Reading in 2011

Carma invited me to join in her blog series on how each of her children learned to read. That’s reaching pretty far back for me since Sprite is twelve years old, but I love the topic. I started blogging when Sprite was already an independent reader, so it is not something that I ever wrote about.

I have a degree in English; I even have a master’s degree in education. Yet I was nervous about teaching my child to read. I look back now and realize how ridiculous my concern was. But it was a very real fear at the time.

I had been exposed to some of the better late than early material, and I had learned a few lessons from potty training that made me realize a child is not going to read until she is ready. Period.

I’d love to share the potty training stories, but since Sprite is now a tween (and reads this blog), she would probably be horrified to see them online. I’ll just share the bottom line. Sprite was totally potty trained when she was ready for it to happen. And I mean totally. She never (Never — no exaggeration) had an accident  or wet the bed after that single day when she chose to leave diapers behind. There was no middle ground of being partially potty trained, or a period of working on potty training that gradually shifted into mastery. One day she was using diapers; the next day she was potty trained.

In my mind, reading and potty training fit in the same category. They are essential life skills, but they cannot be rushed. A child must be developmentally ready both physically and emotionally.  As a parent, my job is to provide the tools for learning these skills and to encourage growth. Shame and pressure are counterproductive.

When Sprite was five years old and beginning Kindergarten, we were in China. Homeschooling was the best option for us then, and I plunged in with a complete curriculum, purchased from Sonlight. It was fantastic to have everything in one box — books, manipulatives, and an instructor’s guide with boxes to check. Despite my degrees and years of teaching experience (middle school), I still doubted my ability to teach a child to read.

The Sonlight curriculum included a system to teach a child to read, but I was leery of using it. I was afraid of pushing her too much and ruining her love of books (which meant up to that time my reading aloud to her). I went ahead with the program, constantly cautioning myself against rushing and pressuring. I was firm in my resolve to let it happen when she was ready.

There were times when she was frustrated by the phonics program. At those times, I laid it aside for a few days. Then we would try it again. This off and on again approach continued for several months. Finally something sparked inside her, and Sprite was highly motivated to learn to read. From that point on there were few frustrating lessons. It was truly a smooth process. Sprite was five years old.

I credit her ease in learning to read to three main factors.

1. A literate family.

We had loads of books in our home. Her dad and I are readers. Sprite even had her own bookcase filled with age appropriate books from birth.

2. Reading aloud to Sprite since birth.

Sprite already loved books and the adventures they held because she had experienced plenty of them by listening to me and her dad read them.

3. A low-key, no pressure approach to learning phonics.

There was no rush, no shame, and no pressure in our reading lessons. I always approached phonics lessons as a fun activity, equal to crafts with glue and glitter or a romp on the playground. I may have used the term “school” but only because it was novel for a five year old to “play school.”

My learn to read story is not very glamorous. But it is Sprite’s story. So, of course, I love it.

Readers, what do you think? Is there a magic age when a child must learn to read? Did you push your children to learn to read? Was that a good decision?

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3. The Many Faces of Me — Sprite as Photographer

Sometimes the best part about a project is that it’s over.

Leaving Podium; Speech is finished!

I guess that being twelve years old and giving your first speech is good explanation for the emotional roller coaster this project created. On my part, I renewed my title as a mean mamma and a “crazy English chick” through the process.

Initially there was pleading that I wouldn’t make her give a speech. But I held my stand.

The speech is part of language arts. This is not an elective. This is school.

At times there was a rebellious refusal to do it. I simply reminded her that she would do it. At times she tried the “I can’t do it” routine. Nope. Not buying that either.

Then she found a topic she was passionate about — materials for drawing class. Excitement about the topic motivated her. She wrote the world’s best essay on pencils, paper, and smudgers. Sprite revised her essay repeatedly, agonizing over every detail. Then the memorizing and practice began.

There were exultant moments of confidence when she nailed a paragraph. Then there would be feelings of failure when she botched something — again. She made note cards, tried them out, tore them up, and started over. She color coded, devised a system, and practiced yet more.

Writing notecards for speech

She took breaks. She recorded herself on her iPod and listened as she bathed. She prayed to the Lord for strength.

She wisely talked to herself:

I can do this. I know this material. My speech is good.

No one there will hate me. My mom will be there. She loves me. C will be there. She loves me. I will look at them.

I will learn this in time.

