jackrispublishing.com/Blue Collar Homeschool Curriculum Criteria
In order to be listed in our curriculum lists, materials have to meet certain criteria:
Items noted as "Tried and True" resources have been used by our own family, and we welcome questions!
We are not affiliated with any of the curriculum providers we recommend here, and receive no compensation in any form for our recommendation.
Phonics
A strong beginning in reading is important. We all know that. But does it need to cost an arm and a leg to teach reading? Do you have to use some sort of complicated system? There is no need to panic about teaching reading, nor to pay through the nose. A couple of great tools, a library card, and a Mom or Dad to snuggle with are all that is necessary to help a child become a reader.
Modern Curriculum Press - Plaid Phonics
This is a well done, inexpensive, full color workbook program for teaching phonics from grades K-6. K-3 are phonics focused, while 4-6 include progressively more challenging phonics along with more advanced vocabulary word work. Can easily be taught without purchasing the teacher's manual. A Tried and True resource!
Phonics Pathways
Sometimes simple is best. One book, beginning to end, and you can teach your child all they will need to know to become solid primary readers. Black and white pages with a clean look help keep focus, and the gradual, gentle progression is a great approach for many. This is a single book used together by the teacher and the student, so there are no other workbooks needed. Two follow up books might be helpful, Phonics Pathways Boosters and Reading Pathways. Another Tried and True resource!
Reading A-Z
For those of you looking for a slightly different approach, this is an annual fee based web site (Currently $109.95 per year) with thousands of downloadable worksheets and printable leveled readers (in color!). A subscription, a printer, and a few reams of paper and you are totally set. You can check out their web site for free samples, and enroll for a free trial period before committing. This is one of our pricier suggestions, but it is absolutely worth the subscription price. The leveled readers are across so many topics, you can let your child help you select the ones of interest to them. Another Tried and True resource!
Starfall
Do you have a PreK, K or 1st-2nd grader? This is a web site you really need to check out! This is a FREE web site, which has been offered as a public service for many years. It offers all sorts of online activities for early phonics learning, and it is a great companion for any workbooks or other tools you might be using. Many kids love learning on the computer, and this is another way to inject more diversity into your reading work.
Spelling
We all know that spelling is one of those "curriculum free" subjects that can easily be taught by simply creating lists and practicing with them. However, many of us need to have a curriculum to feel certain we have covered all of our bases, and that all the spelling rules are covered. For many of us, we don't need complicated systems, but instead a simple guide is all we need...something to keep our kids progressing regularly through material. Do we have suggestions for you!
Soaring with Spelling
JacKris Publishing has created THE BEST, simplest spelling and grammar program to date. It is designed to be pretty much self teaching and your kids really can work their way through it with little more than a check in with you after corrections. The workbooks are very inexpensive, and their large spiral design that is at the top of the page makes working in them very comfortable for students. The pages are black and white, with a very clean look. An additional feature is that words are presented both printed and in cursive, so your student will learn how to read cursive writing, too. They also offer Growing with Grammar, and Winning with Writing which are separate solid language arts workbooks. With workbooks covering grades 1-8, you'll be set! Another Tried and True resource!
Spelling Workout
This is a spelling program that is also by Modern Curriculum Press, (as is the Plaid Phonics series) and it is solid and also reasonably priced. This is a fairly traditional, public school style workbook with some color (mainly contrasting print colors) and somewhat busier looking pages. It has the learner working with words in a variety of ways, and covers all the bases. Another Tried and True resource!
Spelling and Vocabulary City
Looking for a fun way to develop vocabulary while drilling spelling words? Look no further! This great subscription based web site does it all for you! With a totally free version including the basics, or a paid version that tracks your students and holds word lists for you for only $29.95 per year, this is a great tool to have in your homeschooling tool belt! Words are practiced through a variety of games, and students never tire of working with their spelling words. Free is terrific, but if you want tracking and record keeping, even the subscription version is a great bargain. Another Tried and True resource!
Reading
Reading can be taught in a variety of ways. Once your child has enough phonics under their belt to begin reading whole books, even easy readers, turn 'em loose! You can use whole books that you read together and you ask questions to make sure the comprehension is there, or you can use book study guides to accompany books which help you "teach" and provide activities to go along with it. Anthologies are another popular way to expose your child to a wide variety of great literature, and provide you with a teacher's manual that helps you know what questions to ask.
