6 Favorite Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum Options
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We are fortunate to homeschool at a time when there are so many fantastic homeschool language arts curriculum options available. I tend to think that language arts is the most important subject for elementary students because it is used in every other subject. Kids need a solid foundation in language skills. Sometimes though, wading through all of those options can feel overwhelming.
It can be helpful to hear what homeschool curriculum options other families have used and loved. Sometimes it is reassuring to choose a tried and tested homeschool language arts curriculum.
These are my favorite homeschool language arts curriculum options because they are effective, but don’t suck the fun out of learning. Learning language arts can be fun!
There is no point in using a curriculum that doesn’t actually work!
Over the years of being a homeschool mom and a public school teacher, I have tried quite a few language arts curriculum options. In my opinion, these are some of the best options for teaching this important subject.
Note that you may need to combine a few resources to create a full homeschool language arts program. In general, language arts covers reading, writing, spelling, and grammar. You will likely need to add a grammar curriculum to your favorite language arts curricula.
Favorite Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum Options
All About Spelling
Elementary and Middle
Spelling is an important core subject that should be a part of any elementary language arts curriculum. Some students continue to study spelling through middle school, but that depends on a child’s spelling skills.
All About Spelling is a spelling program that uses the Orton-Gillingham approach. This approach is one of the best ways to help students who are not naturally strong spellers.
In my experience, it also works well for kids who have no spelling difficulty.
I love All About Spelling for multiple reasons:
- It is a hands-on program
- The lessons only take about 20 minutes per day
- It teaches the rules of spelling (perfect for kids who have to know ‘why’)
- Kids can move at their own pace – there is no rush to move faster
- Essentially zero daily prep time
All of those things together have made this the best spelling curriculum for my family.
We have used All About Spelling for years with great results. We tried many different spelling curricula before landing on AAS. It is the only spelling curriculum that we have stuck with long-term.
There are 7 levels to AAS, but they do not correlate to grade level. Generally, students begin at level 1 to make sure they don’t miss any of the spelling rule instructions. There are placement tests available if you think your child should begin above level 1.
Check out these frequently asked questions about the All About Spelling curriculum for more information.
Related: Fun Spelling Activities
All About Reading
Elementary
Many parents stress about how to teach their little ones to read. I promise it doesn’t need to be scary!
All About Reading does all of the prep for you. Just open the book, read the script, and watch your child’s reading confidence soar. It is a full phonics program, but it also incorporates sight words.
There are 5 different levels:
- Pre-reading
- Level 1
- Level 2
- Level 3
- Level 4
Most preschoolers and kindergartners without any previous reading instruction begin with the pre-reading level, but there is a free placement test to make sure you buy the correct level so you can meet your child where they are.
All About Reading will help your child become a fluent reader through hands-on activities and games, letter tile manipulation, and practice with fully decodable leveled readers.
Related: Easily the Best Homeschool Spelling Curriculum
Night Zookeeper
Elementary
I recently discovered Night Zookeeper and I wish I had found it years ago! This secular language arts curriculum makes teaching incredibly easy for parents because it is all online.
Kids log in and create unique animals for their night zoo (making them a night zookeeper), play games, and complete challenges. It feels like a game, but kids are actually improving their writing skills.
As kids progress through the site they complete writing prompts about the animals they created. Online tutors read the writings and offer encouraging feedback. This is part of what makes this language arts curriculum so easy for parents – the feedback is provided by someone else. It can be hard to critique your own child’s writing!
Night Zookeeper is offering Organized Homeschooler readers a 52% discount on an annual membership! Just click this special link and the discount will be applied. You also get a free 7 day trial!
