Help me save writing

[Whereneverever]

For my oldest. We have tried WWE, I have looked at IEW and the videos confused me, R&S, and now Writing Tales. She usually loves something for about two weeks, and then goes back to the mantra of hating writing.

 

This child is perfectionistic and strong willed. She's an excellent reader and loves to read. She also enjoys math. She loves reading about science but asking her to do any writing on it is drama.

 

No learning disabilities. She wears glasses but her prescription is current. She draws and colors well, so I don't think it's a hand hurting muscle issue.

 

Her handwriting used to be beautiful but it is sloppy now.

 

She just hates writing.

 

My DH suggested just stopping teaching it for a while. I don't know how I feel about that, but I do know I'm tired of fighting with her. I'm not good at battles. :/

 

Help!

[dbmamaz]

i'm a big bravewriter fan - read the writers jungle and start a program based on that . . .copy work, reading poetry, free writing, editing her own writing . . . once a week for each iir . . . bravewriter is all about keeping the child's love of communication alive and helping them find their own voice and be engaged with writing. its usually half price at the coop

[brendag]

I agree with dbmamaz, although I'm sure others will have other suggestions as well. There are a lot of smart cookies on the forums! ;) I'm currently reading The Writer's Jungle (Bravewriter author). I'm really liking it so far! We haven't started a formal writing program yet, but my ds sounds like your dd and I just have a gut feeling (I listen to it) that some of the other programs that I wanted to try (WWE, Classical Writing) are not going to be to his liking. I want writing to be enjoyable for him as well as my language and writing lovin' dd. :) I just bought it a few weeks ago from HSBC at 1/2 price and it looks like it still is.

[ByGrace3]

Agreeing with the Bravewriter suggestion. I am currently reading The Writers Jungle and have been very inspired. Can't wait to get started!

[Whereneverever]

I am with you on this. My dd (1st grade) is similar to yours it sounds like. She hates the physical act of writing, although there are no other issues. Is it a spelling issue? My dd doesn't like to knowingly misspell words. I got her a little $2 pamphlet with common words in it and she copies them out of that instead of "sounding them out" which she hated doing --I'm talking about words she hadn't been taught to spell. I am looking at the IEW curriculum for younger ones, Bible Heroes I think it is. How about if she narrates to you and you do the writing?

 

She is an uncannily good speller. I have done the writing for her for a long time, but she's turning nine in a matter of weeks and I feel like she needs to use a pencil herself as well, Kwim?

 

 

Everyone else, I'll have to look at Bravewriter. I'm nervous about investing in another program and it flopping...

 

:-/

[Momof3littles]

I'm with you. My son is the male version of your DD. He just turned 9. Excellent speller, very good verbal skills. His narrations in WWE 3 are great. He doesn't really like poetry but produced some great stuff using MoH and BL, albeit with great handwringing and occasional tears.

 

I bought TWJ a few weeks ago but haven't gotten to read it yet. I want to get it printed so I can flip around more easily. I also read the book No More I'm Done, which was recommended here.

 

My son seems to do okay now with a one paragraph summary of what he's read in SOTW. He dislikes the "creative" part of writing much more.

 

He's very much a perfectionist. He hates, hates, hates to edit, no matter how much I encourage cross outs, sloppiness, etc. In No More I'm Done, the author talks about teaching kids to literally take scissors to their composition to cut up the physical pieces so they can rearrange them. I need to work more on all of that this year.

[mom2att]

Have you listened to SWB's audio lectures on writing? Really worth the $3.99 download price, IMO: Find them here. In short, writing is a much more complicated process than the schools would lead us to believe. An eight year old is still at the beginning of that process in most cases.

 

ETA: Reported SPAM in the post above mine.

[TarynB]

OP, your description of your DD is exactly like my DS. I highly recommend IEW's Student Writing Intensive. (Not the TWSS if it confuses you.) It will give both you and your DD lots of hand-holding and clear, step by step lessons, but you will need to be involved. Lots and lots of threads to explain it. IEW changed our world, really. Turned my anti-writing DS into a writer who believes he is good at it and can enjoy it.

 

I've never used Writer's Jungle, but I've looked at it, and *I* need more hand-holding and open-and-go than it provides.

