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7 Budget-Friendly Language Arts Curriculum to Pair with Unit Studies (with printable)

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Through the years, I've given the same long-standing advice. Spend first what money you have budgeted for curriculum on the core subjects because they are essential to a well-rounded-out education. Reading in the younger grades, literature in the older grades, grammar and writing are vital pieces of a homeschool language arts program. And it can become expensive quickly when you're implementing the unit study approach using an all-in-one language arts program. Click here to read about how to save money when you buy individual components. | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

This is a sponsored post for Homeschool Buyers Co-op and I was paid for my time. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off. All opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. Read my full disclosure here.

Through the years, I’ve given the same long-standing advice. Spend first what money you have budgeted for curriculum on the core subjects because they are essential to a well-rounded education. Reading in the younger grades, literature in the older grades, grammar and writing are vital pieces of a homeschool language arts program. And it can become expensive quickly when you’re implementing the unit study approach using an all-in-one language arts program. So I was excited to share some budget-friendly homeschool language arts curriculum options from Homeschool Buyers Co-op, which I’ve used and another one I am eyeballing to add.

Mapping Out the Components of Language Arts

Breaking down the language arts components worked best for me because like most kids, they are ahead in one subject and may need more time on another.

Picking and choosing the individual parts of a homeschool language arts program gives you a customized curriculum. It’s a better match for your child’s learning style and a better value when you have a limited dollar amount to get exactly what you need.

►VOCABULARY

For vocabulary, I always try to pull words from what we’re reading about in our unit studies. Reading words in that context and using them in everyday speech is the best way to master them.

But I used the printed version of Wordly Wise 3000 with Mr. Senior 2013 to be sure I exposed him to word study as a way to enhance our unit studies. Kids can master more words than we think they can, and to cripple their vocabulary with limited vocabulary instruction can be detrimental.

Lessons don’t have to be long, but they should be comprehensive. Using Wordly Wise 3000, I can expand lessons or cut back according to each son’s need.

When the online version came out, I was tickled to use it with my next two boys. Wordly Wise 3000 online version of the award-winning vocabulary curriculum for grades 2–12 saves you 89% and that is a sweet discount.

Although I know Wordly Wise 3000 touts that the audio feature is great for struggling readers, I think it’s great for independent learners. I don’t have to supervise my sons to see if they are correctly pronouncing a word. I know you’ll love it if you’re looking for an interactive vocabulary program that is not boring.

►READING OR LITERATURE

When I started making my own unit studies, I would get a gallon size ziploc bag and put the book and literature guide together in one bag.

Then, I would mark the reading level on the bag and organize them for the year. I started off using printed versions of Progeny Press Literature Guides.

I would even unfasten the literature guide so I could add just the pages that my boys needed to do for that year. I was tickled when pdf formats came out because it meant no waste. I printed what I needed that year with one son, and printed a different page or pages needed for another year.

Progeny Press Literature Guides are in an enhanced pdf format now, are for grades K-12 and the best part is you save 35%.

Now, the guides are interactive which means you don’t have to print; a child can type his answers directly into the document. That is a nifty time-saving tip for a high school teen with a rigorous academic load or a reluctant writer. But sometimes we like to hold our paper in hand so we print. And I still like pairing specific lessons on pages to themes in my unit studies.

Look at a few things they offer:

  • FOUR LEVELS – Lower Elementary for Grades K-4, Upper Elementary for Grades 3-5, Middle School for Grades 5-8, and High School for Grades 9-12
  • 100+ TITLE CHOICES – We’ve put together SIX different 5-pack bundle choices for you! YOU CHOOSE your wish list from OVER 100 TITLE CHOICES! Choose from excellent reading titles such as Beowulf (*NEW*), The Eagle of the Ninth (*NEW*), Charlotte’s Web, Anne of Green Gables, The Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Secret Garden, The Hobbit, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Pride and Prejudice, The Screwtape Letters, To Kill A Mockingbird, and MANY, MANY MORE!

►GRAMMAR

Grammar is a tool to best apply while writing so I’ve always kept it a separate subject. But grammar is also just the rules of any language. Teaching rules shouldn’t be complicated. Short lessons are best, which is why Analytical Grammar works.

