How do kids learn to write? (Different points of view welcome)

[Linda on the move]

I'm wondering what I can do to help my DDs learn to write. I don't mean working on penmenship, they know how to make letters and write basic words. What I don't understand is how they go from that to writing sentences and paragraphs.

My older DD can read anything, but she can't write much at all. I would like to focus on this with her during the next year, but I don't know what I want to do! She is a child that does best with direct instruction and practice, but with short lessons and flexibility.

I'd love to hear what others think -- things you have done, curriculum you have used, and so on. I'd also love to hear from unschoolers about your child's process in learning to write.

thank you!

[Dar]

My child wrote almost nothing from age 6 to age 10 (she wrote a lot before age 6, then went to kindergarten ) Maybe a few birthday cards, 2 or 3 three short notes, that kind of stuff... almost nothing, though.

At ten, she started doing some emailing, writing some poems, and she came up with the first few pages of a novel. Her novel amazed me, because she used complicated sentence structure and detailed character description and vocabulary. I expected her to start writing like beginning school writers, with short, simple sentences, but because she was already reading at an adult level and had been for years, the first writing she did was of a similar quality. The spelling and punctuation lagged behind, but the actual writing was amazing.

She started her first livejournal at 11 and started chatting through AIM at about the same time, and she writes on both frequently now. Her spelling and writing mechanics have improved the more she writes. She's written a few other things since then - she wanted to try a formal essay so tried that, and she started writing a musical based on Ziggy Stardust... stuff like that.

When she was 8 or so she was worried about her spelling, so for a while I would put a new word up on the white board every so often and she'd copy it a few times, and then tell me when she knew it and wanted a new one... that lasted 6 weeks, maybe? I don't think it helped her spelling at all in the long term, but it made her happy at the time.

Dar

[UnschoolnMa]

IMO kids learn to write by doing it in a way that they enjoy or find value in. The form that can take can look like a lot of things...emails, stories, poetry, notes to someone, the shopping list, a map, a play, song lyrics, etc. I also think that writing often comes from reading. You see what writing looks like when you read a story/book and we log that into our brain quite a bit.

[marilynmama]

My 7 yr old learns to write just from everyday stuff that comes up--writing notes to her friends, writing "stories" she makes up, just general 7 yr old stuff. Secret messages, birthday/xmas wish lists (lol), etc.

She also really enjoys copywork (she has always just done this on her own). Lately she has been copying poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends and then has me read the poem she wrote. She just copies the short poems, but I think it has helped her understand punctuation and paying attention to those and asking what they mean.

I think writing just comes with time. It's natural to want to write and communicate where via chatting online with friends, writing notes to friends (I remember doing that a LOT when I was younger...lol), writing in a diary or journal, keeping a online blog. Actually with the internet it gives our kids a lot more opportunities for writing that is fun for them. If they have bad grammar, people online are going to point it out and so that will naturally want them to write well IMO.

[annettemarie]

In Waldorf education, children learn to write through drawing, and learn to read through writing.

We begin with form drawing, which you can read about here and here and see samples of here

The letters are introduced through fairy tales, and the children draw pictures which than transform into letters, which you can read about here and see some examples of here

From there they move onto copywork, and create their own readers.

I agree with the PP who said to keep it meaningful- writing letters, keeping a journal, writing stories, making a grocery list for you, etc, etc, etc!

[Crunchier]

i remember as a small child learning to spell by playing the spelling game with my mom. I had a little slate, I'd sit on the floor while she did dishes etc, she told me a letter, and later a word, I'd write it and show it to her. If I was wrong, she'd correct me and I'd do it again. When I had it right, She'd give me another one.

When I was 6 I got a big girl diary. White leather with a little gold key. I wrote about my teddy bear. When I was 10, I developed an interest in writing letters. I learned proper structure, paragraph development, etc.

Ben has writing materials always available, and he writes his shopping list, while I write mine. He does his homework while Derek and I do ours. When he gets older I will get him a journal and ask him to write a little each day or so about what he is learning. It will help me to get to know him better, and really see which lessons are inpacting him, as well as working on his writing abilities and serving as a record of our work.