CommonLit
What a terrific FREE resource this is! CommonLit offers reading selections such as poems, short stories, and articles for grades 5-12 with follow up questions and the ability to track student progress. This is an easy to use site which could supplement any reading program, help a parent assess their child's ability, and allow them to raise or lower the reading level as best suits their learner. They are working on adding grades 3 & 4 soon, as well.
Drawn Into the Heart of Reading
Are you looking for a guide to help you walk through literature studies with your kids that allows you the freedom to select your own books? Look no further, this is the perfect tool! It covers all the literary terms, genres, etc. and is a WONDERFUL guide to use so that you feel confident you are missing nothing, but don't get stuck reading only certain literature selections.
Glencoe Literature Library
Another web site with FREE downloadable literature guides for elementary and middle school level. This site offers far more than the Novel Study Guides for Classroom Teachers site offers, and they are fairly "public schooly" in format.
Mosdos Press
We can't begin to think of a better literature anthology, perhaps that is why this is the only one we wanted to share!! If you are looking for an anthology that makes teaching the finer points of literature as fool-proof as possible, look no further. If you want the most engaging stories that have your child literally closing their book and sighing as they say, "Wow, that was SUCH a great story!", then this fits the bill perfectly. Each edition offers your young readers from grades 3-8 exposure to some of the best literature you will ever find. Yea, I know, they all say that...but Mosdos delivers. Check out the table of content pages for any of their grade levels, you will find all the great authors of our time there. Do you want literature that is encouraging and morally based without being preachy, this is it. From their web site:
"Mosdos Press presents world-class literature for elementary school and middle school: classic and contemporary works that are broadly representative, intellectually challenging, and morally framed. Our curriculum is rigorous and engaging, and thoughtfully explores family values and ethics."
They are't lying, this curriculum is all that, and more. It is highly recommended to get the student text, the accompanying workbook, and the teacher's manual. This is one curriculum that we won't pretend is cheap. In fact, it is fairly expensive at around $55.00 for the student text, $18 for the workbook, and $80 for the teacher's manual. Ouch!! So what...spend it. It is well worth every penny. This is a Tried and True resource, and one we most heartily recommend as being far superior to any other traditional public school anthology you might come across.
Novel-ties Teacher's Guides
Moderately priced reproducible guides for upper elementary and middle school (and high school, too!) readers. The guide is filled with activities, a synopsis for the teacher, and much more. Use as little or as much as you want. Leans a tad bit toward the traditional "schooly" side with "know-want-learn" charts, which some of us find to be a little cheesy :-) but there are some more thought provoking questions throughout as well. For someone looking for a solid book guide where there are plenty of things to work with, check this out...there are samples on their web site for you to peruse.
Progeny Press
Now THESE are study guides! Such rich content, you could never use it all. Progeny Press puts together some of the best study guides out there...and no,they are not free. They are also heads and tails above the free ones in terms of depth and breadth. These guides teach literary analysis, and ask more thought provoking questions than the others do, leading a reader to think far more deeply about the message the author is attempting to get across. The vocabulary work is woven throughout, and there are suggested activities to go along with each book read. These are very meaty, and could easily be stretched and used as a large part of a unit study. What is even better is that the company creates guides for even the earliest readers, utilizing books like Frog and Toad Together, and encouraging the younger set to really think about the books they are reading. These are created by a Christian company with some scripture work contained within. For you secular families, please don't bypass this really terrific resource because of that! They can easily be adapted to exclude any content that does not fit your worldview, and still leave the overwhelming majority to work with. Another Tried and True resource!
Simply Novel Literature Guides
This simple yet thorough standards based series of book study guides is a huge help for homeschool educators who lack confidence in teaching literature, or who would prefer to be guided through the process rather than try and do it off the cuff. If you want to make certain you are covering all the necessary material, and want to use a nice variety of elementary level novels, these guides are perfect for you. Offering vocabulary, comprehension questions, literary analysis and more, you will have everything here that you need to teach confidently. Select four or five books, and you have an entire year well covered.
Grammar
If you are a parent who wonders why homeschoolers seem to spend SO much time on grammar...you are not alone. Grammar is one of those subjects that everyone feels needs to be taught, but most of us wonder why there is a need to pound it to death. After all, who really ever diagrams a sentence in real life? And don't we naturally learn how to write well if we are immersed in good written material? Yes, to some degree this is true, but practice never hurts, and for many kids who can easily speak correctly, writing grammatically correct sentences does not come as easily. So let's look at a couple of resources that cover grammar well, without making you AND your young 'un go crazy!