In my beginning years, I used a grammar program which combined complex writing assignments with grammar. After homeschooling another 5 years, I realized that a grammar program should focus only on explaining grammar rules without time-consuming composition assignments as the only way to learn them. Yes, writing assignments are a great way to illustrate grammar rules, but shorter is better.

Besides, I needed a grammar curriculum which would give me the flexibility to pull writing themes from topics that piqued my boys’ interest in our current unit study. More important, I wanted a program that helped us to use words in a way that conformed to the rules of grammar. I wished I would have used Analytical Grammar, for grades 4-12 earlier, but I’m glad I hopped on board when I did.

Homeschool Buyers Co-op does give you free shipping. Any savings helps when you want a thorough grammar program.

►WRITING OR COMPOSITION

Next, identifying a writing program which was engaging for my sons and took them incrementally through the writing process was not easy. Institute for Excellence in Writing, for grades K-12 was our answer.

Melding Homeschool Language Arts and Unit Studies

It was a huge load of stress off after separating grammar and composition when I started using Institute for Excellence in Writing, grades K-12.

As you can see in the picture above, the boys were working on our FBI unit study. Dad was helping the boys make a crystal radio after they wrote about it. However, their essay followed the writing model learned in Institute for Excellence in Writing or (IEW). IEW makes it easy to choose your own topics to write about or they have writing topics for your children to choose.

What I liked the most is that although grammar and writing are inextricably linked, it’s important to not overwhelm beginner writers.

The veteran teaching tip is to make one skill or the other the focus at different times. IEW explained grammar while keeping the focus on writing and modeling to my sons how to compose their ideas.

Here is how IEW works: It takes a unique approach provides the structure that students need to develop confidence in the writing process, while gradually guiding them toward greater independence and creativity. They will learn nine structural models (note taking, writing paragraphs, stories, simple reports, writing from pictures, research reports, creative writing, essays, and critiques) to help them organize any type of composition.

You’ll like getting the discount for shipping on this so worth it writing curriculum.

►READING OR LITERATURE

Then, buying living history literature guides gives me a two for one deal.

Not only do I use living literature in my unit studies as a topic or theme, but it counts as the reading or literature aspect of the three Rs. Buying living history literature helps me to keep homeschooling affordable.

With living history literature by Bethlehem Books, grades PreK-12, you save up to 50%.

Remember, since this is living literature the vocabulary is not simplified and it may be harder for some kids. Too, Bethlehem Books chooses books based on moral value, which I like.

Though I school for Biblical reasons, I don’t think you have to teach about it in every book.

I do try to choose living history books which have a good story line, are intriguing, have a challenging reading level, include details about the time period, and can be easily implemented in a unit study which builds character without feeling preachy. It’s a lot to ask for in a book. I’m selective, but I love starting with Bethlehem Books.

►REVIEW AND ENRICHMENT

Then I hear about the fear of gaps when doing unit studies. Having a way to fill in gaps or shore up weaknesses is a great feature of IXL Language Arts Practice, which is for grades K-12 and saves you 25%.

You probably heard of their math, but their language arts is equally practical.

Look at what they offer: IXL makes the world of words come alive with fun visuals and interactive questions. Build great writers through playful skills that pique students’ curiosity about language!  

Then this next deal, which is Discovery Education Streaming Plus, for grades K-12 and saves you 60% is the one I’m about to pull the trigger on because we love media with our unit studies.

But did you know it’s so much more? It covers every content area.

Look at what you get:

It’s easy to see why homeschoolers rave about Discovery Education Streaming Plus. It’s probably the most extensive and feature-rich educational video streaming service in the world.

It’s much like having the entire DVD selection of your local public library available to you from the convenience of your home, 24/7/365.

But it’s not just a collection of videos that you can watch from beginning to end. This library has been organized into useable video clips, organized and categorized, close-captioned, and supplemented with lesson plans, teaching guides, interactive simulations, images, audio resources, and other resources and materials that you can incorporate into virtually every aspect of your homeschool curriculum.

What a comprehensive way to enrich a unit study with so many features like audio books, self-paced training, images, games and the ability to customize lessons at your fingertips.

The Homeschool Buyers Co-op has an award-winning selection of language arts products, including curriculum for phonics, reading, writing, vocabulary, spelling and grammar.

