Teaching Informational Text Series, Part 2
If you’re homeschooling more than one child, you know the struggle: One child needs help pronouncing words in their story. Another needs you to check a math problem before they move on. Meanwhile, your toddler is finger painting the dog. 🐶🎨
This can be one of the hardest parts of homeschooling. Giving your kids one-to-one teaching time is probably one of the reasons why you chose to homeschool. But to make that possible, you also need them to be able to work independently.
The goal isn’t for your child to work alone all day. It’s to create moments of independence. Let me show you some independent work options that can help.
Independent Work and Teaching Multiple Grades
Each Article of the Week unit includes activities that are ready for true independent work:
1. Professional recordings of the articles
Your child can listen to the article while following along with the written version
2. Basic comprehension quizzes
Multiple choice or short answer formats. The multiple-choice quiz works well for kids who need guided answer choices and it allows you to quickly check their understanding. The short answer option takes a little more time because open-ended questions are just naturally more challenging. I always let my students use the article to find the answers. Finding answers in the text is a skill that builds comprehension. and that’s what we want for our kids. Most learners can complete the short answer version independently when they use the article.
3. Text Evidence
Annotating or text bank formats. Annotating requires students to highlight text evidence direclty in the article. The text bank option requires sudents to choose text evidence from a bank of sentences. This format prepares students to distinguish between pieces of text evidence. I recommend mixing it up and going back and forth between these formats.
Both annotating and text bank formats can be completed independently depending on your child’s experience. If this is something new for your child then they’ll need a few practice rounds with your guidance. One option is to let your child complete the first group of quesitons, usually numbers 1-4, independently because these are literal questions. Then work together on the second group, usually numbers 5-8, because these are inferential questions.
4. Skills test
The skills test should be taken independently, and your child should use the article when they take the test. I know this may be different, but the skills test is about using the skills you’re teaching – not just remembering the story.
How Independent Work Helps Your Homeschool Day
✅ Gives you breathing room during the day
✅ Builds your child’s reading stamina and independence
✅ Reinforces real reading skills — not just busy work
➡️ See It in Action
Ready to try a complete unit yourself? Each of these free units includes a step-by-step Homeschool Teaching Guide. Download one today!
- 4th Grade: Clever Canines Article #4-1
- 5th Grade: Great Pacific Garbage Patch Article #5-26
- 6th Grade: Toys-R-Us: The Comeback Kid Article #6-26
- 7th Grade: Storm Chasers Article #7-26
- 8th Grade: Digital Detox Article #8-26
➡️ Step Inside a Lesson: Every activity in an Article of the Week unit is broken down in this post.
➡️ Next Post: Use Flexible Print & Digital Formats
