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Cheryl Z (cherylz)
Senior Member
Username: cherylz
Post Number: 23
Registered: 06-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 - 08:45 pm: |     |
> My children hate writing and whether I assign something specific or not, they balk at it. And, unless I keep on them, they won't do it or finish it. My daughter did a similar thing as Sarah, making a mountain out of a molehill, when she was supposed to rewrite the story of David and Goliath for 4-6 year olds (Understanding Writing level 3). It took her 3 or 4 weeks and pages of paper. She was basically taking each sentence and simplifying it, instead of taking general passages and shortening them. But, she did enjoy it, so I guess that's what counts. I just wanted it done so we could move on with the next lesson. I guess this falls into the parent-error category of finishing books, not children! I've thought of changing writing programs, but have decided that they won't like any of them, so we're just sticking to Understanding Writing, making adjustments when necessary. And I have hope that it'll be different with Noah who is just starting to get ready to homeschool in the fall at age 5 1/2! Maybe I'll have messed up enough to do it better with him!
Cheryl in IL |
Jo Dee (jodee)
Board Administrator
Username: jodee
Post Number: 240
Registered: 06-2002
| | Posted on Friday, June 06, 2003 - 01:24 pm: | |
Usually my oldest has an assignment every week, however, there are times she asks for longer if she is writing something longer. All is is required to do is write about anything and either mail or e-mail it to someone. She would do that anyway, but this makes her really think about it first. Skyla likes to write, but most are usually short. That's ok, length isn't everything. You can see a couple examples of her writing here:
http://entrustedtous.com/units/Firmament.html
and
http://entrustedtous.com/units/Adam.html
Just scroll down to near the bottom of the page.
My next two are still working in level 2 of Understanding Writing and not ready for much on their own yet.
Jo Dee
Nothing takes God by surprise! |
Susan (susan)
Moderator
Username: susan
Post Number: 181
Registered: 05-2002
| | Posted on Friday, June 06, 2003 - 06:12 am: | |
Some 25 examples/suggestions are given on this page for ways to incorporate creative writing into Bible study, history, science, health, and English. These are to be used as springboards for our own ideas for essays, reports, composition, stories, etc., or use the ones listed.
It is also suggested to go back to the previous section in the Manual, and refresh ourselves of the suggestions in the Grade 4-6 level.
Here are some of them (paraphrased):
1. Write a newspaper article
2. Write an advertisement for a craft you made
3. Write the closing remarks of a lawyer in a court room.
4. Pretend to be a reporter at an historic event.
5. Write a letter to a governor or head of a company.
6. Prepare a sermon.
7. Prepare a journal entry of a Pilgrim on the Mayflower.
8. Write a song about a Biblical Character.
9. Write a poem about nature.
10. Express a prayer on paper.
11. Write a movie script.
12. Write a campaign speech as if you were running for President of
the United States.
Questions/Suggestions/Confessions:
1. How many of you regularly assign creative writing assignments to
your children?
2. How well are they carried out?
3. What styles of creative writing have been most successful for your children?
4. Can you share one with us?
Confession(?) time:
I never really have assigned any writing assignments to my children. Most of my daughter's writing have been spontaneous and on her own, such as letters, poems, descriptions. She wrote a 22-chapter book in the same style as Brian Jacques’ Redwall series. Now she is working on typing it into her computer.
Once I tried assigning a writing task to Sarah. She was supposed to write a short story which contained dialog, so that I could show her about quotation marks and how conversations are paragraphed. She took the assignment and turned a molehill into a mountain, and I never got even one paragraph from her... she created these elaborate story lines that would take pages and pages just to set up the scene for the reader, but never finished because she tired of it before she got to any dialog between the characters. And yet in her book she is writing she correctly used punctuation and dialog throughout it.
My son Andrew does not enjoy any type of writing assignment, yet he decided to try his hand at writing a story like his sister, and he has done very well with punctuation and such on his own. He does on occasion dictate e-mails to his grandfather and his cousins.
I wonder if Charlotte Mason was right when she said that if young children hear correct speech and read only good quality books with correct punctuation and dialog in it, they will instinctly pick up how it is supposed to be done. That seems to be what is happening with my children.
This year Sarah will be in 9th grade, and we will be doing more writing assignments as part of the curriculum she has chosen to do.
Susan McGlohn
Homeschooling 9 years and counting 
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