Language Arts

Make Learning Fun With Online Language Arts Lessons! Promote a can-do attitude toward learning with an online language arts curriculum that combines technology and fun! Phonics, reading, grammar & more Access to lessons a grade above & below Teaches concepts with a sense of humor

Language Arts articles

Teaching Children to Write by Teaching Self-Editing and Peer Editing Skills
Editing is best taught as an isolated skill and from the time children are old enough to rework a piece of writing, they are old enough to self-edit and peer edit. Recopying a piece of writing that has been corrected to death by an adult is not editing and it serves no good purpose beyond penmanship practice. If you want to teach children to write well, your best bet is to teach them to self-edit and peer edit.....

How to Help Your Struggling Reader
Tools and suggestions to help ensure success for your struggling reader...

Homeschool Writing: Legos Don’t Build Themselves, You Know!
Recently, when a missionary friend was visiting from Japan, I offered to keep his son for a day to free him up for some appointments. Since Rees was alone, I invited my grandson Eli over as a playmate, hauled out a huge crate of Legos, and set the boys loose. I could barely pull them away to eat a hasty lunch before Rees declared, “Can I go back upstairs now? Legos don’t build themselves, you know!” So what does this little anecdote have to do with writing? Simply put, just as a Lego vehicle can’t take shape without the intentional efforts of a builder, your child cannot learn to write without intentional effort from you...

Choosing a Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum For Your Family
What does a homeschool language arts curriculum need to have to make it useful, interesting and comprehensive? Are there language arts lesson plans which I can use over a number of ages?..

Writing Skills for Children - Better Story Starters
Great writing tips for writers of any age..

Describing a Person: Adding Details
Lesson 3 [of the WriteShop curriculum] presents a unique set of problems for students. They must describe a person in detail and place the subject in a setting; yet they must not end up writing a narrative, or story. Even with WriteShop’s careful guidelines and instructions, many still end up focusing on the activity and neglecting the actual description of their subject. But it’s good to let your kids struggle with the initial writing process. It helps them wrestle with ideas and words, and it reminds them of the importance of brainstorming adequately and effectively...

Choosing Appropriate Color Words
This article focuses on picking just the right color words. With so many tempting choices, your eager yet sometimes immature writer may be using color words that---well---do not exactly work. Molly, in Lesson 2, describes her golden retriever. She says: “Murphy has long buttercup fur with an eggshell undercoat.” Is this a wise use of color words?..