If I mess up, no one knows. They haven’t read my speech. I can fix it on the fly.

I cannot tell you how proud I was of her through this process. Actually, I’m sure you know. If you have seen your child persevere through a challenge and succeed, you know exactly the pride I felt as my Sprite walked off that podium at our local 4H club. It wasn’t that her speech was flawless and polished. It was about fighting through the fear and coming through a victor.

Giving the Speech (This is posed after the fact.)

She made mistakes. But she recovered with grace. She earned second place against only one other competitor in her grade. But she looked at the positive marks on her score sheets and congratulated herself . She knew that she had delivered her speech with excellence. And it was over. Big sigh.

On the ride home, I tested the waters by asking when the county competition would be. Sprite said she didn’t know. I quietly asked, “Do you want to try it?” There was a pause before she answered with a soft no. She glanced at me. I smiled. She smiled.

“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” I probed.

She nodded.

And my heart filled with pride again.

We kept the cards just in case.

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1. Day 8: Public Speaking {10 Days of Language Arts}
2. Minibooks for Reference

For your convenience, I’ve compiled the 10 Days of Language Arts posts into an eBook — Designing Your Language Arts Curriculum. You can purchase the eBook securely with PayPal (via ejunkie.com) for only $3. After your purchase, you will be directed to a link where you can download the file. (The link does expire eventually, so don’t delay in saving your file.)

To buy immediately, click the button below.

 $3.00

For more information, visit this page.

(Yes, this book is ready earlier than I had scheduled!)

photo credit

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1. Designing Your Language Arts Curriculum EBook
2. Books Recommended in Designing Your Language Arts Curriculum
3. Day 10: Writing and Reluctant Writers {10 Days of Language Arts}

This has been my very first 10 Days series, and today is the last day. Your positive feedback throughout this series makes all the late night writing worth it. Thank you!

I am working on the eBook compilation of these posts which I hope to have available next Wednesday. It is going to be so affordable that everyone can buy a copy. It will be the posts, minus the photos, in an easy to print but pretty format.

Teaching Writing

Building Blocks

There is a logical progression in writing, moving from sentences to paragraphs to essays. However, this progression isn’t strictly linear. As a child matures in his language arts skill, he cycles back through these three steps, learning more complex structures at each pass.

For sentences, I teach a set of five sentence patterns. (Link is a free eBook; see freebies page at jimmiescollage.com for eBook and other printables to go with it.) These include simple, compound, and complex sentences while also teaching how to punctuate five common types of sentences. Practice writing sentences with the different patterns, possibly using your spelling or vocabulary words.

After students have a basic proficiency with sentences, they should be learning how to write five sentence (minimum) paragraphs.  The structure of a paragraph parallels the structure of an essay, so this is an important step. I taught Sprite how to write paragraphs with very structured formulas. Once she mastered those boring formats, she was confident enough to branch out with more creative approaches.

I think of an essay as merely an expanded paragraph. What was one sentence in a paragraph is now blown up to an entire paragraph in the essay. Beyond the basic structure, some key things to teach for essay writing are

• use of transitions
• attention grabber or hook at the very start
• writing good thesis statements
• writing a conclusion that answers the question “So what?”

Topics for Writing

I like to integrate writing assignments with academic areas as much as possible. Our notebooking covers a lot of this kind of cross-curricular writing even though most of the notebooking pages are not a formal essay.

Melding writing into other subject areas gives you a two-fold bonus; not only do you kill two birds with one stone, but you also teach them a critical skill for college. Remember having to write a paper in your history class? That can be a real challenge if language arts has been taught in isolation from other areas. Push for writing about poetry, literature, art, science, math, history, music, in short, anything else you are studying.

Types of Writing

You may find this next statement reassuring or disappointing.

Creative writing is not critical, so don’t worry about it at all.

Expository, writing to explain, and persuasive, writing to persuade, are your primary types of academic writing. (Yes, there are comparison and contrast and descriptive essays, too, but those can really fall under the broader category of expository writing.) If you want to spend time on creative writing just because your children like it, that’s fine. But if you find it a chore, simply omit it altogether. I consider it an elective. It is non-essential. Do you feel better now?

You do want students to add creative elements to their expository and persuasive essays, of course. But that does not need to be taught in the context of writing fiction stories.

For more about teaching writing, visit DIY Writing Curriculum.

