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

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

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

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

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

Mapping Out the Components of Language Arts

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

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

►VOCABULARY

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

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

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

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

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

►READING OR LITERATURE

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

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

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

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

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

Look at a few things they offer:

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

►GRAMMAR

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

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

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

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

►WRITING OR COMPOSITION

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

Melding Homeschool Language Arts and Unit Studies

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

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

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

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

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

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

►READING OR LITERATURE

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

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

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

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

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

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

►REVIEW AND ENRICHMENT

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

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

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

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

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

Look at what you get:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Download here Unit Study Goals & Objectives.

How to Buy It and Get the Savings!

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

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

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

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

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

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

How to Easily Add Poetry to Your Homeschool Subjects

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hugs and love ya,

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

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

Teaching Cursive Handwriting Matters Style Doesn’t And Free Resources

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

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

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

However, that process is not without problems.

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

Technology is rapidly changing.

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

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

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

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

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

Or think that a child is not capable of it.

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

You may think so, but not so fast.

Is Cursive Obsolete for Homeschooled Kids?

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

And more importantly the value of it.

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

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

ONE/ Teach cursive first, before print.

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

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

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

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

That is not the way I wanted to teach.

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

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

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

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

Master Cursive Writing @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More on that in a minute.

TWO/ Understand the three broad strokes of cursive.

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

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

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

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

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

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

From there we progressed to lined paper in first grade.

3 Broad Cursive Strokes to Teach

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More Writing Curriculum Tips

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

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

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

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

Cursive doesn’t have to be uniformed among writers.

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

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

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

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

Free Homeschool Cursive Program and Resources

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

Look at my articles

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4 Clever Ways to Store Writing in Lapbooks

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

You know I’m not the crafty loving type of person, but I know that learning with lapbooks stick. Today, I’m sharing 4 clever ways to store writing in lapbooks. Not only are these good ideas for long term storage, but they are also out of the box ideas that nudge reluctant writers to put pen to paper.

First, look at these ideas that work for younger kids or even kids that are not so young, but hate writing.

4 Clever Ways to Store Writing in Lapbooks @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
List Making

Though there are three ideas on this one page above, I list them as one way to store writing because they are similar.

The lapbook above comes from one of our earlier frog lapbooks. One idea is the sandwich shaped book.

Any shape makes learning fun and lapbooks are perfect for creating shaped pages.

Not only is the shape of the sandwich book perfect for helping your child to remember what they are writing about, but the small size breaks down writing into bite (corny pun intended) size pieces.

Though I love shaped books for this age, list making is also another way to gently coax a writer to write.

And then, any book that folds up and fits into a pocket is just plain fun. The sheet in the pocket is a maze that one of my sons wanted to do and he colored the snake on the outside and we folded it up.

Look here at my post How to Turn Boring Worksheets into Fun Minibooks – From Boring to Interactive.

List Making Inside

The list making book and the sandwich book are attached by a brad. You can use one brad so that the book is flip up style or use two brads so the book opens from left to right or vice versa.

Really a number of these short books can be used for writers up until middle school.

2. Vocabulary Flip Book Open

The next way to store writing is through a vocabulary book with lift tabs.

This two page spread above is big enough for eight words.

Vocabulary Flip Book Inside

When the tab is lifted, the definition is underneath. I didn’t even create these books. It was a simple paper cut and fold.

The books are in our Plains Indian lapbook. Of course with these books, no brad or staples are needed, just paper and glue. They have held up nicely over the years.

Then the third way to store writing is shown below in our Westward Ho lapbook and unit study.

Word In a Barrel Sentence strips inside

I love this way we stored our writing, which is sentence strip style.

Some unit study topics or lapbooks are more suited than others for out of the ordinary shapes and our Westward Ho was one of them.

Inside view sentence strips

I made the Barrel of Words and the boys wrote on the sentence strips.The sentence strips are not intimidating looking when you want your child to love writing.

What I like about this third method of storing writing is that depending on my child’s age, I can have them write as many strips as I want them to. There is something about writing on separate strips that doesn’t make writing overwhelming. Of course, piece the strips together and your child can have one or two pages, but they don’t need to know that do they?

