I can’t wait to tell you about one of my favorite homeschool writing projects today: The Movie Review Writing Project!

But first, I have to tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a young woman who loved the movie, The Sound of Music. Newly married, she had her new husband had saved up their money for several years, and travelled to Europe. They made it to six countries, over 14 days. One of these countries was Austria–specifically, Salzburg, where The Sound Of Music takes place.

The young couple made there way through Salzburg, marveling at the babbling brooks, summer blooms and majestic castles. The girl would excitedly point at various landmarks, remembering them from parts of the movie she had watched with her grandmother, as a young girl. She was particularly hoping to see a small white mountain flower, Edelweiss, just like the song.

As the newlyweds enjoyed the city, there was one last stop that the young woman wanted to make: the hilltop, from the opening scene of the movie. Surprisingly, the famous hilltop was not only not a tourist destination, no one they asked seemed to know how to get there. The internet “back then” (2012) did not provide much help. They made it to a mountain town, and asked a few locals, but none spoke English. The young lady even hummed some of the songs from the movie, but they looked at her, puzzled. The young husband did not give up. With a map in his hands, he grabbed her hand and headed up the mountain, in the direction he thought was right.

Awhile later, after a few discouraging turns and a lot of tiring uphill hiking, THEY FOUND IT. *THE* hilltop. It was unbelievable-and everything she imagined!

(If you didn’t already guess, the young woman is me. :))

My apologies for the photo quality–these images are about 14 years old, so I no longer have the digital files–I just snapped some phone pics, of my photo album! Here I am in front of Schloss Leopoldskron, do you recognize the setting?

So as you may have guessed, my love for the movie The Sound of Music and the symbolism the Edelweiss flower portrays is the reason behind my company name! It’s also the movie I chose to show my two oldest (2nd grade and 4th grade) for the Movie Review homeschool writing project I created.

I didn’t have my preschooler watch with us this time, but I did create a separate Movie Review Project with him in mind. It’s geared more towards Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade. Here is a preview of the K-2nd version:

Movie Review Writing Project for Homeschool

I also created a Movie Review Template for 3rd-5th grade, which is what we used for The Sound of Music! The movie is long, and loaded with symbolism, so it made for great discussion. I had my kids work as a team to complete this more advanced version of the Movie Review.

(I decided not to be offended that one of my daughter’s first impressions of the movie was “boring.” HA! She’s only 8, and not super into musicals, so I guess I’ll give her a break ;))

After watching the movie, completing the review, and discussing their responses, I waited until the following week to start the last extension of the project: The Movie Review Essay! We have been working our way up to full essays this year, and we learned in many different steps. Here are some of the other writing projects we have covered this year:

• Character Sketch Essay
• Summer Memory Essay
• Grandparent Interview + Essay (click for the project, and I blogged about it here!)
• Tutorial Writing Project (blogged about it here!)
• Children’s Story
• Restaurant Review + Essay (click for the project, and I blogged about it here!)
• Company Letter
• Creative POV Writing Project
• Country Research Essay
• Christmas Sensory Essay
• Persuasive Essay
• Sibling Story (modeled after Diary of a Wimpy Kid)
• Animal Research Report (click for the project!)
• Trip/Vacation Essay
• Famous Person Essay

The Movie Review we did this week, and then as the year closes out I hope to do: a Compare/Contrast Essay, A Nature Center Review, a Historical Fiction Narrative, Favorite Product Review, and lastly a “Best Book” Persuasive Essay to close out our year.

Teaching Homeschool Writing

Here are some of the concepts and skills we covered with those writing projects, this year:

• Using the five senses to write well
• Importance of specific, personal details
• How to take notes, and rephrase information in your own words
• How to use categories
• How to find a main idea and supporting details
• How to organize ideas into a five-paragraph-essay structure
• What makes a good introduction and conclusion
• Essentials like grammar, punctuation, flow
• Peer review / feedback
• Rough draft, final draft (either typing or handwriting neatly)

We used a lot of these skills to do our Movie Review Essay, this week! We are still working on the last sections, but here is a peek of my son’s rough draft, started today:

(Handwriting is an ongoing area for growth ;))

As I create these writing projects, I try to blog about each one and create engaging projects for the homeschool community! If you’ve ever wanted to try creative writing with your kids but feel bogged down by long or expensive curriculums, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Try out one of my projects, and let me know what you think. You can find a collection of:

Writing-related blogposts here and here

Reading-related blogposts here

Homeschool writing projects for sale here

I hope this has been helpful!

Cait