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Old 06-24-2011, 04:37 AM   #1
Grover
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Default Encouraging writing?

Until now Nathan[8] had a big aversion to writing.Just recently he has been writing for fun,making diagrams and instructions on how to make a catapult or cross bow or bionicle.I would really like to encourage him to write creatively -but am not sure where to start.I dont know how much of an imagination he has ...
How much should I correct his spelling errors?I amreally wary of pushing him too much because I dont want him to lose the fun of actually writing,but I need to encourage it and my brain cant think creatively right now.
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Last edited by Grover; 06-26-2011 at 10:32 AM.
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Old 06-24-2011, 05:45 AM   #2
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

Would he be interested in a pen pal? My 8yo could use some writing practice too.
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Old 06-24-2011, 12:30 PM   #3
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

Up front, I should mention that I don't really homeschool. My daughter goes to public school. I supplement what she learns in school with activities that either give practice for things she needs to work on or allows her to further explore the things she is interested in.

When my oldest was really struggling with her handwriting, I made the attempt to separate penmanship from creative writing. So I encouraged a lot of writing on the computer. Sometimes I'd have her dictate to me what she wanted to say and sometimes, I'd let her hunt and peck and write it herself. There are a billion different ways you can encourage writing that is fairly "painless". For example, you could have him write a family newsletter once a week talking about what the family has been doing and what the family will be doing. My daughter has a blog. It is kept private so only invited people can read it. It is a fun way for her relatives to get a peek into her life. Every week at school, they write a letter home in the family letter journal and then we write a letter back. This summer, she has a writing journal. And each week, she has a couple of writing activities she can chose from. For example "Picnic or Restaurant? and why?" or in your case "research catapults and write 3-5 sentences about something you've learned." Or maybe you can have him write a story/report on the merits of his favorite bionicle and how it would fare against another one. Or you could give him story prompts and see where he takes the story. My mom got my oldest a neat book (the series is called "Write me a Story). It had a bunch of stickers and each page had 1-3 squares and then several lines. The idea was that she would put some stickers in the square and then write a story about what is going on in the stickers. You could find funny pictures and have him write about the picture. You could have him draw/write a comic book. To make it extra fun, you could get him special comic book paper. And then publish it for the family.

As far as spelling, this is what her teacher wrote in the front of their first family letter journal.

Quote:
The purpose of the family journal is to give your child a meaningful way to practice writing skills. You will notice that your child will use both conventional and temporary spelling. As the year progresses, their spelling will continue to improve with many words spelled conventionally. However, be prepared to see a mix of spelling in their writing. This will show that your child is developing as a writer. We encourage temporary spelling because it allows children to develop as writers.
The way it was explained to me was that young children who really focused on spelling words correctly tended to use simpler vocabulary while writing because they typically stuck to words they could spell. While children who used "temporary" spelling used a larger variety of words. What her teacher did was to give them a short list of "no excuse" words. These were words like "the", "and", whatever that they had to spell correctly. As the year went on, the list got longer. She also gave them a laminated sheet with common words that they could refer to and eventually as the child was ready she gave them a "spelling dictionary" so that they could write down the harder words that they wanted to use. For example, if they wanted to use "appreciate", the teacher would tell them how to spell it, they would write it in their dictionary and then they could refer to it later on. But as the kids read more and write more, they tend to pick up on some of the correct spelling just out of familiarity and practice.
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Old 06-24-2011, 12:52 PM   #4
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

For us, "spelling" and "creative writing" are two separte things right now. When ever ds1 is doing writing on his own (and yes, lots of it right now is short letters to friends, or to go with the pictures he is drawing) I don't correct spelling. I want him to feel free to just create! We work on spelling, grammer etc at other times. I'm sure that will change as he gets older, but right now, I do just want him to write....bad spelling and all.
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Old 06-24-2011, 03:31 PM   #5
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

Those are excellent topics for a boy to write about! I should add a disclaimer myself; I am a homeschooler who doesn't teach "creative" writing. At all. It's not a skill that will be required beyond grade school. Knowing how to summarize a story and get those thoughts out on paper in a coherent manner is a very important skill, though. His grades clear through college will depend on it.

My kids get most of their writing topics from history and science. When they're learning new writing skills I encourage them to pick a topic they already know forward and backward, so they can focus on the new writing skill alone, instead of the new skill and the content at the same time. Today my oldest was learning a new aspect of telling a story in his English text. His story is a rewrite of a scene from an action movie he really likes. Next time this concept comes up, he'll pull a story from the history he's been studying instead.

