What about writing?

[phathui5]

Not handwriting, but writing things. Like paragraphs, stories, reports.

My 8yo ds1 is really not into writing. He'd rather be reading or running around outside. But I think it's important for him to learn to express himself in writing.

What do you use for writing? What do your kids do?

[4evermom]

Recently my almost 8 yo felt moved to write a letter to his cousins. He dictated it to me. I made a rough draft, read it back to him multiple times (at his request). He told me to cross out parts. He added some things and we had to decide where they should go. I made a couple of minor suggestions. It seems to me that it encompassed a lot of the basics although we didn't get to the point of discussing paragraph breaks and that sort of thing. It was a good step for someone who has never done much writing, at any rate.

He has made up stories before which I've written down for him. Some we even did comic book style. He still likes looking at those although they are actually a few years old.

For my ds, having me do the physical writing frees him up from that unattractive tedium and lets him concentrate of expressing himself. I was pretty impressed with the letter writing process because I'd never seen him do that before (thinking about where in the letter thoughts should be added, what he could cross out because it was redundant or irrelevant, etc). It's not like we have ever done any kind of intentional writing work.

[theretohere]

For a reluctant writer I'd do the WWE workbooks. At 8 he could start in the 1st or 2nd level. The assignments are short, to the point, and really seem to help.
SWB writes some really interesting stuff about reluctant writers and why she made the books the way she did.

[joy_seeker]

If he's reading he IS learning to write. Seeing the mechanics of writing in print over and over is one of the best ways to learn writing skills (spelling and grammar skills too for that matter).

For additional experiences I would just make sure that it is meaningful~ he needs to have an audience in mind other than yourself. Maybe he could start a blog, write a letter to the editor of his favorite magazine, write to a friend or relative he hasn't seen in while, or you can even use something like Cyberkids or Stories from the Web to publish some of his work. The most important thing is that in life writing has a purpose and in order to get kids excited about writing they also need a purpose.

I would also wait to edit his work until he asks for help or help him understand up front that certain things will need to be edited and other more informal things (like blog posts or letters to grandma) won't; this way he can decide what he wants to do. There is no faster way to kill the excitement than to jump in with a red pen and point out all the things that a kid did wrong (believe me, btdt!).

[rainyday]

What is WWE?

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by theretohere

For a reluctant writer I'd do the WWE workbooks. At 8 he could start in the 1st or 2nd level. The assignments are short, to the point, and really seem to help.
SWB writes some really interesting stuff about reluctant writers and why she made the books the way she did.

Originally Posted by rainyday

What is WWE?

Writing With Ease by Susan Wise Bauer. We are using it too (well, just restarting). It teaches children how to narrate/summarize, and using dictation and copywork to work on proper sentence structure and grammar.

Though I believe reading will give a lot of information about writing, I also feel that writing needs to be taught. Sentence structure (and eventually paragraph and beyond) needs to be taught. Proper grammar and punctuation, in my opinion, are too important let to inference based on reading.

[joy_seeker]

Originally Posted by MyLittleWonders

Though I believe reading will give a lot of information about writing, I also feel that writing needs to be taught. Sentence structure (and eventually paragraph and beyond) needs to be taught. Proper grammar and punctuation, in my opinion, are too important let to inference based on reading.

This is true but reading is the foundation. I have yet to come across someone who reads well that can't write well enough to communicate their ideas clearly. I used to teach ps and now teach a writing class at our co-op and most of the kids who come to me already reading well just need help learning to polish their work. As a freelance writer my editors STILL help me polish my work so I consider those kids writers even though they don't do it perfectly.

[Cassiopeia]

My 8yo DS likes to write comics. I've seen lots of other kids his age enjoy this too. I think it's a nice to bridge into other types of writing.

[theretohere]

Originally Posted by MyLittleWonders

Writing With Ease by Susan Wise Bauer. We are using it too (well, just restarting). It teaches children how to narrate/summarize, and using dictation and copywork to work on proper sentence structure and grammar.

Though I believe reading will give a lot of information about writing, I also feel that writing needs to be taught. Sentence structure (and eventually paragraph and beyond) needs to be taught. Proper grammar and punctuation, in my opinion, are too important let to inference based on reading.

OOops, thanks for clarifying for me!

[Dar]

My daughter was 10 or 11 before she became interested in writing, although she'd been reading fluently for many years by then. The very first story she ever wrote (well, since kindergarten) was this lovely piece with complex sentence structure and amazing description... I think she just didn't write until she felt that she could write something similar to what she could read. So, at 8, reading was what she needed to be doing, in order to be a wonderful writer later on...

[KissyStarfish]

Originally Posted by Cassiopeia

My 8yo DS likes to write comics. I've seen lots of other kids his age enjoy this too. I think it's a nice to bridge into other types of writing.

Very true! Writing comics teaches story crafting, dialogue, critical thinking, and boosts the desire to write. Also the reward of illustrating the written comics is a great outlet for creativity and teaches visual storytelling and pacing. We make a lot of comic books in this house.

