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7 Best Budget-Friendly Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum

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

I have 7 best budget-friendly homeschool language arts ideas to pair with your unit studies.

Through the years, I’ve given the same long-standing advice. Spend first what money you have budgeted for curriculum on the core subjects. They are essential to a well-rounded education.

7 Best Budget-Friendly Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum

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.

And its reading in the younger grades and literature in the older grades. Too, 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.

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.

Mapping Out the Components of Language Arts

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 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.

    1. WORDLY WISE

    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.

    2. LITERATURE ADVENTURES FOR KIDS

    Then, literature adventures for kids is my VERY favorite stand-alone self-paced online language arts program. Pair a great book with your unit study.

    Are you a busy, sweet, overwhelmed homeschooler craving a consistent, dependable language arts curriculum that adds a little enchantment to your homeschool? We help homeschoolers just like you reclaim their time and reduce stress with our open-and-go courses that turn every lesson into an adventure

    ►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.

    3. PROGENY PRESS LITERATURE GUIDES

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

    7 Best Budget-Friendly Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum

    Too, I would even unfasten the literature guide so I could add just the pages that my boys needed to do for that year.

    HOMESCHOOL LANGUAGE ARTS

    I printed what I needed that year with one son, and printed a different page or pages needed for another year.

    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.

    4. ANALYTICAL GRAMMAR

    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.

    ►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.

    7 Best Budget-Friendly Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum

    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.

    5. INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN WRITING (IEW)

    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.

    7 Best Budget-Friendly Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum

    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.

    ►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.

    6. BEAUTIFUL FEET BOOKS (HISTORY & LITERATURE)

    With living history literature by Beautiful Feet Books.

    Remember, since this is living literature, the vocabulary is not simplified, and it may be harder for some kids.

    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 Beautiful Feet 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.

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

    7. IXL LANGUAGE ARTS PRACTICE

    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, for grades K-12 is the one I’m about to pull the trigger on because we love media with our unit studies.

    8. DISCOVERY EDUCATION

    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 and probably the most extensive and feature-rich educational video streaming service in the world.

    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.

    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.

    MORE HOMESCHOOL LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES

    How to Buy It

    Products:

     ►Grammar: Analytical Grammar for grades 4-12.

    ► Self-Paced Language Arts for all grades: Literature Adventures for Kids

    ►Literature Guides: Progeny Press Literature Guides, pdf format, grades K-12

    ►    Vocabulary: Wordly Wise 3000

    ►Composition or Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing, grades K-12

    ►    Review and Enrichment:

    Video Streaming: Discovery Education grades K-12

    Language Arts Review: IXL Language Arts Practice, grades K-12

    ►Reading or Literature:

    Living History Literature: Living History literature by Beautiful Feet Books

    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}.

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    Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


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    Homeschool High School Literature Guides

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

    You’ll love these homeschool high school literature guides which make teaching easy. Also, look at my page How to Homeschool High School for more ideas.

    Though I was over the top giddy at accomplishing the feat of teaching my first son how to read, deep down I was anxious because I was already thinking about the upper grades.

    Homeschool High School Literature Guides

    The thought of teaching literature at the high school level made me feel defeated before I even started.

    Many years later and after teaching all of my sons how to read well, I learned that one secret tool (not a secret anymore because you now know) to teaching literature in the upper grades is a simple, but well-thought-out high school literature guide.

    Have you seen the nifty high school literature guides by Dover Publications? They are the Dover Thrift Study Editions. More on that in a minute.

    I was given free books from Dover Publications and I was compensated 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. 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!

    Why You Should Teach Classic Literature

    First, to clear up any confusion, there is not an exact grade where reading turns to literature.

    Somewhere during the middle and high school years, reading turns from learning to read to reading to learn. A big difference.

    Like the early grades, classic literature plays a huge role in reading to learn.

    When teaching a beginner reader, the focus is on phonics, comprehension and vocabulary.

