Language Arts

An Apple a day will help keep your spelling woes at bay! Apples is designed for the older student (junior high or high school) who struggles with spelling. Have you ever felt like taking your older student back to the beginning with phonics - but hesitate to do so because the available phonics books are so....elementary!? 

This Progeny Press Study Guide assists in reading and comprehension for your student as he reads through the book "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry". It will give a  synopsis of the book, as well as background information on the author, and the historical setting. Activities include comprehension questions, character studies, critical thinking exercises, scripture application, vocabulary, puzzles, essay ideas, and project ideas. An answer key is included with each guide. This is a re-producable CD, making it convenient for multiple children within your family.

An Apple a day will help keep your spelling woes at bay! Apples is different than any other spelling program out there, taking into consideration the unique needs of poor spellers. Once a week your student is introduced to a spelling rule (called a clue). He will study that rule for the entire week, applying it in all kinds of spelling situations: puzzles, fill-in-th-blank, complete-the-Bible-verse, etc. Some of the clues break a word down into syllables. 

First Language Lessons, written by Jessie Wise (co-author of The Well Trained Mind), is essentially a day-by-day, word-for-word, activity-by-activity script for the parents. It contains everything you need for 1st grade: memory work, stories, copy and dictation work, narration, and grammar. It even contains reminders to praise and encourage your child! 

Mention "creative writing" to most typical boys, and they'll run screaming from the house, or play sick, or try to flush their creative writing book down the toilet. However, "Caution: Writing In This Book Might Be Fun!" was written by a boy who really hates creative writing. Stephen, my son, sympathizes with your son's writing struggles and tries to give your son ideas of zany-boy things to write about. Full of bright colors and obnoxious color schemes, writing examples to get the proverbial ball rolling, and crazy ideas (with a few cautionary comments from Mom Kemmerer - er, me), your son might actually enjoy creative writing! 

This is homeschooling at its best. Here is a book that gives your student real-life skills. If you've ever wondered if your child would have learning gaps that would cripple his future, well, worry no more! "Research in Increments" teaches your students how to write a research paper. Armed with this skill, your child can study anything, learn anything, and know how to present it. This one book applies to any subject matter, be it history, science, social studies, literature, or Bible. If neither you nor your child has ever written a research paper, you need not be concerned. "Research in Increments" breaks the process down into simple, logical steps that can be accomplished in as little as ten minutes a day.

"Caution: Writing In This Book Might Be Fun!" (Girls version) was written by my daughter and my daughter-in-law. My daughter, Monica, loves to write and desires to pass her sense of enjoyment on to other students. My daughter-in-law, though she doesn't profess to "love" writing, is a wonderful writer. She is, however, one of the most talented, feminine, delightful young ladies you'd ever want to meet. Monica and Rachel teamed up to create a book full of wonderful, girly ideas to write about. Your daughter might actually enjoy creative writing! 

This is the answer key for Wordly Wise 12 in which homeschool students are presented with 300 new vocabulary words, organized in manageable lessons, with 15 words per lesson and 20 lessons per book. The flexible format makes this is an easy fit into any curriculum. Lessons include: Word study with Greek and Latin roots, prefixes, suffixes, antonyms, synonyms, and analogies;  Using context and syntactic clues;  Content area reading selections;  Dictionary-style word lists; and Understanding multiple meanings.

Beyond the Code Book 3 uses engagingly illustrated stories such as: Kids Need Pets, What’s the Fuss?, Day Care for Dogs, A Fish That Can Fly!, and Kate and the Ten-Speed Bike. Introductory exercises teach word families and vocabulary, while follow-up questions develop students’ understanding of the stories and encourage their reasoning abilities. Drawings accompany many of the new words to help students understand the vocabulary. After each story, students can complete illustrations by adding their own drawings. 

First Language Lessons 4 uses classical techniques of memorization, dictation, and narration to develop your child's language ability in the important, foundational years of language study. The text covers a full range of grammar topics, including parts of speech, punctuation, sentence diagrams, and skills in beginning writing and storytelling. Optional end units provide practice in dictionary use a letter writing.

Fifty classics are addressed with a short description of each title, objective and discussion questions (like a mini-quiz) for each book, a list of vocabulary words in their context (quoted right from the book your child is reading), important quotations, and more.  

Step-by-Step Grammar Volume II: Basic Usage was written to go along with Volume I: Basic Grammar. This second book teaches punctuation usage, subject-verb agreement, plurals, possessive forms and other sentence necessities. Help your child understand the rules for written English. Learn how to put a sentence together properly and punctuate it correctly.