Making your own English course

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I don't know if it's because English is the subject I personally don't like or because I have been teaching it for 20 yrs, but I am having a very hard time finding a curriculum I like. Dd is a strong writer which is not helping because I find myself becoming relaxed in this area. We are getting ready to start FLL 3 after I looked at a ton of other curricula but the warm fuzzies do not come over me when I go through it...make any sense. I have been toying with the idea of not using a curriculum instead taking something she wrote or a paragraph from her books and working through the parts of speech this way as well as punctuation. Diagraming sentences she writes (not all of them but her sentences will be the samples we use on the days we do diagramming).

What else does a 2nd/3rd grader need to know?

Has anyone done something like this, do their own thing for English?

 

I will be doing Wordsmith Apprentice (love, love love this)with her for the 2013-2014 year so she will not be totally without structured English. And we have done BJU 2nd and Abeka 3rd Language in the past so she has had a foundation.

[ChrissySC]

Yes.

 

You need resources versus curriculum.

 

If you really want to go off the path, look at Charlotte Mason. I love this approach, and it seems that this may suit you much better! Integrated language arts appear to be your goal. Here. Shoelace Books has some language guides, as well as Queen's. You will find a few different CM-styled resources that "cut the work", but if you have taught, you may want only the how-to with a broad set of guidelines.

 

If this does not appeal to you, consider the First Whole Book of Diagrams as a tool to teach grammar. Elementary Diagramming is a great resource. For parts of speech, any workbook from Scholastic will suffice. For writing, look at Winning with Writing and WriteShop. It sounds like these may appeal. Visit Currclick for worksheets and tools.

[mom31257]

If you watch for Scholastic's Dollar Days, there are lots of funny grammar practice books you can get for $1. Ds is doing IEW in a co-op, and I bought a book on diagramming. Ds loves to be silly, so I'm going to use some of their grammar books for a fun practice of parts of speech, proofreading, etc. Here's a couple of the ones I plan on using.

 

Comic Strip Grammar

 

Funny Fairy Tale Proofreading

[almondbutterandjelly]

I am also increasingly doing my own thing for English. I have tons of resources, and I just decided that I'm going to get workbooks that address specific skills to supplement.

 

For grammar, I recently discovered English for Young Catholics by Seton. I'm not Catholic, but I like their approach. They have sort of a big picture explanation (at least in the 6th grade book) at the start of each chapter, and then address a single topic within that for a day or two before adding another topic. Plus they have diagramming throughout and colorful pictures.

 

I am supplementing with a Beginning Outlining book by Remedia Publications (says it's for grades 3-4). CLE has a wonderful diagramming book called Extra Practice Diagramming, and we use that daily. I recently discovered Evan Moor Daily Proofreading, and I love that idea, but I think I'll wait until we finish our other workbooks before adding that in.

 

We use Winning with Writing for Composition.

 

2nd/3rd graders don't really need much. If you've already done Abeka 3, you're ahead of the game. So I totally agree that you should just pick the skills you want to work on and do your own thing.

[8filltheheart]

I don't know if it's because English is the subject I personally don't like or because I have been teaching it for 20 yrs, but I am having a very hard time finding a curriculum I like. Dd is a strong writer which is not helping because I find myself becoming relaxed in this area. We are getting ready to start FLL 3 after I looked at a ton of other curricula but the warm fuzzies do not come over me when I go through it...make any sense. I have been toying with the idea of not using a curriculum instead taking something she wrote or a paragraph from her books and working through the parts of speech this way as well as punctuation. Diagraming sentences she writes (not all of them but her sentences will be the samples we use on the days we do diagramming).

What else does a 2nd/3rd grader need to know?

Has anyone done something like this, do their own thing for English?

 

I will be doing Wordsmith Apprentice (love, love love this)with her for the 2013-2014 year so she will not be totally without structured English. And we have done BJU 2nd and Abeka 3rd Language in the past so she has had a foundation.

 

That is how I teach.

 

I teach grammar w/in the context of their writing. So, for example, say they have written paragraph. We go through the paragraph identifying the parts of speech, mechanics, and writing process.

