Help! Dd8 writes TOO MUCH (no, I'm not bragging...)

[Jay3fer]

Her writing is making me crazy! (not quite literally)

 

She'll grab a whole sheaf of paper and create books and books and books. We are drowning in them. This is not great literature, but I was very impressed at first. She was writing formulaic take-offs on Rainbow Fairy, Magic School Bus and Geronimo Stilton books... and then she discovered the joy of creating "workbooks" for her friends.

 

The workbooks basically echo everything she is learning, with math practice and narration and copywork and whatnot, which is great except her friends are mainly too young to use them, and it's SOooo fast to "write" a workbook that she is going through a ton of paper. Because she's going fast, she's not using her best handwriting or any sort of imagination to create these, but I don't mind that because she does it on her own time - not school time.

 

This sounds like a stupid thing to complain about when many 8-year-olds aren't reading or writing comfortably at all. I assure you that I'm not bragging at all... just hoping for concrete suggestions for "channelling" her writing urges into projects that will be similarly quick and rewarding, but less paper-consuming and perhaps slightly better quality.

 

And I mean it almost literally that we're drowning. She's written 4 or 5 today alone. Trees are dying - help!

[PachiSusan]

I hate to laugh, but I recognize your plea so much. My daughter right now is tapping away on the computer writing a "fan-fic" about the Disney Fairies. We have notebooks full of fairy pictures, of stories she wrote about My LIttle Pony...I am drowning just like you are.

 

I would have her do it on the computer if you are complaining about the amount of paper she uses. I have not felt like I had to channel it into something else because any time she is writing and crafting sentences and paragraphs, I'm THRILLED. It's practicing.

 

And I would challenge you about this comment:

 

or any sort of imagination to create these

 

Of COURSE she is using her imagination. She is using the characters she knows to put them into different situations than the books/movies she's seen. She is working out life issues and working out "what would happen next" scenarios.

 

Making workbooks is a skill she can use later on - perhaps she will be a home schooling Mom who provides worksheets for other moms. I just don't see that this is damaging to her imagination or schooling at all except that it's within school time.

 

I allow it outside of school. Inside of school time/work, she does what she's asked to do. Outside of school? Have at it - but again - have her do it on the computer if the death of trees is truly the problem. ;)

 

You've got a writer on your hands - it's a skill and a gift! Don't squelch it because it's not the "right" kind of writing. Anything that gets her writing is the right kind of writing.

 

Sounds to me like you have a girlie who loves research projects and papers. Channel it by having her do papers about what she's learned.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

You can buy paper in bulk at Costco or Sams for really good prices. :D Or you could teach her to type.

[Farrar]

Yeah, teach that child to type. And buy more paper. :)

 

Really, I agree with Susan that of course she's using her imagination. And I would be careful about judging the quality of her writing. It can be so crushing to the writer's soul to be told that she's writing "twaddle" or "junk" or "silly stuff" or whatever term one might casually use. To her, I'm sure it's great. I wouldn't try to turn off the tap. Instead, I would maybe ask her to pick one writing every so often (once a week? once a month?) that she thinks could be better that you'd like to help her with by revising it. And then you can think about ways to help her revise - ask her questions and get her to say more and add details and use more rich vocabulary words.

 

And, in the meantime, you could support her by posting word lists and tricks. Like, for example, you could post a list of transition words one week and start with a mini-lesson about them. And then the next week, you could do a list of commonly misspelled words. And then a list of amazing adjectives and so on. To help her with her vocabulary as she writes.

[Jay3fer]

Sadly, cheaper paper may be at least part of the answer. Computer time is at a premium here... 1 computer & 1 decrepit laptop for 6 people (indeed, while I'm on here, dd17 is chomping at the bit waiting for her turn...). And yeah, I didn't mean to say "no imagination" because I acknowledge the benefit of fanfic and the great practice she is gaining from her series of "Magic Camper" books (like "Magic Tree House" only... it's an RV ;-) ).

 

But I also like the idea of harnessing it and having her improve some of her work. She really doesn't understand the concept of a draft yet.

We do other stuff about words - vocabulary from classical roots, and FLL, and a couple of other word-type things. She loves it all, generally, so I don't know if we need to add much more. :-)

 

Finally, a little bit more of a specific question: How do I tell her, gently, that her friends will not be interested in completing the 80 workbook pages she has created for them today??? I wish I was joking... :mellow:

[Farrar]

Ooh, we deal with this sort of thing a lot too. I would try to gently suggest it and then let them really tell her. It's easier to let real life do it and then play the comforter! That is tough!

[PachiSusan]

Finally, a little bit more of a specific question: How do I tell her, gently, that her friends will not be interested in completing the 80 workbook pages she has created for them today??? I wish I was joking... :mellow:

 

I would say gently, "Sweetie, you know not all kids are like you. Susie may not WANT to complete your workbook".

 

Then if she insists, let Susie tell her she's not interested. Who knows, Susie may want to do it! LOL

[Moxie]

I have the exact problem with my 10yoDD!! She writes so fast her handwriting is awful and she makes all kinds of mistakes (random capital letters, no names are capitalized, basic stuff!). I love that she loves to write but the bad habits carry over into her schoolwork.

[El...]

_{Staples periodically offers free reams of paper (after the rebate). I hate to make the extra stop, and I have to remember to do the online rebate, but my kid also kills a lot of trees. I think you can do two free offers per sale period.}

[PeterPan]

One, if you get her an ipad, she can use the wireless keyboard with it. Cheaper than a laptop, uber-functional. My dd does a ton of composing this way.

 

Two, DON'T do anything to correct her personal work. That's like if someone came along and told you your knitting wasn't good enough, that you need to stop knitting scarves and move on to socks. Preposterous. It's her personal work in her free time. Leave her alone. What you *can* do is coyly find some *contests* or magazines to submit to or something that helps her funnel her energies toward a goal.

[katilac]

If she's truly rushing and being sloppy and unthinking with the 'workbooks' and such, I might give her x amount of paper (a generous but not unlimited amount). So much per day is probably easier to manage at first than so much per week.

 

This will make her pause and consider how she wants to use her supply, while still leaving her in total control.

[Hunter]

It is okay to limit paper.

 

I'll bet she would like some of Nancy Loewen's story writing books.

[Rebecca VA]

You can always recycle the used paper.

[mommymonster]

Perhaps have her write "teachers' manuals" for the workbooks? It introduces a bit of a revision-like concept to her without the requirement of re-writing. It also makes her think about what she has written. Bravewriter has some really great ideas for introducing drafts and clarifying concepts that might be useful. (I recently purchased Bravewriter, so I haven't put the concepts into practice, but the ideas seem to be good...)