Biographical Approach Paper Format

If you’re working with Excellence in Literature and would like to use the approach paper format to write about authors or other significant people, I’ve created a format model for you. Approach papers help students think through the things they study in a deeper way, so this can be useful with people they read about in any of their studies. Enjoy!
Person:
When they lived:
Where they lived:

Life Summary
Write an interesting one-two-paragraph summary of the person’s life.

Key Players
Choose 3-4 key people involved in the person’s life and list 4-5 vividly descriptive words
for each person. Words may not be used to describe more than one person

Discussion Questions
Think carefully about the person and his or her life and write three analytical discussion questions that would help to reveal more about his or her character and achievements.

Significant Event or Achievement
Choose an event or achievement that seems to be the most significant point or climax in the
person’s life and write a one paragraph description.

Significant Point Explanation
Why do you believe this was a significant point in the person’s life? How is this person and his or her achievement remembered today?
Write a fully-developed paragraph in response to these two questions. Support your argument with quotes from the text or other sources, if appropriate.

Organize Essays with the Keyhole Method

The Keyhole Essay Organizer appears in many forms across the Web. I haven’t been able to discover who originally created it,* but it can be a very helpful visual reminder of what goes into a basic essay. I hope you enjoy it.
keyhole-essay-visual

Suggestions for essay introduction:

  • Does your title capture your reader’s interest?
  • Does it hint at the direction of your subject matter?

    • Suggestions for essay conclusion:

    Reminders:

    *Because it appears in a Wiki and other places, I believe it is in the public domain. If anyone knows who originally, I’d like to give them credit.

    The Stages of Learning Language Arts

    Here’s a graphic version of the learning stages for language arts. Remember that the ages given are approximate, and students usually pass from one stage to the next in order. Some begin early and pass quickly through the stages, while others take much longer. As long as you keep pouring in good literature, they’ll eventually make it through all the stages.

    Writing Programs I Like

    As discussed in the previous post, Learn to Write while Using Excellence in Literature (EIL), students are able to learn to write by using the classics and models/learning by doing approach of EIL. However, if you have a student who will be using EIL in the next few years, there are several writing programs you may want to explore. I’ve seen good results from students who have used each of these, and I suggest choosing one according your student’s learning style and the amount of time you have available. (These are programs I’m familiar with and have seen results from. Other programs may be equally effective.)

    Read more

    Learn to Write while Using Excellence in Literature

    I enjoyed talking with homeschool moms at the recent conference in Memphis (one of the Great Homeschool Conventions– if there’s going to be one near you, don’t miss it!). Several questions cropped up more than once, and I’ll try to answer them here over the next few posts.

    Can you use Excellence in Literature if your student hasn’t formally studied essay writing? Read more

    The Power of Copying a Text

    Charlotte Mason recommended copywork as part of the language arts curriculum, and I second that suggestion. Copying a text is a powerful way, not only to practice writing mechanics, but also to absorb the cadence of an author’s prose, the fluidity of each sentence, and most of all, the deep meaning of the passage. If you want your students to commit anything to memory, the first place to begin is by having them copy it.

    I learned the power of copying when I did calligraphy for hire. Writing out a text gave me time to reflect on meaning, prose style, and more. Poetry and verses that I copied have remained with me, even decades later. Copying is a relatively simple activity that can make your student a better writer. I hope you’ll try it!

    The power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out.

    Only the copied text thus commands the soul of him who is occupied with it,

    whereas the mere reader never discovers the new aspects of his inner self that are opened by the text,

    that road cut through the interior jungle forever closing behind it:

    because the reader follows the movement of his mind in the free flight of day-dreaming,

    whereas the copier submits it to command.

    Walter Benjamin

    Grammar Made Easy- New Question Answered-Gerunds & Verb Phrases

    As I post the books we offer, I try to answer all the questions I can think of. Inevitably, others think of questions that would never cross my mind, and I try to add them to the FAQ page to help others who want to know the same thing. This is the latest question to cross my desk, and the answer was graciously provided by Connie Schenkelberg, who knows this stuff inside and out.

    Q- Does Grammar Made Easy teach punctuation, gerunds, or verb phrases?
     Read more

    Are You Helpful or Nitpicking?

    Balance. When evaluating a student’s schoolwork, it can be a challenge to find the right balance between being helpful and nitpicking. Here are a few things to consider:

    Relationship

    The sweetness of lips increases learning...

    Does your evaluation style seem to build or tear down the trust relationship between you and your child?

    Do you always play fair by making sure that the student knows the exact expectations for the assignment? Read more

    Thankful Thoughts on Freedom, England, Homeschool, and Writing

    Dear Readers,

    I sometimes come upon a thought so well expressed that I just have to share it! Today’s guest post is the editor’s letter from the Writing-World.com newsletter, and it’s reprinted here with the kind permission of the author, Moira Allen.

    This Thanksgiving, my husband and I were deeply aware of the many things we have to be thankful for — chief among them being the fact that we are once again living in the United States.  As most of you know, we spent 15 months in England, pursuing (but not precisely living) a lifelong dream.  Those 15 months made us appreciate so many things that, as Americans, we take for granted.

    Freedom, for example.  One thing I’ve always taken for granted is
    that if a civil authority (e.g., the police) wishes to enter my
    home, a warrant is required to do so, issued by a judge and only on
    presentation of “just cause.”  Not so in England!  Any number of
    “civil authorities,” including social workers, council
    representatives, “wheelie bin police,” and quite possibly the
    vegetable seller down the street can legally enter one’s home for
    any number of reasons (including things like whether you’re
    importing an illegal variety of potato — which admittedly wasn’t
    something we worried about overmuch). Read more

    Carnival of Homeschooling- The NaNoWriMo Edition

    Preface

    Don't miss our Thanksgiving Sale!

    Welcome to this hundred-and-umpteenth Carnival of Homeschooling! Because November is National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo or nano), and I’m over 10,000 words into the writing process (and can’t think of anything but writing, writing, and more writing), I thought it would be appropriate to format this Carnival as sections of a book. I even consulted the Chicago Manual of Style for an authoritative list of book parts!

    Introduction

    For me, homeschooling is first and foremost a heart matter. In Mangled Schedules and Grateful Hearts, an article I wrote for Home School Enrichment magazine, you can read how a father’s presence and influence can shape a family school. Enjoy! Read more

    Next Page →