Homeschooling without Textbooks – Language Arts

I have a huge desire to see my children excel at writing. I want them to be able to put pencil to paper and walk away with something that is easy to read, neatly written, properly spelled and punctuated, and has a clear point. And a couple of years ago as I sat with my oldest in tears as we poured over another Language lesson about punctuation I knew there had to be another way. Her little mind was just not ready to remember all the rules of comas, colons, capitalization, and abbreviations. She was only in 3rd grade! Many of the rules, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you either. Do you underline the title of a book or does it get quotation marks? What about the title of a magazine article or a poem? It was a massive amount of information to expect a child that was still struggling with her confidence in reading to remember. So, I set out to find something different. I wanted to add Language Arts to my Homeschooling without Textbooks journey.

And I am so glad that I did. My children have gained confidence in their reading and their writing more quickly than I could have imagined. Maggie is now writing wonderful stories and letters. She loves writing and will often be found writing during her play. Samantha is the same way. They both often bring me letters that are already written and ready to mail with no prompting from myself. So, how am I actually teaching language arts without the aid of a book? Is it even possible to homeschool without textbooks for this subject and have great results? Well I think it is and here is how we are accomplishing it right now.

First we do lots and lots of copy work. The children copy Bible passages mainly but also words that they are struggling to spell correctly or that they have misspelled in another writing assignment. Through this copy work I am not only very strict on their penmanship but also that each punctuation mark is in the proper place as well. These lessons afford me the opportunity to teach short, easy to digest lessons about how the written language works. In these early years of schooling I find that this is sufficient. I have come to believe that if you can instill confidence in your child toward their writing and reading ability the “rules” of the written language will follow as their little minds mature to a point of comprehending them. I have found this to be a much more natural learning process then shoving year after year of rules and lessons at them before they are ready.

Here are some of the sites that I love to use for copy work with my younger children. There are so many free options out there that I don’t feel the need to pay for handwriting books. I can choose what they are writing, the size of the line, and on some of the sites even type in my own sentences!

Simply Charlotte Mason – Download a file of different copy work pages. FREE

Heart of Wisdom – Handwriting and Cursive copy work FREE

Donna Young – Blank lined paper in every size and style. Great for letters and DIY work. FREE

We also do a lot of story writing, book reports, and journal writing. If we have a fun field trip or an exciting event happen I assign the children to write about it so that they can look back and remember how they felt and what we did. I also make them write a book report for each book that they read (starting in 2nd grade). My rule of thumb is that they must write at least one sentence for each grade that they are in. It is during these lessons that as the children grow I focus more on the writing process and the sequence of events and such. For example, now that Maggie is near the end of 5th grade she knows to write an opening sentence, a body to her paragraph that is in the order of the book that she read and then a closing sentence as well. If she uses a list of say her favorite characters or events I will make sure she uses comas properly and instruct her on the rules of comas in a list. This is how they are learning English right now.

Now, in the future I do plan to move away from homeschooling without textbooks for language arts and do at least a one year in depth study of the English language as each of the girls enters high school age. This way I will know that they have at least been exposed to all of the rules that they might need. Then, just as you and I would do today if faced with a writing assignment, they will be able to look up any rule that they might not remember if they need it. And as long as they have been exposed to it and know how and where to find the answers if they need them, I will feel as if their language arts education was a success.

What is your favorite English/Language Arts curriculum? Do your children do much letter or report writing? If you have any other questions about this approach to homeschooling without textbooks for language arts please just ask, I would love to help.