My daughter's Language Arts Curriculum this year.
When I was in 8th grade, I struggled with my Language Arts teacher. I would enter class expecting to learn and by the end of the class I would walk out frustrated. My teacher had a very relaxed approach to teaching. Every day we would read a story from our textbook and answer the 3 to 5 questions listed at the end of the story. Then she would eat her snacks with her mouth open which grossed me out. In conversation with the other students, she would smack her lips in between bites and words. I felt like I wasn't being prepared for high school, and it bugged me.
My public-school education had missed in content and challenging topics.
Homeschooling my daughter gives me the chance to make sure she is prepared for life. It is definite that I do not want my daughter to be ill-prepared for another school or life choices. Teaching her has shown me how much my public-school education had missed in content and challenging topics. It is apparent to me how much knowledge I was missing, especially in Language Arts. Learning with my daughter on how to diagram sentences, structures of sentences, and types of sentences was a benefit. These topics expanded my knowledge on the use of words and crafting well written sentences. I am thankful for the chance to learn topics that hadn't been afforded to me earlier in life.
Reviewing basic concepts can be like finding a lost treasured item.
Some educational topics were a review of what was previously learned; topics like punctuation, grammar, conjunctions, transitional words, and homophones. Subject matter that was especially beneficial to review was the writing process, use of synonyms, word variety, and types of writing. Reviewing each of these reminded me of the basics and allowed me to grab hold of ideas I had long forgot. It was like finding a lost treasured item. Once you found it, you didn't want to lose sight of it. It is my hope that I keep applying the basics as I grow in writing.
It is never too early to start teaching writing to children.
Another lesson I learned was teaching writing early. I started my daughter writing very early. I had her writing multiple sentences in pre-k. We wrote verbal stories with our conversations at this age using a beginning, middle, and end. By the second semester of kindergarten, she was writing paragraphs. In first grade, she started learning and applying the writing process; brainstorming, planning, writing, editing, revising, and publishing. Now, she can choose a variety of topics to write on her own and doesn't shy away from detailed & complex stories. Proving that it is never too early to start teaching writing to children, even if it is verbally.
There is no shame in recognizing that brushing up on the basics is warranted.
As I reflect on what I have written today, I realize another truth. It is never too late to learn material you should have been taught. There is no shame in recognizing that brushing up on the basics is warranted. I am still brushing up on the basics and hopefully will continue to revisit the basics the rest of my writing career (life). It is my hope in a continual review of the basics, my writing will be grounded in solid place it can grow from.
In thankfulness, I am glad to be homeschooling my daughter for a new realized reason. If I wasn't homeschooling her, I might have not reviewed the basics on my own. I would have lost out in all the lessons I explained in this blog. For that I am truly grateful.
Next Week's Blog: Comes out on March 28-Overwhelmed
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