Homeschool Writing Curriculum

The best homeschool writing curriculum causes your child to love to write. I am not convinced that being able to diagram sentences and knowing grammar terms will make my child a good writer.

I have used several programs with my children. Some of my favorite curriculum has taught grammar and also given my child a lot of practical experience writing.

Creative Writing

For creative writing I have used writing prompts. There are also textbooks that will teach your child how to write a short story, novel, or poetry.

My daughter is interested in creative writing. Last year she used Writing Fiction in High School by Sharon Watson. My daughter learned about point of view, plot, theme, dialog, developing characters, and keeping your readers interested. Writing Fiction in High School uses literature to help teach the writing concepts.

Essays

Most high school students should know how to write essays and research papers.

Another homeschool writing curriculum that we have used is Writing Essentials by Matthew Stephens. We used the tenth grade curriculum. It is a video series that teaches your child how to write sentences, paragraphs, essays, and do a research paper. The lesson assignments are on PDF.

The curriculum is good for visual learners. Your child will be able to see and hear lessons about how to write. In some of the lessons your child will find examples of the sentences talked about in the lessons. Other times, your child will practice writing his own sentences, paragraphs, and essays. My daughter liked the program and I plan to use it with my son.

Other Homeschool Writing Curriculum

We use the Red and Orange Book of Language Arts through Literature. The Red Book is for second grade. The Orange Book is for is for fourth grade. There are books for first grade through high school.

Language Arts through Literature uses passages from grade appropriate literature to teach grammar, vocabulary, spelling, penmanship, writing mechanics, and when appropriate phonic skills. There is a daily activity to do. First the child either copies the passage or writes it from dictation. Then there are lessons about grammar. The last lesson is usually a thought question. One of the lessons in the Orange book is from the Boxcar Children. Some of the activities in this lesson involved;

• Making a spelling list of misspelled words

• Circle he in the passage

• Write several sentences describing how you would want your room remodeled

I like Language Arts through Literature. I have always believed that reading helped you to be a better writer. The only reason that I can think of why we did not continue is that my children struggled with reading. When I started the program my children had difficulty doing the exercises.

Wisdom Words is the grammar program for the Weaver. It teaches grammar skills according to grade level. The grade levels are for kindergarten to sixth grade. If you need daily writing assignments that go along with the unit you are studying you can buy the Day to Day planner. We used Wisdom Words until our family stopped using the Weaver curriculum.

Switched on Schoolhouse is curriculum that you do on the computer. It is similar to doing worksheets. My children answered questions about nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. They had to correct misspelled words. We used the curriculum in third, fourth, and fifth grade. It taught a lot about the mechanics of writing but did not cause my children to want to write.

My son has also used Bridgeway English. The curriculum is for seventh through the twelfth grade. It is a self-taught grammar course. My son has learned a lot about the English language. It is divided into two semester workbooks.

Bridgeway English does not cover essay writing. It covers sentences, preposition clauses, direct objects, and other grammar topics. It also covers letter writing and how to fill out forms. It is also a mastery program so your child will be able to identify grammar when he is done. If you want your children to write daily you will have to combine this program with writing in a journal or do other writing assignments.

You can read about the spelling curriculum that I used here.

I have found that to learn grammar and spelling my child had to write stories and essays daily. They needed to practice what they learned in their grammar programs.

Reading also seemed to help my children learn grammar. When they saw and heard good literature it helped them to be better writers.

The best homeschool writing curriculum that we have liked teaches to our interests and uses our learning style.

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