9yo writing - help

[Karen in CO]

I'm in the process of overhauling LA for my 9yo dd. I think thatshe should be writing more. My BIG problem is that I don't know how much she should be writing.

 

Here's our writing schedule and outputs for the this week.

 

Monday - copywork from George Washington's Rules of Civility - one item which equaled about two nice, long sentences. She is trying to increase her copywork speed by keep whole phrases pictured in her mind instead of just copying one word at a time. At the end of the school day, she worked on a lapbook project that was much planning, researching, and cutting and little writing.

 

Tuesday - a repeat of Monday

 

Wednesday - A short answer question for history. This could be generously considered a short essay. It was two paragraphs and about 10 sentences. She finished off the day working on the lapbook again.

 

Thursday - she was at her enrichment school.

 

Friday - She wanted to do a journal entry because she had a terrific dream last night. She only got about 3 sentences on paper before she became frustrated with trying to get her ideas onto the paper. She dictated the rest to me which I wrote down for her so that she didn't lose her idea. The sentences were beautiful, well-formed and had a nice flow. She is planning to work more in her lapbook in the afternoon.

 

So.......Is she writing enough? Am I asking too much? Am I expecting too little? She doesn't write in any other subject except. How much and what type of writing does your child produce?

 

Thanks.

[thowell]

We havent been doing this long so I can only say what we are doing. I do alot of the same things you listed above. I also have her write one paper a week either a newpaper article, a travel brochure or a short story about one thing in whichever subject she prefers. She is getting really good in her dictations and I can see her writing evolving as well. The once a week paper is at least 3 paragraphs. She picks her topic on Monday, turns in a rough draft and we correct on Wednesday and then turns in finished paper on Friday. Between this and copywork and dictation I am seeing much better results than I ever have with an actual writing program. Oh, I forgot she also writes in her nature journal 2x a week but those are normally short and I do not correct those.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

Is she working through WWE that is listed in your signature? I recommend finishing that and maybe looking at MCT or IEW?;)

[Karen in CO]

Is she working through WWE that is listed in your signature? I recommend finishing that and maybe looking at MCT or IEW?;)

 

We were working on it earlier in the year, and I still go through each week to pick up the grammar topic or writing idea for the week so that I can bring that out in our copywork. She doesn't like the reading selection or the copywork sentences. The reading level of the selected books is far below her reading level which is why it wasn't working. We were doing SL 3+4 LA earlier and had the same problem. I still go through that each week for ideas and inspiration, and I refuse to take it out my signature until I really "give up" on it. ;) I can't figure out how to use a writing program that is integrated with reading selections.

[bethben]

:lurk5:

[Guest]

I'll go against the flow here and suggest that at age nine you can still make writing more of a game, or a social activity, than an assignment. Peggy Kaye has a wonderful book called Games For Writing which approaches writing in a friendly, exploratory, creative, and non-threatening way that might help your child loosen up and feel more free to just mess around, at least some of the time. My daughter and I also played a game for years called "Letter Send," in which her dolls wrote letters back and forth, wrote "Wanted" posters for misbehaving dolls, etc. You can work it into something that is not an assignment, not a formal paper, not focused on grammar just yet. Instead of formal paragraphs for a history assignment, have her try making a travel brochure (use lots of pictures, little text). If she likes science, let her start drawing and writing about what she sees or experiments she does. If she's artsy, start an art notebook with textures, digital photos, copies of paintings and notes she makes for herself. Start with her interests and go from there.

With a little bit of formal work to balance it all out things should get both easier and much less arduous.

 

Also, remember that every kid is different, and on a different developmental timetable. My daughter did not start producing longer pieces of writing until she was in about fifth grade, and then she just took off.

[lovemykids]

My nine year old dd does writing class with her older sister because she wants to. (my oldest has additional writing that she does not participate in) They both do select assignments and the dictation from SL LA 4. But instead of the dictation, she does copywork. She also finds her own two paragraph copywork selections from her current AO literature selection. (I approve it) Every week, or every other week, the girls work on IEW SWWI together. My third grader is also working through Wordsmith Apprentice, at her request. I may ask for letters to friends or family every once in awhile. Occasionally, she journals or writes stories but that is left as her decision.

At this age, I do not require written narrations or summaries. Next year I will require them, and I even go so far as to ask for “book reportsâ€, in my situation the children face possible entry into PS at some point, so I don’t want them to be intimidated by book reports or a lot of writing. At the same time, I do not want to push writing the same way PS does.

We don’t have a set schedule per say, some weeks we do more copywork than anything else. Other weeks we have up to three formal-ish writing classes. When her older sister was this age, I mainly required copywork and a little spelling dictation; that was the extent of it. So basically, my nine year old is having fun with writing.

It sounds like your dd is doing great!

:)

[eternalknot]

My 9 year old doesn't do journals, but he is pretty regular in writing letters to family and friends - a few each week. He does a lot of writing outside of homeschool -- always making lists and plans (active imagination) so I ask him to make some for me, too. Usually a to-do plan or grocery list. He and I usually write down notes to each other when we're discussing something we don't want my younger daughter to know or find out :) we have a small notebook that we trade back and forth throughout the day, sometimes just random silly thoughts and sometimes annoying questions like, "What's for dinner?" and "Why did you not fold our socks right side out before putting them into my laundry?!?!?" LOL. It's been a great way to get him writing more, moreso from thoughts than from other sources (outlines, etc) and very low-key, no-pressure.

 

He also likes to fill in forms. I was working with him on physical writing (as opposed to content writing) so picking up random CC forms or library forms or any kind of form was good practice for him. He loved those, especially ones I actually turned in (comment cards, etc.)

 

Until recently he would experience the same frustration that your daughter did, about having too fast a mental flow for her hands to keep up with. I let him use the voice-recording feature on my cell phone to record his thoughts; then he goes back and stops/starts it so he can better write on his own. I tried this with a regular old recording cassette player I had left over from college, but he wasn't into that as much as he was into using the silly cell phone. It's been a great help to him, though, and is worth considering for your daughter as well. He can even download them to the computer to type out.

[Karen in CO]

Thank you - these specific examples help.

 

I think she would love to write notes - we've been spelling things to each other, but the younger one is learning to spell so the notes would be fun for both of them.

 

I've also looked at Wordsmith Apprentice - I'll see if my teacher store has it in stock so that she can look at it.

 

This week, I had her narrate into the iMovie on the computer. We'll play with that to see how we can use that with our writing.

 

I think we might try nature journals for science when spring finally arrives. She is artsy so she'll either love it or hate that I tried to turn art into a writing assignment.

 

I do have IEW TWSS and have done SWI-C with my oldest - maybe I need to dust them off to see about including them periodically.

 

I like that ya'll use a variety of methods to encourage writing.