[stafl]

My four year old will dictate to me letters to send to people she loves. She is learning to read, and sometimes will just ask me to spell the words so she can write the letters herself (but her writing is so large it usually won't all fit on the page, she gets frustrated, and I end up writing it for her anyway). Like Annettemarie said, it started with drawings, first scribbles, then pictures, then pictures that told stories, and now words themselves. but I didn't do anything but follow DD's lead. I'm just along for the ride, and what a fun ride it is! So to answer your original question, I'd suggest you not do anything. Let your child lead the way. Make sure you have lots of books to read, and that the child sees you enjoying books, too. But other than that, let your kids figure it out for themselves.

[Queen Gwen]

We do copywork. I help write thank you notes and birthday cards. The kids see writing as part of our lifestyle. They make books. They write plays. They write poetry. They write on the walls (oops, I need to get that cleaned off before we list the house for sale). The spelling is a mess, you have to squint to figure out the meaning, but they have fun.

My favorite resource is Bravewriter. I get her yahoo messages with ideas on how to incorporate writing (and reading) into life, and also read her blog. Some day I hope to buy her book.

[m&m]

we have done two things:

1 - spell out words for her when she is writting letters to her friens, family, etc.

2- help her think through story ideas with a picture she can draw and then have her write a few words underneath (like a baby book or easy reader would be) - she then reads these to her little sister.

She is now on to writting bigger books, and longer letters, and we find notes everywhere! It has also helped her to remember the spelling of many words, so she now needs less of me spelling them for her.

[alliwenk]

Well I'm assuming that you mean writing as in "expression" and not making letters. If I'm off base (I couldn't tell from the responses) just ignore me. I would start by reading something with them and asking engaging questions so that they draw their own conclusions from what they've read. Then I would introduce the concept of writing to convey thoughts & ideas. Talk about how writing has a message (thesis) and uses coordinating ideas and support to relay it. I really like stafl's idea about allowing them to dictate...that way they can relay what they are thinking (which is why we all write after all) from the difficulty of putting it to paper. I also agree with stafl's suggestion to not push it...this is a skill that they will develop in time.

I think I am a pretty good writer and I KNOW that it came from reading constantly as a kid...just like my good grammar. When you have been exposed to a lot of good writing you just pick it up because it feels normal to you.

[Linda on the move]

Thank you for your posts! You've given me lots to think about.

[Itlbokay]

I just checked a book out of the Library titled "99 Ways to Get Kids to Love Writing, and 10 Easy Tips for Teaching them Grammar" by Mary Leonhardt. It's a quick little read that is full of ideas, some of which you have already been given here.

Seems the basic consensus for writing at any level is to just write, at least 10 minutes a day, write something, anything.

"Writing Down the Bones" is a book that I read to help with my own writing, but the advice given in it is easy to convert to use for children's writing as well.

[lilyka]

We do a couple of things to encourage her to write more creatively. Sometimes I will do the writing while she spins the tale. this gets the juices flowing and she gets to see how paragraphs and sentences work together.

We encourage things like comic books and such for helping her write in managable chunks. and such so few kids do it it is a real novelty and she likes to do it so she can show it off.

Sometimes she will start with a sentence and i wil kep asking her questions and she will add the next sentence. it is very guided to some extent but at the same time it helps with the thought process. right now she does most of her writing on her xanga site. She is really enjoying that.

[mumto2]

We sometimes use photos of family events and dd will write a sentence about where we went or whatever. She will say the sentence first and I will help her with the sounds. Ds will write a couple of paragraphs as a retell of the entire occasion. They love to read back over their little books and it is a lovely reminder of how they looked and wrote at the various ages.

[stafl]

I just thought of another thing we sometimes do, that DD really really likes.

I'll staple or stitch (yes, with my sewing machine) some papers together to make a book. She does the illustrations and tells me what words to write. We've done several books like that. My favorite one is the one where she tells a story about making a rocket ship out of boxes and pillows and blankets, goes into outer space, and makes a necklace out of stars.