    Some of those elements don’t completely go away in the high school years, but reading to learn is about peering closer at literature.

    high school literature guides 1

    Look at a few of the common elements of reading to learn that a high school student will want to cover.

    • Understand an author’s background or biography;
    • Understand an author’s message;
    • Understand literary analysis; and
    • Explore examples of literary terms like plot, theme, point of view and even complicated ones like similes and metaphors.

    Why It’s Important to Go from Broad to Focused

    Also, one more significant difference in teaching literature at the high school level is that a reader moves from being exposed to a variety of genres in the younger grades to a more focused look at one genre or time period of literature.

    For example, a student will do a yearlong study of American, British or even World literature.

    We recently started using high school literature guides by Dover Publications because not only did I want something that Tiny could do independently, but I wanted to contain the overflowing amount of high school curriculum.

    Focusing on British literature, I was tickled that I got in my bundle the following books.

     Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
    A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
    The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
    Hamlet by William Shakespeare

    Homeschool High School Literature Guides

    Look at some of the reasons why we are using the comprehensive study guides.

    • The unabridged book and comprehensive study guide are together in one book.
    • There is an analysis of the chapter.
    • There are study guides with answers, thank you. I loathe extra bulk in curriculum and sometimes it’s unavoidable with high school curriculum, but an all in one book where the questions and answers are together is very useful.
    • There are suggested essay topics. I love that I don’t even have to think about topics for him to write about.
    • One more detail worth noting about the essays is that not only are there suggested topics, but also suggestions for the type of essay. For example, in reading The Scarlet Letter, there is a suggestion for a compare and contrast essay. Can you just say practical help for the new high school mom?
    • There is a biography of the author at the beginning, which gives Tiny a fuller understanding of the story. For example, in reading Frankenstein, Mary Shelley is a young author with a lot of unhappiness early on in her life. She goes on to write Frankenstein, which is Gothic fiction and it is the early beginnings of science fiction. Did she write to console herself or to escape? Are the two reasons really any different? The guide and book together allow for some great debate conversation with my teen.
    • Having used very comprehensive study guides before, I wanted something that gives me a framework instead of dissecting every literary element. Maintaining the love of reading at the high school level is paramount to the technicalities of elements. The Dover Thrift Study Editions have been just the right amount of balance for us.

    Too, my roots have been classical though I love the freedom and mastery that learning through unit studies engenders.

    Classic novels are a mainstay I expect my boys to cover in high school, but I love the fact too that studying a whole novel can be quickly turned into a unit study.

    Homeschool High School Literature Guides @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

    For example, when we read an abridged version of A Tale of Two Cities, in the early years, Tiny can draw from what he knows about studying the geography and culture of France and England.

    It wasn’t necessary at that time to develop the underlying theme that no historical period will be free of serious problems.

    However, now in the high school years by reading an unabridged version of A Tale of Two Cities he can connect what he knows previously and turn the book into a high school level unit study.

    Focus is on the ugly side of war or the French Revolution.

    Of course, for us, you know any time period we read about history has us always thinking about a unit study.

    The point I’m making is that it’s so much easier making the jump to language arts, science and history when the books are classic.

    Homeschool literature guides do not have to be cold, austere and overwhelming, but helpful, compact and motivating.

    Not only can they teach critical thinking skills to your high school student, which helps him to dig deep to find the hidden message in a story, but study guides help you to move to the reading to learn stage of literature.

    Finally, look at this short list I created. Grab one or two!

    Dover Thrift Study Editions For Easy High School Literature Guides

    The guides are literature and analysis in one book. the guide includes:

    • Scene-by-scene summaries

    • Explanations and discussions of the plot

    • Question-and-answer sections

    • an author’s biography

    • List of characters and more

    Dover Thrift Study Editions feature everything that students need to undertake a confident reading of a classic text, as well as to prepare themselves for class discussions, essays, and exams.