Easy Grammar
For those who want a more intensive grammar program for their kids, or who just have kids who LOVE grammar (Really?!?!), using the Easy Grammar system is the ticket for you. This is a longtime homeschool favorite for thousands of families, and it does a great job of teaching grammar with a clear presentation of the concepts. It offers lots of repetition, tests, reviews and more. For some, this program might seem to be a bit much, for others it will fill the need for more in depth grammar study. Curriculum starts at grade 2 and goes through high school.
English Grammar 101
An AMAZING online grammar curriculum with instruction for free, and exercises and tests for a low annual fee. This is honestly all you would ever need for the majority of students for grammar, and many learners prefer the online format to workbooks.
Growing with Grammar
With a simple presentation of all the key grammar points, and regular practice for about 10-15 minutes a day, this is a very inexpensive way to cover this "must do" topic without overdoing it. It is thorough and self-taught (though mom or dad can always help with it, too!), which is nice to allow younger students to do some work on their own and begin practicing those independent learning skills. The amount of work in each lesson is just the right amount to keep kids from groaning and not dreading it, but by the end of the year you will have indeed covered quite a lot of territory. For those who like seeing diagramming as part of grammar, rather than a separate topic, diagramming is included right along with the regular sentence work. A Tried and True resource!
Writing
Here we are going to share resources for teaching writing skills...not printing or cursive. We feel that just about any generic year long workbook will do the trick for printing and cursive, and you can find those easily enough from any book supplier. Below are resources for teaching how to write sentences, paragraphs, and eventually full essays and stories. Writing is as crucial a skill as reading is, and we have some great tools for you to check out!
Essentials in Writing
This curriculum, often confused with one by a similar name, is a top notch incredibly affordable, super easy to teach writing curriculum which has the added bonus of an accompanying set of DVD's where the instructor teaches a 5-7 minute lesson directly to your child! Could it get any easier? There are no confusing teacher's manuals requiring you to learn how to become an expert writer yourself in order to teach. The downloadable PDF workbook is conversational in style, and doesn't "beat a dead horse" with repetition. There are brief activities designed to help the budding writer gain the step by step skills, and there are longer assignments in which all the pieces come together to create nicely written works by your student. All courses are taught by the amiable Matthew Stephens, who clearly knows his stuff...and he knows how kids think and learn. Accessible by email or phone, your instructor is an experienced former public school educator with certification in elementary, middle school and high school English. This is probably the most solid, and yet easiest to teach with curriculum for writing, and a Tried and True resource! Thankfully, there are courses for every single grade level, from 1st through 12th grade. With year long courses for a mere $40 including the DVD's AND the workbook, you simply can't find better instruction at this price point...it is worth much more.
Time4Writing
Do you find it impossible to teach writing? Do you butt heads with your child every time you sit down to edit something they have written? Maybe your best bet is to turn that job over to someone else! Time4Writing might be a way to keep peace in your homeschooling. An online writing curriculum with 8 week courses and one on one instruction, your child will receive personalized critiques of their writing by someone not wearing the title "Mom", thereby keeping emotions out of the writing process. This is not an inexpensive resource, and quite frankly, there is nothing special about what is being taught that can't be taught by moms. But many homeschool moms lack confidence in their own writing skills and feel lost when it comes to editing and helping their child create well structured essays. In addition, some relationships between homeschooling parent and child don't allow for the kind of honest assessment of writing that is needed to help a learner improve.
Winning with Writing
Here is JacKris's writing program, which is presented in a basic, very step by step process. Any parent can feel confident in using this curriculum, knowing they are covering all the skills that need to be covered. This is particularly good for those kids who need more practice to master writing, as it breaks writing down into the most basic components with lots of repetition. Those who take quickly to writing might need to skip some of the repetition, but that is easily done and you can still be certain you are hitting all the important steps in the writing process. Check out their Growing with Grammar, and Soaring with Spelling to complete your language arts! For grades 1-8, and easily affordable. A Tried and True resource!
Writing Strands
Do you prefer a more organic approach to writing? One that gently eases your child into learning how to write, rather than pounds the whole "topic sentence" idea to death? This might be what you are looking for! This program and its non-consumable paperback books are quite affordable, and teach writing in a unique "voice", speaking directly to your student. The almost playful style is sure to draw in your more reluctant writers.
In order to be listed in our curriculum lists, materials have to meet certain criteria:
- It must be uncomplicated to teach with.