 

Also, is your DD learning to type? Learning that skill also made a huge difference for my DS.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I heartily recommend No More "I'm Done!" for resistant writers, because it's fun. I agree that Brave Writer is also good for resistant writers but, in all honesty, if you had a hard time understanding IEW, you will likely also struggle with Brave Writer. It is a book for teachers and there are lots of wonderful ideas, but no sequence, no lesson plans, etc. NMID has very clear lessons laid out.

 

You can incorporate Show Me a Story if she has a creative/crafty streak.

 

http://www.amazon.com/No-More-Done-Fostering-Independent/dp/1571107843/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363451878&sr=8-1&keywords=no+more+i%27m+done

 

http://www.amazon.com/Show-Story-Activities-Childrens-Storytelling/dp/1603429883/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363452069&sr=8-1&keywords=show+me+a+story

 

ETA: I do also agree with your DH about stopping for a while.

[junepep]

Does she seem to have trouble getting more than a few words on the page at a time and then stare rather blankly at her page? (perhaps she's having trouble remembering what she was going to write and getting frustrated with herself, making it even harder to form further sentences)

 

What is it about each writing program that she "hates"? (if she liked each one at first could you use all of the ones that you have and simply let her choose which one each day? or cycle through one lesson in each every week? Were the assignments so easy as to be insulting?)

 

 

Lastly, what are you looking to get out of a writing program - ie what are your goals for your daughter's writing?

 

We all teach writing for different reasons - I want my children to be particularly strong in grammar and sentence construction, as a secondary goal I'd like them to clearly distill the ideas of others into smaller fragments - therefore I'll be using MCT and supplementing with WWE. Other people prefer to focus on their children being able to express their own thoughts, and still others prefer to train their children in mechanics of academic writing, etc.

 

If your goal for this year is "just" to get her to write something that you can read and go over with her - then perhaps assigning one writing project of her choice each week with the understanding that she'll rewrite it after you correct it with her best handwriting might work. The assignment could be a poem, story, letter to a relative/friend, written narration of her history or science project, or even a book report (and all of these can be with or without illustrations).

 

Alternatively, if you don't even need to correct it, and you just want her to be using a pencil, she can start a journal and just tell her to write anything in it each day. She can leave the table once she has written half of a page. At first you might get a lot of: something something something something something something or I hate this I hate this I hate this etc, but eventually that gets boring as well, especially if you have to do it every single day, so perhaps she might find her way to writing something that way.

 

Good luck! :)

 

ETR: I missed that you'd said that she enjoys drawing and coloring

[Whereneverever]

I'm with you. My son is the male version of your DD. He just turned 9. Excellent speller, very good verbal skills. His narrations in WWE 3 are great. He doesn't really like poetry but produced some great stuff using MoH and BL, albeit with great handwringing and occasional tears.

 

I bought TWJ a few weeks ago but haven't gotten to read it yet. I want to get it printed so I can flip around more easily. I also read the book No More I'm Done, which was recommended here.

 

My son seems to do okay now with a one paragraph summary of what he's read in SOTW. He dislikes the "creative" part of writing much more.

 

He's very much a perfectionist. He hates, hates, hates to edit, no matter how much I encourage cross outs, sloppiness, etc. In No More I'm Done, the author talks about teaching kids to literally take scissors to their composition to cut up the physical pieces so they can rearrange them. I need to work more on all of that this year.

 

 

I love the cutting idea, I'll have to try that!

 

Have you listened to SWB's audio lectures on writing? Really worth the $3.99 download price, IMO: Find them here. In short, writing is a much more complicated process than the schools would lead us to believe. An eight year old is still at the beginning of that process in most cases.

 

ETA: Reported SPAM in the post above mine.

 

 

I can't listen to the audio files. My hearing won't cooperate. :) I have read her book on writing, though, as well as the WTM section and I believe I understand her thinking.

 

OP, your description of your DD is exactly like my DS. I highly recommend IEW's Student Writing Intensive. (Not the TWSS if it confuses you.) It will give both you and your DD lots of hand-holding and clear, step by step lessons, but you will need to be involved. Lots and lots of threads to explain it. IEW changed our world, really. Turned my anti-writing DS into a writer who believes he is good at it and can enjoy it.

