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Enhance Your Language Arts Kindergarten Curriculum with Free Flip Books

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

A good language arts kindergarten curriculum is important. Also, grab my other tips, ideas, and crafts for kindergarten on my page Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum.

Besides, a strong kindergarten language arts program creates foundational skills children need to become successful readers, writers, and communicators.

Enhance Your Language Arts Kindergarten Curriculum with Free Flip Books

But it doesn’t need to be an exhaustive or expensive box curriculum.

You can build your own by including a good variety of activities that cover the basics and builds upon skills that they learn.

It also does not need to be based on heavy writing and practicing perfect penmanship, that will come later.

You can introduce writing

A good kindergarten language arts curriculum should include a variety of activities that help kids develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.

Too, it should teach phonemic and print awareness.

KINDERGARTEN LANGUAGE ARTS GAMES

Also, look at these fun books and games that can be part of your fun kindergarten language arts curriculum.

13 Phonics Readers and Games for Homeschool Kindergarten

You can never have enough decodable books and hands-on ideas and games.

8 BASICS OF A LANGUAGE ARTS KINDERGARTEN CURRICULUM

Next, look at the components of a language arts program.

1. ALPHABET RECOGNITION

The first step in building literacy skills is learning the sounds of each letter in the alphabet.

2. VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT

Vocabulary development is the process of learning new words and their meanings, and how to use them in different contexts.

Kids are naturally exposed to new words daily through listening but at this age we will begin to become more intentional about teaching.

3. PHONEMIC AWARENESS

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the individual sounds in words and understanding the relationship between letters and sounds. 

This is blending, segmenting, identifying sounds, and changing sounds.

Rhyming is important too because it helps your child to recognize word patterns. It can build reading fluency quickly.

For example, if your child knows the word “dog”, he can quickly see the pattern in the words fog, bog, frog, log and hog, etc.

4. PRINT AWARENESS

Print awareness is the understanding that print has meaning and that it can be used to communicate.

Environmental print is any print that can be found in everyday life, such as signs, labels, and logos.

How many of our kids recognized the big yellow M of McDonalds before they could even talk? That’s environmental print.

5. READING COMPREHENSION

Reading comprehension means to develop the ability to construct meaning from text and speech.

It includes comprehension, syntax, and sentence structure.

6. BLENDING

Blending is the process of gradually sounding out individual letters in a word to form a word and then be able to read it.

7. COMMUNICATION AND ACTIVE LISTENING

Talking and listening skills are part of a child’s communication and literacy development.

Basically, it is listening with a purpose.

8. WRITING

Writing helps children build language fluency and express themselves, but I consider this the least important of the language arts skills at this age.

Enhance Your Language Arts Kindergarten Curriculum with Free Flip Books

MORE KINDERGARTEN HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES

Rather than rigorous perfect handwriting practice its a great time for gentle instruction.

Now that you know what the most important aspects are of a language arts kindergarten curriculum let’s look at how you can easily incorporate them into your day.

ACTIVITIES TO BUILD YOUR LANGUAGE ARTS KINDERGARTEN CURRICULUM

Learn how to Make A Fun ABC Flip Book Fingerprint Activity for Kindergarten to work on letter recognition, beginning letter sounds, and more.

Grab these free Alphabet Stew Letter Recognition Mats

Get kids up and moving, working muscles and brain development with this Rainbow Hop Letter Sounds Game.

Play rhyming games. Once they have mastered letter recognition and sounds you will want to go heavy on working on rhyming and word families.

The 10 word families you will focus on are -at, -an, -ad, -am, -et, -it, -ig, -ing, -og, and -op.

Check out my free ick, ack,og, and at flip books for a gentle introduction to rhyming words I have for you below.

This fun and colorful activity Build a Flower Letter Sounds is a great way to practice beginning letter sounds.

Alliteration games Jack Hartmann.

While kids are just making art they can be learning letters and their sounds at the same time with the Hidden Letter Hunt.

Syllable counting – Clap out the syllables in words as you say them to help your child understand how to divide them up.

Blending and segmenting sounds-I discovered these 6 Hands-On Blending and Segmenting Activities that are easy to put together.

Point out print in the environment- Look for big signs overhead at your favorite stores, practice identifying the letters in the words.