 

(before they are independent writers, I do the same process via copywork.)

 

FWIW, this approach has created strong writers.

[Ellie]

Well, "curriculum" means "the subjects offered by an institution of educaton." You can have a very comprehensive curriculum without buying a single textbook or workbook.

 

Your *writing* curriculum would be something like this: Dd will write short original compositions based on excerpts from reading. Dd will also copy short selections from different works.

 

Your *grammar* curriculum would be something like this: Dd will analyze her original compositions, identifying parts of speech and making corrections for punctuation and capitalization.

 

Your *reading* curriculum would be something like this: Dd will read from trade books, some of which during sustained silent reading, some of which will be read aloud. Dd will choose excerpts from her selected reading to analyze for literary terms, vocabulary, plot, and more.

 

See?

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

Well, "curriculum" means "the subjects offered by an institution of educaton." You can have a very comprehensive curriculum without buying a single textbook or workbook.

 

Your *writing* curriculum would be something like this: Dd will write short original compositions based on excerpts from reading. Dd will also copy short selections from different works.

 

Your *grammar* curriculum would be something like this: Dd will analyze her original compositions, identifying parts of speech and making corrections for punctuation and capitalization.

 

Your *reading* curriculum would be something like this: Dd will read from trade books, some of which during sustained silent reading, some of which will be read aloud. Dd will choose excerpts from her selected reading to analyze for literary terms, vocabulary, plot, and more.

 

See?

This is what I want to do, problem is I like some sort of list or something to let me know I am covering what needs to be covered. Sometimes you think you have it all but it might not be the case.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

If you watch for Scholastic's Dollar Days, there are lots of funny grammar practice books you can get for $1. Ds is doing IEW in a co-op, and I bought a book on diagramming. Ds loves to be silly, so I'm going to use some of their grammar books for a fun practice of parts of speech, proofreading, etc. Here's a couple of the ones I plan on using.

 

Comic Strip Grammar

 

Funny Fairy Tale Proofreading

Funny you should mention the Comic Strip Grammar, I just realized I had this when I was cleaning out my download files. This and a few other scholastic downloads I forgot about:glare:.

 

Thanks all....lots to think at and look at, will give me a starting place if nothing else.

[Ellie]

This is what I want to do, problem is I like some sort of list or something to let me know I am covering what needs to be covered. Sometimes you think you have it all but it might not be the case.

There really isn't a list of what needs to be done. Or, to put it a different way, every publisher/author has a different list. :-)

 

OTOH, if you've read TWTM, there's your list. :-)

 

Alternatively, you could look at the scope and sequence from a couple of publishers and see what they do over several years.

[8filltheheart]

This is what I want to do, problem is I like some sort of list or something to let me know I am covering what needs to be covered. Sometimes you think you have it all but it might not be the case.

 

I have found the opposite to be true. I would not say this to a new homeschooler, but one w/your experience......I have found simply naturally discussing things w/my kids on their level often leads to covering topics at a depth not normally encountered until many grade levels beyond what I am "supposed" to be teaching. Not to mention how much for enjoyable it is to teach this way.:001_smile:

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

There really isn't a list of what needs to be done. Or, to put it a different way, every publisher/author has a different list. :-)

 

OTOH, if you've read TWTM, there's your list. :-)

 

Alternatively, you could look at the scope and sequence from a couple of publishers and see what they do over several years.

I do have the book and read it...guess I need to reread it again.

Thanks for your incite:001_smile:

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I have found the opposite to be true. I would not say this to a new homeschooler, but one w/your experience......I have found simply naturally discussing things w/my kids on their level often leads to covering topics at a depth not normally encountered until many grade levels beyond what I am "supposed" to be teaching. Not to mention how much for enjoyable it is to teach this way.:001_smile:

Your right. I have done similar with spelling and handwriting with dd and I feel it is working. Thanks for the words of encouragement.

[abba12]

I don't like english curriculums, they're contrived, and inflexible lol. I have no intention of using an english curriculum. Now that dosen't mean we won't do english.

