How much writing do you require of your dc?

[Gamom3]

Just curious as to how much writing you require of your dc and what are their ages?

 

Where do you get your ideas for their writing?

[Linda...inOwasso]

For dd7, we use IEW daily but the amount of actual "writing" varies. For instance, Monday she will read a paragraph and make her key work outline. Tuesday she will retell the story verbally from her outline alone. Wednesday she will write a 1st draft from her outline. Thursday she will edit her outline and Friday she will write the final draft.

 

She also does Simply Spelling, which requires her to copy the same passage every day for a week. She does a history narration each week which I write down for her and then she copies it for her history notebook. Lastly, during the summer months (when we take a break from Simply Spelling) she copies a different paragraph from good literature each day. I try to select passages from a quality book that I'd *like* for her to read or at least have me read to her. So, I select the most interesting passages I can in an attempt to whet her appetite.

[Pretty in Pink]

we do formal "writing" every other week. my ds is 9 and he has done friendly letters, letters of instruction using time-order words, book reports, compare/contrast papers, etc. we use BJU english and just got writing aids.

 

aside from that...he does science 3x a week and always summarizes his reading in his notebook. i require him to use all of the bold print words in his summary. he is pretty good about filling up his pages.

 

he participates in a poetry workshop twice a month in which the students create their own pieces. he really likes that!

 

every week he has a list of vocabulary words that i assign two tasks for: first, to write his own definition or, if he doesn't know the word, to look up and write the definition. second, to write a story using all of the words.

 

he practices handwriting daily.

[Laura Corin]

Calvin does a history piece about ever second week and two or three extended pieces for English each month. I come up with the history ideas, but the English ones come from English Prep and Lightning Lit. He also does lots of shorter exercises from those two curricula.

 

Hobbes writes some kind of story most weeks, plus exercises for Junior English. Some of the ideas come from JE, but he often has different ideas of his own.

 

Both boys also do handwriting practice.

 

Laura

[freethinkermom]

Ds11 does one or two full five paragraph or longer essays each week along with several pages of either comprehension questions or the various writing assignments from History Odyssey L2 Early Modern (which I think is much more writing intensive than how I see other L2 HO levels described) which vary from one paragraph to one page biographies and forms that get filled out about events. Right now we are in our American Lit block (alternate with HO). He is doing a few pages of comprehension questions and two multi-page writing projects over the next 12 school days. He also writes a couple of paragraphs using the challenge words from Vocabulary from Classical Roots every week. Normally he would be doing some writing for science too. We are in an in between phase waiting for him to finish Algebra 1 before he starts AP/Clep chemistry. Both boys, ds11 and ds6, are doing the cybered Earth Science for fun in the meantime which needs no writing.

 

But realize he is essentially and advanced ninth grader, so the amount is not that unusual, or at least I do not think it is. He is done around lunch time everyday, so he is not exactly slaving over a keyboard all day.

[BizyPenguin]

2 writing lessons per week (Thurs. and Friday). We use Bob Jones English (just the writing portion). My ds also does some notebooking writing pages for Bible. He will also begin doing some book reviews and written narrations of upcoming history books we'll be reading.

[Kate in Arabia]

10 yr old ds (4th grade, Dec birthday):

We use Classical Writing; he just finished Aesop B a few weeks ago, which had him completing a writing project each week. We started Beginning Poetry and will do this for the remainder of the academic year, he has copywork (copying the poem being studied) and writing (writing his own poetry through imitation) each week. He finished the Zaner-Bloser book for his grade, and we're just filling in with the poetry copywork to get us through the year for handwriting.

 

He generally has two history narrations a week, usually one or two small paragraphs. In science he keeps a lab book, so whatever writing is required there, answering questions and recording data. He's keeping a book journal this year for books he reads; I haven't really required anything other than the book title and author, but in looking through it yesterday I see he has generally written a couple of sentences per book, sometimes a summary sometimes quotes from the book.

 

We also study Arabic, so he has writing to do with that as well, not quite as advanced as in English, but copywork, writing sentences, etc.

 

6 yr old ds (1st grade)

He already finished his Zaner-Bloser handwriting book for the year, so I'm using copybooks I find online or handwriting worksheets for penmanship.

 

He's not at a point where he can do a lot of writing, he writes words and copies book titles, etc. We do Spelling Workout A, so he writes for that, and he has copywork for history and science.

 

He does a lot of writing on his own, but his spelling and handwriting are atrocious, lol; I don't correct him with that because I don't want to curb his love of writing or his creativity.