- It must be as neutral as possible in terms of world view/religious perspectives. If it is not neutral, it must be an exceptionally good resource and be easy to "neutralize" and be able to be used by people of all faiths. This does not mean there is no mention of religion, but that religious training is not a key component of the curriculum.
- It must provide a good education which would fully prepare a student for the real world. Not all of the curriculum suggestions would be appropriate for the college bound student, but then not every student is headed for college and their needs should not be ignored as they so often are.
Items noted as "Tried and True" resources have been used by our own family, and we welcome questions!
We are not affiliated with any of the curriculum providers we recommend here, and receive no compensation in any form for our recommendation.
Phonics
A strong beginning in reading is important. We all know that. But does it need to cost an arm and a leg to teach reading? Do you have to use some sort of complicated system? There is no need to panic about teaching reading, nor to pay through the nose. A couple of great tools, a library card, and a Mom or Dad to snuggle with are all that is necessary to help a child become a reader.
Modern Curriculum Press - Plaid Phonics
This is a well done, inexpensive, full color workbook program for teaching phonics from grades K-6. K-3 are phonics focused, while 4-6 include progressively more challenging phonics along with more advanced vocabulary word work. Can easily be taught without purchasing the teacher's manual. A Tried and True resource!
Phonics Pathways
Sometimes simple is best. One book, beginning to end, and you can teach your child all they will need to know to become solid primary readers. Black and white pages with a clean look help keep focus, and the gradual, gentle progression is a great approach for many. This is a single book used together by the teacher and the student, so there are no other workbooks needed. Two follow up books might be helpful, Phonics Pathways Boosters and Reading Pathways. Another Tried and True resource!
Reading A-Z
For those of you looking for a slightly different approach, this is an annual fee based web site (Currently $109.95 per year) with thousands of downloadable worksheets and printable leveled readers (in color!). A subscription, a printer, and a few reams of paper and you are totally set. You can check out their web site for free samples, and enroll for a free trial period before committing. This is one of our pricier suggestions, but it is absolutely worth the subscription price. The leveled readers are across so many topics, you can let your child help you select the ones of interest to them. Another Tried and True resource!
Starfall
Do you have a PreK, K or 1st-2nd grader? This is a web site you really need to check out! This is a FREE web site, which has been offered as a public service for many years. It offers all sorts of online activities for early phonics learning, and it is a great companion for any workbooks or other tools you might be using. Many kids love learning on the computer, and this is another way to inject more diversity into your reading work.
Spelling
We all know that spelling is one of those "curriculum free" subjects that can easily be taught by simply creating lists and practicing with them. However, many of us need to have a curriculum to feel certain we have covered all of our bases, and that all the spelling rules are covered. For many of us, we don't need complicated systems, but instead a simple guide is all we need...something to keep our kids progressing regularly through material. Do we have suggestions for you!
Soaring with Spelling
JacKris Publishing has created THE BEST, simplest spelling and grammar program to date. It is designed to be pretty much self teaching and your kids really can work their way through it with little more than a check in with you after corrections. The workbooks are very inexpensive, and their large spiral design that is at the top of the page makes working in them very comfortable for students. The pages are black and white, with a very clean look. An additional feature is that words are presented both printed and in cursive, so your student will learn how to read cursive writing, too. They also offer Growing with Grammar, and Winning with Writing which are separate solid language arts workbooks. With workbooks covering grades 1-8, you'll be set! Another Tried and True resource!
Spelling Workout
This is a spelling program that is also by Modern Curriculum Press, (as is the Plaid Phonics series) and it is solid and also reasonably priced. This is a fairly traditional, public school style workbook with some color (mainly contrasting print colors) and somewhat busier looking pages. It has the learner working with words in a variety of ways, and covers all the bases. Another Tried and True resource!
Spelling and Vocabulary City
Looking for a fun way to develop vocabulary while drilling spelling words? Look no further! This great subscription based web site does it all for you! With a totally free version including the basics, or a paid version that tracks your students and holds word lists for you for only $29.95 per year, this is a great tool to have in your homeschooling tool belt! Words are practiced through a variety of games, and students never tire of working with their spelling words. Free is terrific, but if you want tracking and record keeping, even the subscription version is a great bargain. Another Tried and True resource!
Reading
Reading can be taught in a variety of ways. Once your child has enough phonics under their belt to begin reading whole books, even easy readers, turn 'em loose! You can use whole books that you read together and you ask questions to make sure the comprehension is there, or you can use book study guides to accompany books which help you "teach" and provide activities to go along with it. Anthologies are another popular way to expose your child to a wide variety of great literature, and provide you with a teacher's manual that helps you know what questions to ask.