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    Homeschool Music Curriculum on the Beat

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

    I have some fun homeschool music curriculum today. Also, look at Fun Facts About the Phantom of the Opera & Styles of Music Unit Study.

    Teaching the basics of how to play a big wooden box like the piano may seem.

    Perhaps if you compared it to building an appreciation for the love of classical music in your children. 

    Homeschool Music Curriculum on the Beat

    Too, Tiny has spent more years with a piano teacher receiving instruction than I have nurturing his appreciation for classical music.

    So, I was ecstatic about receiving Zeezok Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades Book 1.

    Music Appreciation in a Box

    First, this is a comprehensive music curriculum.

    But take a peek at what we got in our Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades Book 1 Collection.

    • One Student Activity Book, 353 pages.
    • Music Discs. Psst. . . It’s 2+ hours of beautiful professionally recorded music.
    • Lapbook Disc – 7 lapbooks.  One on each composer.
    • 7 composer biographies.  One biography on each composer studied which are Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini and Schubert.
    Homeschool Music Curriculum on the Beat which includes lapbooks, hands-on ideas and background information.

    Right away I want to tell you that though I have had several months reviewing this curriculum.

    And we have just barely touched the scope of it.  We didn’t want to miss any tidbit shared throughout the student activity book.  So we have taken our time going through it.

    Poring over every fact about each composer, and the historical background of them, we have spent many days cuddled in the living room.

    We have read and did hands-on activities for Bach, Handel and some on Haydn.

    Homeschool Music Appreciation. Music curriculum which is hands-on and for multiple ages.

    It is an in-depth study on music styles. In addition, it includes learning how music is created.

    Also, it so much more. For example, it has geography, history, hands-on activities, quizzes, an instrument study and character trait studies.

    Zeezok Publishing Review Activity Book

    I know what that is – a unit study! 

    Because we wanted to add this to our French Revolution unit study that we started after using the curriculum, we moved ahead to focus on the study of Beethoven because his life overlapped the French Revolution.

    For instance look at the part of the student activity book that focuses on Beethoven.

    You see how each section in the student activity book is designed.

    Homeschool Music Curriculum on the Beat

    All excellent unit studies start with a plan.

    And the plan is built right into the student activity book.  Above you can see the weekly lesson outline showing the 4 week plan. 

    To study each composer there is allotted 4 weeks. I love the Weekly Lesson Outline. 

    The lesson planning direction is superior.

    Music Appreciation in a Box

    So, I would rather see the outline and determine the pace for my children, than not have a beginning point.  You have a beginning point and activities lined out for each of the 7 composers.

    Homeschool Music Curriculum on the Beat

    The weekly lesson plan of activities is built into the student activity book.

    This allowed me to give Tiny more control over what he did each day. 

    Now that he is getting older, I want him to take more responsibility for some of his day. 

    So I was able to use this feature as a way to measure his maturity for more accountability and for him to start his day on his own without my prompting.

    Also though the student activity book is an all in one resource.  It has everything you need in it to complete the series after you read each chapter in the biography reader each week. 

    If you are short on shelf space, you will like the fact that it is the teacher’s guide, student activity book, has tidbits of interest, assigns the music to listen to, gives timelines, has instructions for lessons on hands-on projects, has a quiz and the answers at the end of each unit. 

    All of these things made it easy for Tiny to pick up and start on his own.

    Homeschool Music Curriculum 13

    Moving on to the actual contents of each week’s lesson, they are varied.   We especially took notice of the activities and background information for history and geography. 

    For example, we enjoyed learning that during the 1800’s songs were written in response to social events. 

    Homeschool Music Curriculum

    This is exactly the tie in I was looking for in this curriculum to help Tiny understand how music evokes passion and emotions on sensitive social issues.

    Homeschool Music Curriculum on the Beat

    Regarding geography, the introduction to the Rhine River was a chance to pull out our atlases to understand the world of Beethoven as he knew it from the time he was a boy to a famous composer.