It is just another creative way for a child to not only love what he is learning about, but to feel that writing is manageable.

High School Writing Lapbook

This fourth way I stored writing now moves on to middle and high school level.

This short research paper comes from one of my sons in ninth grade and it is from our Amazon lapbook and unit study.

By this age, your teen really needs a normal size page to write on so you need to be a bit more creative.

High School Writing Lapbook Inside 1

First, I added another inside flap to the lapbook. Then again I used brads just because they are so versatile.

I added two brads at the bottom outside of the page protector and pushed it through the flap..

High School Writing Lapbook Inside 2

And then added two brads inside the page protector and pushed it through the flap.

By opening the page protector and only pushing the brad through the back side of the page protector, it stays open at the top so the research paper can be top loaded.

High School Writing Lapbook Inside

By also mounting the research paper on acid free paper and using good quality tape, it has kept the pages straight as they are pulled in and out of the page protectors.

Though tempted to use cheaper products, using higher quality products like acid free paper keeps precious things like writing looking awesome for a longer time.

There are more ways to store writing, but these 4 ways have been timeless for us and fit a variety of lapbooks.

How do you like to store your child’s writing?

You may also like to read these great tips:

Hugs and love ya,

How to Put Together a Homeschooled High School Writer’s Notebook & Free Resources

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

How to Put Together a Homeschooled High School Writer's Notebook and Free Resources

With two move overseas in the last two years, we have been slowly catching up on subjects. Tiny is still straddling middle and high school, but his writing has been at high school level. Because we had to set up his high school writer’s notebook after our move back, I am sharing it with you today along with some free resources.

WriteShop

I have used many writing courses with my boys through the years and I have genuinely enjoyed each one. One that we really enjoyed which was created by homeschool moms because it worked and made teaching writing easy is WriteShop.

In another post, I will be sharing some things we liked and didn’t like so much about writing programs because today I want to stick to showing you an easy set up for a writer’s notebook.

Really, this set up would work for a middle school kid too.

I. Outside Cover

Notebooks can be made out of anything, like a file folder, composition book or even a binder.



Your teen can design his own cover and coloring is cool now even for adults and young teens, which is why at the bottom, I listed some free and cool looking coloring pages.

I ask Tiny if he wanted to color or design his cover and he rolled his eyes. I took that as a no.

Instead, he found this handsome and dare I say elegant, houndstooth-ish looking Divoga black and gold notebook in late December when we arrived back in the states.

Handsome looking notebook 1

I believe it may have been seasonal, but you can look at this picture below to see the other ones they have.

They are pretty impressive looking if you have a teen boy or girl that wants a more professional look.

And it helps if the binders are on sale because a teen can change their mind often when it comes to expressing their individuality in their writer’s notebook.

II. Superb Writing Tools Equals a Master Writer (okay, well maybe, but it doesn’t hurt)

Next, the pen zipper pouch is important because I make sure Tiny has a variety of pen colors to work with.

When they boys were younger, we used the skip line method when writing so that there is a line to write on under the first draft and to rewrite the next draft or to change a word.

It keeps a child from erasing, which should be completely ruled out in writing, but kids have a hard time  doing that.

WriteShop Junior


If they learn to eradicate erasing when they are young, then as they grow to a teen writer, it helps them to learn the writing process faster because writing is the culmination of many mark ups and deletions.

superb writing tools 2

As the boys get older, they get the choice of whether they want to keep skipping lines and/or use different color pens to identify the different stages of writing like initial draft, revise and final draft.

Tiny likes black ink for writing and red ink for correcting. If it is needs to be completely rewritten as a draft, he can choose another color, like blue or green. I think Tiny keeps the pencil in his zipper as a good measure.

Tiny and I both tend to like the Zebra z grip, medium point.

And Z grip has the other colors too.

He also likes keeping highlighters in his zip pouch because when he has finished his thoughts, he can return later and substitute a more colorful adjective or word. At the time, I encourage him to keep his ideas flowing. He will highlight real quick and keep moving.