Reluctant Writers

I got an email from Ruth with this wonderful question:

Can you tell me how to work with reluctant writers? My 11 year old son does not like to write and when he does, it’s about one sentence long. When asked to write more, he misses out on all the details.  We do a lot of copywork, grammar, sentence labeling, editing, fill-in the blank paragraphs, orally describe a picture in words and then write about it.  We also write down keywords together so that he can use them in the sentence.  We write a lot of 5-sentence paragraphs together, but when I ask him to work on his own, he is reluctant to work on the task!  How can I get him to work independently on his writing?

I’m sure many of you can relate to reluctant writers even though the specific details may vary. I’m going to address Ruth’s particular situation first and then make some general remarks about reluctant writers.

Ruth, when I read your note, I am struck with the fact that your son can write (and does write) when you are there to prod and guide. That is wonderful! As you said, you want him to move into more independence in his writing. I agree. That is your next stage.  You are also using excellent strategies to help your son!

• copywork
• grammar exercises
• sentence labeling
• editing activities
• fill-in-the-blank paragraphs
• oral descriptions
• keywords (wordbanks)

You have invested well, and I trust that those activities will eventually carry over into his writing. Don’t give up!

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1. Day 8: Public Speaking {10 Days of Language Arts}
2. Day 2: Reading {10 Days of Language Arts}
3. Day 9: Building a Library {10 Days of Language Arts}

Being a master of language means being able to use words. You can read them, enjoy them, and organize them to express yourself. Day 9 of our 10 Days series zeroes in on providing your wordsmiths the tools they need to be masters of words. Actually, they may not realize that they need these resources, but it is your job to convince them.

Do you have a pleasure reading library and a homeschool library? I did for many years. There were “school” books that we kept in the homeschool area and Sprite’s fun books that she kept in her room. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, except that my distinction between school and fun books was very arbitrary. From a language arts perspective, Sprite can benefit just as much from her fun books as from the books that I considered “curriculum.” So when thinking of building a library, don’t think just in terms of the “homeschool” books but in terms of your entire family collection.

Language Reference Tools

I can’t imagine teaching children at home without these three essential language reference books:

1. dictionary
2. thesaurus
3. writer’s handbook that covers grammar, mechanics, and usage

I also recommend these extras for the fun factor:

• rhyming dictionary
• idiom dictionary or encyclopedia

Because we use lapbooking and notebooking, we also  create our own reference aids which we store next to the dictionary and thesaurus on the homeschool table. Sprite has made minibooks, card files, and booklets with different language topics from parts of speech to poetic devices.

Books of All Kinds

Besides reference books, your homeschool library should be rich in reading material of all types:

• novels
• picture books
• non-fiction (field guides, DIY guides, science, art, music and history books)
• poetry
• wordless books
• biography
• drama

Even periodicals such as magazines and newspapers have their place.

Experience with language in many contexts is what brings mastery, so create an environment where books are varied and abundant.

Books are expensive, but if they are a priority, we will find the money to buy them. Besides, there are plenty of free and low cost options — libraries, thrift stores, yard sales, used book sales, etc. When your philosophy is to provide a rich variety of living books, you have so many options to choose from. For example, when I visit my favorite dirt cheap thrift store, I consider books of all kinds — paperbacks, hardbacks, picture books, young adult books, adult books, craft tutorials, reference books, novels, encyclopedias, classics, etc.  As long as the book is a living book and not twaddle, it is a possibility for our home library.

Language acquisition comes from many different sources, not just classic literature and young adult novels. So consider all the options as you build your home library.

My 10 day series has been formatted into a convenient eBook. Click the graphic to learn more.

Our 10 Days are almost over. I hope you have had time to visit some of the other bloggers and their 10 Days series. Stay tuned for details about the language arts eBook I’ll be making from these posts.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Learning Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy

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2. Maestro Classics CDs
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More Posts Like This One:

1. Day 2: Reading {10 Days of Language Arts}
2. Day 1: Grammar {10 Days of Language Arts}
3. Day 7: Vocabulary {10 Days of Language Arts}

Public speaking is so practical. Maybe some adults don’t ever have to speak to groups, but in my life, I have had countless opportunities to teach and speak.

I remember when I was a teen, my mother joined a Toastmaster’s group where she gave and listened to speeches. She came home so excited that it rubbed off on me. I’ve never been terrified by public speaking.  Yes, I get nervous, but experience breeds confidence. That’s exactly why you need to find chances for your child to practice speaking in a group.