    Homeschool MusicCurriculum 16

    Also, including lessons on the character qualities of Beethoven and tying that into a language arts lesson made studying this part more meaningful for Tiny.

    Homeschool Music Curriculum 18

    He loved doing the attribute acronym for his name as he was inspired by the motivating force of adjectives.

    I know I have been sharing about the student activity book because comprehensive hardly seems accurate enough to describe it, but the other important element to this curriculum that equally stirred us beyond the music and activity book were the composer biographies.

    I have seen these Great Musician Series Readers on some of the online homeschool book stores before and knew they were classical readers, but wasn’t quite sure how to use them in my day because I don’t have a musical background. 

    The classical readers remind me of a living history book too because even though they are biographies they do a beautiful job of weaving the background information as you read about the lives of each musician. 

    The readers have black and white simple, but treasured pictures along with the famous music of each composer in them. 

    Tiny spent hours at the piano trying to mimic Beethoven after reading about him and some of the other composers each week.

    Homeschool Composers Biography

    As if all of this wasn’t enough to send us over the top about this curriculum, we could hardly wait to get started on the lapbook too about Beethhoven.

    Music Composer Lapbooks

    The lapbooks are on a separate cd which made it nice because I could just print off each week what we wanted to do that day.

    Zeezok Publishing Review Beethoven Lapbook and Reader
    Bell Book - Zeezok Lapbook
    Homeschool Music Curriculum which includes a lapbook about composers.

    The cd does have pictures of the lapbook on each composer along with helpful instructions as you prepare each one. 

    Music Composer Lapbook 1
    Music Composer Lapbook 2
    MiniBook Chiming Bells Beethoven by ZeeZok

    {The Chiming Tower Bells were used in the biography about Ludwig Beethoven to tell about his favorite things and it was one of Tiny’s favorite minibooks.}

    So I was thrilled when I saw the color minibooks and the fact they contained information to teach your child. 

    In other words, most of them had information to glue in the inside instead of giving your child tons of blank, useless pages. 

    Sure there are minibooks for him to write in, but again the emphasis on an interactive hands-on tool should be about absorbing the information and not about always having to color, craft or cut.

    The lapbook is just one of the many hands-on activities found through out the course.

     Too, there are more than enough activities to choose from whether your child is younger or older. 

    For example, we left out one minibook that asked Tiny what some of his favorite things were.  It was just too young for him.  So I liked the fact that there were plenty of activities to choose from for every age.

    I am putting the rest of my posts I did on this curriculum at the bottom of this one so you can read about them too.

    Hands–On Music Ideas

    Not having a music background, but wanting my sons to keep pursuing their love of it, I give Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades Book 1 a huge two thumbs up. 

    If you have serious musicians in your family, you will appreciate too the scope and sequence found in the beginning of the student activity book showing music appreciation and music theory standards.

    Product Facts a Glance Zeezok Publishing

    Product Name:  Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades Book

    Count the cost by remembering that this includes geography, history, music vocabulary, hands-on ideas, timelines and character trait studies.  It is a two year study to complete all the hands-on activities, 7 lapbooks, listen to all the beautiful pieces and complete the whole student activity book

    Type of Product: Physical student book which is approximately 353 pages. { It is recommended that each child have their own activity book.} Music CDS, Lapbook CD and 7 biographies.

    Each reader averages from approximately 118 pages for the shortest reader to approximately 166 pages for the longer book.  All of the books include notorious and famous music pieces.

    Grades: K – 6th.

    {But there are things in the music and knowledge of the composers’ background that I feel a junior high or budding new musician in high school would benefit from because of the depth of music theory. Certainly not babyish.}

    See more about Zeezok Music Curriculum in the posts below!

