what if they *WANT* to do creative writing?

[MeganW]

My kids all LOVE to try and write. I haven't encouraged it AT ALL. Two are reading, and two are still sounding out CVC words.

 

One of my 6.5 year old nonreaders just drew a nativity scene and wrote:

Miree ANd Jothise

HAd A BAe His NAm

e Wuz Jese.

 

(Mary & Joseph had a baby. His name was Jesus.)

 

Yes, this is the same child who constantly tells me she can't read. Hates sounding stuff out for me, but will do it to label her pictures. They all do these kinds of exercises all the time on their own.

 

So what should I be doing?

 

1 - encouraging & correcting?

 

2 - encouraging but not correcting?

 

3 - discouraging until they are reading and we have started spelling & grammar & writing?

 

4 - only helping when they ask "how'dja spell xxx?"

 

THANKS!!

[ErinE]

I would encourage and not correct. If they ask how to spell, tell them. Praise, praise, praise and display their work. At this age, spontaneous writing is great and shouldn't be subject to criticism.

 

If they have assigned writing, this is where you can gently correct and steer them in the right direction.

 

Big hugs to your kids! That's fantastic.

[dcjlkplus3]

I don't "correct" but I do write the correct word/spelling above it so that when she shows other people they know what she wrote :D

[Walking-Iris]

My ds is a creative writer---every language arts anything has to have room for him to get creative or he will lose interest faster than that! It's why we don't do copywork---he looked like he was being tortured.

 

I think it's wonderful to encourage creativity in children---I don't understand why that would not be a good thing. :confused:

 

If it's just play writing then praise and enjoy the little stories etc. If it's part of "schooltime" you can work on grammar, spelling etc based on your child's age and abilities.

[MinivanMom]

I would encourage and not correct. If they ask how to spell, tell them. Praise, praise, praise and display their work. At this age, spontaneous writing is great and shouldn't be subject to criticism.

 

If they have assigned writing, this is where you can gently correct and steer them in the right direction.

 

Big hugs to your kids! That's fantastic.

 

:iagree:

 

I would also be tempted to stock up on any kind of supplies that would encourage the spontaneous writing. My kids have loved the journals that have a space above the lines for a drawing and blank books. Every year I order a ton of blank books from Bare Books and I always let my kids have access to plenty of paper and a stapler to assemble their own books.

 

Save the corrections for assigned writing.

[acurtis75]

I would encourage and not correct. If they ask how to spell, tell them. Praise, praise, praise and display their work. At this age, spontaneous writing is great and shouldn't be subject to criticism.

 

If they have assigned writing, this is where you can gently correct and steer them in the right direction.

 

Big hugs to your kids! That's fantastic.

:iagree:

[Amy Jo]

I encourage and do not correct. I enjoy what they write, even though sometimes they have to read it to me. I gave each boy a cheap, spiral bound notebook. When/if they fill it up, I'll give them another. It's theirs to do as they please.

[Ester Maria]

Encourage & not correct, UNLESS the child explicitly asks for the correction (from my experience, they quite often did).

[Caribbean Queen]

Cute!

I do correct my 6 year old's writing because she writes the same words over and over again. Every paper has, "Mom Y luv you." on it. If I let her spell it wrong 35 times in a row it will be hard to spell it right later. I want my children to take correction matter-of-factly. They should feel good about having the words right - not feel good I didn't correct them (and they are wrong.) I don't shy from making corrections in order not to hurt their feelings.

It works for us.

[go_go_gadget]

I don't encourage writing from my kids before they're reading and doing a spelling program, but I don't discourage or correct, either. My concern is that if they do a lot of such writing before they've received formal instruction it'll be harder to break the habit of spelling inventively, and I prefer to instruct rather than remediate. I've been lucky, though, in that both of mine were ready and willing to start phonics and spelling before they started doing a lot of spontaneous writing. I'm not sure what I would have done if they hadn't. I certainly wouldn't correct their spontaneous writing or discourage them from doing it, but I'd probably brainstorm ideas to incorporate phonics into their work in a fun way.

[LindaOz]

I have a few kids that are good creative writers. What I have done at times is actually given them the opportunity to work on that during their school day. I often would make Mon Wed and Fri some sort of English/writing assignment day, but on Tuesday and Thursday it was free writing. So, on those days, at least, they would work on their own stories. We had some wonderful creations coming from those free writing days :) . My 9th grader is still working this way - she does free writing twice a week. Her current story is heading on to 100 typed pages long and still going. I'm glad I gave them that opportunity.

