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handwriting

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

July 11, 2017 | 2 Comments
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.

CLICK HERE TO LOOK AT SOME OF MY FAVORITE WRITING CURRICULUM ON AMAZON.
{Click on the grade level board you need.}

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.

  • Homeschool Writing Program For Middle and High School Students
  • Cursive Matters; Handwriting Style Doesn’t + Free Resources,
  • Homeschool Tips for Teaching a Young Writer to Take his Ideas from a Trickle to a Waterfall,
  • 3 Things to Avoid When Teaching Homeschooled Kids Beginning Composition
  • and Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 1, 2, 3.

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.

2 CommentsFiled Under: Be an Exceptional Homeschool Teacher, Choose Curriculum, Homeschool Boys, Homeschool Multiple Ages of Children, Homeschool Simply, Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation, Homeschool When Nobody Wants To, Homeschooling, Teach Homeschool Language Arts Tagged With: composition, handwriting, high school, homeschool highschool, middleschool, teachingwriting, writing prompts

Teaching Cursive Handwriting Matters Style Doesn’t And Free Resources

August 25, 2016 | 20 Comments
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

  • How to Rock Homeschool Creative Writing (when you don’t feel like THAT creative mom)
  • Which One is Really the Best Homeschool Writing Curriculum (a comparison)
  • 5 Creative Ways to Boost Handwriting in Older Kids
  • Cursive Matters; Handwriting Style Doesn’t + Free Resources
  • Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 3

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.

  • Direct Path to Cursive – The Quickest Way to Cursive
  • Cursive Handwriting Practice Sentences
  • Primary Language Lessons – Though this is an old book it is beautiful because it has sentences for copying and dictating.
  • Here is a 3rd grade 80 page free writing workbook, which I think you’ll love.
  • And also, I have free copywork here on my site and a lot of it is in cursive. Here is a roundup of some of my free history copywork.

Look at my articles

  • 3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)
  • Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 1
  • Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 2
  • Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 3

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

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

20 CommentsFiled Under: Free Homeschool Resources, Homeschooling, How To - - -, Teach Homeschool Language Arts Tagged With: composition, cursive, handwriting, homeschoolanguagearts, language arts, languagearts, penmanship, teachingwriting, writing

Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 2

July 10, 2014 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have part 2 teaching handwriting when homeschooling the early years. Also, look at my page Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum and The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter for more tips.

When I shared Teaching Handwriting The Early Years Part 1, it was important that you understand that handwriting is a natural step.

It’s a step to what your child wants to do next, which is communicate.

Even before a child can speak, they are starting to understand written language.

Those scribbles and shapes (i.e.letters) on the page communicate some kind of message.

The next natural progression then for a preschooler which a lot of parents unintentionally skip is to work on developing fine motor skills. 

Guess what? 

Developing fine motor skills at the preschool age and earlier is not done by teaching letter formation.  Not at this age.

Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 2

Too, I did the first thing most new parents do.

And that is stick a crayon and some coloring books in their kids’ hands. 

Strengthen Fine Motor Skills During Preschool and Kindergarten

I soon found out that I had a couple of boys that hated coloring. 

Problems loomed on the horizon.

Sure all of my boys knew their alphabet by 3 years old but that has nothing to do with being able to pen the letters.

Understanding that developing fine motor skills is absolutely necessary to beautiful penmanship is the first step to teaching handwriting.

I cannot stress that enough in this blog post today. 

NOT writing on the lines, not forming their letters correctly, not writing their letters or even understanding that we write from left to right are more significant at this age than being able to strengthen their fine motor skills and core of their body.

It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be doing fun activities for letter recognition and teaching them how to read.

But formal handwriting does not need to be pushed.

It takes time to awaken those fine motor skill muscles through use each day.

Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 2

(Mr. Awesome and Tiny working on fine motor skills by using edible peanut butter dough.)

This time period in your child’s life is called pre-writing. 

It is called pre for a reason and that is because it is the time they need to work everyday on fine motor activities that come BEFORE formal handwriting.

Little did I understand that asking Mr. Senior 2013 at 3 years old to write a letter and on the line (horrible, horrible) was like asking him to run a marathon before he could walk. 

Like running, muscles have to be strengthened first by stretching, walking and just general use each day before anybody could expect to run a marathon.

Solving Letter Reversals


On top of that I learned right away that boys lagged behind girls in fine motor development. 