 

He is also studying Arabic, his writing there is still focused on the alphabet and simple words from the lesson. Arabic is very straightforward spelling-wise but actual writing is a bit more complicated for newbies, so we're not in a hurry to get to sentences or what have you.

[Closeacademy]

In 1st grade we just do copywork.

 

In 2nd grade, we are making shortened versions of Aesop's fables. I read the story on Monday, my dd composes on Tuesdays and I write down her composition and the rest of the week she illustrates and copies her composition. She generally writes 4 to 6 sentences. As the year goes on, we plan to add in some extra description and dialogue to these pieces but that may not happend until summer.

 

We are using the progymnasmata as our framework.:)

[Beth in Central TX]

For my older boys in 5th & 6th grade, they do about 2-3 writing assignments per week. They always have a copywork and a writing assignment in Classical Writing each week. Each boy has a have specific literature list assigned that I've tied to the history period they are studying. Once they finish the book, they write a book report. They have notebook narrations assigned through the Elementary Apologia series we use. Finally, they have written history narrations assigned, but that's usually only twice a month. I've planned these assignments out so that they have at least 2 written assignments a week, but no more than 3. At their age, the writing assignments need to be 3/4 to 1 page long.

 

HTH!

[mcconnellboys]

I'm not requiring nearly enough for my younger ds, but then again, I was too heavy handed with my older son - where to strike the balance?

 

My younger son writes out his spelling exercises daily. He writes out his grammar work, although we modify to not require him to simply recopy sentences, and on some days diagrams sentences.

 

He's completed a handwriting program for the year (Getty Dubay Italics), along with a supplemental copybook during the Advent season. We use various things for writing, including exercises from his grammar book (Abeka), Write Source Writer's Express handbook, and Intermediate Language Lessons, but I don't have him writing from these sources *daily*, as I'm sure I should......

 

He's done a little history outlining, but not that much. He does some writing associated with his Bible study. And there's some other miscellaneous writing that gets done, but not the true writing of compositions which I think you mean.

 

I have my writing plans in place for next year (Write Shop, et al), and he will begin outlining weekly for history and writing science reports next year. For the lengthier things that I've had him do this year, he seems to do well, so I believe he'll be okay with it - we'll see, LOL.....

 

Regena

[siloam]

K-2nd almost none. Just Dictation (daily starting in 1st) and handwriting.

 

End of 2nd I start teaching them typing.

 

In 3rd I start doing narrations daily, I write. We start CW, and they type their models. I also introduce lapbooks.

 

For 4th I took SWB's suggestion and have my 10yo writing her own narrations, doing TOG writing teaching outlining and paragraphs and CW. She does one lapbook a day, and the state cards/president cards from TOG. This is the first year she hasn't been terribly pencil phobic.

 

Next year will be Homer and TOG's 3 point paragraph.

 

Oh and I looked at the testing scores of the ps around me and most schools scored in the 30% area, untill high school where they actually came up to about 60%. Ps may have more writing, but for all their writing the scores don't reflect it. While my kids start out behind they don't have an attitude about it either and I think they have enough time to end up right on schedule.

 

Heather

[keithfamily5]

Last year we really didn't do much at all. It was our first year and I knew we needed to hit that harder this year. We are using Shurley English 2 with my 2nd grader. She is writing a 3 point expository paragraph once a week and journaling about 3 times a week.

 

My 5th grader is using Shurley English 4 and is now writing one 3 paragraph essay and one 5 paragraph essay each week with journaling about 3 times a week. Shurley has really helped. Writing is my weakness. They have learned to write their paragraph's and essay's using an outline. They are quite happy to do their writing assignments now. The youngest is begging for more during the week. I am also doing light copywork with them both. The oldest outlines in the history encyclopedia as well.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Patty

[AngieW in Texas]

My 14yo is using US History-based Writing Lessons. I'm having her work through it at double-pace. Each volume is supposed to take a full schoolyear of 1x/week co-op classes. Since she's doing it at home with me, we can get through 3-4 lessons every two weeks.

 

My 12yo is writing papers (some reports, some retellings of folktales, some stories) related to what she is studying in history or science. She writes one almost every week - 3-4/month.

 

My 9yo is dyslexic, so her writing requirements are pretty light. Generally I have her spend one week working on a single paragraph report that has something to do with the country we're working on and then she gets to spend one week working on a story that she's writing since July.