Edited December 8, 2011 by LindaOz

[Kuovonne]

Yes, this is the same child who constantly tells me she can't read. Hates sounding stuff out for me, but will do it to label her pictures.

 

When she's labeling her pictures, she's sounding out to encode her ideas. During reading lessons, it's sounding out to decode someone else's ideas. (1) It's natural to put more effort into writing down her own ideas verus reading words that she's not interested in. (2) Encoding and decoding are related but different skills. It might be easier for her to encode (write) than to read (decode).

 

So what should I be doing?

 

1 - encouraging & correcting?

 

2 - encouraging but not correcting?

 

3 - discouraging until they are reading and we have started spelling & grammar & writing?

 

4 - only helping when they ask "how'dja spell xxx?"

 

THANKS!!

 

I agree with everyone else: a combination of 2 and 4.

 

Cute!

I do correct my 6 year old's writing because she writes the same words over and over again.

 

Same for me. Usually I ignore my almost 6 year old's misspellings. However, when she misspells the same words over and over and over again, I step in and teach her the correct spelling during school time.

 

I don't encourage writing from my kids before they're reading and doing a spelling program, but I don't discourage or correct, either. My concern is that if they do a lot of such writing before they've received formal instruction it'll be harder to break the habit of spelling inventively, and I prefer to instruct rather than remediate.

 

I also prefer to teach reading first, followed by letter formation and spelling, and only then begin any writing. However, my younger daughter had a different schedule. I like to compare it to potty training. Glitter told me that I needed to potty train her by constantly taking her diaper off. I couldn't get her to stop taking the diaper off, so I had to potty train her. Glitter told me that I needed to teach her to form her letters and spell by scrawling letters everywhere. I couldn't stop her from misforming letters and misspelling words, so I had to teach her to write.

[momto2Cs]

I would encourage and not correct. If they ask how to spell, tell them. Praise, praise, praise and display their work. At this age, spontaneous writing is great and shouldn't be subject to criticism.

 

If they have assigned writing, this is where you can gently correct and steer them in the right direction.

 

Big hugs to your kids! That's fantastic.

 

:iagree:

[justLisa]

We only correct academic writing. Writing done by choice is ONLY criticized if they ask for it.

[boscopup]

My middle son is like this. He likes to write stories and illustrate them. He is barely reading (still sounding out cvc words) and can't write actual words even that well yet. I encourage him.

 

Your kids would probably enjoy notebooking, if you aren't already doing that. Even my writing phobic son enjoys it somewhat (journaling is not his thing). He draws a picture and writes one sentence about what he has read. I help him with spelling.

[MeganW]

I don't encourage writing from my kids before they're reading and doing a spelling program, but I don't discourage or correct, either. My concern is that if they do a lot of such writing before they've received formal instruction it'll be harder to break the habit of spelling inventively, and I prefer to instruct rather than remediate.

 

This totally summarizes my concern! My plan was to teach phonics, and not touch writing/spelling/grammar before they were reading well. And not touch creative writing before writing/spelling/grammar were firmly in place.

 

My kids have a different plan! One of these is the kid who I didn't teach handwriting to when she asked b/c she was only 3 1/2, and it wasn't developmentally appropriate, and she figured out her own way to make all the letters and now refuses instruction b/c she thinks she already knows how to do it. I have fighting that battle for 2+ years. I do NOT want another one of those situations!!

 

Alright, I'll just leave it alone unless they ask. THANKS!!!

[boscopup]

My kids have a different plan! One of these is the kid who I didn't teach handwriting to when she asked b/c she was only 3 1/2, and it wasn't developmentally appropriate, and she figured out her own way to make all the letters and now refuses instruction b/c she thinks she already knows how to do it. I have fighting that battle for 2+ years. I do NOT want another one of those situations!!

 

Can you teach her cursive? She might enjoy writing a "new" way... one which you can teach correctly from the beginning. :D

[MeganW]

Can you teach her cursive? She might enjoy writing a "new" way... one which you can teach correctly from the beginning. :D

 

Part of the challenge is that the triplets were preemies and have some lingering developmental issues, and the kid with the handwriting issue is the singleton, who is completely typical and being the baby, the most stubborn and dramatic.

 

New things are hard for the big kids, and after going through the entire HWOT preschool program numerous times with them, they are FINALLY getting the hang of printing. I don't dare introduce cursive to them yet! And although the baby would probably LOVE to learn cursive and learn it easily, I can't teach her before teaching them. It's a mess.