We used a daily journal from the time my daughter could make marks, she has a nice stack of memories from those times, and now writes a lot of independent stories.
We also used book reports, and creative writing exercises, and goal setting, they all helped in different ways.

[LauraLoo]

Originally Posted by KissyStarfish

Very true! Writing comics teaches story crafting, dialogue, critical thinking, and boosts the desire to write. Also the reward of illustrating the written comics is a great outlet for creativity and teaches visual storytelling and pacing. We make a lot of comic books in this house.

We used a daily journal from the time my daughter could make marks, she has a nice stack of memories from those times, and now writes a lot of independent stories.
We also used book reports, and creative writing exercises, and goal setting, they all helped in different ways.

These are all good for a reluctant writer. I personally think that if you involve too much emphasis on structure and grammar at the beginning, it will stifle the creative process. You can do things like "Every Day Edits" to learn grammar, etc. and keep it separate from his creative endeavor.

Another idea is to use a voice recorder to have him dictate a story and then either you or he can write or type it out with or without edits. Some kids find the whole physical part of writing laborious.

I'm working on a process with ds with mind maps -- letting him jot down ideas or pictures about a topic and then we piece them together in a cohesive way adding detail or support where necessary. He really likes this.

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by LauraLoo

These are all good for a reluctant writer. I personally think that if you involve too much emphasis on structure and grammar at the beginning, it will stifle the creative process. You can do things like "Every Day Edits" to learn grammar, etc. and keep it separate from his creative endeavor.

Another idea is to use a voice recorder to have him dictate a story and then either you or he can write or type it out with or without edits. Some kids find the whole physical part of writing laborious.

I'm working on a process with ds with mind maps -- letting him jot down ideas or pictures about a topic and then we piece them together in a cohesive way adding detail or support where necessary. He really likes this.

From my perspective, it really depends on your philosophy regarding learning to write. From a WTM pov, learning how to write involved two separate processes - taking thoughts and forming them into words and taking words and forming them into written language. By separating the two (via methods like Writing With Ease), you allow a child to practice each independently without assuming they can just easily taking thoughts in their heads, put them in words and then transcribe those words onto paper.

I know that if I were still teaching, I would teach writing more in line with WWE. "Journal time" and "creative writing" for young kids, on a whole, did not work. There were the few who could easily take their own ideas and put them on paper, but many did not know how to do that and given the emphasis on the creative process, they were stifled. Narration allows the student to hear (or see, as when narrating a picture rather than a story) something and then learn to formulate his own words about it. Dictation/copywork allows the child to practice proper stucture/format for written work. Once those two skills are strong, then the child has a much easier time taking his own ideas (either based on something he has read or his own creative thoughts), and putting them on paper.

[scoobymummy]

comics websit?

Does anyone know of a website that provides comics that allow kids to write their own text?

[tankgirl73]

These are all good for a reluctant writer. I personally think that if you involve too much emphasis on structure and grammar at the beginning, it will stifle the creative process.

That's the concept behind Bravewriter.com. It's worth a try for a reluctant writer as well.

What did the trick with DS when he was younger, and refused to write just about anything at all, was a Junie B Jones do-it-yourself diary. He was entranced and filled it to the brim!

[khenn]

I teach writing in my co op to 4th - 7th graders. I use Bravewriter and can't recommend it enough. You can read a ton of helpful information just by going to her site at www.bravewriter.com . The author of the material is a homeschooling mom of 5 kids. She has 2 in college now and they are doing wonderfully. Her husband is a college professor and she is a published author.

Julie's approach to writing is that form follows freedom and not the other way around. Kids write and then they work on taking their writing through the whole writing process from revising to editing to punctuation and capitolization corrections. The first 8 years of writing are just practice in expressing themselves on paper and working that through the writing process. In late junior high and high school, they learn the academic style of writing.

[LauraLoo]

Wow! I really like the Brave Writer stuff. Now I can stop creating the wheel!

[tankgirl73]

Originally Posted by LauraLoo

Wow! I really like the Brave Writer stuff. Now I can stop creating the wheel!

LOL... that was my reaction when I found History Odyssey!

I'm soooooo tempted by all the Bravewriter stuff, but I'm not sure where to start. It *is* expensive so I want to be, you know, efficient... should I start with the Writer's Jungle on our own to get the feel for it? Should I start with one of the online classes like Kidswrite Basic? Should we start with doing the Arrow? And what if I spend $$$ on it and DS doesn't like it after all?

Well, he's liked their poetry teatime, and there's a free sample Arrow we can try, but other than that I'm just hemming and hawing. I've just started a couple new things with the History Odyssey and trying a new science thing as well, plus other stuff that's on the go that we want to finish... I'm not sure it's the write time (oops, that was an honest freudian slip lol) to start yet another new program... sigh...

[Dar]

Originally Posted by scoobymummy

Does anyone know of a website that provides comics that allow kids to write their own text?

Someone posted this link to one of the homeschool lists I'm on this afternoon, and I immediately thought of this question and this thread. It's a site that does exactly that, in a few different languages even...