Writing advice...PLEASE!

[Gamom3]

I haven't done or required much writing(copywork/narration/dictation..etc.) from dc (4th and 6th grade). They can produce a small paragraph, but anything more than that, they have a hard time.

We used Home2teach this year..1st 6wks both used, 2nd 6wks only 6th grader used. I dropped it after that, due to funds.

 

I was looking over the sample on SWB's website and the narration/dictation part is a LOT, my kids would struggle with me dictating this to them, more than a small sentence at a time, they would be telling me, "hold on..wait, I can't do all that!!" I would like to purchase this, but with the year almost done, should I look at something else for them? I don't want my now 6th grader to get any farther behind!!

 

I have been looking at Classical Writing, but a lot of folks on here say it is very time consuming. If that is the case I will end up dropping it.

 

I have been thinking a lot about why all the other writing curriculums that I have tried haven't worked. I have come to realize that if things get complicated or time consuming, I get frustrated with it and drop it.

I am not a writer what so ever and have difficulty grading. I grade them how I think they should look. When H2T graded dc's papers, I was floored at what they saw and told the dc was wrong. I am learning grammar along with my kids and know that I could NEVER tell my kids what and why their assignments are wrong, like they did.

 

I know there are a TON of writing courses out there, but with a mom that has NO clue! What is out there?? Dc do not write like the book, so for me to grade their papers is harder than teaching!

[Trivium Academy]

Hugs and Kudos to you for being honest with yourself!

 

THAT is HUGE!

 

Okay, now that you know what part of the problem is, where to go from here? Can I suggest reassessing your goals? I think if you had solid goals to obtain other than start and finish XYZ writing program, you would feel more confident during the daily ins and outs of a program. If you're buying programs and not using them then I would think you're not choosing the right programs. There's 2 problems I see:

 

1. You may not be choosing materials that truly fit your goals, for instance you might be trying to fit within other's goals without creating your own or being fully aware of your own goals.

SOLUTIONS:

a. figure out your goals

b. look for materials that are the opposite of what you've been doing, look at Writing Strands, IEW and other companies that have done the preparation for the teacher

c. ask the companies that you think will work questions before you buy, I think a lot of us forget that we are able to ask the companies plenty of questions before we make the decision to purchase and a good company welcomes this!

 

2. Every thing will work as long as Mama works. If you find a program/curriculum stick with it! Find support if you need it but don't stop unless it is absolutely necessary. Think of writing like you do math, if you keep changing then your children won't get anywhere. Don't worry about what everyone else uses, find something that will work for you and your kids. It's okay if narration and dictation isn't their or your forte, find a solid program that doesn't use those elements.

[littlefamily]

I have two - dd10 & dd8. We also do not do the dictations/narrations as outlined in the WTM. I felt like we needed to focus on writing this year, so I started with copywork. I usually just take something from what we are reading and make a copywork sheet just on lined paper. I feel the copywork give them examples of good writing and has been very worthwhile.

 

Then my youngest who is not a strong writer has a journal and just writes one sentence on her own every day. We look at it and edit for good sentence structure. My goal for this year is just a good sentence.

 

My oldest is more of a natural writer. I still have her do the copywork, but we also do Writing Tales. I looked at Writing Strands, Jump In, and Classical Writing. Writing Tales stood out to me as the best match because the presentation was appealing to my daughter and it is very straight-forward to implement.

 

Hope that gives you some simple ideas.

[PeterPan]

Gamom3, I confess I haven't followed enough of your posts to understand your situation, so can you identify WHY you don't have time to implement these writing programs? I'm not meaning to be harsh, just a little reality check. Writing and math are the ONLY important academic subjects in early elementary. Everything else is gravy until those are nailed, bonus. If you're finding yourself busy with other things (foreign languages, housework, co-op classes, anything), I'd really do some self-evaluating about your priorities. I'm not meaning to be harsh, just a gentle nudge. Sometimes things creep up on us. I would MAKE a chunk in your day, every day, for the LA (45 minutes to 1 hour per dc) and math (30-45 minutes per dc). THEN fill in everything else.

 

Next, when I googled to try to find some of your posts to understand your situation, I saw you have had posts about economizing. Could I suggest NOT buying another writing program? At least for right now, I wouldn't. You could get enough ideas from the board here to bring your kids up to speed for free, no cost at all, then get on track with a do-able curriculum in the fall. If money is tight, you don't have to spend more to do this. As the others said, I would start with copywork. Since your time is obviously tight, I would start with serious chunks of something interesting, say something from the Chronicles of Narnia. Let them copywork for a set period of time, say 10 minutes. The next day read that back to them and have them write it as dictation. So every day have them write something by copywork and something from dictation. The dictation should not be measley either. I'd expect a 1/2 page written at least. Yes it will be hard, but they WILL improve quickly. Read the entire sentence, then go back and read it in chunks, explaining everything (spelling, punctuation, etc.) so they can write it correctly.

