writing assignments - daily or weekly?

[MommyThrice]

I've been looking at Notgrass American History. They give a different writing assignment every day, in addition to a larger assignment that covers 5-6 weeks. These daily assignments aren't terribly long, but every day? I've been giving one assignment per week. Mon - outline, Tues - rough draft, Wed - revisions, Thurs - final copy, Fri - possibly more revisions.

Do any of you use daily assignments? Do you bother to correct them? Can you correct one assignment and write another new one the same day? Is a week-long assignment too slow for high school?

Thanks (again)!

[JennW in SoCal]

Daily assignments? Well, yes and no is my answer because not all writing assignments are alike.

I'd say my kids do on average 2 essays a month for science, literature and/or history, which are edited and rewritten. I don't ask for an outline, just get the first draft and we go from there.

They do many short assignments throughout the week which I do not edit nor require to be rewritten. I wouldn't say it is daily, but often (I don't use a history or literature program so I make it up as we go along;)) An example of this would be writing a paragraph on someone, or on the definition of a term. An instructor they had for a history & humanities course had the students keep journals in which they wrote responses to a particular quote or current news story. Again, this was not edited, graded or revised, but a way to get the mental juices flowing and practice articulated thoughts in writing.

They also do have bigger assignments, too, that last several weeks.

All in all in makes for a lot of writing, but I'm afraid I don't have a formula for you for what is the right amount of writing to assign each week or each day. Just because Notgrass has a daily writing assignment doesn't mean it has to be written -- you can always discuss things, nor does it have to be a formal assignment that requires revision. I'd guess you'd have to decide how much your particular child needs and understand that their writing will steadily improve over high school.

Don't know if that helps, but I hate to see a question go unanswered!

[MommyThrice]

I guess I just need to think outside the box. Writing is always the hardest for me to create assignments.