How much writing do you require in HS?

[klmama]

A local discussion regarding writing requirements has me wondering what you all do.   

 

How much do your high school students write in a week in their literature and history courses?  Please estimate the number of typed, double-spaced pages that writing would fill. 

 

Likewise, do you ask your dc to do all of their own editing before turning in a finished paper for grading, do you have them turn in multiple drafts for comments and corrects with grades on each draft, or do you allow multiple drafts and give a grade based only on the final copy? 

 

Thanks for sharing how it works at your house!

 

[EKS]

I require my high school students to write about 2-5 pages per week.  This would be for English, history, and science together.  Contrast this to the private high school my son went to for a year, which required less than 10 pages per *year* total across all classes.

 

As for the editing--I've done it both ways.  The goal is to have the kid do as much editing as possible himself, but I've found that can't just give a checklist and a rubric and expect that to happen.

[freesia]

I require my high school students to write about 2-5 pages per week.  This would be for English, history, and science together.  Contrast this to the private high school my son went to for a year, which required less than 10 pages per *year* total across all classes.

 

As for the editing--I've done it both ways.  The goal is to have the kid do as much editing as possible himself, but I've found that can't just give a checklist and a rubric and expect that to happen.

This is my goal, too. One quarter into Grade 9 he is probably averaging more like 3 2 pages essays every 4 weeks.

 

I mostly do drafts as I believe that this leads to the most progress in writing. I'm not convinced ds internalizes anything that I write on his papers and don't make him fix.

[Julie of KY]

I'm on the light side as my high schooler is severely dysgraphic and has language issues causing him to have a hard time putting it all together. I'm pushing his writing this year - mostly with Bravewriter courses. It's not a LOT of writing, but working through a quality process and it is stretching my child.

 

I look at writing like a lot of things - what is your goal? if it's busywork, then get rid of it. I think different student would blossom or die under too much/too little writing. Homeschooling is great in that you don't have to make one size fit your child. Some kids need to be pushed with lots of writing, others need less so that they can learn to do a quality job without being overwhelmed.

[8filltheheart]

I typically require some sort of objective toward an essay weekly (whether that is researching, rough draft, editing, whatever). Length is never dictated. The length is determined by the topic choice and whatever it takes to discuss thoroughly. I expect my kids to do their own editing first, but I do go through an edit with them before they turn in their final copy.

 

FWIW, some papers are simple and are completed in a week. Others are more involved and might take 2-3 weeks to complete.

 

I don't accept any paper that isn't A quality. I would hand it back and make them re-write it.

 

Right now my dd is writing weekly essays in Russian as well!

[rdj2027]

My son is enrolled in Lukeion's Ancient Literature class and writes four papers per semester; the length varies.  He is working on his second paper this semester for geography (would have to look how many more are coming up).  Other than that there is not much writing (Math, physics, Latin, Music and PE are not really writing subjects).  Last year (8th grade) he took a HS level writing class and wrote considerably more.

[JennW in SoCal]

It averaged out to about 4 essays per month, one each for English, history and science and the 4th was usually another subject or project. The length varied, and I never paid attention to word count until we were putting together the Common Application!  I always edited and expected papers to be revised to reflect the edits.  I never called them drafts and final papers, though that is what it was.  I didn't give grades -- if the paper wasn't good enough it had to be rewritten.  And sometimes I just let it go if there had been improvement but it still wasn't a terrific paper, we'd move on.  

 

There were other smaller writing tasks such as short, 1 page summaries of findings from simple research topics.

[MerryAtHope]

Daily history notes (a paragraph to half a page written.)

 

About an essay per month (1-3 typed pages) that goes through a revision process & is polished. They do editing but I also have them turn in drafts and help with a final mop-up.

 

1-2 longer research projects per year (3-5 pages).

 

Occasional lit responses that might be a paragraph or  might be 1-2 page paper. 

[amyco]

My dd writes 1 two page paper per week on a topic of her choice from anything she's studied that week.  She also has to write a context paper for each new novel (usually 2 pages).  Also she turns in her handwritten notes from history and genre studies, as well as any notes she's taken on her fiction reading.  She's supposed to be working on a 6-8 page research paper due in December.  I go by SWB's motto of more papers of shorter length are better than fewer longer papers.