Speech Writing and Delivery

Speech writing follows along closely with essay writing. You need an introduction that hooks the audience, a body full of specific details, and a conclusion that wraps it all up. As long as your child can write an essay, he can easily write a speech. It is always easier to make language more informal, as we do when speaking, than to make it more formal, as we do in writing.

I have the Scholastic book Oral Presentations Made Easy. It’s extremely basic, so much so that I can’t honestly recommend it.

Instead, I hunted up some freebies:

• Public Speaking 4H Member Manual
• Tools for Public Speaking  (Ohio 4H)
• Tips for Delivering a Speech

It seems that most public speaking materials focus inordinately on the speech preparation rather than the delivery. Since speech writing is so similar to essay writing, I don’t understand why the materials focus so much on the content of the speech.  The unique part of public speaking is the delivery: eye contact, appropriate gestures, intonation, speed, how to use notes, and so on. Maybe those things are mainly learned through practice. Or possibly giving a classroom of 25-35 students enough chances to practice is so difficult that curriculum writers focus on the more manageable task of speech writing than on delivery.

Whatever the reason, we need to give our children opportunities to practice public speaking and to watch public speakers so they can learn the keys to delivery. When you listen to speakers, take the time to analyze their delivery style. What exactlymade it interesting or boring? Identifying specific dos and don’ts seen in others can help your child with his own public speaking.

Between the writing and the publishing of this post, Sprite and I listened to a very distracting speaker. His style was so exaggerated that we stole looks of amazement at each other several times during his talk. Later we analyzed his delivery problems. He was too loud, moved around far too much, jutted his head in and out like a bird, emphasized words in strange ways, and exaggerated his facial expressions. She agreed that his message was good.

Unfortunately, his delivery kept both of us from focusing on what he was saying. Honestly I couldn’t wait for him to finish. I felt anxious simply watching his behavior. But what a fantastic learning opportunity for a lesson on public speaking!

Speaking with Large Gestures

Essential Reminder: Let your child select a topic she is passionate about.

I am such a mean mom. I insisted that Sprite participate in both the speech and demonstration contests at our local 4H club even though she didn’t want to. She sulked and complained every time it came up, but I held fast. Public speaking is important, and the 4H contest is a perfect place to practice. I told her it was for school and not for fun and that she would be required to participate each and every year.

Once we started brainstorming topics, though, she suddenly lit on an idea that she is passionate about sharing — tools you need for advanced drawing. The words flowed out in quick succession as she talked about pencil types, smudgers, different kinds of paper and pads, and so on. She ran to her room to furiously type out a rough outline. She brought the paper to me, glowing with excitement. It was filled with details and humor. I know this will turn out to be an excellent speech and best of all, she knows it too.

Moral of the story is to choose something, anything, that your child truly cares about. Her passion makes the speech writing and speech delivery infinitely easier.

Authentic Situations

Public speaking can’t really be done alone, at home. To get the maximum benefit, you need to place your child in front of others — non-family others. Starting at home with relatives is a good way to ease into speaking, but eventually you need to push your child to deliver a speech in front of a crowd of people.

Two obvious options are

1. 4H clubs and
2. coop classes.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Learning Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy

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1. Healthy Chef Recipes
2. Maestro Classics CDs
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More Posts Like This One:

1. Public Speaking Victories
2. Day 1: Grammar {10 Days of Language Arts}
3. Day 10: Writing and Reluctant Writers {10 Days of Language Arts}

I so appreciate your reading this 10 Days of Language Arts series. Your comments and emails have been so encouraging. I am working now on compiling all of these posts into an inexpensive ebook that you can conveniently download and print for future reference. Stay tuned for details.

I hope that the posts are nudging you towards investing more time into the foundation of English and are not giving you stress or feelings of inadequacy. Remember that you can’t do everything every day. You may not even touch on all ten aspects in an entire week. But over the course of a school year, look to see if your language arts is balanced and includes all the areas I’m touching on in this 10 days series.

Vocabulary

The main trick to vocabulary is simply exposure. If you are exposed to a word in context enough times, you will eventually learn both what it means and how to use it yourself.

As a second language learner, I can attest to the power of repeated exposure in context. I mastered Mandarin words not from reading vocabulary lists in my textbooks but from hearing those words in conversation with friends.  It’s not that the vocabulary list was useless; it’s just that the context of a real conversation helped me grasp the nuances of connotation and usage which the book didn’t reveal. Further, hearing a word over and over dozens of times makes it familiar and takes away the fear of using a brand new word.

