Writing..Anyone here not a writer, but are successfully teaching their children?

[Gamom3]

Writing was and is my worst subject, I think I do ok on my own. BUT, I do not feel confident enough to teach my children how to write. Some times I tell them what is wrong, just to find out is ok.
Oldest son had 2yrs with Home2Teach and 1 with WriteGuide. I noticed WriteGuide was totally different than Home2Teach. Ds struggled with H2T, but not with WG! The teacher at WG told us that he did great on essays and other projects that we had him do, but H2T told us different.
Right now we can not afford H2T with younger 2. They both did fine on Elementary Writing, I dropped my dd the next session and let ds continue to Elmentary Writing 2, he was passed to Paragraph Writing, which I stopped there.
I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to teach dc myself and learn along with them. There are a lot of times that I am totally STUMPED!
Is there anything out there that actually helps a mom teach her children properly or should I just find a job and pay for outside help?:confused::(
I really want to do it myself..any ideas?

I have tried
IEW
Writing Strands
Understanding Writing
Put It In Writing
and a few others

[Chloe]

I would love to hear more about this as well. Teaching writing is what intimidates me the most. My dd10 will start an 8-week IEW class next month. I hope it goes well, but I too would prefer to be able to teach her at home.

[DawnUK]

I struggle the most with writing as well. Why is that? My dd is a natural writer-- she's always written beautifully. She wants to be a writer. My husband was a Lit major, and he writes beautifully as well. He does help my daughter to refine her wording, but for the most part it comes naturally to her.

Then there's my son.... He turned 10 last week and we are still working on paragraphs. His printing is a mess. His cursive is better, but it's huge. I have so many writing curriculums, but none seem to help him much. At Christmas I decided that I was just going to have him work diligently through Aesop A, and write a lot. He writes very slowly, so a paragrpah summary could easily take him two hours. I think that we are just going to stick with it, even if I have to drop other things so that we can make this a priority-- time wise. If anyone has any brilliant ideas, I'd love to hear them.

--Dawn

[TCoppock]

Oh Dawn our boys sound so similar. Mine seems to take forever when it comes to writing and don't even think about asking for something creative. I have actually broken the writing down into parts. We start Monday with brainstorming the idea. On Tuesday we will try and outline the paragraph. By Wednesday we hopefully are ready to revise and edit. Thursday and Friday are spent making a final copy. Breaking it into pieces has definitly helped with our writing because it was just too overwhelming in one day. I myself am not a great writer and have thought about paying someone to help.

[Gamom3]

to write?
There is not a writer(essays..etc.--not handwriting) in this family. So, I would like to know what those are doing, that does not have outside help or inside help from family members.
I know this sounds ugly, I am not trying to be, so please forgive me!!!!! We don't have outside/inside help and I would like to know what others that are in my situation are doing.

[Colleen in NS]

to write?
There is not a writer(essays..etc.--not handwriting) in this family. So, I would like to know what those are doing, that does not have outside help or inside help from family members.
I know this sounds ugly, I am not trying to be, so please forgive me!!!!! We don't have outside/inside help and I would like to know what others that are in my situation are doing.

No writers here in my family or surroundings (that I know of, anyway)! No tutoring help, no extra cash to pay someone.

I am just super determined to teach my kids as many writing skills as possible, and so, it is a learning project for ME. What I have done is start off with reading WTM grammar stage writing recommendations. And not just to see what writing "programs" are recommended, but to try and implement the other suggestions like copywork/dictation, and narration in history, science, and literature. Part way through grammar stage with ds in 4th grade, I felt like I wasn't quite "getting it," so I bought SWB's Writing Without Fear CD, and I'll tell ya, it was worth every penny to import it to Canada!!!!!! (I think it's only $5 U.S., but to import it was another story - cheaper than tutoring, though) It explains in more depth the ideas behind doing copywork/dictation and narration. There really is a process going on there, that I had no idea of. It's two things: learning to get thoughts into words, and words onto paper, and eventually bringing both of those skills together into the student's own coherent sentences and paragraphs. After that, you can implement a formal writing program like IEW, Writing Strands, etc.. The CD goes into more detail about logic and rhetoric stage writing, too.

So, that's my story - sheer determination to do it myself, using a lot of help from the WTM, the CD, and a writing program. It's a continual process for me to learn to teach as my kids get older, but I enjoy the process. And I can always come here for help with specific questions.

hth

[Narrow Gate Academy]

Through second grade we have just done copywork and narration. When we got to 3rd grade with my oldest, I felt like I needed a little more direction for writing. We're using Classical Writing Aesop this year with my 3rd grader in addition to narration and dictation a la WTM. I find the program to be easy to understand and to implement. It just makes sense to me which gives me the confidence to feel like I can actually use the program to teach my DCs the skills they need to write well. Otherwise, I would probably be inclined to outsource as well.

HTH

[Wildiris]

:rolleyes: Hi,

Teaching writing is a complex task especially for Mom as teacher. I am not a writer, but I've successfully taught two of my four children how to write so that when they entered mainstream school they could write and express themselves well beyond their peers. Both middle school and high school teachers have been impressed with the writing my kids turn into them.


what I've done that may help you along your journey:

1. I collect books on the writing and reading process. At first glance many of them seem to say the same sort of thing, yet each book has something different to offer. I try to learn as much as I can, and I'm always learning new things about how to help kids learn to feel confident in their writing.

2. My kids do not like grammar, but I love it. I think grammar provides a framework for why and how writing can work. For example, my DD uses Shurley English. Besides using its own kind of sentence diagramming, Shurley covers verb tenses, writing sentence types, writing sentences with quotes etc. I modify the writing and the vocabulary to fit our needs. I use the vocabulary to practice writing different types of sentences with and without dialog.

3. We do several drafts of a piece of writing, and we vary the types of writing we do--poetry, a newscast, an advertisement, a letter, or a review. I emphasize the process of writing, working very hard to get my kids to revise. It is during the revision process that great writing can take place. I read aloud what is written asking questions: "Is this what you want to say?" or "Can you use another word for this?" or "This doesn't make sense. What are you trying to say?" or "Could you please use your vocabulary? You're using empty words again."

Narration and copy work certainly do have their place in helping the young student how to get a feel for writing, but by 3rd or 4th grade the student should be moving onto creating their own writing.

A list of books for you to consult at your leisure:

Subjects Matter: Every Teacher's Guide to Content-Area Reading

Nonfiction Matters: Reading, Writing, and Research in Grades 3-8

Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding

Teaching Reading in Middle School: A Strategic Approach to Teaching Reading That Improves Comprehension and Thinking

6+1 Traits of Writing: The complete Guide Grades 3 and Up

Writers INC

A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You

The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques That Work

Writing winning Reports

Using Picture Books to Teach Writing With the Traits

Teaching Powerful Writing: 25 Read-Aloud Stories and Lessons That Motivate Students to Use Literary Elements in Their Writing

Grammar Lessons & Strategies That Strengthen Students' Writing: Mastering Sentence Variety; Choosing Nouns, verbs & Adjectives with Flair; Using Clauses and Phrases; Punctuating Sentences; Understanding Paragraphing; Elaborating Ideas with Prepositional Phrases; Perfecting Pronoun Usage; Clarifying Prose with Adverbs

Discovering Voice: Voice Lessons for Middle and High School

I hope this message helps you,
Wildiris