    Homeschool Music Curriculum on the Beat
    Fun & Easy Hands-On Ideas with Zeezok Music Appreciation
    Homeschool Music Curriculum on the Beat
    Beethoven Chiming Bells Minibook
    Beethoven & The French Revolution Minibook
    Beethoven & The French Revolution? Minibook

    More Homeschool Music Curriculum Resources

    Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

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

    You’ll love these hands-on history activities for ancient empires. Also, there are more Ancient Civilization hands-on ideas on my page.

    Over the years I have shared my passion for hands-on history activities.

    They breathe life into lifeless events of the past.

    Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

    So when planning our year end history co-op, I decided to use the Great Empires Activity Study.

    It is an activity study by Home School in the Woods.

    Why? Because of the scope of empires that the Great Empires Activity Study covers.

    Your kids will love these hands-on history activities for 14 Ancient Empires.Great Empires Activity Study by Home School in the Woods covers fourteen empires:

    I was given this product for free. ALL opinions are my own and 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!

    Hands-on History Activities Ancient Empires

    • Ancient China
    • Ancient Egypt
    • Ancient Greece
    • Ancient Rome
    • Arab-Muslims,
    • English Empire
    • French Empire
    • German Empire
    • Japanese Empire
    • Mongols
    • Russian Empire
    • Spanish Empire
    • United States and
    • Viking.

    I decided to cover a little about each of these empires through hands-on projects.

    Organizing and assigning hands-on projects for our Great Empires co-op was easy.

    The information is laid out simply. After reviewing the download, you’ll see the files organized by master, texts and projects.

    Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

    The projects page for each empire, I found extremely useful in wading through all of the excellent material.

    The project page is like your weekly lesson plan at a glance page.

    And the master is your lesson plan for the day. The master pages include a helpful teacher’s key reference. It is a map marked with key areas, boundaries and other helpful features for each region covered by that empire.

    Ancient Empires Study for Kids

    Glancing at the project page, we could select all the hands-on activities that we wanted to do.

    Then find them among the 107 master pages.

    Too, background information on each empire is vital in covering the topics like we did because we wanted to savor a morsel of each empire. The text pages for each empire are 2-3 pages. However, one gem about the text pages is that they cover the empire at its height.

    Non-history loving folks are turned off by many details. A quagmire of details drains the life out of learning history.

    Unsure of which invention, event or key point to highlight, a budding history buff may come away more confused.

    Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

    However, the text pages by Home School in the Woods shaves off non-essential details for the elementary age child but builds appreciation by covering key events that are significant for each civilization.

    If you are a give-me-the-facts-only type of person, you will enjoy reading about each empire in the condensed text because you won’t come away feeling overwhelmed.

    Ancient Empires Study for Kids

    Beyond covering key events for each empire or covering significant inventions, the text unifies the past to the present.

    Your child comes away with a better understanding of the impact previous civilizations made in today’s world. Keeping it simple without being boring makes the text a nifty feature.

    However, if you already have a basic framework of history knowledge and want to explore beyond that foundation, you will enjoy the additional reading suggestions in each projects page and the extensive links found in the text which directs you to a website page at Home School in the Woods.

    Easily, you could spend a week on each empire.

    Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

    Because the Great Empires Activity Study is about exploring, discovering and hands-on learning, you will find plenty of activities for each empire from making scones when learning about the English empire to making an Egyptian cartouche.

    Activities vary with each empire from learning about history through cooking, painting pottery like the Greeks and printing minibooks about famous people to Japanese kiragami.

    Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

    You will not find cheesy analogies of history clip art in this product.

    All of the clip art, projects and pictures have amazing detail. If you are a non-artsy person you will enjoy assembling the easy to do projects because a lot of them are printable.