Language Arts curriculum – Savings up to 93% (compared to regular price outside of Homeschool Buyers Co-op).

Look at this free from below, which is Unit Study Goal and Objectives. Download it to give you a starting point for your ideas for each grade.

When you’ve chosen curriculum which gives your child a solid foundation in language arts and covers the significant areas, you can spend more time planning the fun part of unit studies.

Download here Unit Study Goals & Objectives.

How to Buy It and Get the Savings!

Website: Homeschool Buyers Co-op
Products:
 ►Grammar: Analytical Grammar for grades 4-12.
►Literature Guides: Progeny Press Literature Guides, pdf format, grades K-12 and save 35%
►Vocabulary: Wordly Wise 3000 Online version of the award-winning vocabulary curriculum, grades 2–12 and save 89%
►Composition or Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing, grades K-12
►Review and Enrichment:
Video Streaming: Discovery Education Streaming Plus, grades K-12 and save 60%
Language Arts Review: IXL Language Arts Practice, grades K-12 and save 25%
►Reading or Literature:
Living History Literature: Living History literature by Bethlehem Books, grades PreK-12 and save up to 50%

Also, look at these other homeschool articles to help you.

5 Best Resources to Start a Homeschool Unit Study in a Few Hours, 24 Borderline Genius Ways To Relieve Language Arts Boredom and Unfolding of a Homeschool Unit Study – An Easy Mnemonic { I-SIP}.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

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.

How to Easily Add Poetry to Your Homeschool Subjects

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

How to Easily Add Poetry to Your Homeschool Subjects @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusPoetry has always been important to me during my homeschooling journey. Expressing emotion through artfully contrived words though, I feel, can be a lost art in homeschooling because of the sheer number of subjects that creep up into our day. We have savored every lesson as we used The Art of Poetry Bundle.

Beautiful words have a way of painting a conversation with so few of them. I have always admired such clear thought that can be dwindled down to a few lines of poetry. The Art of Poetry captures not just the common elements like rhythm and meter, but can lead you step by step to understanding and skillfully teaching poetry.

I have added a snippet above of the table contents for you to peek at. By breaking each element of poetry down into a chapter, you and your children have more than enough time to relish each word, line and punctuation.

Poetry unlike reading prose calls for an unhurried pace so that all the parts are analyzed for beauty and hidden meaning.

Using figurative language and metaphors is not something we always use in everyday writing. At first, studying poetry can feel strained until you realize that writers have to write with their hearts and not just their minds. So The Art of Poetry  begins by helping you to understand the importance of paying close attention to reading, then covers the elements of poetry and gives you a history and timeline of poetry.

A very useful feature and one we enjoyed  is the short biographies of poets that is in the back of the book. Helping your children to appreciate that poets are real people and their lives, their environment and opinions influences their emotions and enriches our understanding of each word. 

Whether a poem is silly, happy or sad, our children see that other poets may have experienced some of the things that we do.

When we received The Art of Poetry, both the Student Text and Teacher Editions were bound beautifully. You know my obsession by now though. I need books that lay flat on my table. So I coil bound both the Teacher’s Edition and Student Text and began our lessons.

I heeded the suggestion given right away and that is to begin by reading Chapter 8:Putting it All Together.  Using this with both Mr. Awesome who was high school level at the time and Tiny who was elementary level, helped me to get an overall pulse of their understanding of poetry up to this point.

After each poem there is a set of questions in the Student Text for you to consider. The Teacher’s Edition is a must have because of the sheer volume of teaching tips and answers to the questions. It is more than an answer sheet. More on that in a minute because I certainly want to give you more details on it.

At the end of the chapter there are activities that vary anywhere from reading a poem of your child’s choosing, to hands-on activities to writing a poem.

There were more than enough activities to choose from at the end of each chapter so that I could mix and match for both levels.  Also vocabulary words and their definitions are provided throughout the Student Text.

It did not take long for Mr. Awesome and Tiny to understand that poems are about laughter, enjoyment and they can also bring tears. They are about unveiling emotion that we only thought oral conversation could do.

We did several of the activities suggested in each lesson plan. As suggested in one of the activities, I found free emotion facial cards online so that Tiny could pick the emotion he was feeling as Mr. Awesome read the poem.

I also received Disk 1 from the DVD. The quality, sound and clarity of the lessons was superb.

