Words, Words and more Words

Welcome to the fifth annual Virtual Curriculum Fair. Today is week one of the 2016 Virtual Curriculum Fair. This week homeschool bloggers from around the world are sharing their language arts recommendations. They will be sharing their perspective on how to teach: phonics, reading, writing, grammar, spelling, speech, literature, Latin and foreign language studies.

This year I will be co-hosting with  Kristen over at Sunrise to Sunset and Laura over at Day by Day in our World.  If you have any posts on the topic of Language Arts please add your link to the linky at the bottom of this post we look forward to seeing what you use to teach language arts.

Language Arts

Have you ever stopped to think about it our whole world runs on communication and to communicate you need words.  Words take on many forms they can be both verbal or non verbal.  When you start home educating you are faced with the task of finding a way to teach your children to communicate in a multitude of ways.

Then the questions start:

• What are you using to teach grammar ?
• Are you doing a second language ?
• How are you tackling literature ?
• Are you using phonics ?
• Which spelling program are you going to use ?
• How do you teach your children composition ?
• Will you be joining the local speech and drama club ?

Some days it feels as though the questions are never ending.  Each time you do a google search you discover that there's a new program that promises to do it all for you!  (If only they could go to sleep on a magic pillow and wake up well educated ...) Do not let these sorts of questions fluster you or make you feel as though you can not teach your children well.

The most important question to get settled in your mind is:  What is my my homeschool philosophy? Once that is settled then start looking for programs that will help you school your students within that framework.  Personally I am leaning towards a Delight Directed and Charlotte Mason approach in my homeschooling.  Now that I know that I look for products that will help me educate Nathaniel in that manner with the long term goal of addressing the areas in the questions above.

Every year new products appear on line and I'm so grateful to companies that provide updates to their products too. The downside is I keep wanting to buy something new ...

In the past I have used and been pleased with the following items and will be continuing to use them this year:

• I really like Teaching Writing Structure and Style by  IEW.  I was rather impressed with the results Nathaniel had last year with this program.
• Phonetic Zoo has been a good addition to our homeschool as well. I've enjoyed watching Nathaniel's spelling improve as we've used this.
• For literature I love to follow the Sonlight lists and this year will be trying to incorporate more readers and read alouds as they've been rearranged to follow The Story of the World time line.
• We will be adding Latin this year and I'll be using Prima Latina and Getting Started with Latin.
• As for a second language personally I really really like Rosetta Stone products and this is the program we will be using to learn French from term two this year.

On this blog
We enjoy great literature and are trying to follow a Charlotte Mason approach with reading twaddle free literature.  I share a new book each week on a Tuesday called Tuesday's Treasures.  Be sure to come back each Tuesday for a new book.

• Ode to English Plurals
• 5 Days on Teaching Children to Read
• Why the english language is hard to learn
• 15 Grammar Goofs
• FREE Language Arts Resources
• Language Arts Resources
• Teaching Composition
• Language Arts in High School

Second Language Resources

• Rosetta Stone
• Pinterest Homeschool - Foreign Languages
• Pinterest Homeschool - Latin
• Learn A Foreign Language For FREE!
• Learning Latin and Other Languages the Old Fashioned Way
• Foreign Language Resources by The Tech Homeschooler - Andy Harris
• Dad and Foreign Languages - Marlin Detweiler

For more information on Language Arts you can read the posts from past fairs here:

• 2012 Virtual Fair: Language Arts @ Homeschooling Hearts and Minds
• 2013 Virtual Fair: Language Arts @ Homeschooling Hearts and Minds 
• 2014 Virtual Fair: Language Arts @ Every Bed of Roses
• 2015 Virtual Fair: Language Arts @ Every Bed of Roses

We have some wonderful homeschool bloggers sharing their thoughts and inspiration on Language Arts and your homeschool.

Be sure to grab a cup of coffee / tea and take some time over the week ahead to read over these posts:

• Language Arts: Words Make the World Go Round by  Laura @ Day by Day in Our World
• The Language Arts in Our Homeschool and Everything Relating to it   by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
• Teaching Elementary Latin by Yvie @ Gypsy Road
• How to Learn ASL & Spanish in 20 Minutes a Day by Rochelle @ RochelleBarlow
• Classical Word Study by Lisa @ GoldenGrasses
• Language Arts Means and Methods by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
• Sprechen Sie....  by Jennifer King @ A Peace of Mind
• The Art of Eloquence  by Jennifer King @ A Peace of Mind
• Love Languages by Jennifer King @ A Peace of Mind
• 3 Reasons You Don't Have To Be Afraid To Grade That Essay - And It's Free @ LJSkool
• High School Language Arts by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
• Finishing Strong - Starting Gently by Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset  

Add your posts about anything Language Arts related to Week 1 - Language Arts link up below.

An InLinkz Link-up