 

I'm thinking about sending her on to public school next year just because it is SO discouraging to the big kids to have their younger sister learn everything so much faster and more easily, and she does NOT make any attempt to be discreet about it. Nothing like your baby sister rubbing things in your face, huh?

[Rosie_0801]

New things are hard for the big kids, and after going through the entire HWOT preschool program numerous times with them, they are FINALLY getting the hang of printing. I don't dare introduce cursive to them yet! And although the baby would probably LOVE to learn cursive and learn it easily, I can't teach her before teaching them. It's a mess.

 

Why not? You can't whisper to the big kids that you need to teach her cursive as a remedial measure? Sell it as a cure to a problem not a privilege?

 

Rosie

[MeganW]

Why not? You can't whisper to the big kids that you need to teach her cursive as a remedial measure? Sell it as a cure to a problem not a privilege?

 

Rosie

 

Hmmm - aren't you devious?? I like it!!! Why didn't I think of that??

[justLisa]

Part of the challenge is that the triplets were preemies and have some lingering developmental issues, and the kid with the handwriting issue is the singleton, who is completely typical and being the baby, the most stubborn and dramatic.

 

New things are hard for the big kids, and after going through the entire HWOT preschool program numerous times with them, they are FINALLY getting the hang of printing. I don't dare introduce cursive to them yet! And although the baby would probably LOVE to learn cursive and learn it easily, I can't teach her before teaching them. It's a mess.

 

I'm thinking about sending her on to public school next year just because it is SO discouraging to the big kids to have their younger sister learn everything so much faster and more easily, and she does NOT make any attempt to be discreet about it. Nothing like your baby sister rubbing things in your face, huh?

 

THis post is quite bothersome. It seems you fear for the olders, and the younger must adhere to a certain set of rules to not "rub things in to big kids face." Different children have different learning abilities and styles. I think with the proper attitude about it you could turn that "rubbing it into the olders faces" into "look mommy I'm so proud of myself, I can write in cursive!" Maybe that's more of it already and you cannot see it because you are worried about the others? 4 year old being discreet? It is quite a load of pressure, to expect a 4 year old to fully understand and have to deal with everything you and the older kids struggle with. She needs to be an individual too, not spend her life worrying about who she will make feel bad because of an accomplishment. Is that really fair? I say this gently, and I mean no snark.....I'm not in your shoes.

 

The way you worded that last sentence, it's like your sending her to school as punishment for not "caring" enough for her siblings.

 

Maybe you should try to find something the others like to do but the baby does not? Then each have something individual

[zenjenn]

I used to have my daughter narrate stories to me. I'd write them down, correcting them minimally (and I didn't *tell* her I was correcting them, I just would do so discreetly as I typed what she narrated - just automatically changing "runned" to "ran" or whatever.) Then I would read it back to her.

 

Sometimes we'd print it out with space for pictures so she could "make a book" out of it. :)

 

Also have you ever watched documentary about how they make animated movies? My daughter used to watch those on the bonus features of animated DVDs as early as 3 yrs old. She was fascinated by the storyboarding process and would tell stories in storyboard format... also a great storytelling exercise for kids of all ages.

[Embassy]

You ask a difficult question. I have a child who started writing letters at age 3, but I didn't start instruction with him until he was 4.5. Now he is almost 8 and his handwriting skills are starting to get on track. When he was young I didn't encourage him and didn't discourage him. He wrote so much with incorrect spelling and with an incorrect grip that it took awhile to overcome the hump of invented spelling and poor grip. I've started cursive this year because his letter formation is still problematic. So far so good :) This past year I have gone intensive with spelling and phonics since he was a great reader and a very poor speller. He is on track with spelling now.

 

My little girl started doing the same thing with writing letters at age 3. I am not encouraging her. I'm trying to redirect her and provide feedback about how I form letters when she asks me. At least she uses a correct grip. I do encourage her to trace Mandarin characters since she enjoys Mandarin. I'd rather she wait to learn how to form letters. I don't plan to start her on any formal instruction for another year and a half. At that point I would probably do cursive first.

 

So in short, I wouldn't stop my child but I would redirect or provide instruction if possible. I wouldn't correct, but I would provide correctly spelled words when asked and possibly praise them for a nicely printed word or a correctly spelled word (although I have to be careful because my child is a bit of a perfectionist so I need to praise the effort rather than the end product).