I think one of the parts Mr. Awesome enjoyed the best about this program was watching the DVD as Christine Perrin teaches four students.  Mr. Awesome gave up his normal DVD laptop player and confiscated my computer with the bigger screen. Because he is high school level, he does get to use the Teacher’s Edition too if he needs it but just followed along in the Student Text as he watched her conduct the class. He felt a connection with the other kids there realizing they didn’t have all the exact words to express their feelings about each poem.

I have not forgotten to tell you about the comprehensive Teacher’s Edition. Just in case the homeschool world decides to start nominating candidates for the top of the line teacher’s editions and gives them a 5 star award, I will already have The Art of Poetry Teacher’s Edition nominated.

Previously I mentioned the timeline in the Teacher’s Edition, but I have to admit that some swooning was involved when I saw it. In our unit studies and everyday learning, I am always looking for ways to connect language arts to a history timeline.

In the Teacher’s Edition, there is a timeline that has time periods with the following four sections, except for the postmodern period: forms and genres, writers, literary value and historical context. It is a nice visual aid to enriching your language arts.

A Teacher’s Edition should equip any teacher, not just the ones who have a background or degree in that area, to explain clearly what is being taught. A teacher can’t do this if she is only given an answer sheet. Background information to edify the educator is a must too.

The Art of Poetry Teacher’s Edition contains gray bordered pages immediately following the lesson that gives detailed explications and background information where needed. That means this section clarifies and breaks down the process of teaching into the most minute pieces. We need that when we don’t know what we are doing or like me, if you want to pick up the curriculum and teach with minimum preparation time.

Here is what this Teacher’s Edition includes. I took this from the website so it is finely tuned.

  • Detailed and fascinating explications of thirty-nine poems from the student text
  • A complete answer key to accompany Anthology exercises
  • A poetry time line showing the different periods of poetry, including the period’s forms and genres, writers, literary value, and some historical context
  • A quiz for each chapter, a cumulative book quiz, and answers keys for all quizzes
  • An introduction for the teacher with tips and suggestions for teaching poetry
  • The entire The Art of Poetry student text

I have to add one more point though that is particularly valuable to me in using many, many teacher’s editions and that is how the student text page and teacher’s edition page numbers align. Though the table of contents lists the Teacher’s Edition last entry on page 271, there are well over that amount of pages in the Teacher’s Editions. However, because they retained the same page number alignment, you can easily tell your student which page you are on because you start on the same one. A small thing not so small in keeping me organized and saving time flipping through student texts and teacher’s editions that have different page numbers.

Effort counts in poetry. Turning thoughts into creative words is not an easy task, but any reader of poetry appreciates thoughts that are composed in an artistic way. Both Mr. Awesome and Tiny enjoyed the activities of not only writing their own poetry but sharing it with each other as well as their drawings illustrating figurative language. Closing our eyes and mentally reflecting on the sight, sound, feel, taste and aroma of each poem we read as we were guided along by The Art of Poetry has been some of our most pleasurable lessons so far this year.

I know you’ll love teaching poetry easily with The Art of Poetry .

Also, you can grab some free Ancient Greece Poetry, 24 Borderline Genius Ways To Relieve Language Arts Boredom and How To Teach Your Homeschooled Children Shakespeare.

Hugs and love ya,

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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.

24 Borderline Genius Ways To Relieve Language Arts Boredom

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

It can be challenging to add fun to homeschool subjects that can become stale and boring, like language arts. After all, how can you possibly jazz up phonics?

Today, I’m sharing 24 borderline genius ways to relieve language arts boredom.

24 Borderline Genius Ways to Relieve Language Arts Boredom @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Sparking a Love for Language

Too, some of these tips can be used across multiple ages and other ideas will apply to only certain ages, but it will get your creative juices flowing.

  • Try a scavenger hunt. This was a life saver for me while teaching my middle son phonics and sight words. And it doesn’t take long to set up. Use index cards, flashcards  or sticky notes and hide them around the house.
  • Send cards to grandma. For reluctant writers, sending a card to grandma or to extended family gives his writing a sense of purpose. 
  • Find a pen pal. A pen pal encourages a budding writer and other kids are not so judgmental of writing; it gives the novice writer a place to express his creative outlet whether it’s Lego playing, paper engineering or coding.
  • Learn phonics, through nuts and bolts, make a tube, use letter cubes, create flip books, dig for them, rhyme it, make a phonics phone, an I spy game, make clip cards,  and make an ant mobile.
  • Go Fish.  By grabbing more than one card deck, I wrote on the card and then the boys played together matching up sight words. Simple.
  • Bingo. A fun way to learn letters, phonics, grammar and sight words.

More Language Arts Activities

  • Add magnetic letters or puzzles to the refrigerator. My boys loved to stand and learn and the refrigerator was the perfect pallet.
  • Scrabble, Jr. And my boys never tired of games that were fun.
  • Combine P.E/phonics. Though I never recommend jumping off furniture in the house, it was the only way I could get one son to recite the vowels and sight words. He would jump off the couch and clap. Of course, this can be done outside when the weather is good, but at the time he was learning, it was pretty cold outside. So we did P.E. inside.

  • Go see a Shakespeare play. The local college in our area hosted several plays throughout the year and it was a fun way for my boys to learn about subjects they initially found boring like Shakespeare.
  • Make up a funny story. I would have the boys narrate back to me a silly story using the sight words or phonics word they were using. The sillier the better.
  • Vocaroo. Your kids will love recording their voices so they can write back what they recorded.
  • Mad Libs. They are always a hit in our home and anytime we could move away from a textbook or workbook to do a mad lib story, we did.
  • Do crossword puzzles to learn spelling. Lists are a great way to learn spelling but crossword puzzles breathe life into learning spelling.

  • A real audience counts for writing. Writers of any level are inspired when they have a breathing human being on the other end reading their creative expression. From elementary to high school writers, they can start a blog or enter creative writing contests.
  • Have your kids keep a journal of words or phrases they find amusing. The first time my kids heard me use the phrase come-uppins or come-uppance they said it all day long. I never dreamed it was so comical, but apparently it is. They added it to their journal.
  • Turn a book into a unit study. Look at a unit study about Charlotte’s Web.
  • I love this idea of using matchbooks to do chapter summaries in a novel.

Though it may seem that only science, history and art are easier to bring to life, language arts is the glue that bind the other subjects.

Teach language arts in a way that makes reading, spelling, phonics and even poetry a delight because when a child can read and write well, he nourishes his mind for a lifetime. What a gift!


Grab some other tips. How To Teach Your Homeschooled Children Shakespeare, Shakespeare Unit Study Starters and Free Middle and High School Homeschool Language Arts.

Hugs and love ya,

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

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


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Teaching Cursive Handwriting Matters Style Doesn’t And Free Resources

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

Should teaching cursive handwriting not be a priority in this digital age.

For years we have been told that storing information in digital form is safer than paper.

However, that process is not without problems.

Cursive Matters; Handwriting Style Doesn't and grab some free AWESOME resources @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Technology is rapidly changing.

And hardware and devices, which store vital information from paper can become obsolete.

Businesses scramble to constantly update their systems as important paperwork could become lost.

Should cursive be lost to the same vacuum of the modern digital age?

It’s not easy to answer that question unless you know how to teach cursive.

If you have never taught cursive, it can be easy to cast it off.

Or think that a child is not capable of it.

Will we be doing our kids a disservice if we skip the cursive and keep the keyboard?

You may think so, but not so fast.

Is Cursive Obsolete for Homeschooled Kids?

Look first at a few of these points of how cursive should be taught to make it easy.

And more importantly the value of it.

Also, I have some free resources at the bottom for you to use to teach cursive.

It doesn’t cost a lot to get a beautiful return.

ONE/ Teach cursive first, before print.

When I taught cursive to my first son, he already had learned the ball-and-stick method that I taught him in Prek and part of Kindergarten.

Switching quickly and teaching him simplified cursive at the end of Kindergarten and in first grade were key to him successfully learning cursive.

Teaching my first son cursive, I learned that it was easier to teach him cursive first because the letters were connected and flowing.

I also learned a valuable lesson as a teacher which is to not have my son unlearn the ball-and-stick method he had been taught.

That is not the way I wanted to teach.

As he progressed, I noticed that with the ball-and-stick method that he could get confused with letter direction.

At that point, I had him do all his work, including crossword puzzles in cursive.

