Friday, November 5, 2010

Writing Skills for Home Schoolers


By Holly Van Houten

(This is Part 1 of a series -- Part 2, which is for older kids is here)  

I've been thinking about this post for awhile now.  I not only homeschool my kids, but I spent over ten years teaching freshman writing classes at USC, Pepperdine and other area universities.  I KNOW exactly where a student's writing should be by the time they're ready for college classes.  See my post on being an Adjunct Professor here.  I also currently teach writing and literature to homeschoolers at the Huckleberry Center for Creative Learning -- more on that, here.  (Warning:  this is a long post, but read to the end for practical day to day advice on teaching writing J)

I'm passionate about this subject because I feel it's the one area homeschoolers don't always handle well.  I'm a huge advocate of homeschooling for so many reasons.  It fosters creativity and complex, divergent thinking  in ways that classroom experiences can rarely attempt.  Socialization, is (hopefully, by now) a dead issue.  My kids have so much more access to social experiences than their "schooled" peers because they are out in the world meeting a variety of interesting people from all walks of life.  Kids who spend their days in a school room with only their age peers as companions miss out on so many opportunities.  It's such a limited way of experiencing life as you grow up and mature.  My kids have plenty of friends in their age range, but they also get the two pronged benefit of mentoring from older kids and leadership experience with younger kids.

Homeschoolers do so many things so well.  They score higher than their "schooled" peers on just about every imaginable test and colleges actively seek them out, aware now from experience that homeschoolers are self-starters and self-educators who do very well on the university level.  They haven't lost the love of learning that too often is drummed out of kids in school by 3rd grade.

That being said, I think homeschoolers often don't get enough experience writing.  I want to be clear though:  I don't think "schooled" kids do any better.  I just think homeschoolers COULD do better.  Homeschoolers are in a position to gear writing tasks around the specific interests of each student -- an opportunity rarely possible in the classroom.  (Again, see below for practical ways to do this.) Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen.  Writing is difficult to teach.  There are few "right or wrong" answers when it comes to teaching writing.  Sure, we can all correct grammar, syntax and spelling errors, but that's really the tip of the iceberg when it comes to writing.

In reality, writing is "organized thinking."  This is what makes it difficult to teach.  Teaching writing is like teaching students to sculpt their own thoughts.  It's an art.  Even the most brilliant among us needs to be able to convey those brilliant thoughts to others and that requires organization.  We've all had the experience of trying to follow disjointed or meandering writing.  It's no fun.  "Stream of consciousness" style writing may be fine if you're James Joyce or Virginia Woolf, but fiction and academic writing have different goals.

That being said, reading fiction works wonders for the burgeoning writer.  Avid readers of all ages have a huge leg up when it comes to writing skills and home schoolers often have more time to enjoy literature and lots of encouragement to do so.  Reading gives young writers lots of experience "watching" others practice the craft and that experience is invaluable.  When it comes time to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, readers have the advantage of having watched the "pros" organize their ideas and that WILL make it easier.

Teaching writing, however, can be difficult BECAUSE people perceive it as an "art," a talent you either have or  don't.  There's a teeny tiny bit of truth to this -- certainly some people are naturally better at it than others.  Like every talent though, proficiency really comes only if you're willing to work at it.  We need to think of "arts" like writing as "skills" because that's really what they are.  Do you admire that kid playing the Bach Invention at age 10?  He can only do it because he's practiced the piano daily for a good chunk of time since he was probably 6 years old.  Is he a prodigy?  Maybe.... but probably not -- more likely he's a "practicer."  He's played scales up and down that keyboard every day, building the muscles in his fingers until he's able to handle the demands Bach makes on your fingers.

Writing is a skill the way playing the piano is a skill.  You will only get better if you practice.  Students need to start practicing this skill early and often: daily.  All students need to do this whether they are homeschooled or schooled in a classroom, but homeschoolers have the advantage of being able to design their own curriculum and schedule their time as they think fit.  With that freedom of course, comes great responsibility.