 

English includes

Writing

Reading

Grammar

Spelling

Vocabulary

 

This is how those individual elements play out in my mind, and how we implemented them for a couple of years when I was being homeschooled.

 

Reading - obviously learning to read is important. I would use a curriculum specifically for reading/phonics until the child is reading fluently, K, 1st and maybe 2nd grade, but that's because I have no idea where to begin. If you are confident to be able to teach a child to read, go ahead and do it! After a child is reading, most homeschoolers use a lot of books in history and science, and fiction. I would occasionally have assigned fiction books, and at the library we would find a few supplement books, fiction and non-fiction, for whatever our current topics were in other subjects. As you get into older grades, having kids read the classics is great. Book reports and analyzing reading I consider unnececary, it's mostly implemented in school to ensure the children are actually reading the book! If you have discussions about the concepts read, that's all you need to do. Reading can be easily and constructivly implemented in every other subject, and because you're not spending an hour a day on 'english', you have extra time for those reading assignments in other subjects that might otherwise get lost.

 

Writing - This takes some intentional planning. Some of it is easy, having children write science reports on what they discover in science, having them write essays and research assignments in history, having a child write a piece about an artwork in art, these things are easy to throw in. Some curriculums will give writing assignments, others you may need to supplement with writing. But try thinking outside the box. If you're studying modern history, try having your child write a fictional story about a child in the gold rush. In science, if you're studying plant biology, have your child write a story about a child who got lost in the woods, and include little facts, like how he found edible plants etc. The expectations for these sorts of assignments will depend on the age, you might only require a paragraph or page from a 2nd or 3rd grader, but from a 9th grader you might ask for a novella, complete with rough draft and editing process, as a term-long assignment.

 

There are a couple of writing types that are important but hard to cover, and for these I would do unit studies, which are easy to create if you have the confidence. Poetry, journalism, emotive prose, opinion pieces, etc can be covered with the proper resources as units. You don't need to spend months on each of these, doing one or two a year for a month at a time would be plenty of exposure (maybe more for poetry). Or you could implement them in the other subjects creativly, write a poem about medieval times in the style of chauncer (is that his name? I didn't do much classic poetry), write an opinion piece about global warming. Write an emotive prose about the way you feel looking out the window at creation. You could even do a family project of putting together a magazine or newspaper, complete with pictures, about current events or some other social topic. With these assignments should of course come explaination and appropriate resources, whether that's mums knowlege or a book that teaches the structure of poetry.

 

Spelling and Grammar - These are covered within the first two. Ordinarily, when a child writes a science report, a lot of parents will overlook spelling and grammar issues and only mark the scientific content, but when you approach english inclusively, you mark the entire report. The science of course is important, but you also mark the spelling and grammar, the neatness, the language used etc. You don't have to wait for an english 'assignment' to teach about capital letters and verbs. I did the traditional weekly spelling lists most my schooling years, and I still can't spell very well. But I can see when a word dosen't 'look right' and I put that down to the huge amount of reading I did as a child, so I'm pretty good at editing, if I have a dictionary or google :) (I have not edited this post mind you :) )

 

I would consider, somewhere around middle school, actually doing a grammar curriculum as an intensive course to learn some of the why's and the finer points of grammar, but in the early years, most kids will pick up on basic grammar naturally.

 

Vocabulary - My husband has a great vocab. He likes to use big words because I usually don't know what they mean :D but having something like a word of the week would be a cool way to handle this.

 

 

As has been said above, every school and every curriculum has a different idea about what should be covered. If you really want to ensure you cover everything you can though, I would suggest sitting down and writing a year long 'checklist', which you can mark off as you cover things through the year, or refer to when you're trying to work out what you need to incoporate next, so at the end of the year you can see you still haven't done a fictional piece, or you've only done one research report when you wanted to have done two, or you've done limericks and haikus, but have not looked at rhyming structures and rhythm in poetry.

 

You probably studied english for at least 10 years, so have confidence! You know this subject, you won't miss anything vital. If you miss it, it's probably because you never used it after highschool. And you don't need to spend months on english topics, if you discover you haven't looked at something minor, just find a way to put it in the next week or two.