Pre Means Before Writing NOT Same Time

There is nothing wrong with most boys, mine included as I found out years later. 

There are just differences between the way boys and girls learn and early on I noticed it too at this tender age.

Having to think outside of the crayon box (corny I know) I had to come up with activities that strengthened my boys’ fine motor skills as well as capture the fun element to learning.

Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 2

(Mr. Awesome “sewing” with yarn and making a puppet.)

Because of the explosion of pre-writing activities on the world wide web now, it is easier to find them.

Choosing things that kids like to do naturally like build and play is the secret to finding activities that your children can do each day without the boredom factor.

Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 2

(Working with their hands and fingers each day is key.)

Your imagination is the only limitation to finding and using things around your house too.

Here are a couple of places that will get you started on fine motor skills.

You must scoot by Heather’s blog as she is a wealth of information for learning about developmental milestones for motor skills. 

She offers a free printable for developmental milestones because sometimes you just need to know whether or not your child is progressing normal and if you need to intervene to seek professional help. 

Also, check out the post I put below because it has cool DIY toys for fine motor skills.

Fine-Motor-Skills-with-DIY-Toys-from-Lalymom

(Picture Attribution: Lalymom)

50 Cool DIY Toys for Fine Motor Skills

Don’t repeat my same mistake by pushing ahead and skipping over this very important and significant level in the handwriting process. 

When penmanship is sloppy in the later years, many times it can be traced back to this very fundamental step that was overlooked. 

This is not just play, it is schooling at this age.

More Homeschool Handwriting Curriculum Tips!

  • Which One is Really the Best Homeschool Writing Curriculum (a comparison)
  • 5 Creative Ways to Boost Handwriting in Older Kids
  • Cursive Matters; Handwriting Style Doesn’t + Free Resources
  • Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 1
  • Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 2
  • Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 3
  • Faith-Neutral Homeschool Grammar and Writing Program
  • 3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)
  • Why It Is Hard to Teach Homeschooled Kids Writing But Not Impossible
  • Homeschool Writing Program For Middle and High School Students
  • A Reason for Handwriting Workbook & Teacher Guidebook Level K

I am not quite ready to talk about about formal handwriting yet because I want you to be able to recognize the signs of writing readiness. 

I will share about that next and then after that I will be sharing some work of my boys’ penmanship at different ages.

Sometimes you just need to see that your child is on target. 

And yes, yes I will be sharing some resources that I like too.

4 CommentsFiled Under: Teach Homeschool Language Arts Tagged With: handwriting, penmanship

Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 1

June 23, 2014 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Teaching handwriting when homeschooling the early years. After the topic of teaching a child how to read, there is probably no other topic that can worry a parent more than writing. Also, look at my page Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum and The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter for more tips.

Having taught all three of my sons from the beginning how to write, I am eager to share what worked, what was fun and oh yes, what was flat out dumb too.

Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 1

Instead of jumping right into the ideas though, I think it’s important for you to understand some basic background information about the process of writing that I learned the hard way.

Picture Books Library Lists

Educating yourself about the process too will help you to avoid confusion as you talk about it with others, research options and generally try to educate yourself about this beautiful and intricate developmental process. 

Do You Make this Mistake in Teaching Penmanship

It is hard to appreciate this process too unless you stand back and take a panoramic view.

Handwriting must not be confused with composition. They are two different skills which are talked about as if they are one. They are not.

As your child grows older, handwriting could be a tool that either burdens or beautifies a budding writer’s creative process.

Composing thoughts becomes a life-long skill, but there is a very small window of time for you to seize the opportunity to teach him how to write. 

Eventually, a writer uses both the physical act of pushing a pen and the mental act of arranging thoughts in a well-laid out system. 

In the earliest stages, it’s all about the physical act.

Then there is much information floating around about whether we should teach our kids print first, cursive first or if we even need to teach handwriting. 

How to approach a very basic but important skill almost seems like a guessing game when teaching it. 

In this series, I’m sharing tidbits about those topics so you can make an informed decision of how you are going to teach handwriting.

Don’t “Fix” What Children Like to Do Naturally

What I have learned in teaching my sons and helping many other new homeschoolers along the way is that we need to trust the natural bent our children have to pick up a tool, and yes to even use their fingers to scribble.