An average student needs to be exposed to a word up to 14 times to be able to use it fluently.  (See research for this fact.) Gifted students need fewer times; slower learners need even more than 14. This exposure to a word can come in many ways — hearing it, reading it, writing it, studying it. Your job as homeschool mom is to create that repeated exposure to words. Eventually, they will sink in.  Here are ways to expose kids to words.

Workbooks and Curriculum

A teacher’s first thought when faced with the need to teach something is to look for the “perfect” curriculum. I have certainly used my share of vocabulary workbooks, but I don’t think they are the primary way that students master new words.

When I say master new words, I mean being able to use them in context in speaking or writing not merely choosing the definition in a multiple choice question. Workbooks are somewhat artificial and focus mostly on seeing and writing the words.

Nevertheless, vocabulary workbooks do make a very effective complement to the other methods, so I will make some recommendations.

1.  Wordly Wise

Wordly Wise is a fantastic series of books that can take children through their entire homeschool career.

2.  Greek & Latin Roots

I also strongly recommend some study of Greek and Latin roots. These keys to words unlock meanings and help students do well on standardized tests. Whenever you have a chance to dissect a word’s prefix, root, and suffix, do it.

We have used Greek and Latin Roots, Gr. 4-8. It’s designed for a classroom but is easily adaptable to a homeschool as long as you don’t mind photocopying the pages.

Online Quizzes

high school ¤ 8th grade ¤ 7th grade ¤5th & 6th grade ¤3rd & 4th grade

3.  Analogies

I’m also a huge fan of analogies for both logic and vocabulary. Have your children create analogies as well as solve them.

I tend to mix up our vocabulary workbook approach, switching from one type to another. Right now we are doing a few weeks of Wordly Wise and then a week of Greek and Latin Roots, Gr. 4-8.

Vocabulary Printables

Vocabulary Graphic Organizers (from Wordly Wise)

Vocabulary Notebooking Pages (from Notebooking Fairy)

Living Books

Books are a wonderful way to be exposed to new words. Authors tend to use certain words over and over, so there is even more chance for repetition as you work through a novel.

If your child is reading the book, he sees the word’s spelling and can possibly identify roots, prefixes, and suffixes. The context offers clues for meaning.

If you are reading the book aloud, the child doesn’t see the spelling but can hear the pronunciation of the word. Further, your intonation may offer even more context to the meaning.

Both ways have advantages, so use both!

TIP:  There are difficult books that children can’t understand on their own yet but that they can comprehend when read aloud by proficient readers. So reading aloud offers exposure to much more advanced vocabulary than your child would hear on his own as long as you are choosing to read aloud slightly difficult books.

Conversations and Listening

Don’t think that learning vocabulary comes only from printed sources. Children with the most advanced vocabularies come from families with educated parents who talk to them frequently, using more advanced words. The auditory and relational component is critical here, so talk to your children. Don’t “dumb down” your vocabulary. Use words even if you think your children don’t know them. In fact, those are exactly the words you should use.  After using those words time and time again, your child will either ask the meaning or infer it from context.

Along the same lines, expose your children to great speakers and preachers who use advanced vocabulary correctly.

My 10 day series has been formatted into a convenient eBook. Click the graphic to learn more.

This is the last week of this 10 Days series. Here are the other bloggers participating with me the rest of this week:

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Learning Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy

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Please take time to visit the current sponsors of Jimmie's Collage:
1. Healthy Chef Recipes
2. Maestro Classics CDs
3. VistaPrint

More Posts Like This One:

1. Day 4: Spelling {10 Days of Language Arts}
2. Day 1: Grammar {10 Days of Language Arts}
3. Day 10: Writing and Reluctant Writers {10 Days of Language Arts}

Literature is a broad field, but I’m going to try to tackle it in one blog post, hitting some highlights that homeschool moms of middle schoolers and elementary students should zero in on.

For the grades before high school, I can pick out three main aspects of literature that you need to focus on: elements of fiction, figures of speech, and genre.

In high school, students are studying specific authors and the literature of different time periods. But until then, build a solid foundation of those three areas, elements of fiction, figures of speech, and genre, with living books of your choice.

