English Language Arts

Composition

ApricotPie.com
www.apricotpie.com
An online community for homeschool writers. Gives home schoolers a chance to meet each other, and let themselves be seen through their writing and thoughts.

Format Writing Wordsmiths
www.jsgramamr.com
1355 Ferry Road Grants Pass, OR 97526
Fax: (541) 474-9756
Carries Format Writing, Jensen’s Grammar, Major Punctuation and other books.

Homeschool ConneXion
www.hsconnexion.com
”Interested in writing? Want to participate in a learning venture unlike any other? Apply to be on the HC Team where you will sharpen your writing skills while at the same time learning about the ins and outs of working on a publication.” This is an online magazine for and by teens.

National Writing Institute
www.writingstrands.com
624 W. University #248 Denton, TX 76201
(888) 688-5375 orders and customer service
This writing program was developed for use in a homeschool setting. It teaches students creative and expository writing plus research and report techniques.

No Girls Allowed
Healing Curriculum Publishing
4116 19th Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta T3E 0G6
(403) 242-1138
Email: nogirlz@aol.com
A writing program for boys emphasizing male-specific learning styles, teaching tips for parent-educators, writing projects boys love all within a cross-curricular structure.

Princeton Revew Writing Smart, Junior by C.L. Brantley and Writing Smart by Marcia Lerner
www.princetonreview.com/college/bookstore.asp
The Junior book is designed to stimulate your child’s interest in writing with creative exercises. Writing Smart, for the older set, is full of helpful tips and useful drills to improve both business and academic writing.

Wordsmith Series Common Sense Press
www.cspress.com
PO Box 1365 Melrose, FL 32666
(352) 475-5757
Wordsmith is a creative writing course for grades 4 through high school that encourages students to develop their writing skills as they participate in every role on a newspaper staff: editor, reporter, writer, etc.

WriteAtHome
www.writeathome.net
Composition classes for students in grades 9-12. Weekly feedback by personal, professional Writing Coaches, weekly lessons, challenging and creative writing assignments. Their Writing Coaches all have experience in English education or professional writing, in most cases both.

WriteGuide
www.writeguide.com
835 Josh Drive Palmer, AK 99645
Phone/Fax: (907) 746-7052
WriteGuide offers individualized writing programs for students in grades three through twelve. Computer and email required. The program can serve as a full-fledged writing curriculum, or to as a supplement to virtually any other course of study. You work with a personal writing consultant.

Grammar and Punctuation

Caught’Ya!: Grammar With a Giggle
by Jane Bell Kiester
ISBN: 0929895045
It only takes 10 minutes a day to build grammar competency. Students correct grammar, punctuation and usage in an ongoing story which you construct. There are lots of examples so that you can create a story of interest to your particular student. Other books in the series include: Caught’Ya Again!: More Grammar With a Giggle, The Chortling Bard: Caught’ya Grammar with a Giggle for High Schools, Elementary, My Dear! : Caught ‘Ya!, Grammar With a Giggle for Grades One, Two, and Three

ThreeDaily Grams: Guided Revew Aiding Mastery Skills
by Wanda C. Phillips
This is a series of books from second grade to 6th and above. Each non-threatening page is a short review lesson which takes no preparation time and just a few minutes to complete and includes capitalization, punctuation, sentence combining and grammar. New information is introduced slowly to promote independent learning without being overwhelmed, and review is continous. It may be used alone or combined with another grammar text. The author has written a companion text, Easy Grammar, for the elementary grades.

Great Adventures in Editing
Common Sense Press
PO Box 1365 Melrose, FL 32666
(352) 475-5757
www.cspress.com
Teaches and reviews grammar, punctuation, spelling, vocabulary.

Jensen’s Grammar, Major Punctuation and other books
Wordsmiths
1355 Ferry Road Grants Pass, OR 97526
Fax: (541) 474-9756
www.jsgrammar.com

Princeton Review Series
Grammar Smart Junior : Good Grammar Made Easy/Grades 6-8 by Liz Buffa and Grammar Smart : A Guide to Perfect Usage by Nell Goddin, Erik Palma (Editor)
www.princetonreview.com/college/bookstore.asp
The Princeton Review Series is well known for its irreverent humor which is guaranteed to capture the imagination of secondary-grade students. These are great books for grammar usage remediation.

Literature

Chinaberry
2780 Via Orange Way, Suite B
Spring Valley, CA 91978
(800) 776-2242
www.chinaberry.com
Once upon a time there was a mom researching uplifting and positive books for her own child. She decided to share her finds and reviews with others and Chinaberry was born. This is a great guide while searching for good literature for your children.

E-Books
There are free books available for download or online reading from several sites:
American Literary Classics
www.americanliterature.com/MAIN.HTML
ByGosh.com Children’s Classics
www.bygosh.com/childrensclassics.htm
Children’s Literature Online Books
www.ability.org.uk/childrens_literature_online_book.html
Classcs for Young People
www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/storclas.html
Fairrosa Cyper Lbrary of Chidren’s Literature
www.fairrosa.info
The Online Books Page
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu
Page by Page Books
www.pagebypagebooks.com/title.html
WebBooks.com
www.web-books.com/cool/ebooks/Library.htm

Growler Tapes
110 West 86th St. NYC 10024
(800) GROWLER
www.growler.com
The Growler tapes are audio adventures, mysteries without a narrator, using unusual voices and sounds.

Jim Weiss Storytelling Tapes
Greathall Productions
PO Box 5061 Charlottesville, VA 22905
(800) 477-6234
www.greathall.com
Storytelling is a great introduction to good literature; Jim Weiss is a great storyteller. After listening to Weiss, your young children will want to learn how to read and your older children will want to read the classics: The Jungle Book, Three Musketeers, Robin Hood, and Shakespeare. Sound clips of his tapes are available on the website.

