When do we teach proper writing?

The answer to your first question is ….it really depends on the child. I have a goal of having each child able to write a well-written paragraph by the start of highschool.

My older children, started transitioning to written narration between ages 10 and 11. Once they had a year or more (depending on the child) of written narration practice and the process was fairly easy for them, I worked with them on fine-tuning the paragraph. Between copywork and prepared dictation, this process was fairly quick and easy for my eldest. This child progressed to writing different types of essays before highschool age.  With another child it took a while (maybe a school year) of working on 1 aspect of a good paragraph to really get the idea. Once they were in late middle school through highschool, we worked on the different types of essay forms.  5 page essays didn’t happen until late highschool age.

The resource I used was Format Writing by Frode Jensen. This is not a workbook or something that you hand to the child to do. I used it as a reference book.  It progresses from the creation of a well written paragraph to a variety of 5 paragraph essays. Once I taught them an essay form, the kids used this book as a reference for future writing assignment. Typically I had the older kids do daily written narrations. Weekly I would ask them to either polish a written narration or write an essay.

HTH

I know this isnt exactly what you mean but please hear me out.

I start teaching my kids proper writing at 6 years old, and informally before that. Copywork is the foundation of proper writing, exposing them to correct punctuation, beautiful sentence formation, and clear construction to communicate an idea. When I read aloud good quality literature they start to see paragraph formation, the flow of ideas from one section to the next and how the authors organized their thoughts. As they narrate they learn to formulate the main idea, organize supporting facts and put the information in proper sequence. Just like enjoying a variety of healthy food with children creates an appetite for healthy food, exposing children to rich and meaningful language in written form creates an appetite for more of the same and they internalize many of the concepts before they are formally taught.

When they are older, depending on the child probably in 7-8 grade, we learn the specific skills and formulas for writing a 5 paragraph essay or a pursuasive essay, etc. These types of essays are expected and taught in schools today but are really a fairly limited body of information- a young person can learn the formula and spit out the product but the hard work of composition has already become part of who they are through narration and feasting on rich and meaningful literature. I used a program called Writing Strands with my older kids and may use it again when my younger kids get to that point (we have a long while before I need to make that decision still), but there are many great ways to teach the formula for specific types of essays required in schools.