Elements of Fiction Cards

Elements of Fiction

This one is the most important, the elements of fiction. And although they make up the foundation of advanced literary criticism, they are as basic as a fairy tale, a Nickelodeon sit-com, or a Disney movie. That’s because every single story has these elements:

• plot
• setting
• theme
• character
• mood
• point of view

It’s like our discussion of grammar. Your children already know about these elements of fiction; you simply have to teach them the fancy words that go along with the ideas. Also you have to prod them out of simply enjoying an exciting story (plot) into thinking about the story itself:

1. (Setting) You see a mental picture of the setting, but how does the author make that picture appear in your mind?
2. (Character) You know that Sam is the hero and Jake is the villain, but how does the author endear you to one while you hate the other?
3. (Mood) You have a definite feeling as you read the book, but how would you label that feeling and how did the author make it happen?
4. (Point of view)  You know that some books let you in on what everyone is thinking while other books only show one person’s thoughts. What are those different kinds of perspectives called?
5. (Theme) You come away from that great living book with a sense of something bigger than yourself. What is that universal truth that the author is portraying and how did he do it?

Some children will resist this kind of deconstruction of a novel or short story. There is validity to simply enjoying a work of literature, letting the elements of fiction do their silent work without picking them to pieces. But we want our children to be critical thinkers at the same time, so do force them to analyze at least some of the books you read, especially the classics.

For color printables, visit this Squidoo lens– Elements of Fiction. There are mini posters, notebooking pages, flashcards, and minibooks.

Study elements of fiction on their level. For example, younger children are going to struggle with grasping the difference between third person omniscient and third person limited. Wait until they are ready for that. For now, just have them identify who the narrator is and how much he seems to know. Remember that an understanding of literature grows year by year as children mature and as they have more experience with increasingly difficult texts. Don’t think you have to master everything in a single year. Literature is an area that requires repetition. Fortunately for us, there are thousands of wonderful books to read.

Another tip — be clear about the difference between the plot of the story and its theme. Students often confuse these, but this is a critical distinction. Developmentally, most children can’t identify theme until the pre-teen and teenage years. Theme is so abstract that younger and concrete learners struggle with it. If it is too hard, expose your child to it and move on, knowing you have dozens opportunities in the future to revisit theme.

Analyzing a Novel

Character sketches are one of the easiest places to start with writing about the elements of fiction. Choose a main character and describe him with a single adjective. Then list three (or more) specific things in the book that demonstrate that quality.  Usually it will be the character’s actions or thoughts. Help your children see that the author need not state outright that Sam is courageous. Instead he shows Sam facing fearful situations with calm bravery and sacrificing his own safety to protect others.

Basic resources I have used and recommend for the elements of fiction:

• Writing a Great Book Report (see more about this book at First Real Book Report)
• Independent Reading Management Kit: Literary Elements (see more about this book at Elements of Fiction)

Figures of Speech

This second area is a lot of fun to me because I love words. Hopefully, your children are being exposed to lots of quality literature that uses a variety of figures of speech, poetic devices, and literary techniques. They can probably intuitively understand many of the devices even though they may not have ever consciously thought about them or known their correct names.

There are dozens of figures of speech, and it takes frequent repetition to learn them. (By the way, I’m referring to things like irony, alliteration, hyperbole, foreshadowing, flashback, and conflict.)

You can use a workbook as a base of a formal study, but reading about simile once in a workbook is not going to mean that your child has mastered it. Create some format of review; index card files are great for this purpose. Write down the figure of speech as you study it. Then periodically have your child look through the box and identify figures of speech in the books you are reading. If you spot one, have your child label it with the help of a glance through the card file (or whatever format you choose).

The workbook that we use is Figuratively Speaking for grades 5-8. It covers forty different literary terms with a definition, examples from literature, and a few exercises. It serves as a good foundation and reference. Even as a former language arts teacher, I admit that I like the security of a comprehensive workbook to guide lesson planning. If it makes my life easier, it’s really worth the $10 or so dollars.

Genre

Genre may be as easy as a trip to the library because many libraries tag juvenile and young adult novels with genre stickers.

• romance
• science fiction
• adventure
• historical fiction
• folktale
• biography
• realistic fiction
• comedy

There are workbooks that you can use as a foundation to study genre, but the most effective way to learn them is to read books. Around fourth grade, start verbally labeling the books you read with the correct genre so that your child comes to understand what they are.