CommonLit
What a terrific FREE resource this is! CommonLit offers reading selections such as poems, short stories, and articles for grades 5-12 with follow up questions and the ability to track student progress. This is an easy to use site which could supplement any reading program, help a parent assess their child's ability, and allow them to raise or lower the reading level as best suits their learner. They are working on adding grades 3 & 4 soon, as well.
Drawn Into the Heart of Reading
Are you looking for a guide to help you walk through literature studies with your kids that allows you the freedom to select your own books? Look no further, this is the perfect tool! It covers all the literary terms, genres, etc. and is a WONDERFUL guide to use so that you feel confident you are missing nothing, but don't get stuck reading only certain literature selections.
Glencoe Literature Library
Another web site with FREE downloadable literature guides for elementary and middle school level. This site offers far more than the Novel Study Guides for Classroom Teachers site offers, and they are fairly "public schooly" in format.
Mosdos Press
We can't begin to think of a better literature anthology, perhaps that is why this is the only one we wanted to share!! If you are looking for an anthology that makes teaching the finer points of literature as fool-proof as possible, look no further. If you want the most engaging stories that have your child literally closing their book and sighing as they say, "Wow, that was SUCH a great story!", then this fits the bill perfectly. Each edition offers your young readers from grades 3-8 exposure to some of the best literature you will ever find. Yea, I know, they all say that...but Mosdos delivers. Check out the table of content pages for any of their grade levels, you will find all the great authors of our time there. Do you want literature that is encouraging and morally based without being preachy, this is it. From their web site:
"Mosdos Press presents world-class literature for elementary school and middle school: classic and contemporary works that are broadly representative, intellectually challenging, and morally framed. Our curriculum is rigorous and engaging, and thoughtfully explores family values and ethics."
They are't lying, this curriculum is all that, and more. It is highly recommended to get the student text, the accompanying workbook, and the teacher's manual. This is one curriculum that we won't pretend is cheap. In fact, it is fairly expensive at around $55.00 for the student text, $18 for the workbook, and $80 for the teacher's manual. Ouch!! So what...spend it. It is well worth every penny. This is a Tried and True resource, and one we most heartily recommend as being far superior to any other traditional public school anthology you might come across.
Novel-ties Teacher's Guides
Moderately priced reproducible guides for upper elementary and middle school (and high school, too!) readers. The guide is filled with activities, a synopsis for the teacher, and much more. Use as little or as much as you want. Leans a tad bit toward the traditional "schooly" side with "know-want-learn" charts, which some of us find to be a little cheesy :-) but there are some more thought provoking questions throughout as well. For someone looking for a solid book guide where there are plenty of things to work with, check this out...there are samples on their web site for you to peruse.
Progeny Press
Now THESE are study guides! Such rich content, you could never use it all. Progeny Press puts together some of the best study guides out there...and no,they are not free. They are also heads and tails above the free ones in terms of depth and breadth. These guides teach literary analysis, and ask more thought provoking questions than the others do, leading a reader to think far more deeply about the message the author is attempting to get across. The vocabulary work is woven throughout, and there are suggested activities to go along with each book read. These are very meaty, and could easily be stretched and used as a large part of a unit study. What is even better is that the company creates guides for even the earliest readers, utilizing books like Frog and Toad Together, and encouraging the younger set to really think about the books they are reading. These are created by a Christian company with some scripture work contained within. For you secular families, please don't bypass this really terrific resource because of that! They can easily be adapted to exclude any content that does not fit your worldview, and still leave the overwhelming majority to work with. Another Tried and True resource!
Simply Novel Literature Guides
This simple yet thorough standards based series of book study guides is a huge help for homeschool educators who lack confidence in teaching literature, or who would prefer to be guided through the process rather than try and do it off the cuff. If you want to make certain you are covering all the necessary material, and want to use a nice variety of elementary level novels, these guides are perfect for you. Offering vocabulary, comprehension questions, literary analysis and more, you will have everything here that you need to teach confidently. Select four or five books, and you have an entire year well covered.
Grammar
If you are a parent who wonders why homeschoolers seem to spend SO much time on grammar...you are not alone. Grammar is one of those subjects that everyone feels needs to be taught, but most of us wonder why there is a need to pound it to death. After all, who really ever diagrams a sentence in real life? And don't we naturally learn how to write well if we are immersed in good written material? Yes, to some degree this is true, but practice never hurts, and for many kids who can easily speak correctly, writing grammatically correct sentences does not come as easily. So let's look at a couple of resources that cover grammar well, without making you AND your young 'un go crazy!