Related: Night Zookeeper for Language Arts
Literary Adventures for Kids
Elementary, Middle, and High School
Literary Adventures offers a variety of online language arts curriculum options:
- Literary adventures clubhouse
- Nature book club
- Holiday book club
- Family novel book club
- American classic literature (high school)
- World literature (high school)
- British literature (high school)
- Poetry and a movie (high school)
- A poem a day
- Poetry teatime ~ holidays
Literary Adventures is different from most online language arts curriculum choices. The material is completely planned out in a secure online platform (Teachable). Students log in and work their way through the lessons and assignments. Parents only need to review and grade any assignments (answer keys are provided if there is one set answer), so there is minimal teacher involvement required.
In addition to the online lessons and writing assignments, suggestions are given for hands-on activities like special teatimes. In my opinion, it can be the best of both learning experience worlds. An online program does much of the teaching, but parents get to participate in creating the homeschool magic.
I particularly like Literary Adventures for Kids for the literature guides. These online book clubs are similar to book-based unit studies.
The variety of course offerings also makes it easy to do as much or as little as you want.
Want to dive into a poetry study for a month? The A Poem a Day course is probably right.
Do you like the idea of all your holiday-themed poetry teatimes planned for the year? Try the Poetry Teatime ~ Holidays course.
Would you like your teen to study a variety of poets for a high school credit? The Poetry and a Movie choice is perfect (my daughter took this class and I definitely recommend it!).
I have used Literary Adventures for Kids quite a bit with my high school students as a complete language arts curriculum.
Related: How I Use Literary Adventures for Kids
Rabbit Trails Language Arts Curriculum
Elementary
The Rabbit Trails language arts curriculum is a fun choice for elementary-age kiddos. This curriculum follows a Charlotte Mason approach. It combines high-quality children’s classic literature with lessons. I love that this program uses great books to get kids interested in a variety of subjects.
The idea behind the Rabbit Trails language arts curriculum is that you focus on one book for two weeks. That book is the core behind all of the related lessons and interactive activities. There are copy work assignments, language arts activities, crafts, and related books to accompany each title.
Rabbit Trails is a great choice if you are looking for a general language arts curriculum that you can use with the entire family at one time. Teaching all of the kids together is a great way to create fun family memories while also saving time.
Related: Rabbit Trails Curriculum Review
WriteShop
Elementary, Middle, and High School
WriteShop is a writing curriculum with a level for every grade from kindergarten through high school.
Primary = kindergarten – 3rd grade
Junior = 3rd grade – 6th grade
High School = WriteShop I and II
The Primary and Junior levels each follow a similar structure. Each unit helps students work through the 4 stages of the writing process – brainstorming, first draft, editing and revising, and the final draft.
There are a total of 10 units for each level, so my family has always studied one unit per month. The teacher’s guide lists a suggested schedule, but you can of course create a schedule that works for your family.
I like the WriteShop writing program for elementary and middle school because the lessons are interesting. They are not dry, but they still provide explicit writing instruction.
The lessons contain fun creative writing prompts, hands-on activities, and plenty of editing practice. My son has used WriteShop Junior for a few years now and enjoys creating unique writing projects.
WriteShop I and II are great choices for teaching high school writing. Like the earlier levels, a suggested schedule is provided. This makes it easy to transfer the assignments onto a student agenda.
WriteShop lessons do not require much preparation time, which definitely saves time. They do require parents to lead or teach the lesson, but the teacher’s guide provides excellent instruction tips. Video lessons are available for WriteShop I and II.
WriteShop offers sample lessons and a placement test to make sure this curriculum will work for your family.
Related: 6 Reasons I Love WriteShop
Frequently Asked Questions About Language Arts Curriculum
What is Taught in Language Arts?
The core areas of language arts are:
- Reading
- Phonemic Awareness
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing
- Grammar
- Parts of Speech
- Spelling
- Vocabulary
- Handwriting
These are sometimes called strands, topics, or components of language arts.
What Do I Do if the Curriculum I Want to Use Doesn’t Include All of the Strands?
Some language arts curriculum options cover all of the areas, but there are also options for each individual content area. We can always supplement to create a full language arts curriculum for our kids.