He loves the Yoobi highlighters like I do and grabbed mine, but we have been eyeing these mini yoobi highlighters.
A few paper clips  for keeping his pages together and some post it notes and he is set up for referencing his pages the way he wants to.

How to Help Your Teen to Find the Best Words for His Ideas

Next, I keep a heavy duty top loading protector page with fresh paper in it. It is by Wilson Jones.

This just keeps fresh paper in the front and he can easily see when he needs to fill it up again.

Then,  we set our tabs up in a variety of ways.

So we set up some of the tabs the same way, but not all of them. Remember, your teen still needs your help in organizing their notebooks.

III. But It’s the Inside That Matters.

We have five sections and they are:

One| Outlines/Compositions.

This is where Tiny keeps his outlines and drafts. He likes keeping his final compositions at the very end of the notebook. He also likes to keep the model he is working on here under this tab and not under a separate tab.

Two| Structural Models.

At this point, I want you know how important the order of the tabs are because it helps your teen to go through the writing process in a logical order.

For example, some teens like to correct spacing and grammar before they are finished writing their content. This is not only exhausting to do, but can be both stressful and a waste of time when their focus needs to be first on content.

This is an important part in helping a teen organize his thoughts. Your teen needs to understand that before he focuses on the mechanics of writing, he has to clarify his thoughts.

Put models in this section which you want your teen follow.

Three| Style Charts.

Put words or lists here that help improve his technique of writing. We like list of adjectives and adverbs.

Again, these three tabs helps a teen writer to not forget the very basics of writing like having a beginning, middle and an end, that writing using noun and verb is solid writing and wordiness is a waste of good writing.

Four| Banned Words.

Though this section for me could be part of Writing Helps, it is a section that Tiny needs to focus on this year. Keeping it a separate tab reminds him to narrow down his word choice carefully. Banned words, however, could easily fit into the Writing Helps too.

Five| Writing Helps

Tiny needed help with the details of his writing so we named this part Writing Helps. Placing this at the end of the notebook he is reminded that punctuation and grammar helps can now be focused on after he has made his choice of ideas.

That is the strength of making each writer’s notebook to fit their unique and immediate needs.

Because we have had many interruptions with our writing, I need to be sure that he has some of the basics like parts of speech that he learned in his younger years.

In addition, he needs to expand the way he connects thoughts so I have printed off a transitional words list.

parts of speech 3

Instead of constantly reminding him about them, it is his job now to check his work for that.

These helpful sheets that are free and that I list at the bottom are nifty for shoring up any weakness of a teen writer.

Free Homeschool Writing Helps

This is just an awesome site. I have referred to it often throughout the years. It has a number of free printables and helps for kids ages 3 to 13, but I think some of them can be used as a reference for older kids too.

Then I love this site because we have used some of her printables and they are especially for teen writers. I like the story brainstorming questions and it helped my boys to hone some of their thoughts.

A plethora of free helps and downloads here. I like the 475 Writing Prompts (be aware I have not read all of them, but a lot of them) and the templates for printing.

If you want to make your own notebook, your child can color a picture for the front of their notebook and glue it on a composition notebook or print the character sketch template.

Check out the wonderful graphic organizers and journal topics.

Then this site has been around for years and I have used it at various stages of my boys’ writing to help them visualize and organize their thoughts. It works fine for an older student too and especially if they are a visual learning.

The Worksheet Place, under the category Writing Worksheets, also has very helpful sheets. Under persuasive worksheets is where I found the transitional words worksheet, which I printed off for Tiny.

As I mentioned before, each one of my sons had things they struggled with or needed help remembering. I want their notebooks to be a place that not only helps creative thought processes flow, but to be especially helpful.

A writer’s notebook should reflect each writer’s personality and making the notebook feel personal helps.

The grading process stays with me, but as Mr. Senior 2013 did more writing he wanted to see how the paper was graded and so I added helpful rubrics for writing to his notebook. You can grab them here.

Right now, Tiny is not interested in that as he is beginning high school and he has different goals for this year.

Does this give you a good starting point for your homeschooled teen writers’ notebook?

You’ll love these other helpful tips:

What else do you like to include?

Hugs and love ya,