Choose a letter for the day for example ‘S’ and as you do your grocery shopping encourage your child to find it everywhere they can-signs, packages, etc.

Enhance Your Language Arts Kindergarten Curriculum with Free Flip Books

Finally, look at how to grab the free flip books.

HOW TO GET THE FREE PRINTABLE -OG, -ACK, -AT, AND -ICK WORLD FAMILY FLIPBOOKS

Now, how to grab the free word family flipbooks. It’s a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get my emails in your inbox and you get this freebie.

1) CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

2) Grab the freebie now.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

The Best Homeschool Handwriting Curriculum: Tips And Recommendations

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

Looking for a solid homeschool handwriting curriculum? Also, look at my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter for more tips!

There are lots of choices of handwriting curriculum.

 And I want to help you navigate them all whether you are looking for writers who are just starting out or a child who struggles with dyslexia or dysgraphia.

The Best Homeschool Handwriting Curriculum : Tips And Recommendations

One more important thing before you read on is for you to understand the difference between teaching handwriting and composition.

They are overlapping skills, but not in the beginning.

The focus with young writers is penmanship prior to composing thoughts.

I have rounded up 8 solid handwriting curriculum.

Look at the list and decide which one works the best for your child’s learning style, interests, and abilities.

Handwriting is an important foundational skill.

It has been proven that the brain engages differently when something is written by hand as opposed to typing it or by touching a screen.

Writing improves memory and teaches the alphabet faster as the learner interacts with each letter in various ways.

The Best Homeschool Handwriting Curriculum : Tips And Recommendations

Too, it helps to slow down and engage with our thoughts, and handwritten letters are so personal and special!

Besides the handwriting curriculum there are different techniques you can do with your learner to practice while always keeping it fresh and fun.

7 Tips and Recommendations for Homeschool Handwriting

Of course, I am going to share these ideas with you as well.

1. Do not mistake teaching handwriting for composition.

As I mentioned earlier, budding writers need to know how to form letters before you introduce composing thoughts.

If a child has not spent enough time doing handwriting where letter writing comes naturally, they will struggle with both motor skills and the mental process of composition.

2. Before you ever begin teaching handwriting, spend a lot of time in pre-writing activities.

These activities build fine motor skills and help children learn to recognize and form letters.

The Best Homeschool Handwriting Curriculum : Tips And Recommendations

This can be writing in a salt tray, forming letters with playdough, painting with cotton swabs or drawing with their fingers in shaving cream.

3. Repetition is key to success.

I think the most important part of learning handwriting is repetition.

It is a muscle that must be exercised regularly to make it strong.

Daily practice is important, but you can introduce different tools to make it fun.

The Best Homeschool Handwriting Curriculum : Tips And Recommendations

For very young, beginning writers draw the letters on handwriting paper with a highlighter and let them trace over it in pencil.

4. Use different writing surfaces to bring learning to life.

Use different surfaces other than paper- chalkboard, dry erase, or an LED board, these are just so fun and different that it makes it exciting.

The Best Homeschool Handwriting Curriculum : Tips And Recommendations

For pre-writing, when your child is almost ready to write or just beginning, consider using technology like the Wet Dry Try app from Handwriting Without Tears.

5. Technology has a place.

It is designed for kids to repetitively practice writing on a tablet with their finger or a stylus to teach how to form letters.

The Best Homeschool Handwriting Curriculum : Tips And Recommendations

6. Copywork is another successful teaching method.

Modeling for a child has always been a superior method of teaching.

Copywork is simply what is implies. Teaching a child to copy write what he sees.

A child must pay attention to the details of capital letters and punctuation.

In addition, a child reads and writes well-formed sentences because copywork resources should be superior writings.

For example, use nature books, scripture, history resources and poetry.

Further, copywork is a great resource for handwriting as it is a way to encourage repetition.

But also it works in other subjects, teaches punctuation, and develops spelling skills.

7. Match to your child’s learning style.

Finally you want to move on to a good solid homeschool handwriting curriculum that matches their learning style and meets any challenges they may have.

CURSIVE HANDWRITING TIPS

Homeschool Handwriting Curriculum Tips!

Keep reading for a list of 8 handwriting curriculum and the benefits of each.

Finally, look at these recommendations.

8 Handwriting Curriculum Options for Homeschooled Kids

The 8 Best Homeschool Handwriting Curriculum.