Most homeschoolers realize they can make science a lot more fun if they do hands-on experiments and incorporate field trips and active discussions.  Writing is more difficult to make "fun," but it's certainly not impossible.  The best way to do this is through modeling.  Show your child how to write down ideas.  It can involve anything, as long as it happens daily.  Consider the following scenario:  you're at the market and you notice that once again someone has parked so close to your car, you can barely open your door.  You complain about this, but when you get home, sit down with your child and "organize" your own and your child's thoughts on this.  Ask your child to describe what the main problem with this is and then write down her thoughts -- making them more concise as you do so.  For example, your child might say:  "It's no fair when people take up so much space.  We can't get into our car and we get scratches on our paint and it's just really mean for them to hog all the room."  Then you write down:  "Parking too close to other cars is unfair and can damage the cars."  Then go a step or two further (even with the youngest child):  Ask whose fault this is?  Is it just the fault of the driver parking too close or are the parking spaces made only for small cars?  You could even incorporate math skills in something like this.  Be creative.  Next time you go to the market, bring the tape measure and have your child measure the spaces and then measure a sampling of cars in the parking lot.  Is there enough space for the average car/truck/SUV?  Then write down your findings and ask your child what she thinks you can do to avoid this problem in the future.  Maybe she'll say you should park further from the door, so the chances of someone parking next to you are slim.  Maybe she'll say you should complain to the market.  Maybe she thinks people should buy smaller cars.  Prompt her with questions when she gets stuck and then write down her answers.  As you can see, you're not just teaching her how to write, you're teaching her how to organize her thoughts and add depth to them.

Imagine making this your writing curriculum (and think of all the money you'd save!).  Every day you take twenty to thirty minutes to model writing a short paragraph on a real world scenario experienced by your child, something they are already thinking about.  By the time they're eight or nine years old, they can do all the actual "writing" themselves with you just prompting them with thought provoking questions.  Gather all these paragraphs into a special book you keep for your child.  Title it "Junior's Thoughts" or whatever you like and fuss about how proud you are of that book.  You can do the same with storytelling (I don't like to isolate writing stories as "Creative Writing," since so much creativity goes into academic/argumentative writing too).  Here's what I used to do with my daughters:  I'd sit at the computer and say, tell me a story.  I did this from the time they were 4 years old.  They'd tell me some long, meandering story and I'd prompt them with questions to try and elicit a clear plot.  As I typed, I'd clean up their sentence structure, but keep the main essence and details of their story.  These too I'd keep for them in a book and they would proudly read their stories to anyone who would listen.  You can title this something like "Junior's Stories" and they will have two ever-growing volumes that serve as monuments to their writing abilities.  Every day add something to one of their books.  EVERY DAY!  Miss it only the way you'd miss a day of practicing the piano.

As your child gets older, their writing will get longer and more complex.  There are plenty of free writing guidelines available on the internet to help them understand more complicated paragraph and essay structures... every University writing program website has these.  Here's a link to Purdue's Online Writing Lab or OWL.  There are MANY more (and did I mention they're FREE!!).  These can help you to guide the 10-12 year old to more sophisticated writing and teens can use them on their own.  The whole key is practice... DAILY PRACTICE!

Sorry to shout in ALL CAPS like that, but "Daily Pracitce," is the most important thing anyone can glean from this post.  Too often I get homeschooled students who have hardly any experience writing.  They can't put sentences together, let alone paragraphs.  These are really bright kids too, but by 9 or 10 they've already missed out on years of experience they should have had.  As a result, when they sit down to write something, it's often pretty lousy and they don't need anyone to tell them that.  They struggle over every word and procrastinate as much as they can possibly get away with.  Believe me, I talk to the parents and I know they're struggling too.  Their kids HATE writing.  It's like pulling teeth.  The best advice I can give is to make it a habit, a non-negotiable habit like brushing their teeth before bed.  Make it fun though and make it practical.  Help them to see the value of writing down their ideas.  If you didn't start when they were little, start now.  It's literally never too late.  Start today, and you'll already be doing better by tomorrow.

I could go on for hours about this.  I'd love to talk about how being a strong writer helps immeasurably with a kid's self-confidence.  Teaching kids to express themselves in writing can help eliminate some of the more destructive forms of self-expression teens sometimes choose.  I'd love to talk more specifically about the skills a student needs to prepare for college writing.  I'd love to talk about how writing will help them in every single subject they ever study, I'd love to describe some of the amazing things kids in my writing classes have accomplished....   Clearly, I could go on and on, but this post is already approaching dissertation length, so I'll curb my enthusiasm for now.

If you found this helpful please repost a link back here to your facebook page or whatever forum/group you think would reach the most parent/student writers.  And if you would like to see posts on some of these other issues, leave me a note in the comments section below and I'll definitely oblige you.  J


****I have now written a second post aimed at teens and tweens -- it's about writing as self-expression, here:  http://www.knittedthoughts.com/2010/11/express-yourself-writing-with-kids.html

35 comments:

  1. I really like and appreciate this post. It is a great reminder and also very inspirational. I'd like to see more! Thank you! Laura

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  2. Thank you Laura! I really appreciate the feedback and will definitely post more :)

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  3. Thank you for this wonderful post! This month, we are writing more than ever by doing the NaNoWriMo challenge - at least the kids are doing it! LOL! But being able to write their own novel has unleashed the boys, one in particular, to write more than he ever has before! And he is comparing this writing to that which he did back in 4th grade when he wrote down a series of stories. (He is in 7th grade, now.) He wants to go back and re-write those stories to be better. I think for him, the key to better fiction writing (I hate the term Creative Writing) has been more and more reading. I can really see the maturity in his sentences doing this kind of writing that he is loving and the influence that his reading has had upon it!

