high school

Description Text Structure: A Simple Guide With Free Learning Resources

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The description text structure is all about helping readers visualize a topic. Descriptive texts focus on what something is like, with details that highlight features, characteristics, traits, or qualities. This structure is used in nonfiction topics like animals, locations, historical figures, and scientific concepts. It helps kids pay attention to key details, specific vocabulary, and […]

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Reading Comprehension: Understanding Nonfiction Text 

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Just as there are ways to examine fiction by studying story elements like plot, characters, figurative language, theme, etc. there are also strategies to help readers make sense of nonfiction. An effective way is to recognize text structures, the patterns writers use to organize information and explain ideas. These structures show up in lots of

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Finding Theme in Literature

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Theme is the message, insights, or truths an author explores throughout a story. Theme encourages readers to contemplate life by examining thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Teaching kids to determine the theme is a key component of literary analysis because it goes beyond retelling and listing of events: (“First this happened; then that happened”),  to thinking

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a boy, dog popping out of page; a campsite with tent and fire popping out of page

Characters & Setting: Free Tools for Literary Analysis

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Characters and setting work together to pull readers into the world of a story. A clever plot may keep us turning pages, but it’s the people (or creatures!) we care about, and the world they live in, that contribute to making a story compelling. Characters come alive through their actions, dialogue, and choices. They can

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Literary Analysis Resources

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Literary analysis is more than just “talking about a book.” It’s learning to notice how authors use language, structure, and style to create meaning. For homeschool families, teaching literary analysis helps learners develop critical thinking, writing skills, and appreciation for great works of literature. Even if kids think they won’t like literary analysis, they may

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Science Concepts - Related Experiments

Exploring Science Concepts With Fun, Related Experiments

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Spark interest in learning basic science concepts by organizing experiments around a central theme. Here are some creative ways to structure and present related sets of science experiments. These are all free to access and are designed with everyday materials so you can do them at home. (NOTE: The shaded boxes in this post contain

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