10 Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation Resources & Fun Ampersand Craft

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

Are you looking for skill sharpeners grammar and punctuation resources for grades K to 6th instead of a full curriculum? Also, look at 24 Borderline Genius Ways To Relieve Language Arts Boredom.

Also, I cannot lie but I love this fun ampersand craft to add to a school area or your office.

There are plenty of great books, games, and activities out there to help your child master the art of grammar without using a boring, dry curriculum.

After all, each child learns differently, and you can tailor their lessons to their learning style.

Grammar covers the rules of a language governing sounds, words, sentences, and other elements.

10 Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation Resources & Fun Ampersand Craft

It includes things like sentence structure, parts of speech, tense (past, present, future), and syntax.  While spelling is considered mechanics of language arts it still goes hand in hand with grammar.

I also have included a tutorial for a fun and easy ampersand bookend to celebrate World Ampersand Day, September 9th.

This fun bookend helps contain those piles we all have on our shelves and tables.

About the Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation Series

First, there are several reasons why I love using the skill sharpeners series.

  • As I mentioned, sometimes you need to focus on one skill whether your child needs reinforcement with one skill or if focusing on less helps your child to grasp concepts faster. Curriculum mixes several different components of language arts and isolating one skill keeps learning simple.
  • Next, you know my love for themes and unit studies, and I love the fact that these colorful workbooks have themes.
  • Rules are highlighted in the boxes and easy to learn and the best thing is it’s just pick up and go.

More Grammar and Punctuation Language Arts Resources

Also, look at more resources to go with the skill sharpeners grammar and punctuation series.

10 Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation Resources & Fun Ampersand Craft

Next, look at how to make this fun ampersand craft. Just too cute.

How to Make an Ampersand Bookend Craft

You will need:

  • Paper mache ampersand (Hobby Lobby)
  • Grey Paint
  • Baking soda
  • Clean, dry sand
  • Grey felt
  • Masking tape
  • Small funnel
  • Scissors
  • Paintbrush
10 Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation Resources & Fun Ampersand Craft

Paper Mache letters have supporting spacers throughout that block some of the channels, because of this it makes it hard to fill them to give them enough weight completely.

So, to work around that without cutting off the whole back, we will make several holes.

Use scissors or a Phillips head screwdriver to make a hole big enough to fit a small funnel.

Poke in as far as you can without coming through the other side.

10 Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation Resources & Fun Ampersand Craft

Pour sand in and move it around to be sure to fill as much of it as you can.

10 Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation Resources & Fun Ampersand Craft

Lay a piece of masking tape over the hole just big enough to cover it.

10 Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation Resources & Fun Ampersand Craft

Repeat 3-4 more times, be sure that you do at least 2 more on the bottom half.

I found that the very top on both sides of the bottom and one on each side halfway up allowed me to fill the entire thing pretty much despite the support pieces.

Also, I was able to get probably between 1 ½- cup of sand.

Now to make faux concrete we are going to mix 2 Tablespoons of gray paint with 1 Tablespoon baking soda and stir well.

That is just enough paint to cover the 8 ¼” size ampersand but if you go bigger you will need to mix up a little more.

10 Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation Resources & Fun Ampersand Craft

Paint on a fairly thick coat, be sure to get inside all the cracks, crevices and turns.

10 Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation Resources & Fun Ampersand Craft

While the paint is still wet dip your paintbrush in the sand and dab it all over to give it a rougher texture like concrete.

Be sure to pay extra attention to the areas that you taped over to blend in the seams but don’t build it up too much or it will call attention to these areas.

10 Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation Resources & Fun Ampersand Craft

 Once completely dry flip it over and paint the other side and allow that to dry as well.

Once all the paint is completely dry cut small pieces of gray felt slightly smaller than the flat bottom and hot glue them in place be sure to smooth the hot glue out, so it lays as flat as possible.

This will keep the rough texture from scratching up your shelf or table.

10 Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation Resources & Fun Ampersand Craft

Lastly, look at these language arts resources.

Skill Sharpeners & Language Art Resources K to 6th Grade

Sometimes you just need language art supplements to go with your unit studies and not a full program. You’ll love these language art resources.