[flyingspaghettimama]

Games for Writing by Peggy Kaye is full of great, interactive games for parent/teacher/child to encourage writing in all its forms.

[Jen123]

My son is nearly thirteen and he doesn't write at all.

I keep hearing how 'important' it is for kids to learn to write in paragraphs with proper sentence structure. How they should learn past participles and prepositions. I learned how to write in paragraphs , but the rest of it.....over my head. I never learned to write paper. Never had to do it for school. Yet I can still communicate effectively with paper and pen.

Thoughts? Should I get some sort of curriculum for him ? Ask him to write a paper on something ? Unless he's being graded on something...which he's not (my mother soooo doesn't get this point) I don't really see a need to write a paper on some arbitrary subject just to appease they infamous "they".

help ?

[Linda on the move]

I've been mulling it over and I've come up with a basic plan. I though I would share :

1. Typing. Using a computer to compose came up in this thread and I've heard other parents say so as well -- their kids didn't take off with writing until they were doing it on a computer.

2. Writing letters. Our family and many of our friends live far away, so letter writing is a natural for us. My kids enjoy it -- but I need to set aside time for it and make it happen. I've decided to make time once a week for us to work on our correspondence together.

3. Making books together. We've done this a little, but I want to start doing it a lot. I think that rather than getting a writing curriculum, I'll get a book about how to make pop-up books or something really fun like that.

4. Continue with copy work and occasional dictation from last year. I asked DD if she wanted a nice blank book from B&N and she said no, she wanted paper with proper guidelines. She's going to use a 3-ring binder and paper she likes. I think I'll add a spelling dictionary in the back of her binder where either she or I can add words that she wants to use that she cannot yet spell.

5. Continue with narration from last year. We did narration as part of history and science a couple of times a week. It went well, but it didn't seem to have any effect on her writing. Yet, one doesn't just read to their child for a year and expect the child to read on their own after that. Narration makes sense to me as a learning tool, and it suits our mellow style. We'll keep it up.

I'm also going to check out some of the books mentioned here. We love Family Math, so may be something like Games for Writing would be a good fit for us.

Thanks again.

[sagira]

Just another thought..

I haven't read all of the posters answers, but I thought I'd share how my mother taught me to write. I wrote my first sentence at the age of 5 and it was "Mama don't get mad at me". She would write notes to me and read them to me and encourage me to write her notes and words to convey information. It was fun, and it was fun to communicate that way.

I remember I couldn't wait to break the code and send messages in silence (sometimes within a group of people so only my mom and I knew what I wrote).

Sounds a bit like unschooling I guess. Penmanship came much later, I remember practicing all that not until in second and third grade (I was 7-9 years old). I went through the Dutch system of education, which ranks highly in the world.

Good luck! I haven't started homeschooling yet, but from everything I've read, I know that each child develops at her own pace and they start writing all of a sudden. My mom was shocked and surprised when I wrote that sentence (correctly as well). She didn't know I "got it". An emotion compelled me to write it.

Cheers,

[PancakeGoddess]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

In Waldorf education, children learn to write through drawing, and learn to read through writing.

AM, this is interesting. I guess I knew that about waldorf but never realized that's just what my oldest son did on his own. He was always drawing (although had quite a lot of contempt for my efforts at limiting him to waldorfish materials), and from there he began labeling and captioning his drawings, and from there reading came easily to him.

Other son had a very different way. He is reading, writing and drawing at the same time, later and slowly but steadily with confidence.

OP, we did a lot of dictation early on, and your dcs might like that now. Kids would tell me a story and I'd type it in. Or a poem or song. Then we'd read it back.

The Charlotte Mason crowd (I think) does a lot of - oh shoot, I'm blanking on the word they use - well, anyway, they will read together with the child or the child will read alone, and then the child comes to the adult and "tells back" what s/he read. It's good for practicing connecting thoughts, ordering them, etc.

Someone help me out on this? Narration! I think that's what they call it.