38 Ways to Teach Writing (that are FUN!)

teaching writing

Writing is an integral part of the language arts classes taught at Sparks Academy. We offer four levels of instruction, each building upon the last, until students are ready to write in any form requested of them – whether at a career or college! But maybe you don’t want a full class….how can you make writing fun at home?

Literature Studies & Living Books

What are living books, and how can you use them to make your homeschool shine? Get all the tips & tricks in Using Living Books to Homeschool. Scroll down to snag pre-made bundles of novel studies!

Literature Units for Middle School

Virtual Classes
  • My Side of the Mountain & Wilderness Survival
  • Serafina and the Seven Stars & the Biltmore House
  • Serafina and the Black Cloak & Appalachian Folklore
  • Serafina and the Splintered Heart & Writing a Ghost Story
  • The Call of the Wild
  • Alex Rider & Spies
  • Ranger’s Apprentice & Creative Writing
  • Theodore Boone & Understanding the Legal System

Literature Units for High School

  • Oliver Twist & the Industrial Revolution
  • Crime and Punishment & Free Will vs Determinism
  • The Things they Carried & the Vietnam War
  • Five People You Meet in Heaven & Human Impact
  • The Chosen & the Zionist Movement
  • Things Fall Apart & the Colonization of Africa

Online Classes

Another fun option for teaching writing is through the language arts classes Sparks Academy! There are four levels offered currently, including High School 1, High School 2, High School 3, and Level 7. (The last one is for 7th/8th/9th grade, depending on your student’s skills.) This is an online co-op, with weekly student interaction in the private classroom forum. Learn more here.

Writing Projects & Activities

Writing Units

Writing Activities

Maybe you just need help with writing feedback for your student? We’ve got you covered!! Use the form specifically for the Good & Beautiful or any other curriculum.

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45 Ways to Teach US History & Geography with Literature

Trying to recreate public school at home, right down to the textbooks, is something new homeschoolers often do (especially those pulling students out of school).  Literature studies, however, are so much more FUN!  As an added bonus, because they incorporate knowledge through relating to a character and / or story, your students are apt to retain more once the year ends. 

What are living books, and how can you use them to make your homeschool shine? Get all the tips & tricks in Using Living Books to Homeschool.

us history

Novel studies can be used to cover concepts from language arts and history to science and math.  It’s been our students’ preferred learning method for years, and we’ve created well over one hundred of them! If you’re looking to teach American History and Geography through literature, here are 45 units to try….and don’t discount audiobooks, too! They’re a great addition to a busy homeschooling day!

Another fun option for teaching history are the US History and Government/Constitution classes at Sparks Academy! This is an online co-op, with weekly student interaction in the private classroom forum. Learn more here.

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  • Casualties of War & Vietnam War
  • No Promises in the Wind & the Great Depression
  • Out of the Dust & the Dust Bowl
  • The Watsons Go to Birmingham & Civil Rights
  • Dusty Sourdough & Alaska
  • The King of Mulberry Street & Ellis Island Immigration
  • Paper Son & Angel Island Immigration
  • The Red Menace & McCarthyism
  • Johnny Tremain & Faces of the American Revolution
  • Sounder & Sharecropping
  • World War II Code Talkers
  • Flashback Four: Hamilton-Burr Duel
  • Within These Lines & Japanese Internment Camps
  • Flashback Four: Titanic Mission
  • Flashback Four: Lincoln Project
  • Freedom Summer & the Summer of 1964
  • Farenheit 451 & Types of Government
  • The Great Gatsby & the Roaring Twenties
  • Witch of Blackbird Pond & Salem Witch Trials
  • The World Made New & Early Explorers
  • Stitching a Life & Jewish Immigration
  • We Were There on the Oregon Trail
  • We Were There at the Battle of Gettysburg
  • We Were There at the Boston Tea Party
  • We Were There in the Klondike Gold Rush
  • We Were There with the Mayflower Pilgrims
  • We Were There with the Pony Express
  • We Were There with the California Forty-Niners
  • We Were There with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys
  • We Were There with Jean Lafitte at New Orleans
  • We Were There at the Oklahoma Land Run
  • We Were There on the Chisholm Trail
  • We Were There at Pearl Harbor
  • We Were There when Washington Won at Yorktown
  • We Were There at the Battle of the Alamo
  • We Were There at the Opening of the Erie Canal
  • We Were There at the Battle of Lexington and Concord
  • We Were There with Lewis and Clark
  • We Were There when Grant Met Lee at Appomattox
  • We Were There with the California Rancheros
  • We Were There at the First Airplane Flight
  • We Were There on the Santa Fe Trail
  • We Were There at the Driving of the Golden Spike
  • We Were There at the Opening of the Atomic Era
  • We Were There on the Nautilus
  • We Were There with Lincoln in the White House

You can find all of these in the three unit bundles below! (Sample units are in blue.) Enjoy the journey, and remember….DO THE VOICES!!!

