Adventures of a Catholic homeschooling family in Alaska.
Note ~ This blog post about Writing Fiction in High School was made possible through review materials sent by Sharon Watson as part of a Schoolhouse Review Crew product review. When I look back at my high school years, I can recall a fair amount of writing involved. I was in honors and AP [Read On]
Welcome to the 1st week of the 2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair for homeschoolers. This week’s topic: Playing with Words: the Language Arts This theme can include phonics, reading, writing, grammar, spelling, speech, literature, etc., etc., etc. Latin and foreign language studies could also go here. Before I reflect upon changes in our house this year [Read On]
Regular readers of this blog have probably heard me talk about the ongoing battle I have with teaching writing with the boys. To ease the unease in the house, I’ve switched gears when things have gotten desperate. A few years back, we reviewed Write Shop Primary, Book A with D. It was just the [Read On]
When I think about language arts, I have the basics pop to mind. Younger students are focused on phonics so they can become readers. Slightly older students begin to do more comprehension and vocabulary work on their journey to becoming more proficient readers. And, finally, when they reach high school, the students are moving beyond [Read On]
Yesterday, I shared a review of PERIL: A Fast Track Thriller Book 1. Today, I am thrilled to have Suzanne sharing her thoughts about novel writing and homeschooling. Homeschooling and writing a book are both time-consuming activities. Yet that’s what God has called me to do. I’ve questioned Him over and over, but He [Read On]
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason [Read On]
For a while, I have had to butt heads with R over writing. He struggles with so many different technical aspects, that getting words onto paper can be almost torture at times. While he might have great ideas in his mind, by the time he navigates handwriting and spelling problems, his stamina is shot and [Read On]
When many of us begin on the journey of homeschooling, we may have concerns over teaching ALL the subjects we want to cover with our kids. Beyond just how to fit them all into the day, there is the concern over whether we can ‘handle’ teaching particular subjects. After all, we each have our strengths [Read On]
A few years back, I heard about NaNoWriMo. It was at a friend’s 40th birthday party and one of the party guests was talking about it. I was intrigued, but each year since found a reason to NOT participate. Well, this year is going to be different. The boys are going to participate (even if [Read On]
A few weeks back, I mentioned that Jim Baumgardner was writing a series about story writing for publication on one of my fellow TOS Crewmates’ blog. In case you missed that original post, you can find Part I here. If you’d like to see what he’s written , head on over to Creative Learners for [Read On]
Last summer, our family was among the 100+ families on the TOS Crew that received a copy of Sarah’s Wish to review. The boys enjoyed the story as did I. Well, one of the other First Mates on the TOS Crew this year is hosting a series of articles written by Jim Baumgardner (author) on [Read On]
One of the subjects many of us struggle with is writing. We might be able to quickly spot a well written piece, but have little idea of how to get our children to write well. Many of the products I have seen suggest creative writing topics for the kids, but leave you with little direction [Read On]
I have to say that I have some creative boys. They can come up with imaginative stories off the top of their head. Of course, these stories often involve fighting as they are obsessed with the military and weapons. So, I wasn’t sure how the idea of a slightly more directed creative writing approach would [Read On]
