Jean in Wisc
03-27-2008, 11:27 AM
I've been struggling to teach my 3rd child (8th grade) how to write well. We struggle to punctuate, struggle to make the passage coherent, struggle with sentence structure...just plain struggle!
I've started going back to the very basics of writing. When he writes a sentence that lacks in punctuation (whether English, history, or any other subject), we go digging in our grammar books and handbooks for the rules, and then I send him off to write 5 sentences that follow that pattern: today's sentences are adjectival appositives.
When the thoughts do not flow, I ask him questions about it, telling him what I can't understand or explaining where I could not make the jump from one thought to the next--and I send him back to rewrite it....and rewrite it.
We have a long way to go, but I'm finding this very rewarding. I don't care that we are not getting other composition assignments done right now--I think that those will come when these other problems are resolved. It took me a long time to get to this stage, though--I kept pushing him through the writing assignments, discussing his work and having him correct his mistakes, but I was not stopping, dropping everything to learn those corrections well enough that he would know what was right next time he saw it.
Right now we are going through Sentence Composing for Middle school. We stop at any sentence that he does not understand and rework it, copy it, study it...until he gets that one concept cemented into his mind. We may take months getting through this book :), but when we get done, I know we are going to see a massive improvement.
Just thought I'd share what we are doing. Maybe someone else here will benefit going back to ground level, too. It just reinforces the fact that one cannot build upon a structure that is not solid.
FWIW--
I've started going back to the very basics of writing. When he writes a sentence that lacks in punctuation (whether English, history, or any other subject), we go digging in our grammar books and handbooks for the rules, and then I send him off to write 5 sentences that follow that pattern: today's sentences are adjectival appositives.
When the thoughts do not flow, I ask him questions about it, telling him what I can't understand or explaining where I could not make the jump from one thought to the next--and I send him back to rewrite it....and rewrite it.
We have a long way to go, but I'm finding this very rewarding. I don't care that we are not getting other composition assignments done right now--I think that those will come when these other problems are resolved. It took me a long time to get to this stage, though--I kept pushing him through the writing assignments, discussing his work and having him correct his mistakes, but I was not stopping, dropping everything to learn those corrections well enough that he would know what was right next time he saw it.
Right now we are going through Sentence Composing for Middle school. We stop at any sentence that he does not understand and rework it, copy it, study it...until he gets that one concept cemented into his mind. We may take months getting through this book :), but when we get done, I know we are going to see a massive improvement.
Just thought I'd share what we are doing. Maybe someone else here will benefit going back to ground level, too. It just reinforces the fact that one cannot build upon a structure that is not solid.
FWIW--