By the way, fun crosswords puzzles was a fun way to teach him to practice writing individual cursive letters while his attention was focused on the fun of the puzzle.

As he progressed through the years, he quickly recaptured knowing how to print and it turned out beautiful.

Master Cursive Writing @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

(My son’s cursive at the beginning of second grade so I could judge his progress.)

When my second and third sons came along, I taught them cursive first.

Their letter reversal struggle was just about non-existent because they didn’t learn to print them until they were older.

As they have progressed through the years, I find it ironic that as they have grown, they developed their own order of how to write some numbers and letters.

For example, in writing the number four, one of my sons writes the longer side first (the part on the right) and then he writes the part on the left side last.

Of course, this is opposite of how we teach our kids to print the number 4, but it’s his handwriting style.

Of course, I remind him how to form the numbers and letter easier, but I don’t fuss too much over it.

More on that in a minute.

TWO/ Understand the three broad strokes of cursive.

To understand the simple way to teach cursive, you need to know the three broad strokes.

The first is a downcurve or sometimes called up and down, an overcurve and an undercurve.

When you see how to tame cursive, it becomes very easy to allow kids to make huge curves and loops.

For our first lessons in teaching cursive, my sons wrote real big on butcher roll paper.

Understanding that most children don’t have control over their fine motor skills until about half way through first grade, I didn’t expect them to write small cursive letters.

I did allow each child to write a lot of big strokes, up and down, loops, curves and circles, which they like to do anyway.

From there we progressed to lined paper in first grade.

3 Broad Cursive Strokes to Teach

After teaching all of my sons cursive and resisting the print first tradition, which can confuse children, I learned that when letters are connected and flowing, it’s easier to learn to write.

When a child has to decide where to place straight lines and circles as he is learning the ball-and-stick method, he can get confused and write letters backward.

Cursive built confidence in my boys because when they placed their pencil on the paper on the left side of the paper for the first letter each letter flowed effortlessly.

Instead of focusing so much emphasis on down up, around, lift your pencil up, place it back down, my sons focused on their spelling not the constant placing of where to begin and end letters or lines.

Penmanship was more legible because there was no guessing which letter faced forward or backward.

THREE/ Confusion where one word starts and stops was avoided by doing cursive.

Another battle I didn’t have to face though I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time was that my sons avoided the confusion of not being able to tell where one word ends and the other one begins.

This is not only important for new readers, but for anybody that wants their handwriting legible.

My sons’ reading and writing advanced quickly because cursive helped them to see which letters stayed connected to make words.

When my sons did start using printing interchangeably with cursive on some of their compositions, I noticed that some of the printed words ran together.

More Writing Curriculum Tips

It was hard to read when two words ran together because they weren’t spaced properly.

This is a common mistake for the child to guess where to start the next letter in a ball-and-stick method, which is why some words look like they have a few extra letters at the end of them when they are really the start of the next word.

What I have learned is that cursive matters because it has not only built confidence in my sons, but helped them to learn to read, spell and taught them the value of being proud of something uniquely theirs.

Each son has developed different handwriting styles that are as individual as their personality, which is another myth about cursive.

Cursive doesn’t have to be uniformed among writers.

Persons who have mastered cursive can read different styles of it.

Can Homeschools Become Part of the Dumbing Down Movement If We Don’t Teach Cursive

There is plenty of room for personality and differences. Some writers prefer more vertical writing and others prefer slanted writing, which is why handwriting style doesn’t matter because we are not trying to confine kids to a mold.

I am not telling you to not keep the keyboard, but I’m telling you that cursive goes beyond the value of teaching a child how to write well.

Free Homeschool Cursive Program and Resources

Look at some of these free resources which rock because they help you to teach cursive.

Look at my articles

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

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


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How To Teach Your Homeschooled Children Shakespeare

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

Today, I have a fun book how to teach children Shakespeare.

When we had our Renaissance co-op, I was excited to teach about anything from that time period, except Shakespeare.

Thankfully, I didn’t plan the co-op alone and our group brought in a local bard fill-in to teach us about Shakespeare.

It was a huge hit with our high school kids. And until recently, I didn’t think I could repeat the same experience for my younger son.

So I was over the top excited when I received from Ken Ludwig the book How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare.