For my 7yo boy, I find he can write *much* more if I let him dictate it to me, first. As he comes up with it, I say it back to him (fixing any grammar issues as I do so) to make sure I have it right, then I write it down. Once in awhile he'll ask me to write a story he's made up, and I'll end up writing two full notebook sheets, front and back, with his words. Usually he just narrates the things we've read and learned about. He's starting to write some of them himself, but will do better if I write the first couple sentences first. Next school year, his third grade year, he'll use an actual writing curriculum that will have him rewriting stories from masters of English such as Aesop, Hans Christian Anderson and even Bible passages.
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Old 06-24-2011, 08:45 PM   #6
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

I'm using 'Igniting your writing' curr (currclick.com $10). It is really good at breaking things down and getting kids engaged in their writing. Many good reviews on it from parents of kids who don't like to write and then love the lessons. They also have 3 levels of difficulty so you can use it w/mult. kids or at any age really.
I'd not worry about the spelling so much and concentrate on what is being written and at his age not even stress too much on punct. There are pleanty of prompts online too. Pictures that are story starters, if he enjoys reading have him write about a fav. book or character. Have him write about his fav b-day, vacation, pet, thing to do. If he's into bionicles, have him write a story about them. I used journaling for some short writing too. If we'd done anything fun or had a holiday, even upcoming events, ds would journal about it.
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Old 06-25-2011, 05:43 PM   #7
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

Why do you want him to focus on creative writing over other types of writing? Does he have a strong foundation in writing already? I have found that students who are NOT natural creative writers tend to do better with creative writing when they have done work in how to form a paragraph/how to brainstorm/outline/and have seen it modeled.

I agree with separating spelling from writing - there are a number of good spelling programs out there.

Do you want to use a writing curriculum? There are a number of good ones that go step by step in writing.
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Old 06-26-2011, 10:59 AM   #8
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

Thanks for all the ideas.I will make sure I dont correct his spelling
I am happy that we have spelling covered.
Katigre-...-so far he has done copywork as part of our HOD cur and spelling.He has an autistic spectrum condition and he is not an advanced with writing.He was required to write a dragon story way back when he was 6,maybe just 7 at school.He hated that...and given his autism,I wish they had picked penguins rather than a mythical creature .He is more comfortable copying words..I would like him to see writing as a way he could express his ideas and thoughts . I would like him to move away from copying and needing someone to spell out each word for him -and just hazard a guess and write on his own....and helping him see that is okay.I would like some ideas on encouraging him to write where there is no right answer ....
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Old 06-26-2011, 11:47 AM   #9
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

I wonder if he would respond well to Writing with Ease

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store...s/writing.html
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Old 06-26-2011, 11:52 AM   #10
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

The phrase, DD1's kindergarten used for spelling was "Take a guess, try your best".

At his age, I view all writing as creative, whether he is writing a story or just writing about his favorite part of the day. I think it is simply important for them to get their word onto paper.

One of the things I like about using the computer for composition is that it is so easy to see what is there and what needs to be changed. With my daughter, handwriting really got in the way for a while. But either way, you could have him compose the writing one day. And then take the rough draft and make corrections over the next few. Maybe focusing on spelling one time and punctuation the next. If he needed to work on his handwriting, he could rewrite it after each round of edits.
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Old 06-27-2011, 07:07 PM   #11
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

Games for Writing by Peggy Kaye
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Old 06-27-2011, 07:58 PM   #12
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

Cool! Thanks for the suggestion!
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Old 06-28-2011, 06:58 AM   #13
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

Ds (almost 12) has always been a reluctant writer. Part of it has been his dysgraphia, which we didn't recognize until a couple of years ago.

He has this huge Lego set up in his room called "Lego Planet." It has characters and he makes up adventures. There's a long history that he's created over time. Periodically, he comes and tells me what is happening. Recently, he told me he was trying to figure out how Character x will come into the story, and gave me a couple of scenarios. When he was done, I said, "You know, ds, what you do with Lego Planet is exactly what author's do when they are writing books. They have to figure out who the characters will be, how they fit into the story, what will happen, develop a conflict and then resolve it. I think you should write a book about Lego Planet. I'd let you do that for your writing for school, and you could do it on the computer."

He looked at me with such amazement! And immediately went off to begin writing. He hasn't gotten very far; he hasn't really had time. But the prologue is written.
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Old 06-28-2011, 07:14 AM   #14
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Katigre View Post
I wonder if he would respond well to Writing with Ease

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store...s/writing.html
I got alot from reading the free pages ...and it made alot of sense.
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Old 06-28-2011, 08:26 PM   #15
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Default Re: Encouraging writing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by lenswyf View Post
Ds (almost 12) has always been a reluctant writer. Part of it has been his dysgraphia, which we didn't recognize until a couple of years ago.

He has this huge Lego set up in his room called "Lego Planet." It has characters and he makes up adventures. There's a long history that he's created over time. Periodically, he comes and tells me what is happening. Recently, he told me he was trying to figure out how Character x will come into the story, and gave me a couple of scenarios. When he was done, I said, "You know, ds, what you do with Lego Planet is exactly what author's do when they are writing books. They have to figure out who the characters will be, how they fit into the story, what will happen, develop a conflict and then resolve it. I think you should write a book about Lego Planet. I'd let you do that for your writing for school, and you could do it on the computer."

He looked at me with such amazement! And immediately went off to begin writing. He hasn't gotten very far; he hasn't really had time. But the prologue is written.
This is so cool!
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