Top 5 Reasons to Love Geronimo Stilton And Geronimo Stilton Book List 1-20

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

I have a Geronimo Stilton book list because we love the series. Be sure to grab more Geronimo Stilton Books ideas and crafts on my page.

First, the books originated in Italy and were written by Elisabetta Dami and use the name Geronimo Stilton as the author. Clever pen name, right?

Geronimo Stilton is written from the point of view of a young nervous mouse who keeps finding himself drawn into adventures (and sometimes in a pickle) in all sorts of different places around the world.

For example, he travels to the Outback, Egypt, New York, into the jungle, and sailing with pirates to name just a few of his adventures.

Top 5 Reasons to Love Geronimo Stilton And Geronimo Stilton Book List 1-20

They are great books for visual learners, young readers transitioning to chapter books, struggling readers, reluctant readers, and pretty much any other type of reader.

Additionally, they are recommended for ages 7-10 but depending on your child’s age I feel like that span can go a little wider in either direction.

Besides, you can see from the list below that Geronimo has quite a variety of adventures.

Geronimo Stilton Spin-Off Series

Too, we are just talking about the first 20 in the original series today but here is a quick overview of the different spin-off series and how many in each.

  • Geronimo Stilton-82
  • Geronimo Stilton Journey Through Time-8
  • Geronimo Stilton: Cavemice Series-15
  • Geronimo Stilton Reporter Series-11
  • Thea Stilton Series-35  
  • Thea Stilton Graphic Novel Series-8 
  • Geronimo Stilton Graphic Novel Series-19 
  • Geronimo Stilton: The Graphic Novel Series-4 Books
  • Geronimo Stilton and the Kingdom of Fantasy Series-16 
  • Geronimo Stilton: Special Edition Series-7 
  • Geronimo Stilton Classic Tales Series-1 
  • Geronimo Stilton: Spacemice Series-12 
  • Geronimo Stilton: Creepella Von Cacklefur Series-9 
  • Geronimo Stilton: Micekings Series-7 
  • Thea Stilton: Mouseford Academy Series-8 
  • Thea Stilton and the Treasure Seekers Series-3 
Top 5 Reasons to Love Geronimo Stilton And Geronimo Stilton Book List 1-20

Next, look at the top 5 reasons to love the Geronimo Stilton book list.

Top 5 Reasons to Love Geronimo Stilton

  1. They are super fun to read. And they are written in a comic book or graphic novel style with bright and fun illustrations. This helps kids get a better picture of the locations and keeps their interest. The different sizes and styles of fonts help put emphasis on words, phrases, and themes throughout the book. Often these highlighted words make for a great introduction or review of spelling/vocabulary words.
  2. Teaches great life lessons- Geronimo’s books tend to have some kind of lesson woven in like being open to adventure, recycling, being brave, friendship, family, and other character concepts that are laid out simply for kids.
  3. Loaded with great facts and information- While telling the crazy stories they naturally weave in facts about people, places, and things so your child can’t help but learn while they enjoy the tale. Each of these elements is casually introduced in the story so your child is learning as they enjoy a story without it being a textbook at all. There is special emphasis on geography and history and make for a great history series for younger children.
  4. Great for boys and girls- While they do have a spin-off series about his sister Thea Stilton, Geronimo is written to appeal to both boys and girls, no matter what theme the adventure. If you have multiple kids in the house you are going to get a lot of bang for your buck on these books.
  5. They cover a variety of topics and locations- Whatever you are learning about or piques your child’s interest there is a great chance that there is a Geronimo Stilton out there for them. Looking for a book for them to read on the flight to a family vacation in Hawaii? Try book #72-The Hawaiian Heist, need something to supplement your Egypt study? Go with #2 The Curse of The Cheese Pyramid.
Top 5 Reasons to Love Geronimo Stilton And Geronimo Stilton Book List 1-20

Moreover, I have many hands-on activities to go wiith many of the books.

Geronimo Stilton Book List Activities

Also, look at these other crafts to go with the books.

Finally, look at the list of Geronimo Stilton books.

Geronimo Stilton Books 1 - 20

It is not necessary to go in order, each book is its own stand-alone story, and the main characters are properly reintroduced each time.  So, you can choose the books based on your child's current interest, the season, or a unit study topic.

How to Rock Homeschool Creative Writing (when you don’t feel like THAT creative mom)

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

Today, I have tips for homeschool creative writing. Also, you’ll love the tips on my post Which One is Really the Best Homeschool Writing Curriculum (a comparison).

