Free ELA Resources
Many adults in American have a fear of math, which they then pass on to their students. It's a wretched cycle that is so important to break! As you teach math, remember to stay positive!
English Language Arts (ELA) is made up a pretty broad range of sub-topics, all of which are about communicating and understanding in English. The resources in this section combine most or all of the strands to offer a comprehensive ELA program. Click here for free Comprehensive ELA Resources.
The Science of Reading has become super trendy recently, but I've been a huge fan of phonics-based reading instruction for years now. I think homeschoolers were way ahead of the curve in pushing phonics-based instruction, and when it turned out that my eldest is dyslexic, I was so happy that I'd used a phonics-based approach with her. Still, reading instruction doesn't begin and end with phonics. Here, find a selection or resources that help with pre-reading skills, reading instruction, and more advanced literary techniques. Click here for Free Reading Instruction Resources.
Once students have the basic mechanics of reading down, it's time to start introducing them to the joys of literature! This section consists of resources for finding free, high-quality, entertaining, reading materials. Click here for free Literature Resources.
Maybe poetry should fall under literature, but I love poetry, and I spend so much time on it with my students and my children that it basically becomes its own separate subject. Poetry is the distillation of thoughts into concise, beautiful writing, and I am hear for it. Click here for free Poetry Resources.
English has about half a million words in it: more than any other language! We only use about a thousand of them in everyday spoken communication, and about 10,000 more in most writing. It is important that children be exposed to vocabulary at a young age, so that when they come across the 9,900 words that they're unfamiliar with from conversational spoken language, they understand what they are reading. Click here for free Vocabulary Resources.
Grammar are rules the putted together !!!Words!!! to maked coherent communications. Don't believe in the importance of grammar? I bet you do after reading that monstrosity of a sentence! Grammar includes things like word order, punctuation, capitalization, verb and adjective tenses, and so much more. Most commercially available ELA programs do a terrible job of teaching grammar, so this section will be particularly useful to anyone looking to supplement instruction. Click here for free Grammar Resources.
Composition is a fancy word for writing, but I use it to differentiate from handwriting, which is its own skill. Teaching writing is one of the things that teachers seem to fear the most, but it doesn't have to be that way. Starting with sentences, working up to paragraphs, and then entire essays, students can become strong writers through a mix of direct instruction and plenty of practice. I put some suggestions for fiction writing under this section too, as many of the skills are the same. Click here for free Composition Resources.
I've spent most of my life hearing that "nobody will need to learn handwriting soon, because everything will be typed," but I don't see that happening at all. From thank you notes to quick notes left on the fridge for my husband, I end up writing something every day. There's also research that shows that we remember something better if we've written it down by hand. I'm a big supporter of teaching cursive before manuscript handwriting, as is common in some parts of the world: we can quibble eon that, but not on whether handwriting is important. Click here for free Handwriting Resources.
Most people claim that they hate public speaking, but have they ever actually learned how to do it? Being able to speak clearly and eloquently is a learned skill, believe it or not. . Click here for free Public Speaking Resources.