Tools for Writing in the Homeschool: Writing Daily Spark

Writing curriculum in the homeschool needs to be strong, focused, and effective. Helping a child develop necessary writing skills in a homeschool can be enjoyable and even relatively easy. While it will require time and attention, homeschool writing education never need be unreasonably difficult or miserable. One fantastic tool that can be used in a homeschool writing curriculum is the Writing Daily Spark. This is one of many titles in the Daily Spark series, each of which covers a different academic subject.

The Writing Daily Spark is a good addition to a homeschool writing curriculum that already includes strong instruction in the various forms of writing, as well as spelling and grammar skills. The Writing Daily Spark would not be nearly as effective or useful if used as a primary tool in a writing curriculum.

The book contains 180 warm-up activities. Each writing exercise is designed to take 5 to 10 minutes to complete. However, this would likely only be true when being used with homeschool students in upper middle school or high school grades. Many of the exercises in the Writing Daily Spark are completely appropriate and beneficial in the writing instruction of students in grades 6 and up, although those below an 8^th grade writing level would likely need more than the suggested 5 to 10 minutes to complete them.

The best thing about the Writing Daily Spark is that it is designed to hone a student's skills in very specific writing situations, while keeping the activities light and fun. The exercises are designed in a way that will solidify a homeschool student's understanding of genres and elements of writing, and hold their interest at the same time. Some exercises infuse humor into the content, and all are interesting enough to get the creative writing juices flowing.

The Writing Daily Spark contains exercises that will help homeschool student's master their understanding of writing concepts such as parodies, fact vs. opinion, writing a thesis, character development in story writing, tone, editorials, and summaries, just to name a few. Additionally, commonly made errors in grammar and spelling are addressed. Many exercises are written to encourage creative thinking in writing, as well. Best of all, the Writing Daily Spark is user-friendly and should be a snap for any homeschool parent to implement into their current writing curriculum.

As previously mentioned, the Writing Daily Spark is one of several subjects in the Daily Spark series. The Daily Spark books cost $9.95 each, and are available at Barnes & Noble book retailers.