Monday 6 January 2014

Language Arts {Virtual Curriculum Fair}

Welcome to my first post for the 2014 Virtual Curriculum Fair.  Today I'm sharing on Language Arts, both what we do and some of the curriculum that is available in the homeschool market to help you with Language Arts in your homeschool.

I shared some of my thoughts on language arts in high school in two posts: Writing and Composition in High School as well as The Art of Language in High School.

In our homeschool we are following an eclectic approach this year incorporating a Charlotte Mason approach along with Delight Directed education and Sonlight.  We are working on strengthening Sir N's writing skills through copy work and hand writing practice.

We are currently working on narration skills at the moment as I have come to realise that it certainly pays high dividends in the high school years with the fruit of a student who is able to "Attend, remember, visualize, comprehend, synthesize (see the whole from the parts), and articulate as the result." A Charlotte Mason Companion page 115.  Narration helps a child to train his/her mind to "sort, arrange, correlate, select, reject and classify" information. A Charlotte Mason
"Narration develops the power of self expression and forces the child to use his own mind and form his own judgement." - Karen Andreola A Charlotte Mason Companion page 114Companion page 115.

Spelling is the servant necessary to be successful in all the areas of written language arts. We will be using copy work and once we have completed Explode the Code book 3 we will be working our way through Spelling Workout.  

Vocabulary is not synonymous with spelling and is often times missed in language arts programs and deserves equal mention and attention. Twaddle free literature introduces new words in context to the student. Do not make the mistake of only choosing literature that your child can read to themselves.

Poetry enlarges a students language ability and teaches the clever use of words in self expression.  With this in mind we will be enjoying poetry together.  As Sir N gains confidence in public speaking we will add in poems to learn and present with expression. We will try different types of poetry until we find some that we like and then explore it further.  Poetry comments on all human experiences, it is comprised of everything  from war poems and epics, to psalms of worship, to love sonnets, to delightful nonsense verse that trips off the tongue, to nursery rhymes - CMC Page 220

Our Year Ahead


Language Arts

Readers
Read Alouds


Resources
Grammar Programs


Spelling Programs
Narration & Copy Work
On Pinterest

FREE on the WWW
Language Arts Curriculums

Take some time this week to visit some of the other 2014 Virtual Curriculum Fair participants.

Some of these links will not be live until tomorrow due to time zone differences as these bloggers are from across the globe.

What are you using for language arts this school year.  Susan has invited you all to share what you are using and add your link to the linky

Blessings
Chareen

9 comments:

  1. Love your post. Very informative.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the quotes. You always have THE BEST Resource lists!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the book lists. Some of those are my favorites also.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, what a super resource list! Great post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a tremendous list of resources! Thank you for sharing. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. You seem incredibly organized. I'll be reading through those lists again.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow! I LOVE those freebie lists! Thanks, Chareen!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am going to read more about how you did high school narration. I think my middle schooler would really benefit from it and your quote at the start caught my attention.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Look at all those fun books. Some of my favorites too. I also love the Charlotte Mason quotes. I really love her philosophy!

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from you so please leave your comments below ♥