How to Teach Language Arts at Home for Beginners

When you first start homeschooling, you know one thing. Your child needs to know how to read and write. Because of this, it’s important to feel confident in how to homeschool language arts. Today, let’s explore 11 tips to start teaching reading, writing, and spelling at home.

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a nominal fee from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support. See my disclosure policy for more info.

Learning to Homeschool

When I started homeschooling, I was clueless. I went to public schools and a public university. Later I went on to graduate school for teaching at that same public university.

In other words, I learned how to teach and learn in an institutionalized system.

It took me years to finally figure out that homeschooling does not have to equal “school at home“. Homeschooling is a lifestyle focused on educating each child so that they grow into a thriving adult.

Having this long-term perspective has been helpful in my 14 years of homeschooling my kids.

11 Helpful Tips: How To Homeschool Language Arts

Here are eleven tips to help you get started teaching language arts at home. These will be especially important if you’ve recently pulled your child out of school.

1. Start with the 3 Rs

In general, when planning your homeschool, I recommend focusing on the 3 Rs.

• Reading
• Writing
• aRithmetic

This is especially true in the elementary and middle school years. Since we’re focusing on teaching language arts at home, let’s look at the first two of the Rs: Reading and Writing. These are your first two learning objectives.

2. Go Backwards To Move Forward

Know where your child is in reading and writing. If you’ve pulled your child out of traditional school, there’s a good chance they have some learning gaps.

This is news that you want to know sooner rather than later. Many foundational academic skills including reading and writing skills are often lagging in struggling learners. 

Lean into the premise that it’s often best to go backward to solidify earlier skills to move forward.  

3. Find the Gaps

Your next step is to find the gaps. To know where to start with your language arts lessons, it’s essential to find your student’s educational gaps.  

For example, if your child hates to read, this is your clue that there is a gap in reading skills. Take your next step: Identify where the reading gap lies.

Ask yourself:

• Is there an issue with phonological awareness?
  • Review basic phonemic awareness skills like rhyming.
• Is it a comprehension issue?
  • Spend time reading together and engage in discussion.
• Is he struggling with visually tracking the text?
  • Find books or texts with larger fonts and less text on each page.

In the end, simply slowing down to spend time intentionally focused on language and reading skills will be your best bet.

4. Deschool if Necessary

Now that you’re homeschooling you want to remove learning barriers. A learning barrier is anything that prevents your child from receiving and processing information.

If your child has had a traumatic school experience, you may need to take several weeks to deschool. Deschooling is basically “recovering from public school”. This can mean taking a break from anything that looks like school.

5. Create Safety

A child who feels safe has a brain primed to learn effectively and efficiently. Children often need intentional one-on-one instruction from a loving adult.

Kids need to be given the grace to start where they are and not where the “standard” says they should be.

6. Read to Your Child

Reading enjoyable books TO your kids is a great way to reduce the anxiety many children experience when told that they must read independently.

With everything in life, internal motivation is the game changer that propels us forward in any endeavor. We want our resistant readers to learn to enjoy the experience without stressing about making mistakes.

This is why it is fundamental that we give our kids opportunities to enjoy books. Read to your child and don’t for one minute feel any guilt about it.

7. Use Your Child’s Interests with Language Arts

If your child resists learning, use their interests when working on reading, writing, and spelling skills. Allow them to:

• Choose books they want to read,
• Topics they’d like to write about,
• Read books “below” their reading level to boost confidence,
• Consider alternative spelling activities for kids who don’t like school

Each successful reading experience adds up and they will grow as a reader.

8. Reading Strategy: Narration

Narration is another great strategy that you can use to help guide reading time and is an excellent way to strengthen reading comprehension.  

Narration involves reading aloud to your child and then allowing them to share what they’ve learned from or remember about what was read. 

Find a book that your child loves and spend some quiet time together. Allow your child to ask questions. Talk about the illustrations.

9. Focus on Conversations and Oral Dialogue

Conversations and dialogue between a trusted adult and a child are life-giving. Additionally, it builds essential language and reading comprehension skills. Don’t underestimate the power of conversation and the spoken word.

Even a simple game like Put a Finger Down Questions for Kids can strengthen critical language skills.

For more insight into language-based processing challenges, check out: Huh? How Speech & Language Processing Impacts Reading, Writing & Relationships  

10. Don’t Forget Your Teens

We want teens to enjoy reading as a form of entertainment, right? Getting lost in a story with your teen is a relational win. Additionally, it’s an excellent way to expose your child to greater ideas and concepts about the world.

• Find a book that you know will interest your teen,
• Read a chapter together each day.
• Have deep, meaningful conversations with your teen.
• Ask thoughtful questions and above all,
• LISTEN intently to their answers with gratitude.

The bottom line is when reading aloud to your child, you remove barriers to reading, increase foundational language skills, and deepen relationships.

11. Invest in You, The Homeschool Teacher

Way too many homeschool parents struggle to replicate school at home. But the problem is that the school-at-home model fails millions of kids. 

Often, it’s best to invest in your training to best support your unique child. Learn about learning. Read and learn and then do it again. 

If you’re looking for more support to equip your child to thrive as a learner, check out:

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a nominal fee from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support. See my disclosure policy for more info.