Summer-Themed Homeschool Copywork (Free Printable)

For many year-round homeschoolers, summer resources can be hard to find! This summer-themed homeschool copywork (free printable) will provide your children with beautiful verses, poems, hymns, and passages from quality literature to copy in the lazy, hazy days of summer.

As a former public school teacher, I remember thinking that the process we used to teach kids how to write in school seemed to have so many steps. It even seem complicated to me as an adult. It could have been so much simpler to start by having kids practice daily copywork.

I have been using copywork as a primary tool in our homeschool for fifteen years. I’m amazed by the results.

What is copywork?

Copywork is the practice of hand copying quality pieces of literature from excellent writers. It’s such a simple practice that many parents either overlook it or overthink it. But when practiced as a daily habit over a period of time, its results are surprising.

When you think about how we learn so many skills in life, we learn them by copying people who do them well. It’s the same with copywork. You can’t express what you don’t possess. Copywork (along with its twin Narration) allows us to observe first and then write.

How to Do a Charlotte Mason Narration in Your Homeschool

What Skills Are Covered In Copywork?

Copywork teaches kids so many writing skills. I like to think of it as a multi-vitamin! It takes so little time yet covers so much.

Handwriting
Spelling
Punctuation
Vocabulary
Good sentence structure
Writing style and form

How I Teach Copywork

I have our kids hand-copy the text just as it is written. Typing copywork on a computer does not have the same effect on the brain as it does to slowly write it out by hand.

Capitalize the first letter of every sentence or every line in a poem. Write quotation marks, semi-colons, colons, and apostrophes just as they are written in the text. I have our kids write the title appropriately, making sure to capitalize the first letters in each word of the title.

When they finish, I review their copywork with them. We discuss and correct spelling and punctuation errors. I ask them to spell key words. We refine their handwriting skills as needed. I also ask them the meaning of any unknown words.

How much should kids copy?

If you are wondering how much to have your child copy, here is the general rule of thumb I use. One sentence for first grade, two sentences for second grade, etc. Of course, kids can do more if they want to, but this is a good starting point.

How to Organize Copywork for Your Child

I like to print our Summer-Themed copywork, three-hole punch it, and put it in a folder or notebook for our kids to use. I also give each child a spiral notebook to copy in. They write the date in the margin or at the top before each day’s copywork so I can keep track of their progress.

What is included in the Summer-Themed Copywork Printable?

This PDF has 2 pages of help/FAQ about copywork and 6 pages of copywork samples for kids. This amounts to approximately 7-8 weeks of work if a child practices copywork daily.

In this collection, you will find summer-themed copywork selections taken from quality literature: hymns, passages of the Bible, poems from A.A. Milne and Robert Louis Stevenson. There are also quotes from the picture books and chapter books listed below if you would like to add them into your read-aloud time. (It’s not necessary, however, to have read the books in order to use the copywork.)

Picture Books

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

Chapter Books

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Little Town On the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

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Extensions of Copywork

These are some of the fun ways we have extended our copywork to teach other skills as well!

Cursive- After children can print well and easily, you can teach them to write in cursive. This should be a separate lesson, teaching one letter at a time. After they are proficient in cursive, require them to write their daily copywork in cursive. With practice, it will become easier and easier.
Typing- After kids have completed a typing program, you can have them transition their typing lessons to typing their copywork after they have handwritten it. (This is not in place of copywork, but in addition to it.)
Dictation-Occasionally after a copywork lesson, dictate the same sentence or paragraph to your child and have them write it out. This will be a good way for you and for them to check their spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc.
Illustrating- Some kids love to draw little sketches beside their work showing the story or the characters. This may help make their copywork fun and beautiful!