    You decide if you want to color or not.Here is what I find most appealing about this product:

    Hands-on History Projects

    • The scope of empires covered. If you have been lagging behind in covering history topics or are trying to follow the 4 year cycle used by a lot of homeschoolers and it is going slower than you would like to, using Great Empires Activity Study would be a useful tool if you want a bird’s-eye view.
    • It can be a stand-alone history curriculum. You have the option with additional reading material listed in the projects pages and links provided by Home School in the Woods to extend each empire. With the abundance of reading recommendations and because we love history, I personally would take two weeks to cover each empire if I were using this as a stand-alone curriculum. Doing one hands-on activity per week would not be overly time consuming and you could easily end up with a year’s worth of history.  What a bargain for the price and you are using it for all of your children.
    • Adding in an activity to enrich your reading. Then Great Empires Activity Study would be a nice fit.
    • Great Empires Activity Study allowed a lot of room for flexibility in our co-op setting because it allowed each family to focus on the topic that interested them.
    • History clip art matters to me because pictures are important in history. The fine detail and high quality pictures can be used for a timeline, history notebook or to add to a lapbook.
    • Many of the creative activities can be printed. They do not involve a lot of teacher supervision or tons of crafty artsy items on hand to do them.
    • The constant in all the empires is the beautiful teacher’s key map. Providing a key map for each empire is like having a mini geography curriculum as a bonus.
    If you’re wanting to breathe life into homeschool history, your kids will love these hands-on learning history activities for studying 14 Great Empires! CLICK HERE to look at these fun and engaging hands-on ideas!

    I feel that persons can vary tremendously on what each one thinks is a disadvantage in a product. I prefer using the word considerations because it gives you pause for thought to see if your circumstances fit that product.

    Ancient Empire History Projects

    Considerations for this product would be:

    Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)
    • There is not a lesson planning guide or checklist for each day’s activities. For some homeschoolers that may feel like freedom to explore and breathe but for others having a to-do checklist each day may feel a bit more secure.
    • Some of these activities are ones that history lovers may have already done. However, the product is aimed at elementary age..

    How to Get the Free History Notebook cover

    Now, how to grab the free printable. It’s a subscriber freebie.

    When you sign up to follow me, you get access to this freebie.

    1) Sign up on my email list.
    2) Grab the printable.
    3) Last, look for my emails in your inbox as a follower. Glad to have you.

    You know I have to organize most products I get and this one was no different. I have created a printable for you to use as cover page for your binder when covering these empires.Home School in the Woods is an excellent example of showing how history does not have to involve a textbook or always acquiring random uninteresting facts.

    With background information on each past civilization and several creative activities you won’t be disappointed with Great Empires Activity Study.

    Whether you are studying about the legends of Crete or are exploring the adventures of Captain John Smith, adding in hands-on history along with a huge dose of field trips and a history co-op or two is a sure way to making learning about the past meaningful.

    If you’re wanting to breathe life into homeschool history, your kids will love these hands-on learning history activities for studying 14 Great Empires! CLICK HERE to look at these fun and engaging hands-on ideas!

    You’ll also love these other helpful posts with activities:

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

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

    Today I’m having a guest review a botany homeschool curriculum. I have more tips on my how to homeschool middle school page.

    When looking for a science curriculum, particularly a botany homeschool curriculum for middle school I wanted something that would put most of the responsibility into the students hands.

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

    But I didn’t it so challenging that it was frustrating.

    Like you, I am always searching for a just right curriculum.

    Although I favor the unschooling approach, I love unschooling or relaxed schooling with some structure to our schooling days.

    We do a combo of fully child led learning and some structured that is still child interest led.

    To do this I asked my son what science topic he wanted to learn about, and he chose botany.

    Next, I went through and picked out 4 or 5 various curriculums that I thought would be a good fit.

    And let him choose from reading the sample pages and directions on those and this was the botany homeschool curriculum that he chose Botany in 8 Lessons.

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum

    We had both the hard copy of the student text as well as the pdf for the teacher and student sections.

    I highly recommend getting the pdf and downloading just the pages you need if you are opting to just do level 1.

    I have to say we have both really enjoyed the curriculum. My son is 14 and would be considered a freshman in public school.

    He struggles with dyspraxia/dysgraphia, ADHD, Aspergers, Tourette’s, OCD, and anxiety. That’s a lot for a kid to deal with.

