Writing – What do you do?

Not sure what ages you are teaching, but BraveWriter is definitely an option. My 10th grade writing-hater is doing really well with the Bravewriter Help for High School. Now I realize The Writer’s Jungle is not written to the student so needs to be read through and applied. But if you can find a used copy it might be worth picking up. (I found one for $30 on Vegsource.com.)

Think of all the things that are written: instruction manuals, snail mail letters, newspapers, blogs, recipes, menus…..you could truly go anywhere with this.

I seem to be on a creative role right now, so here’s what’s in my brain:

— have your boys write out the steps of “How to create (a certain lego/block structure that they’ve designed)” and “test” it by having one of your other kiddos make it. If it doesn’t turn out exactly how it the writer envisioned it, have the writer and creator/tester collaborate to “fix’ the manual and then give it to a third kid to test…. neighbor, cousin, etc in case you don’t have that many big kids.

—You could do the same with simple recipes. Even simple cold cereal needs to have some directions. Or oatmeal? Ants on a log? PBJ? Bigs are the writers, little are the testers.

—We’ve been sending postcards. Not a lot of room to write, but it is still meaningful if you can get your sendee to send something back (relatives or other homeschoolers seem receptive to this).

— I also do story-starters and lists with the girls. Some lists I’ve tried with DD8 include: Top Ten names I’ve picked out for our new puppy, States I’ve been, Couuntries/places I would like to visit, colors/shapes I see from the car window and others. Story starters are usually either obviously make believe or moral-based, like: if people had wings like fairies, life would be very different because…, or if I actually do grow to be as tall as Daddy (2M), the thing I will like the most is…Because of their ages, DD5 just narrates, but DD8 gets really creative with this. I try hard not to address content at this stage but she had a self-initiated really sad story about some kids who were told they were weird over and over and then they “didn’t wake up in the morning”. In fact, they didn’t wake up for a month! There was a little calendar at the bottom to prove it, with “Wake up!” and “Nothing” written comics-like on each day. SOOOOOO…. We ended up kind of forcing a sequel so that we could find out what else happened. DH said (to me) that he was a bit disturbed by this, but to DD8 he said that story was just too sad for him to read so could she please figure out an ending that wouldn’t make him cry all over his dinner. He also made sure to let her know it was so exciting to know that there was more to the story and he couldn’t wait to hear it. What a guy! She ran for her supplies and got right to work. Oops, okay, getting a little off topic.

— Also, think of all the media you could use… let your budding chefs use a big dry-erase board to list the dinner menu, especially if there are choices, even in the condiments or beverages. Don’t forget little illustrations to enjoy!

— got a li’l organizer? Have him or her write out the “schedule” for the weekends. Even if it is just a few words (eat, clean, walk, church), that’s a great start to writing! Build up their confidence and let them know how much they are helping the family in the mean time. Although you could possibly get someone going too far with this. I’m picturing someone with a clipboard and timeclock. Yikes.

— How about shopping lists? Delegate to one child each week that anytime Mom mentions something for the list, that kid is in charge of writing it down. Distracting or fun? You decide.

— Christmas lists are a great, timely tool as well and can then be shared with relatives. Even if you don’t do gifts, you can have each child write what they want to GIVE and to whom. (Foot massage to Mom, read a book to a little, knit something for Granny, cookies for a neighbor, ceramic mug for Daddy, snow shoveling for an elderly church member, etc)

— Sadly, our community had huge apartment building fire this week. We had many families (40+) displaced so fire safety is on my mind. Maybe you could have all your older ones work together on an escape plan for your house and family? Make sure to have them label all the rooms as well as the exits and the “meeting place” where you will all meet once you get out of the house. Make copies and then do a slow-mo drill. See if everyone follows the directions and ends up where they need to be. If not, have the authors rewrite and do another drill. You could continue each month until they’ve got it written well. Include guests and see if they can follow along also. Change the location of where the fire starts and make specific instructions for each scenario. FYI – no one was killed in the fire, but winter is upon us so we are praying for new dwellings soon for our neighbors. And also taking lots of supplies to them.

— got sticky notes? Label everything. Have one of your more neatnik kids label where things go and then help make sure they get back there… books, puzzles, towels, clothes, etc..

Wow, that was a really fun, creative brain drain! I hope even one piece of any of these helps you guys get past this reluctant stage for your writing. This is by far the very best part of hs, getting to throw away the box completely – you know the one we’re supposed to think outside of? 🙂

Tomorrow’s a new day! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Jenni

We are using WWTB, as well, for our 8th grader. I also have him do some of what Jenni mentioned, just for fun.

My younger set of dc do some of what Jenni mentioned and/or write to penpals/about their favorite activity/lists/state reports/narrations of what we’re doing for school, of course.

These are all great ideas!

Jenni, that list of ideas ROCKS!

We dropped but I think are going back to Writing With Ease.  It was really helping my daughter with her summarization and writing skills.  First Language Lessons will stay gone, however.  🙂

My 11YO DS does written narrations 3x/week on his blog. It is private, so only friends and family can see it. I schedule it so that he does each week he does one history blog, one science blog, and one blog of his choice.