How to Make a Life Size Word Family Tree for Your Homeschool

Helping your homeschooler learn about word families can actually be a lot of fun. The key is to find what technique will work best for your child. One way that to do this is to make a life size word family tree. If you don't have room in your school area you can always put it on the wall in your child's bedroom. Just find an extra wall space where you can hang up the tree.

To get started with making your word family tree you will want to purchase several large pieces of construction paper, as well as a large piece of cardboard. Additional supplies you will need are a hand size basket that you can use to hold your apples. The cardboard can be whatever size you want your tree to be. You can first sketch a picture of the tree on the cardboard. You don't have to be a professional artist, but just draw your basic tree. Then hang up the cardboard sketch on the wall. You can then have your kids help with cutting the construction paper to fit the tree. Obviously you will need plenty of brown and green construction paper. You will also need a lot of red construction paper in order to make the apples. This is a good opportunity to help your children use their imagination in creating the tree.

At the top of the board you can write down a name for your word family tree. Then figure out a place where you want to hang your basket, or place it so that the kids can have easy access to the apples. For example for the "-ar", family you will need to cut out at least 12 apples. On the apples you will want to put a blank line and at the end of the line the letter's "ar". On the trunk of the tree you will want to put a few letters along with a few blends. For example you can put the letter's "bl, Ch, and other letters that the kids can pick and match with the blends. The letters on the bottom of the tree can be made out of construction paper, and laminate it. Then you can put a Velcro backing on it. Add a little bit of felt to the bottom of the tree. Make sure that the felt is b brown you that you can add a small matching square to the bottom of the tree.