Yep…this is the first of our Write On, Peter Pan books! In case you are not familiar with the first five Write On books in this growing series (Write On, Mowgli!), here is the scoop on the entire Write On series:

“The Write On! series of books is from Character Ink Press’ Book-Movie-Book line of publications that are starting to come out in spring 2016. The Write On! books are writing/composition books of two to four lengthy lessons each, between 80 and 120 pages per book (depending on the level). These books contain writing projects based on old books/current movies that children and adults love. The program contains all types of writing, especially focusing on research reports, essays, and stories.

The projects in the series all use the author’s signature “Directed Writing Approach,” which takes students by the hand every step of the way from prewriting (brainstorming, character and plot development, research, etc.) to skill building (for projects requiring certain skills, such as quotes or imagery or persuasion, etc.) to outlining (based on the type of writing) to writing rough drafts to editing (via the Checklist Challenge) to final copy. No vagueness. No questions as to what to write or how to write.”

Each series (Peter Pan, Mowgli, and Dumbo) contains five books:

Level I: Early Elementary
Level II: Upper Elementary
Level III: Junior High
Level IV: High School
Level V: Advanced High School

These books in this Write On! series are available as downloadable e-books (at Character Ink Press and Teachers Pay Teachers) and as print books through Character Ink Press and Amazon. Current and upcoming titles (five books in each title) include the following:

Write On, Mowgli (April 2016)
Write On, Peter Pan! (January 2017)
Write On, Belle and Beast (February 2017)

Write On, Peter Pan Level III

Now on to this cute book (the first of five coming out over the next few weeks). This is the Junior High book (Level III)…no rhyme or reason there. It is just ready first! All five will be here over the next few weeks!

This Level III book is designed for junior high students and contains the following projects (from pre-writing through final product with all the instruction and skills needed for each assignment): Essay Writing—Three Favorite Characters Essay and Dialogue Story: Dialogue Between Two Toys in the Darling’s Nursery.

Each project has detailed samples for students to see how the project was written by another student and in depth lessons of all of the skills needed in order to complete that project:

~ 1-3-1 Essay Approach lesson

~ Quotation Inclusion in Essay Writing (with punctuation lessons)

~Thesis Statement instruction

~Directed Brainstorming Boxes

~Sentence-by-Sentence Outlining, including links/transitions

~Writing With a Series of Three or More

~Extensive Checklist Challenges

~Dialogue Writing

~ Said/Asked/Exclaimed lesson

~Colon use in dialogue

~And more!

And more good news—there are over a dozen pages of this book available to print and check out/use or view to see if the level looks right for your student! AND….all of the Write On books are available as a single family download or a group/co-op/class download, so check out the two prices for those. And for those of us who are old school, Amazing and Character Ink have the print versions spiral bound with colorful covers as shown in the pictures! Something for everyone!

View Samples & Check It Out!

Thanks for checking them out!

Love and hope,

Donna

The post [Product Highlight] Write On, Peter Pan! appeared first on Character Ink.

Directed writing. Every step laid out for students and teachers. Complete and thorough editing checklist in which grammar skills are actually applied to writing (with clear check boxes and assignments). Essays. Reports. Stories. Twice Told Tales. Dialogues. Description. Persuasion.

Just a few phrases that describe the Meaningful Composition series. And I’m more excited about this series than ever!

Here’s why:

(1) I have been writing the series and testing each book three to six times with real students for nearly ten years.

It is only when you sit across from a twelve year old boy and look into his eyes that you know if a curriculum works. MC has been tested in small groups totaling over one hundred students a year for ten years.

Then guess what? I went back in and changed the lessons, projects, assignments, etc., as needed according to the facial expressions of real students in all grades.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

It’s been expensive and time consuming. But I can’t release books that have not been tested and rewritten. Period.

(2) As of August 1st, we will have twenty-one books in the MC series ready to go! Wowsie, wow, wow…that was a long process.

a) All first and second semester books for grades two through ten

b) A couple of upper level ones (Jump Start remedial book coming soon too!)

This means that you can start your second grader out with MC knowing that there are future books to go into! This means that younger siblings can now use the same series that older ones are using. (I started on the rewrites and new books for tenth grade and worked backwards—good thing since the two tenth grade books took me two years to write and several years to test!)

It also means that homeschool providers who have been offering less-than-complete or average writing programs can now offer MC as part of their package! (So spread the word to your favorite homeschool curriculum provider!). It also means that we can get re-reviewed by many people. (Cathy Duffy is waiting for the second grade books right now to review!)