I have never forgotten what I read by John Holt.  It resounded with me as I have had what seemed like major highs where I could accomplish any task after teaching my first son his  letters and having tears pour down my cheeks too when I felt defeated.

John Holt said, “The infants at home were bold adventurers. 

It soon became clear to me that children are by nature and from birth very curious about the world around them, and very energetic, resourceful, and competent in exploring it, finding out about it, and mastering. In short, much more eager to learn, and much better at learning, than most adults.

Babies are not blobs, but true scientists.”

Understand first that your child has a craving to communicate through scribbles. 

Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 1

Unless there is a developmental delay, your job will be to guide him to the next stage.

Don’t make this harder than it has to be.  Like childbirth and I’m going there today, you simply assisted your body, so to  speak, at the time of delivery. 

No amount of worrying was going to speed up the process as if you were in control of it.  Of course complications and delays are quite different, but again I want you to know that you just need to be prepared.

When it comes to penmanship, your children will present signs of being ready.

More Homeschool Writing Tips and Curriculum

  • Which One is Really the Best Writing Curriculum (a comparison)
  • 5 Creative Ways to Boost Handwriting in Older Kids
  • How to Teach Cursive and Composition With A Fresh Perspective
  • 3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

Will you be ready?

Coming up in some other posts, I will be sharing some signs and signals of writing readiness by your children, ways for you to plan (and not worry) about the penmanship process, pre-writing activities, and other ways to gently guide your pre-writer through this process.

Here are the other posts in this series to see how the process unfolds:

  • Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 2
  • Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 3

Hugs and love ya,

4 CommentsFiled Under: Teach Homeschool Language Arts Tagged With: handwriting, penmanship

Free Copywork Cattle A Texas Poem For a Fun Unit Study

May 16, 2014 | 6 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I want to share some free copywork Cattle a Texas poem about our home. And look at History of the Texas Cowboy, Cattle Drives, and Chisholm Trail for fun ideas.

Talking with Tiny about our pending move to South America, I decided to find a poem about Texas so he understands that we are not going to forget it. 

Free Copywork Cattle A Texas Poem For a Fun Unit Study

Excited as we are about the move, you can imagine the whole host of emotions the kids go through. 

Excited one day and then a bit of trepidation the next.  So I turned that into a mini lesson and copywork about our home.

Next, look at these fun books to add to your unit study.

BOOKS FOR TEXAS ABOUT KIDS

Resources for Learning About the Lone Star State & Texas Cattle Drives

Add a few of these resources to learn about the great state of Texas.

The Chisholm Trail: A History of the World's Greatest Cattle Trail

The Chisholm Trail was the original "Cowboy Highway" stretching hundreds of miles from the ranches of Texas to the Cattle markets in Kansas. This classic work chronicles in vivid detail the entire journey of the trail and is complete with descriptions of actual incidents and events that occurred along the trail as well as stories of famous and infamous cowboys, outlaws, rustlers, Indians, and lawmen who made the journey.

A Gentle Tour Through Texas History

A guide for teaching Texas History through literature. It is based on a 34-week timeframe and is useful for students in grades K-6/7.

Texas History for Kids with 21 Activities

Encapsulating the 500-year saga of the one-of-a-kind state of Texas, this interactive book takes readers from the founding of the Spanish Missions and the victory at San Jacinto to the Great Storm that destroyed Galveston and the establishment of NASA’s Mission Control in Houston while covering everything in between. Texas History for Kids includes 21 informative and fun activities to help readers better understand the state’s culture, politics, and geography. Kids will recreate one of the six national flags that have flown over the state, make castings of local wildlife tracks, design a ranch’s branding iron, celebrate Juneteenth by reciting General Order Number 3, build a miniature Battle of Flowers float, and more. This valuable resource also includes a timeline of significant events, a list of historic sites to visit or explore online, and web resources for further study.

Texas Activity Book (Color and Learn)

A New Way to Enjoy Texas with Your Family

For hours of excitement, give your kids the Texas Activity Book by Paula Ellis! They'll enjoy learning about the Lone Star State through pictures and puzzles. It's also perfect for keeping kids entertained on the car ride to your next destination.

Texas Longhorn Bull Cow Toy Figure

DETAILED & REALISTIC. Crafted with precision and authentic detail to create a lifelike toy that teaches and inspires toddlers and kids; helps introduce children to animals. From the first sketch to the intricate finishing touches, we see value in every detail.