    "Please, sir, can I have some more?"

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  4. Absolutely Cindy... More on the way. We're doing Nanowrimo here too and I'm even teaching a group of 12 homeschoolers in a semester long Nano-type class. It's so amazing watching them do this. One of my students, who has really been struggling to get his word count each week told me yesterday that he's gotten so used to writing so much, that when he needed to do a "written exam" for his charter school this week, it was a breeze: "even fun." Love that result :)

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  5. What a great post! Thanks for sharing your expertise...and I am sure to find them useful for my own writing. Writing is a big focus for us; it was my son's least favorite part of "regular" school. I have him complete free writing sessions twice a week and it has helped tremendously. He loves it! Perhaps moving it as a daily session would be useful, especially incorporating some of your suggestions.

    We are about to embark on a writer's workshop next semester, using Johnson and Westkott's "Writing Like Writers." Hopefully, lots of reading and writing will help move him positively in this direction.

    Awesome blog!

    Sara

    (Walter's Mom at Huck)

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  6. That's very encouraging, about how writing has become easier for your student BECAUSE of the challenge of a NaNo-style program! I just need to really help and support one of my sons who is struggling to get started. He did great while we worked through the Youg Writer's workbook, but he is having "blank page-itis" right now and I work during the day so I haven't been able to help him much. This weekend, though. That's when.

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  7. Sara -- I'd love to hear how the writer's workshop goes next semester. Keep me updated :)

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  8. Sure! I will keep you updated.

    Btw, I just signed myself up for NaNoWriMo! Every November I say I'll do it, and there is no better way to be a good writing model for my son. A few days late, but it should be fun!

    Sara

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  9. Wonderful post! You have inspired me to make writing a daily happening. Thank you! Laura L.

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  10. Excellent Sara! I'm at a little over 7000 words right now and just keep plugging away :) There are a few other Moms at Huck doing Nano. Maybe I'll try to organize a "Nano Write-In" evening, Huck style!

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  11. Excellent post! I have homeschooled since 1995 and it is a struggle to teach writing! I ended up not pushing my son, he wrote when he wanted to and nothing much else. He read a lot though! When he decided to start at the community college, he took basic classes to get his writing up. Yes it cost more, but it was a great way for him to ease into the college experience. With our daughter, we took the unschool road and she still isn't writing at 16. If you have any tips on that, I would love to hear them.

    Btw, I came here from Twitter, you started following me today. :)

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  12. Hi Tammy -- Glad you enjoyed the post. As for ideas for your daughter, I'd try a more sophisticated version of the approach I detail in the post. Start her out with longish paragraphs on issues she's interested in. You may have to model it for her the first dozen or so times, but she'll get the hang of it. Then you can gradually lead her to longer and longer pieces. Once she feels confident, consider blogs. I have my daughter (age 11) write daily on her blog. Getting responses to her writing (even just from family and friends) really helps her to understand the impact she can make through writing and gives her assurance that her ideas are interesting and thought-provoking -- and heck, don't we all want that? It also emphasizes in a real-world way the importance of organized and clear thinking/writing. Hope that helps :)

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  13. I completely agree with you about the importance of daily practice to building strong writers. That's why writing has always been central to my son's homeschool experience. We mixed it up with blogging, NaNoWrimo, and also homeschool writing classes. Every element contributed, but I think the writing class was the clincher. Working with a small group on a writing genre of their choosing (ex. Fantasy or SciFi) truly developed my son's interest and confidence in writing.

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  14. Hi Sandra -- I agree, I'm so impressed by the kids in my homeschool writing class. The support they get from each other really helps!

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  15. I'm here from GHF. I love this article, because I'm also passionate about writing, and am struggling to figure out how to teach it to my little ones. (We aren't homeschooling yet, but will start in the next academic year.) The thought of daily practice had actually not occured to me, though. Of course, it only makes sense, but I hadn't considered it as a practiced skill. I'd love to talk with you about this. Maybe I will in the GHF. Thanks!

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  16. Hi Carina, I'd love to talk with you more and I'm glad if the article helped spark ideas for you!

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  17. I also teach writing to homeschoolers, and there's nothing that excites me more. Thannk you for putting my thoughts into words, and for the excellent tips. I'll be sending parents over to read it.

    ~Debbie

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  18. So true. My son who hates to read and is 13, can't write. And yes, I can see clearly with him that it is an issue of organizing thoughts. My daughter who loves to read, loves to write. Your ideas are great! I would love to see more ideas for struggling learners, like my son, to teach writing. This year he decided to go back to "regular" school. He seems to be getting tired of it. If I get him back, I will be anxious to work on writing more with him. I have not heard of the site you mentioned. I am going to check it out now. Thanks again!

