This is post two in my series sharing what we will be studying during the 2024-2025 school year.
Today is Language Arts!
We have used several different curricula over the years, but I always end up coming back to The Good and the Beautiful materials for Language Arts.
I really do like this curriculum because it works for everybody, and has not only all of the Language Arts skills, but geography and art included as well.
And, I can see how well my senior writes, and know this curriculum played a big part in her success story (this, IEW Grammar years one and two, and Cover Story by Clear Water Press have been my absolute favorites.)
The Little Guy will be finishing Level 4 in the Good and the Beautiful, and then will go on to Level 5. The Boy will be finishing up Level 7, and then moving on to High School Year One, and The Girlio will be tackling High School Year Three.
Spelling
For Spelling, we will be using Spelling Power.
I really like this book. I have purchased many spelling books over the years, but like this one because it is one book that can be used for everyone all the way through school.
While I don’t think an actual curriculum is necessary (reading good books and playing word games really help with spelling), I don’t mind the added word practice.
Poetry
Every year I say we are going to memorize poetry-but we haven’t for several years now.
Last year I decided to at least read some poetry every week.
For that we are using:
I don’t read every poem, but there are definitely some classics, and lots of fun ones I have never read before. We are enjoying this book.
The Little Guy also has some poetry memorization incorporated into his English curriculum this year too.
Shakespeare
I use a technique I learned from Sarah Mackenzie when it comes to teaching Shakespeare.
She is a big fan of introducing Shakespeare in stages, and I really love this idea.
Here’s a podcast episode she did on the subject, if you would like to delve more deeply into the topic.
I have modified the idea to suit our needs, and it is working quite well for us.
For stage one, the kids attend a Shakespeare play every year. Our library hosts a free event at the end of June, and the kids really enjoy it.
Once the kids are a little bit older, they start with this book:
From this book they learn the general plot lines of each story and enjoy the beautiful illustrations.
Finally, they listen to full-cast audiobooks of the original plays. We use the ones produced by Arkangel.
Audible runs sales on these, and I have amassed quite a few for between $2-$4 apiece.
Once in high school, my kids pick a minimum of 1-2 plays each year. They can pick their favorites to listen to based off the stories they have already read.
If there is one audiobook they really want, I pick it up during the next sale, but we do have fifteen already, so we have plenty of choices.
I really like this approach. It’s a gentle easing into Shakespeare instead of throwing a kid into the deep end and trying to make them figure out the story with all of the original language.
And, with the audiobooks, they get to hear it spoken correctly too.
If my kids ever want to read the plays for themselves, they are welcome to, but it’s only my job to get them interested. 🙂
Well, that’s it for Language Arts for the 2024-2025 school year.
Next up in my series is Science, so stay tuned!
Slow Down, Enjoy, and Create 