Are you tired of filling up your child's time with meaningless, time-consuming writing assignments? Want to re-capture some of the time just to be together and read a story?
I completely agree!
That's why I wanted a simple strategy of placing excellent literature in front of my children (not sacrificing the quality) and then combining it with short lessons. Using a fable such as the beautiful tale of the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse - you can help your child to imitate an excellent writing style as well as being creative in writing their own.
When you use a fable such as The Town Mouse and Country Mouse, you take the pressure out of deciding 'what to write.' Using the Aesop fable as a base, the child enjoys the fable, examines the style of each sentence and then uses it as a model. This Aesop's Fable e-book contains colourful bordered illustrations, lined pages, handwriting practice sheets and the fable ready to be traced either in print or cursive writing.
Aesop's Fables can easily be used as a base of a language arts lesson plan to incorporate handwriting, spelling, techniques, grammar, plot summary, characterization and punctuation.
The step by step approach is outlined here: Create a homeschool language arts lesson plan based on a Fable.
This E-book is designed to help you create an integrated approach to language arts using the fable, The Town Mouse and Country Mouse.
Fables are an excellent model to bring out story elements and to understand the nature of storytelling in a miniature way. Read more about Aesop's Fables and how their concise nature can be beneficial in planning an integrated language arts lesson plan.
The Ebook will help you:
Download The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse E-book.
Now you must know that a Town Mouse once upon a time went on a visit to his cousin in the country. He was rough and ready, this cousin, but he loved his town friend and made him heartily welcome. Beans and bacon, cheese and bread, were all he had to offer, but he offered them freely.
The Town Mouse rather turned up his long nose at this country fare, and said: "I cannot understand, Cousin, how you can put up with such poor food as this, but of course you cannot expect anything better in the country; come you with me and I will show you how to live. When you have been in town a week you will wonder how you could ever have stood a country life."
No sooner said than done: the two mice set off for the town and arrived at the Town Mouse's residence late at night. "You will want some refreshment after our long journey," said the polite Town Mouse, and took his friend into the grand dining-room. There they found the remains of a fine feast, and soon the two mice were eating up jellies and cakes and all that was nice.
Suddenly they heard growling and barking. "What is that?" said the Country Mouse. "It is only the dogs of the house," answered the other. "Only!" said the Country Mouse. “I do not like that music at my dinner."
Just at that moment the door flew open, in came two huge mastiffs, and the two mice had to scamper down and run off. "Good-bye, Cousin," said the Country Mouse, "What! Going so soon?" said the other.
"Yes", he relied:
"Better beans and bacon in peace
Than cakes and ale in fear."