I frequently add grammar and vocabulary workbooks to our language arts curriculum because I want to give my kids extra practice. One of the great things about homeschooling is that we can tailor the education to their needs.
How Do I Homeschool Language Arts?
The easiest way to homeschool language arts is to use a curriculum that is intended for use at home. Look for a teacher’s guide or manual that will walk you through lessons. All of the options listed above do a good job of explaining how to teach the curriculum.
What Language Arts Curriculum Do Most Homeschoolers Use?
There are so many language arts curriculum choices that I don’t think there is any one option used by most homeschoolers. However, all of the choices listed above are pretty popular.
Want more information about homeschooling language arts? Check out these posts!
Hi, thanks for the detailed descriptions! I’m still pretty new to homeschooling, and I wasn’t a teacher previously so I don’t have that background to draw on. My little one will start first grade this fall, and I’m still trying to understand the big picture of what I need to teach for language arts. From the descriptions I’m wondering if I would need to use several programs in order to cover all of the topics that need to be taught in a typical first grade year. Is this correct? For example, AAS for spelling, WriteShop for writing, AAR for reading. Is that what you’ve done for your little ones? Or did I misunderstand? If you have time to go into a little more detail I’d really appreciate it, I do feel a bit lost. I think without that Elementary teaching experience, some things that are obvious to others just are not obvious to me 🙁
Hi! I am happy to explain teaching language arts in more depth. Generally, language arts consists of writing, spelling, reading, grammar, and vocabulary. You don’t necessarily have to teach every part of language arts every year, although we always include reading and writing. For example, in kindergarten, I would suggest focusing on reading and writing. In first grade, I would add in spelling. I don’t add in a formal grammar curriculum until around middle school. Before then we talk about grammar rules as they come up in reading, spelling, and writing. I don’t add in a formal vocabulary curriculum until high school – and that is mainly to prepare for SATs. In elementary and middle school we tackle vocabulary by discussing words as we encounter them in reading and real life. I hope that helps!
hi, can you please guide me in what I should be doing for my children for language arts. I have 6 Children all in different grades and I’m new to homeschooling I’m going nuts and having meltdowns please help what should I add in their language art? I have a Kindergardner,1st,3rd,4th,5th, and 6th, thank you.
Hi Isamar, In the grades k – 6 language arts usually focuses on reading, writing, grammar, and spelling (1st/2nd grade and up). One curriculum to consider is the Rabbit Trails language arts curriculum. It is designed to be used by families. You would do the activities together, adjusting expectations for older and younger kids. For example, older kids might add in reading a chapter book and writing a few paragraphs in response. Younger kids might read with you instead of independently. Another option might be Khan Academy. They offer free online reading and language arts courses for kindergarten – 9th grade. That might be a really good option to give you a little breathing room until the end of the school year.
Great list! Thanks for sharing!
What a fantastic list of homeschool language arts curricula! Thank you! I’ve never used Rabbit Trails and so I appreciate your detailed review.
Thank you for this great list and information!
Night Zookeeper looks so cool! What a great deal. Thanks for the all the suggestions.
I was looking into the Night Zookeeper, and I found where a couple people had issues with cancellations of their subscriptions and being charged anyway. Up until I saw that, I was seriously considering starting it. Have you heard of any issues like this?
I haven’t heard of any issues at all. I have always had pretty quick responses from customer service. I bet they would be happy to clarify the cancellation process if you emailed them before signing up.
Hi!
We have been using AAR and AAS and started the Evan Moore Writing, which has a gentle start and doesn’t take too long. I feel there is still some components missing. For 3rd grade I thought about either adding Evan Moore grammar or lang arts books or using something else with the AAS and AAR. Any suggestions?
Hi! Third grade is a great time to start adding grammar to language arts lessons. I like Grammar Rock (by Schoolhouse Rock) for introducing grammar topics. I liked the Easy Grammar workbooks for quick lessons, but I bet the Evan Moore grammar workbooks are probably pretty similar.