Library
Your librarian can suggest books based on your child’s interests, age and abilities. Some libraries offer story time to delight the pre and new reader.

Mecho Classics
Provides audio recordings of the classics in MP3 format. Use while commuting or to introduce the classics to children not developmentally ready to read them.
www.majormath.com/mechoclassics

Newbery Medal Award Winning Books
The award is named after John Newbery, a famous 18th century British publisher and bookseller. The annual award, presented by the Association of Library Service to Children, recognizes authors who contribute to American literature for children. This CD has a complete list of the winners in the Reading Lists folder.

Odds Bodkin Rivertree Productions, Inc.
P.O. Box 410 Bradford, NH 03221
(800) 554-1333
http://oddsbodkin.com
Storytelling put to music.

Reading Lists for College Bound Students
by Estell, Satchwell, Wright, and Padgett
ISBN: 0764561014
Contains reading lists from 100+ colleges and universities and an annotated list of the 100 books most often recommended by leading schools. It provides guidance for setting up your reading program.

Penmanship

SmithHand
N11492 Oakwood Rd.
Daggett, MI 49821
(906) 639-2299
www.dreamscp.com/smithhand Both manuscript and cursive writing using “natural motion".

Start Write Idea Maker Inc.
80 S. Redwood Rd., Suite 212 N. Salt Lake, UT 84054
(888) 974-8322
www.startwrite.com
Software that lets you print custom handwriting worksheets quickly on your own computer.

Workbooks from Teacher Supply Stores
Teacher supply stores carry handwriting workbooks that are inexpensive and useful. See your local Yellow Pages for teacher supply stores near you.

Reading

Reading Assessment Guides
The following link will allow you to download the Zork and Norkley Reading Assessment Tool. The developer says, “This tool can be used by parents and educators to assess children’s phonetic and sight reading skills. It is especially suited for home school use. The Demo has one level of assessment whereas the registered version has three.” http://yippee.i4free.co.nz/html/win/education/title7000.htm Other reading assessment tools are listed on A to Z’s home’s Cool site at http://www.gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/articles/060899.htm

Alpha-Phonics
www.alphaphonics.com
An intensive phonics program. Reading assessment tests also available.

At Last: A Reading Method for Every Child
by Mary Pecci
ISBN: 0943220076
A simplified step-by-step guide for teachers and parents/ Grade K- Adult. Comes highly recommended for all children and especially useful for children with learning disabilities.

Book Crossing
www.bookcrossing.com/home
This website encourages people to Read, Register, and then Release their books “into the wild” and track where they go and the lives they touch. Best of all, it’s FREE. This is a great way to discover new books, encourage journaling, and learn some geography.

Flyleaf Publishing
P.O. Box 185 Lyme, NH 03768-0185
(800) 449-7006
www.flyleafpublishing.com
An independent press that develops and publishes engaging, quality books specifically designed for beginning readers. The Books to Remember series - phonetic stories.

Letter Lane
Developed by homeschooling parents. Links from A to Z that have been carefully selected to cover a wide range of subjects. www.letterlane.com

Mary Sturgeon Educational Games
6525 Gunpark Dr., suite 150-194 Boulder, CO 80301
(888) 578-4180
www.licketysplit.nisa.com
Lickety Split - Monopoly-like board games that teach phonics, common words, blends, word families.

Phonics Pathways
www.dorbooks.com
Recommended by Jessie Wise & Susan Wise Bauer, authors of The Well-Trained Mnd: A Guide toCassical Education at Home, to teach reading at home.

RFB&DLearning Through Listening
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic National Headquarters
20 Roszel Road, Princeton, NJ 08540
(866) RFBD-585
www.rfbd.org
A non-profit organization that provides recorded academic textbooks for students from elementary through college. Students who use these recorded texts are in some way visually handicapped, including the blind and dyslexic, so are unable to read printed matter.

Sing, Spell, Read and Write
(800) 526-9907 for referral to local sales rep
www.singspell.com
This phonic-based program utilizes songs, games, storybook readers, and consumable texts. Assessments are built into the program. Spelling and writing are also taught.

Spelling and Vocabulary

Common Sense Spelling Book
by Teresa Walker and T. W. Butcher
ISBN 0965429628
Exercises using poetry, phonics, Latin and Greek roots, spelling rules; grades 1-12

English from the Roots Up:
Help for Reading, Writing, Speling, and S.A.T Scores: Greek Latin
by Joegil Lundquist
ISBN: 0964321033
Start as soon as second grade to increase an understanding of the roots of words. Vocabulary can be taught even if you have never studied Latin or Greek. 100 Greek and Latin root words are given along with meanings and examples. Instructions are provided for making word cards, or the cards may be purchased (well worth it).

Mikie Metric Productions
P.O. Box 3216, Williamsport, PA 17701
www.say-it-in-english.com
Learn to Write Better English at Home. This program is designed to provide a foundation in reading and spelling skills.

Making Words: Multilevel, Hands-On Developmentally Appropriate Spelling and Phonics Activties
by Patricia M. Cunningham, Dorothy P. Hall
ISBN: 0866538062
This is a how-to book based on phonics. It really does have a hands-on approach with hundreds of lessons which you can adapt to your student’s particular need. Cunningham has other books including Making More Words and Making Big Words which (for 3rd through 5th graders).

Vocabulary from Classical Roots
Fifer and Flowers
Book A - ISBN: 0838822525
This series of books teaches a root and then the words derived from it are studied. Guaranteed to raise SAT scores.

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