 

I've been teaching a co-op writing class this year with kids in your situation. I have to tell that even a small amount of focused effort will allow them to quickly catch up! You're going to be fine, but you have to make it a priority. Give it a time slot and make it non-negotiable. I would have them doing copywork or dictation EVERY DAY. If you want to alternate them, copyworking one day, writing from dictation the next, that's fine. When that gets easy, go to all dictation. I would also find something really basic they can write every day, something no-brainer. Do you have any lit guides or an english textbook? Have them write out the answers in complete sentences. This takes no-effort on your part to implement but will pay big dividends in making their basic writing skills automatic. It's an easy way to get in quantity, and quantity is half the battle. Then I would have them do something they write (as in think up for themselves) every day. It could be a narration, a book summary, or even just a free write. Anything where they fill up a page will do. If you do the things I've listed, you now have them writing 2 1/2 pages a day, which is a very good amount for those ages. You got it by using things you already have and not spending a dime. Just make a time slot and DO it.

 

The only other thing I'd add to that list would some daily editing, if you have time and are inclined. I had my dd as well as my writing class do it first semester using Take 5 Minutes Daily History Editing. You can download it and print for like $12. They insert correct punctuation and capitalization into a 3 sentence selection, then I had my dd rewrite it correctly. It's another easy, no-brainer way to get in more writing and it builds the HABITS of correct punctuation and caps. After a semester of that, I gave my kids red pens and told them to start editing their own work.

 

Now, you're wondering about a writing program. If you do 3 pages of writing a day (1 page of copywork/dictation, one page of writing for a subject like R&S or lit guide questions, one page of "something"), then you have room to play around with that final "something." For instance, one day a week open up anything you have, beit a book of fairy tales, aesops fables, whatever, read together, make a keyword outline (just some words, nothing fancy, to help you remember the sequence), and then let them rewrite it. Don't make this rocket science. Most of my kids in my class write their drafts the night before class, so you KNOW they don't need all week. Just read it and have them rewrite. There, you just did your own writing program.

 

Don't make this hard. Find some no-brainer, simple ways to get them writing. Set some goals (I suggest 3 pages a day written). Make a time slot so it can happen. You don't have to do it exactly like I'm saying, but the principles still apply. Your kids are quickly going to come back up to speed and you're going to be fine. Since you're not comfy with grammar, can you find something easy to teach that makes you more comfortable? JAG/AG might be just the thing to try for next year. Whatever has been holding you back from success, whomp it and get it out of the way! If you're too busy, carve some spots. If you're not confident, as a friend to look over their writing once a week and make suggestions. The most important thing is to just get them writing in a variety of ways. You don't have to be a perfect editor; none of us are. I'm sure you know enough to tell them to capitalize and put periods. After that, it's spelling and commas, both of which you can handle. You CAN do this! :)

[Gamom3]

When I would look at those writing courses in the beginning. I'd say "ok, this looks simple, I can do this!"

Once my kids hit a wall, I'd crumble and give up. I don't know why, but I do.

I can not explain to them why it is suppose to be done the way it says in the book. When using H2T, they would tell my kids.."Oh, you can't use this in this sentence, because this is a transitive verb and it can't be used with this,because.." Right now, I know I could not tell my kids that. I am learning SLOWLY with R&S grammer, but to use the grammar that we have learned everytime I read one of their sentences I can't, I get confused... BUT, I am learning! In my mind to be able to teach my dc how to write, I am suppose to be able to grade dc's work the way that the teachers on H2T were doing it and be able to explain why.

 

I will try what you told me..starting tomorrow. I appreciate the advice and help.

[PeterPan]

Gamom3, It sounds like you're letting the jargon and professional terms intimidate you. Don't! You don't have to know the fancy grammar terms for everything to know it doesn't sound correct to your ear. Read it aloud with them, sentence by sentence, and see if each sentence is clear and sounds right. If it doesn't, rephrase it together in different ways till it sounds more clear. Yes kids write some kerflewy stuff that won't be decent english, but they also have enough of an ear for english to know (usually) it's not correct. They just haven't taken the time to reread their own work aloud slowly, sentence by sentence, looking for areas that are not clear.

 

Often our kids are writing the way they speak, and so some of the errors that we gloss over in conversation are going to creep into their writing. That's why you're going to read through their work together, aloud, with a red pencil and mark those areas with run-on sentences, sections where the meaning isn't clear, places where they use non-standard wording, etc. We want our most proper, best english when we write on paper. You might have times where you say that that's a thing we might say with our friends but that we might have a fancier, more formal or bookish way of saying it for our school writing. Doing imitation, where they read a model (a fable, whatever), like I described early is a good exercise to help with this, because they naturally begin to imitate the sentence structure of the model. It helps them move beyond any unrealized errors in their everyday speech, kwim? So let models for the writing, dictation, and copywork be your friends in helping combat these problems. You might not know all the terms, but you can head the errors off at the pass by filling their minds with examples of good speech and good writing through the dictation, models to imitate, etc. I've never had any of the 5th or 6th graders in my class say they couldn't understand what I was saying because I didn't use a grammar term. And frankly, if I had used the terms, they probably wouldn't have understood! It's enough to just say it together and realize it doesn't work. Sometimes you might need a word like antecedent (that the pronoun actually has to refer to something and not get pulled from nowhere), but a lot of errors they'll be able to hear if you just work through it together.

 

You DON'T have to do any fancy editing or bring your R&S grammar into your editing. Just get them writing more. Aim for quantity with reasonable correctness. You're not looking for anything fancy, just daily quantity and nailing the basics (caps, commas, no run-ons, etc.). You can do this!!