Copywork is a term that folks outside the homeschool world
might be unfamiliar with. It is the practice of taking a good piece of
literature, a quote, a poem or Scripture passage and copying it. Proponents of
copywork claim that it is an excellent way to teach not only good handwriting,
but grammar, spelling and good writing skills. I happen to be one of those proponents.
When a Lifetime Membership came available to reviewers from
Homeschool Copywork, I was more than happy to be part of that number.
One of the challenges of making copywork happen in the
homeschool is trying to find material. There is sooo much! Think of the many
excellent books, poems, quotes and verses you know about. I have spent hours
making up my own or trying to find sources to keep the copywork flowing.
You know how it is.
Homeschool Copywork is an online company that was created by
a homeschool mom, Amy Blevins. She has
created a treasured place where moms like me can come and point and click…instant
copywork!
The site is divided up into 3 levels. They are Early
Elementary, Upper Elementary and Junior High/High School. I found it most helpful to click on the Main Page of my membership dashboard so I could look at all the resources.
There are sooo many great choices. Each Copywork Book is a
PDF download. For the Littles there is Animal Alphabets or Transportation. For poetry lovers
(or moms who love poetry) there are books from Lewis Caroll, Tennyson and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
There are Hymns to copy, Art studies by Van Gogh and more to
print off. There are quotes from Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre.
The books range in length. Within the books themselves you
are given the option of using manuscript, print, lined cursive, and D’Nealian.
There are also a
number of Scripture passages to copy. There is either a KJV or an ESV option.
When I received my Membership information (it was easy to
access), I knew that I wanted to start Josiah off with the Armor of God book.
We had just completed a Bible Study on Ephesians 6:10-18. I felt like it was a
perfect way to further get the scripture in our hearts.
This particular book is in the ESV version in 5 styles of handwriting. Each verse is printed on a page with a nice space for copying. At the bottom of each page is a picture to color.
I next printed off quotes from Emily Dickinson (‘cause
everybody needs a little Emily Dickinson in their life). Only this time I made
extra copies for me!
Who says Josiah gets to have all the fun?
We went on from there to work on Amazing Grace and I am
currently printing the Character Building Copywork Book to start in a few weeks.
Each of the copywork books as a verse, quote or thought
written on a page, There are plenty of lines for copying and each (as with the Armor of God book) is a picture to color.
Josiah didn’t care much to color. But I sure had fun!
With my Lifetime Membership I can access Amy’s beautiful
site any time I wish. I have access for the life of the site and have complete access to the membership site. There is also a Full Membership. With the Full Membership you have instant access to 54 ebooks with some additional books added through the year. You only receive 1 year of access with this membership.
Before I leave you (so you can go check out this great site
for yourself), I want to talk about Josiah.
He does have dyslexia. With that
has also come issues with handwriting (dysgraphia). I have had to let go some
of my own expectations of what his handwriting should look like. He has simply struggled.
However, it is important for us to keep plugging away. I do
require him to do one copywork page a day. He can handle this. I believe there
is benefit to it. And he is still learning some of those other things I talked
about at the beginning of this post…like grammar, spelling, etc.
Homeschool Copywork has been ideal for him. I have using the
simple print for him to copy and not only does he do it in a timely manner, but
he doesn’t have any difficulty reading the passage. The letters are large and
clear and spaced excellently for a kid with dyslexia. Of course, your student might
be different. I can only tell you it has worked for us.
You can connect with Homeschool Copywork via the following
social media outlets. Don’t forget to click on the banner below to read more
reviews.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AmyBlevins @AmyBlevins
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/hscopywork
Google+: http://plus.google.com/+AmyBlevins
Instagram: http://instagram.com/homeschoolencouragement
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