We’ll be publishing more information (samples, reviews, videos, etc.) to help you learn more about this thorough, well-tested writing series. But I will leave you with these bits of info:

I. Video—below is a full video series describing all aspects of the MC series.

II. Try samples—we are putting two week samples of each book up at the Character Ink store for EACH BOOK. This gives you an opportunity to “try before you buy”! Keep in mind that you are trying two weeks out of the middle of a book, and there are a lot of skills taught earlier in that book leading up to that lesson. You can find the samples here.

III. Shorter lessons that are found in MC can be found as downloadable e books at all of our stores. We are putting these up regularly too, so check out the links at the end of this post.

Thank-you for your support of Character Ink Press as we work to bring you more and more outstanding homeschooling and parenting products!

Links:

Free Essay Lesson: Three Favorite Peter Pan Characters

How to Complete the Checklist Challenge–Level I

Write On! Series

Think Fast Grammar Quiz

Preposition Practice Packet

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The post Introducing Meaningful Composition appeared first on Character Ink.

Aboard, about, above. Along, among, around….

Whether your kids sing them, recite them, chant them, rap them, or write them…prepositions are important.

I learned them in chant-like form when I was in school. However, I never knew WHY I needed to learn them.

My newest downloadable product will teach kids prepositions—in a way that focuses on the WHY, that is, what prepositions really do!

Before you get lost in the product description, click on the video to see me teaching about this amazing product:

Our kids (and we!) need to learn prepositions for a few important reasons:

(1) They are the beginning of prepositional phrases

(2) Prepositional phrases can be mentally eliminated from a sentence in order to get to the bare bones of the sentence…since the sentence’s main subject and main verb are not usually found in prepositional phrases

(3) Prepositional phrases are good to use as openers—especially lengthy ones—as they vary sentence structure and rhythm.

I’m all about songs, jingles, rhymes, recitation, and mnemonics for learning parts of speech (and really anything).

However, when prepositions are learned in songs or recitations, the real reasons for prepositions are overlooked. (Not to mention that they learn about thirty of the over two hundred prepositions….not enough memorized preps to adequately recognize them in sentences and use them for sentence openers!)

That is, students can chant a long list of words, but they do not know how to use them.

Enter my Preposition Practice Packet! I use tricks. I use check sentences. I even use toys (“Preposition Practice Pals”!) to teach prepositions (and practice them).

But all of the methods within this Preposition Practice Packet have one thing in common: they focus on the PURPOSE of the preposition—to show spatial relationships or time.

This 80 page practice packet has fifteen lessons (with student assignments) introducing prepositions in a systematic order: initial letter, with the practice pal, as opposites, as synonyms, as compound words, and more.

When you use this packet, your student will learn prepositions by the boatload—but they will also learn them for their purpose.

Note: If you like the Preposition Practice Packet, you will love the Think Fast Grammar Quiz and Answer Key!

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Do you ever wonder how a Mom can keep homeschooling for ten, twenty, or even thirty years? Or have your ever wondered if you will be able to last that long? Find out some of the secrets to long-term homeschooling from Kathie Morrissey and Donna Reish in this new ebook.

Do you struggle with any of the following? 

• Scheduling conflicts?
• Laundry problems?
• Family unity issues?
• Reading difficulties? 
• Prioritizing issues? 

Sixty Homeschooling Tips From Sixty Years will give you help in these areas and many more!

If you have found yourself wishing you had a veteran homeschooler to mentor you, or a person that you could get lots of advice from that has ‘done the stuff’ for three or six decades, look no further! Our book, Sixty Homeschooling Tips From Sixty Years, gives sixty (count ’em, sixty!) pieces of advice from two veteran homeschooling moms. 

For the homeschooling mom who is discouraged and feels like giving up, DON’T! Get advice and inspiration from two women who didn’t give up, but kept the homeschool light shining brightly in their lives for over thirty years each! 

Check out the Table of Contents here.

Go here to order!

READ WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS BOOK:

“It’s not often that you get to pick the brains of homeschool moms with 60 year of experience between them. This book allows you to do just that. Kathy and Donna’s advice is encouraging as well as inspirational. It covers the gamet from homeschooling tips to marriage advice to character training and more. I’ve been homeschooling for 12 years and I’m still finding lots of unique and specific tips that I’m looking forward to incorporating into our day. Be sure to grab a copy for yourself.”  –  Michelle Caskey

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“Even my husband was impressed with the book. We both read it and it led to several thought provoking discussions as homeschoolers, parents, and spouses. We both received valuable insight from these tips. It was great!” – Jen

I’ve read through the first 15 tips and have been affirmed, encouraged and challenged. Hearing these things from experienced home schooling moms who have both graduated students and are still schooling is great. Looking forward to the rest. -Abi Craig

The post 60 Homeschooling Tips From 60 Years appeared first on Character Ink.