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  19. Thanks for sharing...I wish the Huckleberry center was closer to us. My little one would LOVE classes there.

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  20. Love it! My daughter started writing in a journal, about whatever she wanted to. I just read it and I found she does write more when it is something she is interested in.

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  21. WOW! I'm a non-fiction, freelance writer. Your proposition that good writing is dependent on organized thinking is dead-on. I'm thrilled to find your site & will revisit often.

    My DS is extraordinarily math-gifted (7 yrs old & computing percentages effortlessly). Until recently, he's had little interest in reading & writing. We've experienced two big changes in the last six weeks:
    1. He discovered graphic novels and his reading level soared. Now, he goes everywhere with a book in hand.Yeah!
    2. We began a unit on newspapers. He LOVES it and now he's writing his own newspaper about our neighborhood. Real stories about people he cares about.
    For our boy, it's all been about capturing his heart/interest...engage his passion and he'll excell every time!

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  22. Hey Everyone -- thanks so much for all the supportive and encouraging comments!

    Debbie -- Your own blog is AMAZING! Everyone should read it -- It's here: http://writingwhilethericeboils.blogspot.com/

    Sonjia - what exciting changes for your boy. I know my younger daughter's reading took off when she discovered Calvin and Hobbes comics. Sometimes the pictures just add that extra oomph for them :)

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  23. My son hates writing. I tried just doing 10 minutes of free writing in a journal every day about whatever, but he just drew pictures the whole time. Any advice?

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  24. I really understand how hard it is to motivate reluctant writers. Depending on your son's age, consider some of the suggestions I make in my newest post: http://www.knittedthoughts.com/2010/11/express-yourself-writing-with-kids.html

    Hopefully, one of them will help :)

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  25. hi laura, i found you on the mommy blogger group on nablopomo. i really enjoyed your post on many levels. i've always loved writing and have kept a stream of consciousness type journal since 3rd grade. i now have a daughter in kindergarten and am strongly considering homeschooling in the near future. before children i taught psychology at the community college level so i SO hear you on the need for better writing skills...my daughter's kindergarten teacher has her write something down every day about her life and draw a little picture to go with it. i'm thinking about combining these into little journals for her and continuing this throughout her school years. thanks for all the wonderful suggestions and tips on the importance of this skill! i look forward to getting to know you better!

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  26. Some real meat to chew on here. I totally agree that writing is truly about thinking. (For people who don't think, writing is almost impossible.)
    And you give some good advice for honing writing skills. So true, you don't truly need a curriculum. You just need to WRITE.

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  27. Hi Denise and Jimmie -- I'm so glad you enjoyed the article. Denise, as a CC Prof yourself, you might enjoy my post on the Perils of being an Adjunct Instructor too: http://www.knittedthoughts.com/2010/10/perils-of-being-adjunct-professor.html
    Thanks again,
    Holly

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  28. Thank you so much for sharing this. I always knew I wanted to help our daughter with writing but haven't been inspired by the way schools teach writing. I'm looking forward to reading more and I'll pass on your wonderful blog to others! It's too good not to!

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  29. My little guy is still young enough (starting K next year) that I read "writing" and thought of handwriting... but I am bookmarking this for future reference! Right now he is doing great with creativity and "story writing" :) Still contemplating homeschooling...

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  30. Hi Joy and Melody -- Glad you liked the post! Thanks for your kind comments :)

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  31. Excellent writing and teaching tips and tools for all.

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  32. Holly,
    I just found your blog. I want to thank you for this informative post. I am just starting to work out how I will homeschool my gifted almost five year old. I will be putting to use a couple of your ideas. I liked the example of talking about daily occurances and writing them out together, and the daily habit of having him dictate a story to me. I had been waiting until his handwriting was strong enough to start writing projects with him. It never occured to me to have him write oraly. It should have, that was how I got through high school. I had terrible fear of writing assignments and on the last night before a paper was due, I would tell my mom what I wanted to say and she would write it down. I hope with early support I will help my son avoid this.
    Phoebe

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  33. Hi Phoebe, I'm so glad you found the post helpful. It's definitely a good idea to cultivate your son's confidence as a writer early. Remind him that writing is really "thinking written down." Even if he can't be the one writing down his thoughts yet, he can certainly be the "thinker" and that's the most important part. Kids who early on discover that they're good "writers" will never be afraid of writing assignments. Good Luck! :)

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  34. Hi Mom, Great post, for more on writing, come see my post "the importance of being excellent in writing" on pinkribboneyes.blogspot

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