• “We’re going to read another historical fiction novel this week.”
• “This is a biography. It’s totally different from that folktale we read last week.”
• “I notice that you really like realistic fiction. That’s the kind of book you check out the most often.”

For some freebies try these PDF resources. They are not true substitutes for the workbook linked above, but they would serve as good complements to it. The Genre taxonomy is a good place to start if you want help creating your own study.

• Genre Assessment a multiple choice quiz plus list of genres for primary and intermediate grades
• Genre Taxonomy diagrams with genres supposedly to be covered in grades 1-5.
• Joe Bright and the Seven Genre Dudes a quirky book/workbook introducing genre; includes some cute worksheets
• Identifying Genre a worksheet without any answer key

The Books

All that I’ve written in this post presupposes that you have selected books to read. What should you read for your literature studies?

In one sense, it really doesn’t matter. As long as you are choosing living books in a variety of genres, you can cover the three areas I’ve listed above. There are lists of classics that you can begin to tackle, but I personally recommend reading books that complement your curriculum (history, science, art, music) and books that are enjoyable to your children. For more help on choosing living books, visit my article Finding Living Books.

My 10 day series has been formatted into a convenient eBook. Click the graphic to learn more.

There is plenty of goodness left on this 10 days adventure. It ends this Friday on the 18th and there are nineteen of us participating.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Learning Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy

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2. Maestro Classics CDs
3. VistaPrint

More Posts Like This One:

1. Day 2: Reading {10 Days of Language Arts}
2. Day 1: Grammar {10 Days of Language Arts}
3. Day 9: Building a Library {10 Days of Language Arts}

I’m wrapping up the week and coming to the halfway point in the 10 Days series with a favorite of Sprite’s — William Shakespeare. In this series, I will be covering literature, but Shakespeare is so special that he gets his very own post.

Why Study Shakespeare?

1. Cultural Knowledge

As the premier author of the English language, an educated person must know about Shakespeare, his plays, and his poetry. Shakespeare is an unquestionable part of the canon of English literature. The Bible is another cornerstone work of literature, and Shakespeare and the Bible are great complements to one another.

There is actually a lot of the Bible in his dramas (mostly the Geneva version as the King James Bible was translated in his day at the end of his writing career). Take this fun quiz to see how well you know the origin of some famous expressions –Is it the Bible or Shakespeare? It’s harder than it seems.

2. Vocabulary

Shakespeare introduced countless words and expressions to our English vocabulary. Look at this huge list and see this interesting paragraph (on page 3) filled with Shakespeare’s expressions and words.

Shakespeare is Too Adult for Children

Many moms object to the adult themes and bawdy humor in Shakespeare’s plays and can’t see any reason to study his works. It is true that many of the plays have violent murder, scary scenes, and illicit behaviors. But so does the Bible.

You can approach Shakespeare the same way you do the Bible. When your children are small, you skip over the yucky parts until they are old enough to handle them. Just as you introduce young children to Bible stories so that they can appreciate the actual text once they are readers, you can slowly introduce Shakespeare to students over the course of many years.

Retellings

For young students, start with retellings of Shakespeare’s plays. There are many options available, from picture books to summaries in the public domain. When children are in third – sixth grades, just let them enjoy the stories. Building a foundation of familiarity with the plot lines and characters will make advanced study of Shakespeare all the easier in later years.

I have used these three Shakespeare retellings and highly recommend them.

1. Tales From Shakespeare -text retellings
2. Beautiful Stories From Shakespeare -text retellings
3. Tales from Shakespeare -retellings with pictures, graphic novel format

Excerpts

Starting in middle school, choose selected excerpts to complement a retelling. The language will be a challenge, and that’s exactly why you start with a small selection instead of an entire play.

Monologues has famous monologues divided by male and female speakers. I have also used the Scholastic title Irresistible Shakespeare for middle school level Shakespeare studies.

Full Plays

In high school (or maybe as early as seventh grade for some students), read an original Shakespearean play each semester or at least each year.

There are wonderful editions out now, such as No Fear Shakespeare, that put the original alongside modern translations. Those are fantastic for making the transition from retellings to excerpts to entire plays.

See Productions

Romeo and Juliet Program in Notebook

Throughout the years, see Shakespeare whenever possible. Obviously you want to select plays that are suitable. Because we were in China for so long, we had our first chance to see Shakespeare just this year. We saw Romeo and  Juliet performed by the Tennessee Shakespeare Company in an outdoor venue . It was fantastic, and I was thrilled to hear Sprite laugh at all the funny parts. She had no problem understanding the Elizabethan language because of the visual context of actions, inflection, and props.

