Fall-Themed Homeschool Copywork (Free Printable)
As the colder weather blows in, warm your homeschool by using this Fall-Themed Homeschool Copywork (Free Printable)! Have them copy the best pieces of writing from great authors. When your children copy stories and poems about gathering the harvest bounty and savoring cheerful fires by the hearth, they will improve their writing as well as savor the best of the fall season.
Video: Fall-Themed Homeschool Copywork (Free Printable) || Our Fall Writing Plans
If you want to simplify your homeschool writing lessons, yet give your child a rich study that will propel them forward as a writer. Try copywork! We have been using copy work as the core of our homeschool writing lessons for 14 years. I have seen wonderful results in our children from daily copywork practice!
When students copy great literature, they learn many skills. I like to compare it to the difference between a scenic ride in a car and an amble through a meadow. The leisurely walk will leave a greater impression on the mind. Similarly, copywork makes kids pause and readily observe details more fully.
More Free Copywork:
What is Copywork?
Copywork is simply the habit of hand-copying short passages of text from great authors. Think about it. How do we learn to do anything? We observe someone who is doing it! Copywork challenges kids to copy the written work of excellent communicators.
What are the benefits of copywork?
Copywork is such a valuable tool with several benefits that make it perfect for homeschool families.
- Improves a child’s power of attention.
- Teaches many language arts skills all in one: punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and vocabulary.
- Gives kids meaningful independent work (unlike worksheets.)
- Makes them familiar with meaningful passages from favorite books.
How Much Should a Child Copy?
As a good rule of thumb, I like to have my kids copy one sentence a day for first grade, two for second, and so on. If they want to do more, sure! But this metric is a reasonable developmental goal for most kids.
When they start, it is a good idea to give them simple sentences. Check to see that they are using proper letter formation, capitalization, and punctuation. Remind a young child to give their best effort. They should pay close attention and use correct spelling.
The copywork lesson should be short. If it takes your child more than 15-20 minutes to complete a small section, you may be giving them too much to copy.
Does Copywork Really Work?
In most popular writing methods, young students in early elementary school are encouraged to write papers but they have very little to no exposure to quality books or time to reflect on them.
The main difference that I see between copywork and other writing methods is this. With copywork, the student first observes an excellent piece, slowly and carefully, copying with exact detail, and concludes afterward.
Typically, after daily practice with copywork over time, homeschool parents can have their students write independently (through narration) to express their thoughts in written form. In this way, the writing begins after the observation. Children can only express what they possess!
When copywork is used along with the habit of narration, children observe first and write later. This is a very natural way to learn how to write.
You can read more about narration in these posts.
How to Do Charlotte Mason Narration in Your Homeschool
Helpful Habits for Writing Well #3: Narration
Copywork Results
Now that we have a homeschool graduate as well as other older children in high school, I have been able to see the true results of using copywork from a broad perspective.
As our older students have reached middle and high school age, they have had the opportunity to take writing classes from other teachers who specifically teach writing classes. On more than one occasion, they have received compliments on how well they write.
I say this not to brag about my kids, but to show that copywork (along with narration– which we also use) works very well! Don’t underestimate its possibilities! You can have a very simple writing program and your children can learn to be good writers.
How We Do Copywork In Our Homeschool
When I prepare pages of copywork for our kids, I print out the sample copywork sheets, 3-hole punch it, and put it in a copywork notebook. Separately, I give them a spiral-lined notebook with their name and the subject “copywork” on the front. These copywork notebooks should be sufficient to keep all their copywork for the school year.
Each new day, they write the date in the margin and write their copywork section beside it, either a sentence or paragraph, according to their age and ability.
Often I will have them read their copywork back to me. This helps them to spot mistakes. (Also, if they have trouble reading their writing, they can realize that on their own without mom having to harp on them about it!)
What is included in the Fall Themed Copywork?
- 2 pages of all your FAQ about copywork
- 5 free copywork pages (This should be enough to last from September through November.)
- Appropriate for 1st through 6th grades approximately
- Various Bible verses
- Poems by Helen Hunt Jackson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Emily Dickinson, Adelaide Crapsey, and Lydia Maria Child
- Copywork selections from the following books: Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White, Sleep Tight Farm: A Farm Prepares for Winter by Eugene Doyle, The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton, and An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott
- Selections from The Farmers’ Almanac
How do I access the free download Fall Themed Copywork Printable?
- Subscribe in the box below by entering your email.
- Check your email inbox to confirm your subscription.
- You will get a success message with the PDF digital download link. Click on the link and print. Enjoy! Please remember, these are for personal use only!
Pin It! Fall-Themed Homeschool Copywork
You may also enjoy reading these posts on copywork, narration, and notebooking.
Simple Step-By-Step Guide to Homeschool Writing
How to Keep a Simple Nature Notebook
Helpful Habits for Writing Well (4 Part Series)
More Seasonal Writing Ideas for Your Homeschool
Christmas Writing Prompts Your Kids Will Love
Fun Literature-Based November Journal Writing Ideas
Poems, Quotes, and Sayings About the Month of February (These would be great to use as copywork too!)
Hi, thank you for sharing this! I know you have said that depending on the child’s age and progress with handwriting, etc., that they will copy a different amount. One child (9yo) will be able to copy more than his brother (7yo). My 9yo is a strong reader, and 7yo is in still in the beginning stages of reading fluently (still using bob books). Should I have the younger still copy these larger sentences and words even though he cannot read them yet? If yes, I can maybe pick certain pieces for him to write, a condensed version on comparison to his brother?
Should the younger copy more simple sentences that are on his reading level?
Also, I am thinking that I can use these literature pieces as ideas for our poems and read alouds. I am always wanting most of our homeschool subjects to be connected; history, copywork, memory work, art, etc. Thank you!
You’re welcome! Great question! When my kids are reading Bob books, I usually have them copy a sentence from one of the Bob books they are reading. In my experience with our kids, when they are at the Bob book level in reading, that’s usually about where they are in writing as well, so I use the sentences in the Bob books as their copywork. If he can’t read the sentence easily (ie. selections in the fall themed copywork), then I wouldn’t have him try to write it. I have our kids copy sentences that they can read (or mostly read.) I hope that answers your question?
I have used some of these literature pieces for poems to memorize or read alouds as well! We’ve been reciting Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson. It’s a great poem to say in the fall. I’m glad you are getting good use out of this!
Thank you Sherri, Autumn Fires is one of my favorite ones in this selection too. We are in Florida so our Fall calendar time does not match up with exactly all of the well known fall experiences (our leaves fall in January ;>) We do have alot more bonfires now-a-days which is in this poem! And yes, that is very helpful for the copywork. Thank you! I feel like I could ask you so many questions!
You’re welcome! Just wanted to give you a heads up (since you like Bob books) that I am working on making a free Bob Books companion guide resource which has the sight words and phonics sounds review practice sequentially in order of how they introduce them in the books. I made up something like this years ago for myself. I’ve been using this exact guide for all my kids, but it’s in a manuscript tablet written in pencil. I’m trying to make it into a printable for download. If you are on my weekly email list, I will be sharing it there.
Hi Sheri, Thank you for sharing this! I’m having trouble, though. I entered my email, but nothing is showing up in my email. Can you help? You are making a difference. Thanks so much! Sarah from OK
Hi Sarah,
So sorry you are having trouble getting the link. I sent the pdf file directly to your email, so please let me know if you don’t get it and I can try something else. Thank you for your kind words. It means so much! Sheri