Writing and enjoying it

[ikesmom]

My (almost 10 yr old) ds has a very hard time writing. It is our biggest struggle and I have really tried to focus on it as our main goal. Last night I was reading about how writers started out keeping a notebook or journal to put all their ideas down on paper. I know my dd's really enjoyed the whole journal thing on their own and had multiple slips of paper, note books, diaries, and printed out poems to express themselves. They didn't need any coaxing or strands and often drew pictures to illustrate their ideas.

When ds and I write something for a lesson it is always -a lesson- with rules and reminders of grammar, my correction of spelling , word choice, and the never fail "please take your time and don't be sloppy". There is a lot of whining and grunting. "My hand hurts!" or "It's too hard!"

We started reading the life of George Washington yesterday. I had him draw a picture and write a summary. I helped him and told him how to spell ect. Today I had him read a page on his own and write about it. I didn't help him. He didn't punctuate and it was pretty hard to read...but he seemed to enjoy the process more.

I know there needs to be a balance to the mechanics and creativity. I think I have not given him the room to be creative.. because I was so focused on making it right. He doesn't have the desire to just write for amusement.

I would love to get him interested or hopefully even passionate about writing. Do any of you have ideas on what I can do to spice it up?

[khenn]

You are doing the best thing for him!! Ignore the mistakes and enjoy the words. The mistakes will clean up in time as he studies grammar and spelling apart from writing. Keep the two seperate.

What I have done is have my son dictate all of his writing work to me. This has gone on for over a year. He is also 10 years old. Now that his typing skills are coming along as well as his belief that he can write well -- he is typing his own work. When he's done, I tell him to print it off and then read it to me. Make sure your son reads it to you -- by doing so, he will realize where he has left words out or worded things poorly. Also, you get to bask in his creativeness and unique style without getting hung up on the grammar, punctuation, and spelling problems. Praise...praise...praise!!! Only positive feedback on writing when it's the first draft.

If you wanted to take a "freewrite" through the writing process, then that is the time to learn how to ask for more. The first step is freewriting -- just getting thoughts on paper freely. The second step is revising -- this is when you ask questions. Just ask for more -- more descriptions, more imagery, more dialogue, more facts etc. The third step is editing -- it's at this point that he is to focus on fixing punctuation and spelling issues etc. What he misses -- you fix for him so he has a clean copy when he is done.

Trust me -- your child will get it if you make it an enjoyable process! I teach writing in our homeschool co op and also to my 10 year old as I said.

I use the Bravewriter materials. If you go to www.bravewriter.com you will find a wealth of information that is available for free.

Kellie

[kathymuggle]

Being a member of an internet board has helped my DD with her writing more than anything else I have done.

Look at hobbies. Are there sites around that cater to these hobbies?

[Lillian J]

I think it could probably help a lot to cut way down on the volume of things you're asking him to write - he has lots of time to develop his writing when he's a bit older. My son wasn't in the least interested in writing at that age, but became quite impressive at it later in his early teens when he had things he wanted to write for his friends' entertainment. They used to write a lot of creative things to one another - the boys specializing in humor and the girls in more flowery personal pieces. Not handwriting, though - they did that writing on a computer. He's a very talented writer - and that came from his interest in all sorts of literature, films, and conversation rather than from exercises or assignments. I think it's better to keep composition and creativity separate from learning handwriting skills - each comes easier when done separately. Here are some very interesting threads - follow the links in them to even more good stuff:
reluctant writers
encouraging writing
ideas for encouraging 8 yr. old to write (applicable to other ages too...)
- Lillian

[ikesmom]

Wow that was a lot of info on those links

DS is very into Legos and anything related to Star Wars and I saw a link to this http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/24264 on this blog
http://sweetthingdesigns.typepad.com...guy-heads.html

He said he wanted to create something for the site and upload the photos. He asked if I could show him how to do that. Then he took a pad of paper to the kitchen table and started writing a story about the space station he was going to create. He had Legos all over the place for "inspiration". I think interest is a big key! I will ask him if he will write a dialogue for his Lego men and get some video of it for kicks.

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by ikesmom

DS is very into Legos and anything related to Star Wars and I saw a link to this http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/24264 on this blog
http://sweetthingdesigns.typepad.com...guy-heads.html

He said he wanted to create something for the site and upload the photos. He asked if I could show him how to do that. Then he took a pad of paper to the kitchen table and started writing a story about the space station he was going to create. He had Legos all over the place for "inspiration". I think interest is a big key! I will ask him if he will write a dialogue for his Lego men and get some video of it for kicks.

Lillian

[bobandjess99]

I think you've gotten great ideas, but I just want to put it out there that it isn't some sort of positive character attribute if you "love to write". Some people don't like to write. Never have, never will, and that is okay.

[sweet~potato]

My ds (9) loves making comics, dictating short stories to me, making cards for whatever occasion and writing fan letters. These are things that he's interested in doing and is internally motivated to do. A few times I've said "Hey, why don't you write something about xxx" and the motivation for him is obviously not there and there's just a lot of compaining. So I agree, follow his interests!