Easy Grammar
For those who want a more intensive grammar program for their kids, or who just have kids who LOVE grammar (Really?!?!), using the Easy Grammar system is the ticket for you. This is a longtime homeschool favorite for thousands of families, and it does a great job of teaching grammar with a clear presentation of the concepts. It offers lots of repetition, tests, reviews and more. For some, this program might seem to be a bit much, for others it will fill the need for more in depth grammar study. Curriculum starts at grade 2 and goes through high school.
English Grammar 101
An AMAZING online grammar curriculum with instruction for free, and exercises and tests for a low annual fee. This is honestly all you would ever need for the majority of students for grammar, and many learners prefer the online format to workbooks.
Growing with Grammar
With a simple presentation of all the key grammar points, and regular practice for about 10-15 minutes a day, this is a very inexpensive way to cover this "must do" topic without overdoing it. It is thorough and self-taught (though mom or dad can always help with it, too!), which is nice to allow younger students to do some work on their own and begin practicing those independent learning skills. The amount of work in each lesson is just the right amount to keep kids from groaning and not dreading it, but by the end of the year you will have indeed covered quite a lot of territory. For those who like seeing diagramming as part of grammar, rather than a separate topic, diagramming is included right along with the regular sentence work. A Tried and True resource!
Writing
Here we are going to share resources for teaching writing skills...not printing or cursive. We feel that just about any generic year long workbook will do the trick for printing and cursive, and you can find those easily enough from any book supplier. Below are resources for teaching how to write sentences, paragraphs, and eventually full essays and stories. Writing is as crucial a skill as reading is, and we have some great tools for you to check out!
Essentials in Writing
This curriculum, often confused with one by a similar name, is a top notch incredibly affordable, super easy to teach writing curriculum which has the added bonus of an accompanying set of DVD's where the instructor teaches a 5-7 minute lesson directly to your child! Could it get any easier? There are no confusing teacher's manuals requiring you to learn how to become an expert writer yourself in order to teach. The downloadable PDF workbook is conversational in style, and doesn't "beat a dead horse" with repetition. There are brief activities designed to help the budding writer gain the step by step skills, and there are longer assignments in which all the pieces come together to create nicely written works by your student. All courses are taught by the amiable Matthew Stephens, who clearly knows his stuff...and he knows how kids think and learn. Accessible by email or phone, your instructor is an experienced former public school educator with certification in elementary, middle school and high school English. This is probably the most solid, and yet easiest to teach with curriculum for writing, and a Tried and True resource! Thankfully, there are courses for every single grade level, from 1st through 12th grade. With year long courses for a mere $40 including the DVD's AND the workbook, you simply can't find better instruction at this price point...it is worth much more.
Time4Writing
Do you find it impossible to teach writing? Do you butt heads with your child every time you sit down to edit something they have written? Maybe your best bet is to turn that job over to someone else! Time4Writing might be a way to keep peace in your homeschooling. An online writing curriculum with 8 week courses and one on one instruction, your child will receive personalized critiques of their writing by someone not wearing the title "Mom", thereby keeping emotions out of the writing process. This is not an inexpensive resource, and quite frankly, there is nothing special about what is being taught that can't be taught by moms. But many homeschool moms lack confidence in their own writing skills and feel lost when it comes to editing and helping their child create well structured essays. In addition, some relationships between homeschooling parent and child don't allow for the kind of honest assessment of writing that is needed to help a learner improve.
Winning with Writing
Here is JacKris's writing program, which is presented in a basic, very step by step process. Any parent can feel confident in using this curriculum, knowing they are covering all the skills that need to be covered. This is particularly good for those kids who need more practice to master writing, as it breaks writing down into the most basic components with lots of repetition. Those who take quickly to writing might need to skip some of the repetition, but that is easily done and you can still be certain you are hitting all the important steps in the writing process. Check out their Growing with Grammar, and Soaring with Spelling to complete your language arts! For grades 1-8, and easily affordable. A Tried and True resource!
Writing Strands
Do you prefer a more organic approach to writing? One that gently eases your child into learning how to write, rather than pounds the whole "topic sentence" idea to death? This might be what you are looking for! This program and its non-consumable paperback books are quite affordable, and teach writing in a unique "voice", speaking directly to your student. The almost playful style is sure to draw in your more reluctant writers.