Don’t Forget the Poetry

Shakespeare’s sonnets are a great addition to your daily poetry lessons. You can find all of Shakespeare’s poetry at Absolute Shakespeare.

My 10 day series has been formatted into a convenient eBook. Click the graphic to learn more.

Read more 10 days adventures at these fantastic blogs.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Learning Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy

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1. Healthy Chef Recipes
2. Maestro Classics CDs
3. VistaPrint

More Posts Like This One:

1. Shakespeare Studies for Our Homeschool
2. Day 2: Reading {10 Days of Language Arts}
3. Day 9: Building a Library {10 Days of Language Arts}

Spelling takes center stage today in the 10 Days of Language Arts series.

Spelling Rules

We sometimes joke about how spelling is not necessary in our modern, computer-driven world, but deep down, it is embarrassing not to be able to spell well. Charlotte Mason felt that children would pick up good spelling by repeatedly seeing words in the books they read. For many children, this is true. But for others, spelling is a real challenge. My daughter is one of those kids.

Spelling rules seem pretty useless to me. If your children find them useful, by all means teach them. The Notebooking Fairy has a free printable page for recording spelling rules. We have studied rules before, but there are so many exceptions to memorize that the rules seem counterproductive.

Instead, I have relied on a well researched curriculum and lots of different practice methods to help improve Sprite’s spelling.

Spelling Curriculum

I received a copy of Spelling Power as a hand-me-down. I had heard of it before but balked at the  high price. Knowing what I know now, I can tell you that it is worth the high price because you can use it with any child at any grade. It is a complete spelling curriculum for a child’s entire homeschool career.

There are diagnostic tests to use in placement. Then according to the test, you start your child at the appropriate level, no matter what “grade” she is.

One of the keys to Spelling Power is the immediate feedback. During the daily quiz, you say a word outloud for your child to spell. If she spells it correctly, you tell her so. If it is wrong, you tell her the correct spelling which she writes down. Once she has completed a list of words or misspelled five words (whichever comes first), you stop that part of the lesson. Then the student goes through a prescribed learning routine that includes writing the word, tracing the word with her finger, saying the word, looking carefully at the word, and using the word in a sentence.

In addition, Spelling Power recommends adding activities, using the day’s spelling words. There are a maximum of five words each day, so these activities do not take long. There is review built into the program, and you are encouraged to add on words that the child misspells in other school assignments.

Spelling With Cut Out Letters

Spelling Activities

Of course, you don’t have to use Spelling Power to implement innovative spelling activities. I created a  list of dozens of creative ways to practice spelling words. Print it out and keep it in your mom notebook for easy reference. When spelling lessons seem dull, try out one of the ideas.

Admittedly, you will have to do a few minutes of preparation as you find craft supplies or set up the activity. But I promise you that the investment will be worth it both in retention of spelling words and in the motivation of your child.

Because my Sprite is such a visual learner, even from the early years she has created her own visual tricks and reminders to help with spelling.  She looks for words within words and then says the word in that new way. For example, courtesy is thought of as court  esy to help with the spelling.

Other times she would focus in on a trouble letter and make a picture which helped her to remember it. For example, does helicopter have an i or a y in the middle? She may draw a helicopter with i’s  making up the blades on the top.

Sometimes the pictures Sprite came up with made no sense to me, but if it worked for her, that was the point.

As she moved into middle school, breaking down prefix, root, and suffix were helpful for spelling correctly. I even created some vocabulary notebooking pages just for this purpose.

Although spelling is not my favorite subject to study, short daily lessons using Spelling Power and lots of varied activities have kept spelling engaging. More importantly, I have seen real growth in Sprite’s spelling. She is now on grade level (according to Spelling Power) and has gained confidence in her spelling ability.

My 10 day series has been formatted into a convenient eBook. Click the graphic to learn more.

Be sure to visit these other 10 days bloggers this week and next for lots of posts.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Learning Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy

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Please take time to visit the current sponsors of Jimmie's Collage:
1. Healthy Chef Recipes
2. Maestro Classics CDs
3. VistaPrint

More Posts Like This One:

1. Spelling Creatively
2. Better Ways to Write Your Spelling Words
3. Day 7: Vocabulary {10 Days of Language Arts}