Tools 10 Favorite Activities {2021–2022} 8 Aug 20221 Aug 2022 Ten reader-favorite educational activities from the archives: 1. Activity: Creative Writing with the Random Word Generator 2. Activity: Balancing a Checkbook 3. Activity: Preparing a 1040 Income Tax Form 4.…
Tools 10 Favorite How-Tos {2021–2022} 1 Aug 2022 Ten reader-favorite How-Tos from the archives: 1. Skill Subjects vs. Content Subjects {The Key to Simplifying} 2. Beechick Basics 3. 8 Ways to Easily Teach Art Appreciation 4. Get Started…
Activities Activity: Words That Describe 26 Apr 202225 Jul 2022 One of the best ways to become a good writer is by making it a practice to read good writing. If you want to take this to the next level,…
Activities Activity: Describe ~ Free Form 23 Mar 20227 Jul 2022 One of the marks of a good writer is the ability to paint a picture in the reader's mind of what is happening. Instead of simply telling what happened, by…
Activities Activity: Storytelling Prompts 9 Mar 202211 Jul 2022 Storytelling is a great way to dip a toe into creative writing. It borrows from narrating, and redirects the process from retelling the story of someone else to telling your…
Activities Activity: Rhyming Couplets 16 Sep 202114 Jul 2022 Over time we will be adding activities that focus on helping your child/student write something every day. Let's start off with something really simple: rhyming couplets. Rhyming couplets are two…
How-To 7 Lessons for Teaching Writing 5 Feb 202025 Jul 2022 As Ruth Beechick says, we learn to speak by listening and speaking. So the analogy is: we learn to write by reading and writing. This natural method of learning to…
How-To 10 Steps to Writing a Research Paper 25 Sep 201928 Jun 2022 Putting together a research paper is the culmination of a student's previous experience: skills, interests, and writing background. Writing a research paper can appear daunting, but it doesn't have to…
Summer Fun Activity: Creative Writing with the Random Word Generator 22 Jul 201930 Jun 2022 It's summer. While keeping things light, you do want your children to keep those skills sharp (math and writing come to mind here). Try using a random word generator to…
How-To 14 Forms of Writing for the Older Student: Poetry 14 May 201928 Jun 2022 Writing poetry may seem like an odd place to start when encouraging a young writer, but some students will find it an easier task than many other forms of writing.…
The Finds Persuasion Map for Persuasive Essays {Free Interactive} 22 Apr 201928 Jun 2022 Here is another great tool at ReadWriteThink.org: A free persuasion map interactive that walks a student through the process of creating a persuasive essay. The interactive is easy and intuitive…
The Finds Letter Generator Interactive {Free} 8 Apr 201928 Jun 2022 After a child is able to write comfortably, he will need things to write. We have suggested 8 writing activities for the younger student — one of which is writing…
How-To 14 Forms of Writing for the Older Student: Persuasive Essay 8 Nov 201828 Jun 2022 What is a Persuasive Essay? Just as it sounds, a persuasive essay seeks to change opinions on a topic. It reflects the opinion of the writer. It is similar to…
How-To 20 Ways to Choose a Creative Writing Topic 25 Oct 201816 Jul 2022 We've all been there. We are given an assignment: write about ____________. Of course, the topic is either something we know nothing about (and probably are not at all interested…
The Library The Century Handbook of Writing {Free eBook} 11 Oct 201828 Jun 2022 Here is one we actually have on the shelf, so it is particularly nice to see it available as a free download. The Century Handbook of Writing by Garland Greever…
How-To 14 Forms of Writing for the Older Student: Descriptive Narrative 20 Sep 201728 Jun 2022 What is a Descriptive Narrative Essay? Narrative essays usually tell us how something happened. They are typically written in chronological order and use transition words such as first, before, later,…
How-To 14 Forms of Writing for the Older Student: Note-Taking 16 Nov 201628 Jun 2022 Note-taking is one skill older students of all types need to perfect. There are several benefits of being a great note-taker: Forces you to think while you read.Encourages you to…
The Library English Grammar & Composition {Free eBook} 18 Oct 201628 Jun 2022 If you spend any time on this site at all, you know we strongly advocate the natural way of walking our children through language arts. Spending each successive year drilling…
How-To 16 Tips: Building a Better Writer 18 May 201628 Jun 2022 Around here we obviously believe that a "writing curriculum" isn't going to help your student learn to write well. We prefer more natural ways — ways most adults use —…
How-To Language Arts the Natural Way: Dictation 4 May 201630 Jun 2022 We started by reading to our child, familiarizing him with language. At some point we had him narrate to us what was read, absorbing the language. Our child traced his…
How-To Language Arts the Natural Way: Copying 27 Apr 201630 Jun 2022 Once a child is comfortable holding a pencil, he can begin copying. Rather than starting with copywork, some prefer to start with tracing. Probably your child's first writing lesson was…
How-To Language Arts the Natural Way: Narrating 21 Apr 201615 Aug 2022 I remember when we first started homeschooling our oldest. I, fortunately, didn't know any better than to just pull together those materials I thought we needed. One of these gems…
How-To Language Arts the Natural Way: Reading 13 Apr 201630 Jun 2022 Most great writers are great readers. That makes sense if you consider that, by reading, an authors' words and the way they are used are input, and "copied" when we…
How-To Language Arts the Natural Way: Introduction 6 Apr 201628 Jun 2022 Before your child reaches school age, does he know how to talk? How did he learn? Did you pull out the flashcards, go over grammar, show him diagrams of how…
How-To 14 Forms of Writing for the Older Student: News Story 2 Feb 201628 Jun 2022 There are several benefits of learning to write a news story: You learn to be concise.You learn to keep your opinion out of the way.You learn to look for answers.It…
How-To 10 Ways to Become a Better Editor of Your Child’s Writing 20 Jan 201628 Jun 2022 So you have your children writing every day. Great! Now, of course, you need to become their editor. Here is where some find a challenge in the natural approach to…
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