson
African-American Poetry Lesson
Shel Silverstein Lesson Plans
Emily Dickinson Poetry Guide
My Book of Poems
17 page download
Sixth Grade Poetry Unit 59 page download.


Printable Poetry Resources

Poetry Memorization Printables
Lyric and Free Verse Notebooking Pages
Ballad Notebooking Pages
Pastoral and Sonnet Notebooking Pages
Printable Motivational Poems
Fall Poetry Printables
Poetic Devices Minibook
Nursery Rhymes Notebooking Pages
Printable Limerick Exercise
Cinquain Poem Printables
Printable Nonsense Poetry
Printable Jumbled Poetry Worksheet
Rhyming Couplets Worksheet
Irony in Poetry Worksheet
Poetry Foot and Line Flash Cards
Simile Poem Worksheet
Poetry Terms Worksheet
Street Sign Poetry Worksheet		Printable Robert Frost Copywork
Poetry Memorization Cards
Narrative Poetry and Haiku Printables
Villanelle Notebooking Pages
Limerick and Nonsense Verse Notebooking Pages
Emily Dickinson Riddle Poem Cards
Printable Limerick Activity
Over the River Poem Copywork
Mother Goose Rhyme Copywork
Printable Five Line Poem Worksheet
Acrostic Poem Printables
Printable Poetry Language Planner
Pirates Acrostic Poem Worksheet
Poetry Vocabulary Match Worksheet
Poetry Alliteration Worksheet
Biography Poem Worksheet
Writing Onomatopoeia Worksheet
Writing a Ballad WorksheetNarrative Poetry Worksheet
Epitaph Poetry Printable Activity
Rhythm and Rhyme in Poetry Printable
Poetry Uses Rhyme Worksheet
Printable Greece Poetry Copywork
Printable Texas Poetry Copywork

Homeschooling Poetry Tips

Charlotte Mason Poetry Homeschool Routine
Haiku Poetry Lesson
Self-Expression Exercises for Kids
Describe the Sky Exercise
How to Write a Diamond Poem
Using Poetry for Family History
Ways to Use Poetry in School		Reasons to Teach Poetry
5 Steps for Studying Poetry
How to Notebook with Poetry
How to Teach Shakespearean Sonnets
Tips for Teaching Haiku Writing
50 Tips for Teaching Poetry
How to Write a Name Poem
Exercising Imagination Activity


Poetry Crafts and Hands-On Activities

Life-Sized Poetry Board Game
Mary Mary Quite Contrary Craft
Poetry Journaling
Historical Poetry Writing
Create a Poetry Scrapbook
Poetry Smelling Game
Throw an Open Mic Poetry Party
Lunch Bag Sestinas Writing		How to Add Fun Teatime To Your Homeschool Poetry Study
DIY Magnetic Poetry Kit
Creating Art Haiku
Picture and Poetry Activity
Poetry Shopping Spree
Poetry Invisible Ink Activity
Jump Rope Rhymes
Poetry Charades Game
Photographic Poetry Activity
Writing Found Poetry
Photograffiti Poetry
Blackout Poetry
Poetry Learning Station Ideas

Poetry Books for Homeschoolers

Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets by Kwame Alexander
Poetry Speaks of Who I Am: Poems of Discovery, Inspiration, Independence, and Everything Else by Elise Paschen
Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem From the Inside Out by Ralph Fletcher
The Random House Book of Poetry for Children by Jack Prelutsky		 Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry by Jane Yolen
Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings by Shel Silverstein

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Hugs and love ya,

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Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

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21 Hands-on Ideas for Homeschool Spelling From a Seasoned Mom

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Wanting my sons to love words and spelling as much as I do, I was anxious when I started to teach spelling. And there was plenty I did wrong, but there was a lot I did right. I want to ease your fears by sharing this list of 21 hands-on ideas to teach homeschool spelling because playing with letters and learning sounds in the beginning builds a solid foundation into adulthood.

Holding my sons responsible for their spelling from the time we started doing formal spelling lessons until they graduated high school was key. But good spellers don’t start with formal lessons.

Spelling, like the three Rs, is a skill subject. This means you look for a period of readiness that comes before formal steps. Children need time to explore with letters, sounds and parts of words until they formally put them together. Don’t rush it like I started off doing. That is why it’s called preschool. Pre-reading, pre-math, and pre-spelling come before formal lessons.

Backing up, I put away my formal lessons in Kindergarten to be sure my first son had plenty of time to explore the concept that a symbol or letter represented a sound. Teaching my children after him followed that same pattern.

I’m here to tell you, at the beginning stages it’s not so important to teach letter names as it is the sound they represent.

This doesn’t mean you have to push aside playing an ABC game in spelling, but try to think in terms of how spelling flows into reading.

Reading is partially about memorizing words but strategies for attacking unknown words begins with solid spelling skills.

As you begin applying 21 hands-on ideas to teach homeschool spelling, remember that you’re building a foundation for spelling mastery. And by communicating with your child every day, he has already picked up a lot about spelling through natural interaction with you.