Psssst! Before I go on too, I wanted to give you a heads up about the giveaway at the bottom so you don’t miss it.

I was compensated for my time reviewing this product, writing this review, and hosting the giveaway. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off.  ALL opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

How To Teach Your Homeschooled Children Shakespeare (The Easy Way) @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare is like that bard fill-in we had at our co-op, who translated English from ancient to modern in an animated way to move us and to make sense of the beautiful words painted by Shakespeare.

How Well Do You Know William Shakespeare?

Isn’t that why so many kids and adults can’t stand Shakespeare to this day? I’ll admit it, I was one of them.

No, it’s not Shakespeare’s stirring poetry, which lights a fire in my emotions or feelings that I don’t like. It’s losing the meaning of the words along the way that makes me want to go the other way.

Too, I tend to get harder about my expectations in teaching tools the longer I homeschool and though I had heard about How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare before, I admit I was skeptical.

Free and helpful quotation page in How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

However, How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare didn’t disappoint and it especially didn’t give me another huge set of useless Shakespearean passages to memorize, but gave me a mighty homeschool tool in my pocket.

Fonts in easy to read format on How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Look at some of the things that struck a chord with me.

No time is wasted in the outset at explaining why people have a hard time memorizing poems or understanding them. Text needs to be read in an easy format.

When we were memorizing these passages, it’s like you can picture the words on the page because they are broken into chunks. And no this method doesn’t just work for children, but for adults too.

After memorizing passages like this, Tiny won’t read it any other way now.

Not only does Ken Ludwig give you tips on how to teach it, but he created free quotation pages at his website, How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare.

Words matter to our kids.

I love Ken Ludwig’s gentle reminders about why I should be teaching Shakespeare in my homeschool day.

Though I would love to shield my kids as long as I can from the world’s woes, the truth of it is that children can relate to the stress of every day life and poetry gives them a way to connect with those feelings.

Look below at the words by Macbeth that Tiny has been mouthing because they opened the way to a conversation about why people get to this point in their life or why they feel life may be that way now.

It was deeper than I wanted to go, but it reminded me of the power of words. Also, it resonated with me because I homeschool to have personal moments with each one of my boys.

Life’s but a walking shadow, . . . It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Hard to understand terms are explained right in the book.

One of my very favorite parts, which is what made me fall in love with How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare is that terms and words that we don’t use everyday are easily explained right with the passage.

No hunting and pecking on the internet for the meaning of the word which interrupts the flow of thought and the moment is gone.

Do You Know the Difference Between Poetry And Prose

Useful background information.

Also, background information is given about passages that made learning Shakespeare with Tiny not only enjoyable by him, but by myself also. It is hard to not be moved by words from passages that talk about love and rejection.

Too, it’s not a secret that we love history in our family and history is alive and makes sense through the words of Shakespeare.

For example, in one passage we were reading from Twelfth Night, Cesario says,

“Make me a willow cabin at your gate
And call upon my soul within the house.”

The quick explanation about the willow cabin was that in Greek and Roman mythology the willow tree was a symbol of grief for unrequited love.

The passage and message then becomes full of meaning because it helps to understand the feelings when love or affection is not reciprocated. Fascinating tidbits like this just fill the pages of this book.

Appendix How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Extra help = Enrichment as if the study of Shakespeare is not rich enough.

There are 25 passages that are put in order in the book so that the guesswork is taking out of which passages to begin memorizing. In addition, as you can see above the Appendix is full of added enrichment.

One book stand alone curriculum.

Another very favorite part of using this book is that it is a one book stand alone curriculum.

It can easily be used by a precocious middle school kid or high school teen because it is laid out in a specific order so that you don’t have to guess and like I mentioned, explanations are given. If you are teaching younger children, you’ll love the teaching tips and teacher help.

Also, I have read many tips on the differences between prose and poetry and the teacher in me loved the insightful tips and detailed ways of telling the difference between the two.

Multi-age timeless curriculum keeper.

It is what I call a curriculum keeper, which means it spans multiple ages and can be used over and over again each year.

You won’t regret purchasing this handy, one book stand alone compact curriculum.

Tiny and I have plans to read the rest of the passages in How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare and that just might lead us to some hands-on activities or lapbook.

Also, check out my other posts:

Hugs and love ya,

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