Have you ever fumbled your way through teaching a homeschool subject?

Then realize later that you gave your children an amazing start?

It’s not a teaching method I tout because blunders don’t always turn out so productive.

However, teaching is partly influenced by what we were taught growing up.

And homeschool creative writing was a painful process for me.

How to Rock Homeschool Creative Writing (when you don’t feel like THAT creative mom)

In middle school, I wasn’t given a specific and detailed explanation of what is creative writing.

For example, I was told to write creatively.

But as a child I thrived with details, planning and wanted specificity.

My teacher was naturally creative and it was almost a lethal combination for me.

My middle school teacher thought I couldn’t relax and let thoughts flow or so it seemed.

And I thought my teacher didn’t know how to teach because she was unclear in her assignment and didn’t mind the details or so I thought.

How to Rock Creative Writing When Homeschooling (and when you don't feel like THAT creative mom) @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Until I started homeschooling my own children, I didn’t really grasp what my teacher was excited about.

Hoping to bridge the difference between exceptional homeschool teachers who are naturally creative and those who can be when they clearly understand the assignment, look at three things I learned the hard way.

Freedom from the Homeschool Curriculum Box

Progress can be made only when both the homeschool teacher and student understand that creative writing is a natural inward expression of creativity unchained from rules.

That is powerful if you think about it.

It is about emotions, thoughts, and self-expression. It’s about you and who doesn’t like talking (or writing) about their self.

In explaining creative writing to my boys, I used the example of a group photo taken by one of their friends.

When my boys’ friends show them the photo, can you guess what my boys look at first? Yep. They look for themselves first in the picture.

We can’t help it, it’s natural. We want to see how we look.

What is Homeschool Creative Writing

Creative writing is like finding yourself in that photo.

Naturally creative teachers know that putting thoughts on paper is the outside of what is brimming on the inside of an individual.

Once explained to a child, he can bring comical thoughts, deep emotions and even fears to the surface for writing topics.

Digging up those thoughts in a child’s mind may require effort on the part of a teacher.

Key to unleashing creative topics for your child to write about is reading aloud to your child.  Not only will reading aloud foster their imagination, but it helps your child to find their inner voice for writing.

Though I didn’t fully understand all the benefits of reading aloud when I started homeschooling, I reaped the benefits of doing it each day.

When I turned my boys loose, my sons could write pages and pages of stories based on their wild imagination that was stimulated by excellent literature.

How to Rock Homeschool Creative Writing (when you don’t feel like THAT creative mom)

After they would write pages and pages, I failed again. I switched to teacher mode. Correcting grammar and errors is what I thought writing was all about.

That wasn’t working because I almost created a resistant writer with my first son because I had stifled his creativity.

I learned after a battle of wills to not be part of the problem. Be part of the solution.

Thinking that my oldest son had to make a point to the endless stories he was penning was the second mistake I made.

Being a product of my schooling, I had been taught to be clear, concise and brief in my speech and writing.

Those qualities are important as I learned, but not to the extent that they diminish my son’s love for words and expressing emotions through artfully contrived words.

Being part of the solution is to let your child write without fear of being overly corrected, mechanical or trying to make their writing fit your boxed curriculum.

More Homeschool Creative Writing Tips

From my childhood and experience teaching my first child who was similar to my learning style, I knew that if told him that creative writing was like painting with no rules, he would add his flair to his writing. And he did.

Also, I learned to not bring my teacher mode to the table and start correcting his paper or in other words smother an ember before it becomes a flame.

And I always added in a good dose of reading aloud each day to help all my boys find their style for writing.

Adding creative writing to your curriculum can be challenging but having confident writers years later has been worth every effort.

But I learned a few more things too. 

I learned to use my teaching strengths as a spring board to creative writing ideas.  And I learned how to help my kids create and brainstorm for writing topics.

8 Writing and Composition Resources For All Ages

Whether you’re teaching handwriting, composition, or creative writing solid tips come from having an abundance of composition and materials to choose from.

Later I realized that I don’t have to give up details, planning or specificity when writing. I will share specific details in an upcoming post about how I used my strengths to make creative writing flourish.

What about you? Are you afraid to step out of the box and teach creative writing?

You can do it!