Susanna of the Alamo: A True Story

“Remember the Alamo!” is one of the most familiar battle cries in American history, yet few know about the brave woman who inspired it. Susanna Dickinson’s story reveals the crucial role she played during that turbulent period in Texas-American history.

The Boy in the Alamo

The classic story of the siege of the Alamo, as told for young readers. Originally published in 1958, thousands of children each year enjoy this story from the unique point of view of twelve-year old Billy Campbell.

Plains Warrior: Chief Quanah Parker and the Comanches

A biography of the legendary Comanche leader profiles the son of a white woman, who fiercely defended tribal lands against those who tried to seize them and who, after being moved with his people to a reservation, fought for the recognition and decent treatment of his tribe.

Make Way for Sam Houston

Colorful Sam Houston leaps to life in the pages of this fresh and funny biography, set against the story of Texas's fight for independence from Mexico.

Trail Fever: The Life of a Texas Cowboy

The story of one of Texas's most famous cowboys is filled with cattle drives, stampedes, floods, droughts, freezing desert nights, raiders and bandits, and one man's endurance and love of life on the plains.

Also, look at this poem about Texas.

Free Copywork Cattle A Texas Poem

The Texas poem was written in 1932 by Berta Hart Nance called “Cattle”.  Here is the whole thing that has such beautiful imagery and language.

CATTLE

By Berta Hart Nance

Other states were carved or born

Texas grew from hide and horn.

Other states are long and wide,

Texas is a shaggy hide.

Dripping blood and crumpled hair

Some fat giant flung it there,

Laid the head where valleys drain

Stretched its rump along the plain.

Other soil is full of stone

Texans plow up cattle bones.

Herds are buried on the trail

Underneath the powdered shale,

Herds that stiffened like the snow

Where the icy northers go.

Other states have built their halls

Humming tunes along the walls,

Texans watched the mortar stirred

While they kept the lowing herd.

Stamped on Texan wall and roof

Gleams the sharp and crescent hoof,

High above the hum and stir

Jingle bridle-rein and spur.

Other states were made or born

…Texas grew from hide and horn.

Free Copywork Cattle A Texas Poem For a Fun Unit Study

To go along with this poem, I thought I would teach Tiny how to make a simple Texas chili and you know spend a bit more time together.

Tx Unit 1Tx Unit 2

Too, we have had some cold weather that is almost unheard of in May so that called for home made Texas chili.  Well, I should say part home made. 

Any good Texan would make their beans from scratch, but canned beans are fine after we had a long day selling furniture in our house.

Easy Texas Homemade Chili

Here are some things we put in our chili:

  • 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of sirloin meat.  We are meat eaters.  Love the stuff.  This is a twist on our chili because we don’t use ground beef when we make it.
  • 1 onion, 1 jalapeno if I have it, some bacon for flavoring which makes any chili come alive.
  • About 1 tablespoon of cumino, 2 or 3 chopped garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, salt and pepper to taste.
  • 4 or 5 cans of pinto beans, though we use home made when we have them.
  • 1 can or 2 cans of Rotel Tomatoes, a bit of beef broth or beef bouillon.
Tx  Unit 3Tx Unit 4

Tiny and I share a love of cheese and a multiple assortment of delicious toppings over our chili when its cooked.

I like to add sour cream, tortilla strips,  avocado and the best recipe for home made salsa by Pioneer Woman.  I make that stuff by the bucket loads around here.

Free Copywork Cattle A Texas Poem For a Fun Unit Study

Trying to keep our school work light, this mix of homeschool lessons has been something I have not done before. 

I am finding it very gratifying to plan so spur of the moment and school on the wild and free side.  Sometimes you just a need a break from all the well laid out plans and sharing a bowl of hot Texas chili helps things too.

Free Copywork Cattle A Texas Poem For a Fun Unit Study

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You’ll love these other resources too:

  • Texas Native American History Quick Unit Study (Middle School)
  • How to Build the Alamo: Day 5 Hands-on Learning (Free Texas Unit Study)
  • Exploring Edible Cactus: Day 4 Hands-on Learning (The Desert) – Eat cactus like the Coahuiltecan
  • Pioneer Living and Cloth Dyeing (Hands-on History)
  • 35 Simple But Powerful American History Homeschool Resources K to 12
Cattle by Berta Hart Nance Collage

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