This post includes affiliate links, and I receive a percentage of each sale.
This sale has ended, but you can still purchase this ebook individually!
This week I’m highlighting a few of my favorite titles from this year’s Homeschool Omnibus sale–a collection of over 90 homeschooling resources available this week only–through Sunday, August 24th.
Today I want to introduce you to Designing Your Language Arts Curriculum by Jimmie Lanley of Jimmie’s Collage.
Sometimes I find the umbrella term “language arts” a little intimidating. It encompasses so many subjects and plays such an important role in what our children need to learn to be successful in life.
In this ebook Jimmie merges her experiences as both an eighth grade language arts teacher and a veteran homeschooling mother, and helps us cut through the chaff of busywork to uncover what our kids need most in language arts.
Her book is divided into 10 chapters: Grammar, Reading, Poetry, Spelling, Shakespeare, Literature, Vocabulary, Public Speaking, Building a Library, and Writing.
Jimmie pulls heavily from a Charlotte Mason philosophy in her homeschool and her ebook reflects that. I appreciated this gentle reminder and focus on a lifestyle of education–on helping our children to fall in love with learning, not merely master certain skills.
In the grammar chapter, Jimmie writes:
“We Charlotte Mason folks talk a lot about “living” learning: living math, living books, living science.
Grammar really should be living too. That is, study grammar in the context of real language rather than in the artificial construct of a grammar book.”
One practical takeaway I got from reading Designing Your Language Arts Curriculum was the number of interesting (& free) web resources she links to and recommends throughout.
As someone who spends quite a bit of time browsing homeschool sites each week, I still ended up bookmarking several pages and resources–including a free grammar novel to help kids learn the parts of speech! (This is the kind of discovery that gets me excited. =) )
And Jimmie also eased my guilt about poetry in our homeschool with these words:
“I am going to make a confessions. I am not a huge lover of poetry. I absolutely would not pick up a book of poetry to read for fun.”
Instead she gives simple poetry guidelines that don’t overwhelm, including suggested books to use and how to integrate the subject into your days in a natural, unforced way:
Jimmie’s simple suggestions for exposing children to poetry
Throughout the entire ebook–whether discussing Shakespeare, literature, spelling, or whether or not to diagram sentences–Jimmie shares personal recommendations about the resources she has used, loved, and found to be successful over the years in all language arts subjects.
Consider this read a bit like sitting down with a mentor homeschool mother and having her give you her words of wisdom.
This sale has ended, but you can still purchase this ebook individually!
The fine print:
- The deadline for refunds is September 5. Positively no refunds will be given if the file host shows that you have downloaded any files.
- The ebooks will only be available until September 25, please do not delay in downloading them. See the FAQ (http://www.homeschoolomnibus.com/faq/) or contact iHomeschool Network (http://www.homeschoolomnibus.com/contact) for more information.
- DVDs containing all files can be purchased until September 20.
4 truths about homeschooling