 

I've never used Writer's Jungle, but I've looked at it, and *I* need more hand-holding and open-and-go than it provides.

 

Also, is your DD learning to type? Learning that skill also made a huge difference for my DS.

 

 

She's not learned to type yet, I'm planning that for the fall. Maybe I should move that up, though. And I will look at the student intensives, thanks!

 

I heartily recommend No More "I'm Done!" for resistant writers, because it's fun. I agree that Brave Writer is also good for resistant writers but, in all honesty, if you had a hard time understanding IEW, you will likely also struggle with Brave Writer. It is a book for teachers and there are lots of wonderful ideas, but no sequence, no lesson plans, etc. NMID has very clear lessons laid out.

 

You can incorporate Show Me a Story if she has a creative/crafty streak.

 

http://www.amazon.com/No-More-Done-Fostering-Independent/dp/1571107843/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363451878&sr=8-1&keywords=no+more+i%27m+done

 

http://www.amazon.com/Show-Story-Activities-Childrens-Storytelling/dp/1603429883/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363452069&sr=8-1&keywords=show+me+a+story

 

ETA: I do also agree with your DH about stopping for a while.

 

 

It wasn't the ideas that confused me- it's that there are no subtitles and I can't hear it well enough to follow. I should have clarified I was confused because I tried to watch without being able to catch the dialog. ;)

 

I'll check out your suggestions, thanks!

 

 

 

Does she seem to have trouble getting more than a few words on the page at a time and then stare rather blankly at her page? (perhaps she's having trouble remembering what she was going to write and getting frustrated with herself, making it even harder to form further sentences)

 

What is it about each writing program that she "hates"? (if she liked each one at first could you use all of the ones that you have and simply let her choose which one each day? or cycle through one lesson in each every week? Were the assignments so easy as to be insulting?)

 

 

Lastly, what are you looking to get out of a writing program - ie what are your goals for your daughter's writing?

 

We all teach writing for different reasons - I want my children to be particularly strong in grammar and sentence construction, as a secondary goal I'd like them to clearly distill the ideas of others into smaller fragments - therefore I'll be using MCT and supplementing with WWE. Other people prefer to focus on their children being able to express their own thoughts, and still others prefer to train their children in mechanics of academic writing, etc.

 

If your goal for this year is "just" to get her to write something that you can read and go over with her - then perhaps assigning one writing project of her choice each week with the understanding that she'll rewrite it after you correct it with her best handwriting might work. The assignment could be a poem, story, letter to a relative/friend, written narration of her history or science project, or even a book report (and all of these can be with or without illustrations).

 

Alternatively, if you don't even need to correct it, and you just want her to be using a pencil, she can start a journal and just tell her to write anything in it each day. She can leave the table once she has written half of a page. At first you might get a lot of: something something something something something something or I hate this I hate this I hate this etc, but eventually that gets boring as well, especially if you have to do it every single day, so perhaps she might find her way to writing something that way.

 

Good luck! :)

 

ETR: I missed that you'd said that she enjoys drawing and coloring

 

 

I'd like her to be able to coherently put her ideas on paper. She's so fun to talk to about the things she's read or discovering and I'd like her to be able to communicate that in writing. She doesn't stare blankly, she just doesn't want to do it.

 

She often says she already knows how to write and doesn't need to learn, but she has room for improvement. I think it's the perfectionist issues.

[kiwik]

When I at university and we did most stuff by hand; I used to manually cut and past and join it all together as a scroll - it was more fun and easier that way.

[history_junkie]

What about letting her narrate to you for a while? I remember doing this with my mom and I would go on and on and on as long as I wasn't typing or writing it. Maybe that would give the creative juices some time to work their way to her fingers??

 

My mom still lets my 9 year old sister narrate her paragraphs...

[laughing lioness]

Have you heard of Essentials in Writing? I just did a review of 11th grade. However, there are tons of other reveiws if you scroll to the bottom of my review, it will take you to a page full of reviews. This program is simple- overview,watch, write. It's structured and solid.

[Whereneverever]

Have you heard of Essentials in Writing? I just did a review of 11th grade. However, there are tons of other reveiws if you scroll to the bottom of my review, it will take you to a page full of reviews. This program is simple- overview,watch, write. It's structured and solid.

 

I haven't, thanks!