I had wished that mindset was something I valued more at the time, but it’s hard to appreciate that when you feel you may mess up your kids for life. Right?

Although it wasn’t back in covered wagon times when I started homeschooling like my boys think, it was back before more information was available about using a multi-sensory approach.

That is just educational jargon for learning to take information in through more than one sense. Learning hands-on and through sight makes the language of spelling stick.

Here’s how to do it.

Practice beginning homeschool spelling with chocolate pudding. Yum! Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

1. Write in chocolate pudding. No arguments from the kids – ever. Yogurt works great too.Practice beginning homeschool spelling with licorice and white icing. Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus2. Write using candy licorice. Using a clean pair of kid-friendly scissors, my boys cut the shapes of letters and stuck them in white icing on a graham cracker. Yum. That is the way I got their sugar in for the day.

3.  Write in salt.

4. Write on a chalkboard.

5. Cut out letters from card stock and spell words.

6. Write with a squirt bottle of water or paint on sidewalk.

7. Write with a paintbrush dipped in paint.

8. Write in shaving cream.

9. Paint on small rocks. The boys also loved this activity. They would play for hours arranging the rocks to spell words.

10. Form words and letters using play-doh.

11. Form words and letters using edible peanut butter dough.

Hands down this was a favorite for my boys. It worked beautifully with each son as they showed readiness. I timelessly used this recipe of powdered milk, peanut butter and honey over and over again.
And unless your kids are allergic to peanut butter dough, you’ll love using this recipe for letters, words and teaching ending and beginning sounds.

12. Match pictures or cards with sounds. Toys and manipulatives always engage young children. Buying a few games and educational learning supplies early, I was able to use them extensively with each child.13. Use music for singing and spelling words. Big books aren’t just for a classroom. My kids fell in love with them at home. I used them for teaching spelling.

We listened to the music, while looking at the letters and singing along R – E – D red.

The wonderful thing about this is that a child can touch the letters, point to them while listening to the words and letters through music. It’s a way to learn through another mode.

Spelling Super Tips

14. Use magnetic letters.

Magnetic letters placed on the refrigerator and at the height of the your child encourages him to learn letters and practice spelling in quick learning spurts. This timeless teaching tips still works in today’s techie world.

15. Write with a magnetized pen to trace over letters.

16. Write using a trace erase board. I had no idea when I purchased the trace erase board how much I would use them through the years. I started using them spelling practice and purchased other pages to insert inside them for other skills. I loved these because I could take them with us.

The kids write on the acrylic face. In other words, unlike slipping a page into a plastic sleeve, your kids always have a hard surface to write on. There is a space between the face and the backboard to insert pages. You can change out the skills. Writing, erasing and practicing kept my kids learning for a long time.17. Use alphabet sound teaching tubs. I bought a set of tubs and used them for several years with each child as they came along. When I bought them they were not as expensive as they are now; I bought mine from Lakeshore Learning. I think this alphabet object set is just as good if you don’t have time to hunt for one or make your own.

Something else you can do is to make your own set. Save small plastic dishes with lids or buy an inexpensive set at a dollar store and collect miniature dollar store toys.

I did this too and it works great although some letter sounds are hard to find.

18. Hole punch letters. This is what I call a two-fer. Not only do your kids work on their fine motor skills more directly, but they learn their letters.

19. Write using stencil sets.

This also was a big hit at my home. Finding a large size stencil is not hard. These Karty Large Alphabet Stencils work great for coloring, placing glue in the area and pouring glitter (uggg, not my favorite, but the kids loved it), tracing and filling in with tiny pom poms, cereal, beans, play-doh or paint.

20. Match letters-the fun way. This is an easy project you can set up at any time.

Instead of drawing lines on a boring page to match lettters get creative to make it hands-on and engaging. For example, I used a slab of play-dough to form a big square. Creating two columns, I placed plastic letters on each side and my husband’s golf tees (he “lost” several that way) above each letter. My boys used yarn to match the letters.

21. Hit a balloon up in the air. This is great for boys because they can hit something and not each other. I know, I used it with each son and it always returned great learning results.

Blow up a bag of balloons, use a marker, and write one letter on each balloon. Your kids can play, hit the balloon in the air while saying the letter or sound. This works great for pretty well anything like numbers, math facts, and cvc words. I know that is beside the point, but when beginning to teach it takes time to get the teaching wheels turning so I’m hoping it will get your creative juices flowing.

Having used numerous spelling programs but without a multi-sensory approach, I was delighted to be able to use All About Spelling when it came out.

It truly is one of the best spelling programs I’ve used and I’ve used many. I know you’ll love how easy All About Spelling makes spelling now.
All About SpellingI hope these tips will help you to teach spelling in a way that make your children become master spellings because they worked for me!

What spelling ideas have worked for your kids?

Do you want to see how this step leads to the next one?

Look here at how early letter writing and spelling blossoms into beautiful writing. Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 1, Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 2 and Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 3.

Hugs and love ya,

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