? About the No more 'I'm done!' book...

[Gentlemommy]

Could this be done effectively with me as the scribe? Dd is 7, and has had a difficult time with reading and writing. She is very self conscious about spelling and reversing her letters. She also tires quickly with writing, and so will write the shortest possible story/letter/ect possible. :001_huh: I was thinking that if she knew I would scribe for her, maybe she would feel freer to give more details, go into more depth, make her writing more substantial. She does do copywork and narration and handwriting practice, this would be for the creative writing aspect. Or should I put this aside until she can write for ten minutes and not feel so hindered by her delays?

[Amy Jo]

I'll bump this for you! I don't have the book (yet), but I was reading the preview, and she talks about using the program with drawing for kindergarten.

 

I also found this to be true (from charlottemasonhelp): "He may draw the same picture over and over for several days. This is normal. Gradually, as his confidence grows he begins to add more words and less pictures." My eldest, who sounds like your DD with reading & writing, has done this. He started with pictures, I eventually asked him to write one sentence a day (it could be copied from the text, or just two words - I wasn't picky). Today he decided to write a short song!

 

One other thing that helped him write - and I can't remember if it was my idea or his, LOL. I gave him a notebook (the ones you get for 10 cents about now) and told him he could make a book of his own. He filled several pages with both pictures and text. And I'll echo some oft-repeated advise: DON'T read what she writes. Have her read it to you - much more enjoyable for you both, and you can respond to JUST the content.

 

I'm really looking forward to getting the NMID book - I think my boys will really love it. And maybe it will inspire me to write more!

[Pen]

What is this book? I saw it mentioned on another thread, thought it looked interesting, but could not get it to download on Amazon to read about what it is. (I have slow dial-up.)

[momto10blessings]

you can download the book on the author's website

[Miss Tick]

Sure, you could scribe, but I think that would defeat the author's goal of creating "independent writers". I haven't finished reading it, but the first couple of chapters go into a lot of detail about having kids use phonetic spelling (I anticipate some trouble adopting that here), draw pictures before, during or after they complete their writing, come up with their own writing topics, and for the facilitator to focus on teaching one skill at a time and let the others go. An individual writing project takes as long as the child deems necessary to finish.

 

I am looking forward to trying this approach for creative writing here this Fall - but so far I am just reading. That said, I think Ms. Jacobson would say that this approach to writing will help your dd develop stamina and depth in her writing on her own. She says it is not unusual to start with 10 minutes of a mini-lesson (i.e. read a picture book and discuss an aspect of the writing) and then have the dc write for 10 minutes. She also has 10 minutes for "author's chair" where one of the classroom students reads her piece aloud and answers questions - but surely this would not start right away. Looking ahead, after she gives a potential outline for the first 4 weeks, most of the book is ideas for mini-lessons - my kind of hand-holding writing help.

 

You can view the entire book online here.

[daughterofsarah77]

I think it would work. My dd is 8, very resistant, and difficult to make independant, and I believe it will work out fine for us. I think it is just the gentle approach she needs.

[Ecclecticmum]

I know my plan is to do "Jot It Down!" and lots of creative thinking stuff (Anticoloring books, Tin Man Press, Mind Sparklers) whilst we get upto a point where she can read a simple (but not beginner) book, then start with "No more, I'm done" and expect what the OP said further above, that should would originally concentrate more on the drawing, and slowly go to more writing. So we'll start that somewhere towards the mid-end of Jot it down, then once Jot It Down's finished move over to The Wand. But I'm more going to be using it for extra ideas, and adding some extra creative juices to it. More like as an extra backbone to the Writer's Jungle for littlies.

 

Honestly I don't see them harm is she is reading and writing, to purchase the book, read it through and start slowly implementing it. I think adding another view (like this book) may be the thing she needs to bolster her writing.

 

If she's that self-conscious about her spelling and reversings, i would suggest "ignoring" them just for a little bit, till she gets her confidence up in her writing (it depends how low her self-esteem is on this, if she's merely a bit "shy" you can skip this part)

 

I usually find turning it around so its a game (from basic to more complex) can make all the difference. She can pretend she's drawing and illustrating a beginning readers book (Sam sat. Sam sat on Mat etc) once she's finished, she has to hand it over to her "editor" - i.e. you. You then pencil and mark the errors, provide it back to the child, let her read over it and pronounce it "done". You can then get her to "re-type" with the corrections, onto the computer, then scan in her photos, and print out her "published work". I have done similar games with children I babysat, and children anywhere from (3 - just doing pictures, and me writing down the story - to 10yos love this sort of thing) it all depends on the individual child of course. Another option than the scanning and re-printing if your budgeted on ink, is to just print out the typed sentence pages, and the child can cut and paste her picture. The "corrected" original version and the typed "published" version can then go in her portfolio (although a lot of children will just hold on to their "published" book and show anyone whom they see ;) Its also a good thing to send to relatives "Mommy/Editor, can you publish one for Grandma and we can mail it to her?" etc.

 

:001_smile: