Does your child need help writing? Why not focus on writing with the Here to Help Writing Center at SchoolhouseTeachers.com? Beth Mora, the author and teacher-on-camera for Here to Help Learning’s writing curriculum (grades 1–6), is a homeschool mom who used real life writing experiences to create her curriculum.
Finding the course to meet the needs of your elementary-aged student or middle schooler is easy using the assessment provided with the Here to Help Writing Center. The courses, or “flights,” feature paragraph writing and essay writing. Each Flight takes 32 weeks with two days per week instruction using videos, worksheets, and projects.
Focus on Writing: The Beginning
Are you unsure of your child’s writing level? Here to Help Learning provides a Writing Placement Test where children will write for seven minutes about a photo prompt. If you can answer yes to all the teacher evaluation questions, your child is ready for the Essay Flight Levels. If you answer no to some of the questions, such as “Did your child write easily without frustration?” then your child should start in a Paragraph Flight Level.
If you still need more help for placement, there is a brief video that provides an overview of all six flights. Since there are beginner and advanced levels in each lesson, you can choose the flight with the writing projects that meet your needs. Still need more help to focus on writing? There is a scope and sequence chart to help you.
First Flight Lessons
The lessons are very straightforward! With a Writing Overview/Teacher’s Guide, Writing Lesson instructions, and videos, you can easily incorporate one of the six flight levels to help your children focus on writing in your homeschool.
We started our first lesson with a Flight Check-In with Mrs. Mora. We read a verse from the Bible, which is a focal point of the curriculum, and then went through our notebook, organizing pages and assignments. Having a binder ready with dividers was a great way to prepare for our first flight.
In our first lesson, we played a game called “Sentence—No Sentence” after watching a sample of the game. In this game our daughter had to identify whether statements were sentences or not. This led directly into a writing warm-up and then an introduction to the writing process.
The first flight lesson closes with a brainstorming activity and two “flying solo” assignments. The assignments related back to the Scripture we are memorizing and the project.
Looking Beyond
After taking Here to Help Writing Flight 1, Paragraph Level, and exploring the elements of a book, examining the difference between a parable and a fable, and other tasks, children can move on to Flight 2, Paragraph Level, the next year. Over the course of 32 weeks, children will continue to work on narrative writing, persuasive writing, and more. You can board the “flight” for another level of paragraph writing, and children continue to build upon the skills they worked on in Flights 1 and 2.
Older children or those who are competent at writing paragraphs can work through three Essay levels while they focus on writing in your homeschool. Discuss monuments and The Canterbury Tales in Here to Help Writing Flight 1, Essay Level. Examine tale tales and sci-fi in Flight 2, and work on a book project in Flight 3.
Focus on Writing and More with SchoolhouseTeachers.com
Thousands of homeschooling families have depended on SchoolhouseTeachers.com since 2012 for their online curriculum resource. With over 400 course options, ranging from preschool to high school, your entire homeschool year is covered. The three core areas—language arts, math, and science—are covered along with electives like computer programming, foreign languages, music, and art.
If you are looking for extra help in different areas, SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers Focused Learning Centers. This is where you will find the Here to Help Writing Center under Focus on Writing. These centers offer help in math, reading, special needs, foreign language, high school, college planning, or science. Within the Focused Learning Centers you will find full courses, individual lessons, and articles that will help you in homeschooling your children.
Whether or not your children need to focus on writing, there is much to be gained from a membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com. Read more about this curriculum from one of our evaluators, or get a subscription for your own family at Join Now.
HomeschoolingFinds.com Author
This article has been written by Kristen Heider. She is the Business Building Team Manager of The Old Schoolhouse® and the Social Media Manager of HomeschoolingFinds.com. She shares more about her family’s homeschooling journey at A Mom’s Quest Teach.