Essential Reading List for High School Girls

After polling several homeschooling families on what they thought was the one must-read book for high school girls, we’ve put together a list of thirty-two books that all girls should read in middle and high school.   They include old classics and new favorites, and have lots of character-building lessons, too! Parents should always preview books first….many of these are only appropriate at the high school level.

Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre

L.M. Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables series

Pam Munoz Ryan

Riding Freedom

Jerry Spinelli

Stargirl

Gene Stratton-Porter

A Girl of the Limberlost

Julie Berry

Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place

Audrey & Jeremy Rolloff

A Love Letter Life

Margaret Mitchell

Gone With the Wind

Jane Austen

Pride & Prejudice

Robin Jones Gunn

Christy Miller series

Corrie ten Boom

The Hiding Place

Bruce Wilkinson

The Dream Giver

Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter

Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale

Louisa May Alcott

Rose in Bloom

Thomas Hardy

Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Maud Hart Lovelace

Emily of Deep Valley

Nancy Demoss Wolgemouth

Lies Young Women Believe

Brené Brown

Daring Greatly

George Orwell

1984

Louisa May Alcott

Little Women series

Mabel Hale

Beautiful Girlhood

Viktor Frankl

Man’s Search for Meaning

Robert T. Kiyosaki

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights

Henry Cloud

Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life

Og Mandino

The Greatest Salesman in the World

Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Women Who Run with the Wolves

Mary Pipher

Reviving Ophelia

Jordan Christy

Dave Ramsey

How to be a Hepburn in a Kardashian World: the Art of Living with Style, Class, and Grace

Total Money Makeover

Download your Essential Reading List here!

For more literature resources, check out SchoolhouseTeachers! It includes all classes, for all grades…and it’s one price for the entire family. There are many different learning styles to select from, so if you have one visual kid who needs a relaxed pace and one aural kid who needs a more stringent pace, there are classes that will fit them each. With over 475 classes available, plus extras for mom and dad, this is my favorite resource to offer new families wanting to dip their toe into homeschooling! You may also like…

Essential Reading List for High School Boys

Boys tend to fall staunchly into the ‘reader’ or ‘non-reader’ category.  Sometimes it just takes a little push toward more action-packed, exciting, adventure-filled stories to move them from one category to the other!  We’ve put together a list of thirty-two books that all boys should read in middle and high school.   Not only are they full of adventure (which they’ll love), but they have lots of character-building lessons, too! Parents should always preview books first….many of these are only appropriate at the high school level.

Rudyard KiplingJust So Stories
L. Frank BaumThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Robert WestallThe Machine Gunners
Madeleine L’EngleA Wrinkle in Time
Theordore TaylorThe Cay
Jack LondonCall of the Wild
S.E. HintonThe Outsiders
William GoldingLord of the Flies
Mary StewardThe Crystal Cave
Robert HeinleinStranger in a Strange Land
Mark TwainAdventures of Tom Sawyer
HomerThe Odyssey
Harper LeeTo Kill a Mockingbird
John KnowlesA Separate Peace
Erich Maria RemarqueAll Quiet on the Western Front
Thor HyerdahlKon-Tiki
Claude BrownManchild in the Promised Land
Michael ShaaraThe Killer Angels
F. Scott FitzgeraldThe Great Gatsby
Earnest HemingwayThe Sun Also Rises
George Orwell1984
Ken KeseyOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Woody GuthrieBound for Glory
Gary PaulsenHatchet
Patrick O’BrianMaster and Commander
Robert Penn WarrenAll the King’s Men
E.M. ForsterA Passage to India
Fyodor DostoevskyThe Brothers Karamazov
Richard  YatesRevolutionary Road
James CainThe Postman Always Rings Twice
Sebastian JungerThe Perfect Storm

Download your Essential Reading List here!

For more literature resources, check out SchoolhouseTeachers! It includes all classes, for all grades…and it’s one price for the entire family. There are many different learning styles to select from, so if you have one visual kid who needs a relaxed pace and one aural kid who needs a more stringent pace, there are classes that will fit them each. With over 475 classes available, plus extras for mom and dad, this is my favorite resource to offer new families wanting to dip their toe into homeschooling! 

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