    I really liked that this was an open and go science curriculum which didn’t require a lot from me other than encouragement and some accountability.

    The fact that he could do most of it independently really helped his confidence also.

    I think this would still be a fun and still educational botany curriculum even for highschoolers.

    In addition, there are a few ways your student can cover Botany in 8 Lessons.

    If you assign lessons twice a week you finish in about 8 weeks,

    Or you can stretch it out and do Lesson 1, level one on the first week, and level two the next week, and so on. If you include extra activities like videos, work in the garden and field trips, you can get 16 weeks out of it.

    About Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

    We chose to do science twice a week, making each lesson cover two weeks. 

    So on week 1 he read a few pages from that lesson and chose 1-2 activities at the end of the level 1 to complete.

    The next week he would read level 2 and complete 1-2 of the suggested activities. 

    I loved that there were choices for the activities at the end of each lesson.

    Instead of just assigning one activity and telling your child to do it, there is flexibility.

    It made it less of a battle if I told him to pick an activity for one of the days he worked on science.

    And I chose one for the other ( to make sure he wasn’t always opting for the easy way out) , or you could assign all of them over the course of the week.

    You can see here in the first lesson there were 6 to choose from at the end of the lesson from completing a crossword  to computer research.

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

    I did sit with him through most of the first couple lessons.

    I could encourage him and make sure that he understood and was able to do the work independently.

    Botany Topics

    He chose to use his computer to look up Plant Cell Micrographs for the first activity.

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

    You can see all the topics covered over the 8 lessons here in the table of contents:

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

    And each lesson has 2 levels; the 8 topics covered are:

    1. Plant Cells and Photosynthesis
    2. Plant Classifications
    3. Non-vascular Plants
    4. The Vascular System
    5. Leaves and Trees
    6. Plant Reproduction
    7. Plant Adaptation
    8. Plant Diseases

    There are consumable pages in the back that make up the additional activities like lapbook.

    And a board game to put together and play.

    The hard copy has simple and colorful illustrations for each topic and gorgeous vintage botanical prints to look at for reference.

    Botany Course

    Additionally, there are pictures of botanists like Carl Linnaeus.

    He was the first define the system that created the basic biological taxonomy, identifying, classifying, and naming organisms which we still use today.

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

    The variety of activities makes it a multisensory curriculum and I love that for pretty much any of the learning styles.

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

    The author recommends that younger students or those with a limited interest in science just complete the level 1 activities.

    Moreover, older children or those who wish to dive deeper into botany should complete both levels.

    The activities in both sections are great additions to your learning time though.

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

    Finally,  the bibliography gives you some books including the ISBN to check out from the library or add to your own shelves.

    Here are two of my personal favorites that we used to add to the unit.

    First, add Botanicum.

    This is an oversized book with gorgeous vintage looking prints of everything from wildflowers, to mushrooms to trees and more.

    The series is geared towards younger than middle school, but I think this series is a fantastic picture reference book for older kids as well.

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

    Next, there is Nature Anatomy.

    This is a favorite reference of ours that we use for any kind of nature science study.

    There are a lot of illustrations and snippets of information on trees, leaves, flowers, mushrooms and ferns.

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

    The only other thing I added to the study was a digital microscope to look at specimens we gather as well as some prepared plant slides.

    We also used the app inaturalist which was fantastic for photographing and helping to identify plants in our yard via flowers, bark, and leaves.

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

    More Botany Resources

    Lewis and Clark Free Botany 1 and 2 Minibooks

    Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

    How to Purchase Botany in 8 Lesson

    ►Product Name: Botany in 8 Lessons
    ► Two Ways to purchase 1) Amazon in paperback 2) in Digital Downlaod
    ►Website: Ellen Mchenry Basement Workshop
    ►Grade Level: 4 to 8
    Note: This could be used for a high school if you add in more activities
    ►Type of product: These is a physical product or digital product.