It's time for another post in my series about using picture books to teach writing to middle and high school students! Today's topic is using picture books to teach text structure. What is text structure? It's how the information written in a text is organized. Learning to identify text structure as a reader can greatly improve the comprehension of the material. (Bonus!) Learning to identify text structure from the prospective of a writer can help you learn how to become a better writer. Picture books make great mentor texts for teaching the six basic types of text structure: cause and effect, compare and contrast, sequence, enumeration, problem and solution, and description. I ... Read More
Character Building Chapter Books for Boys
Now that I'm a "boy-only mom" (because my daughter is in college) choosing read aloud books requires a new consideration. Will the potential book appeal to my boys? I can't get away any longer with reading books that have any sort of girly-girl flavor. Lucky for me, there are TONS of wonderful living books to fill the time. Also lucky for me, I LOVE these books just as much as my boys! What Makes A Book Appealing What make a book appealing to BOYS? Adventure. Mystery. Intrigue. Strong characters. Humor. Battles. What makes THESE particular books appealing to ME? Many of them have great characters who display great character. Leadership. Courage. Strength. Perseverance. ... Read More
Healthy Kids in the Kitchen with Picture Book Starters
I have a serious chef in my house. He's only nine years old, but the boy can cook! When I see a natural motivation like this in one of my children, I make sure there are plenty of opportunities to foster its growth. So...he cooks. Because our goal is to have healthy kids in the kitchen, he cooks healthfully (most of the time.) I allow him to experiment with ingredients as often as I insist that he follows a recipe. I allow him to do as much of the chopping and stove work as he's ready to handle. He's just so darn cute standing on his stool while doing the truly serious work of a real chef. He's been my kitchen helper since he was old enough to sit in a Boppy chair. All that ... Read More
6 Tips for Teaching Early Readers
Do you have a child who began reading well at three or four years old? A child who reads far above grade level? A child who soaks in more books in a year than you’ve read in your entire life? Do you wonder what to do with all that advanced ability? Just how do you proceed with gifted early readers?? Here's what I did. You can listen to this post if you prefer! Teaching Very Early Readers My oldest was an early reader. She blew my mind as she reached for book after book, able to tackle nearly everything on her own. As her teacher, I wondered how to handle her reading instruction. Should I still teach phonics? Should I force reading comprehension lessons? Should I hold her back ... Read More
A Writing Assignment Your Children Will Love
My children don't typically jump for joy when given a writing assignment. Do yours? I've found several ways over the years to take writing from dreaded to enjoyable in our home, though. One of the most beloved of those ideas is writing newsletters. Several years ago, I wrote the monthly newsletter for our church. I realized what a fun and meaningful activity it would be for my children to create their own newsletters for our homeschool. We decided to document our day-to-day adventures in what we called The Westward Gazette and send it out to immediate family members. Writing newsletters was not only a big hit with my children, but the (sometimes skeptical about homeschooling) ... Read More
10 Reasons I Love The Logic of English
I'm homeschooling my third (and final) child through 3rd grade. My next youngest is in 10th grade. Here's the thing...I'm tired. Tired of all the time it takes to plan the piecemeal approach to teaching language arts, that is. I used to teach in the public school system and in homeschooling my older two children I searched and searched for a thorough language arts curriculum that was strong in the foundations of phonics, spelling and grammar like I taught in the classroom. Most of the programs I found either required way too much preparation on my part, only offered practice worksheets with no real instruction, lacked severely in their scope and sequence, or left out systematic ... Read More
Using Picture Books to Teach Voice in Writing
Voice. It's in every good piece of writing, but it's a tad elusive when it comes to defining and teaching. Writing that connects with readers has voice. Writing that makes you feel emotion has voice. Writing that comes to life has voice. Writing that sounds unique or comes from the heart has voice. Voice is the distinct personality of a writing. That sounds a lot like living literature, doesn't it? Exactly. If we don't want to read twaddle, we shouldn't care to write it either. That's where voice comes in. Some people might describe voice as the mood or tone of a piece of writing. While the mood or tone are definitely impacted by the voice - actual voice is something just a ... Read More
Using Picture Books to Teach Writing Styles
I {heart} picture books for so many reasons. One giant reason is their ability to teach so many in depth concepts in such non-intimidating ways that students often don't see fear in the lessons that follow. One such example is writing. I can't tell you the times I've been asked by homeschooling parents to tutor their children in writing or teach a writing class or point them to the perfect writing curriculum. It seems as if writing is one of the big, scary monsters of homeschooling. But it doesn't have to be hard! You have masters of writing at your fingertips every single day who can help guide much of the writing instruction in your home. These masters are the authors of really ... Read More
Using Picture Books To Teach Biography Writing
Living literature isn't just for reading - it's also great for teaching writing styles! Serious writing lessons don't start in our homeschool until middle and high school, but believe it or not, I use picture books quite often to help me teach. Since picture books can be read in one sitting, they are perfect examples of really good writing from master writers. Of course, you have to make sure you're reading books actually written by master writers (not twaddle.) And that's what I've set out to share with you in this series - books that are perfect for teaching various writing styles! The writing focus of this article is biographies. Wait, did I hear a "Yuck!"?? If you're children ... Read More
11 Tips for Raising Readers
Did you know March is National Reading Month? Because living books are so very good, every month is all about reading in our house! But in honor of this annual celebration of reading, I thought I'd take some time to share some of my best tips for raising readers. 11 Tips for Raising Readers Not only do we want to raise kids who can read well - we want them to want to read for years to come, right? Here are some things I've found to be really helpful for both teaching reading and instilling a love for reading. You can listen to this post if you prefer! 1. Read to your children from the very beginning. It's never too early to start reading aloud to your children. Early ... Read More