Hello, EIW World! My name is Laura, and I recently began working on the Essentials in Literature Curriculum Team. Soon, I’ll also be starting as a Scorer for student compositions. I am excited to begin writing on this blog to share thoughts about reading and writing. I believe writing is one of the most important…
Essential Conversations
This blog is devoted to all aspects of writing, literature, and teaching. We are excited to partner with you on your homeschool journey and provide you with helpful and quality content in our blog posts.
Common Homophone Mistakes
In the age of smartphones, computers, and technology, the subject of spelling may not seem all that important thanks to a certain ever-helpful invention—spellcheck. Gone are the days of proofing papers for spelling mistakes! Banished are the never-ending lists of spelling words in homeschool curriculum! Dictionaries? Who needs them? Just rely on the squiggly…
Writing on the computer or by hand? How to Integrate a Computer for Homeschool Students
Although this blog is titled with a question, I will not definitively answer it. This is an opinion piece based on my personal mindset and experience, but it may be helpful to some homeschool educators who wonder how they should incorporate the computer into their student’s writing program. The fact is that kids born after…
5 Things I’ve Learned Working at Essentials in Writing
Whenever someone asks me what I do, and I tell them I’m a curriculum creator, they immediately respond with, “Oh, cool. Wait, what does that mean?” “You know those workbooks you had as a kid that would tell you to find all of the nouns in a paragraph or whatever? I write those.” “Wait, that’s…
Writing Well: Why Homeschool Students Have an Edge
In his groundbreaking book Amusing Ourselves to Death, critic and educator Neil Postman discusses society’s shift from what he deems the Age of Typography to the Age of Show Business—that is, a change from the importance of words to the importance of television and other visual media. According to Postman, the decline of writing…
How Can I Help My Reluctant Writer?: 7 Tips for the Homeschool Parent
When you ask your student to compose a writing assignment, does your student: A. groan as loud and long as their lungs allow B. slump in their chair, slide off to the floor, and lie there face down like a slug C. pick up a pencil and start eating it while vacantly staring at…