Writing and Rhetoric book 1

[Ksferguson]

I am using Writing and Rhetoric Book 1: Fable with my soon to be 9 year old son.  He says he hates writing, but I know he enjoys it when he can write something funny.  He certainly is not struggling with writing or grammar.  When he writes the summary or amplification of a fable, should he be required to revise and edit?  We have basically been doing a rough draft and then moving on.  I will occasionally point out a spelling error if it is something we are currently working on in spelling.  I also make him capitalize the first word of a sentence and punctuate each sentence, but nothing more.  I have not made him go through the entire writing process to produce a polished product at the end of each Lesson.  Most of the time, I sense that he is just rushing through the assignment.  When we talk about what he could write, he has really creative ideas.  I can't tell if he just does not know how to put the idea to paper, or left it out in order to finish quicker.  I don't want to make writing tedious, but I don't want to let him slide through too easy either.  I never know if I am expecting too much or I am going too easy on him.  Writing is not my strength, so I doubt myself.

[Ms.Ivy]

Maybe he could benefit from having a real audience. Can he read his finished assignments aloud to siblings or grandparents as entertainment? That might give him motivation to put more effort in.

 

I help my kids edit their sentences for grammar and spelling, and if they made more than a couple errors, I have them copy a version I have rewritten correctly. I don't present copying a corrected version as some sort of punishment, but rather as a joint effort to produce decent writing that they can be proud of.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

We didn't do that. My son is a lot like yours. I would go through and let him know of any errors and read it, but I know he put thought into it most of the time. He does, however, hate the physical act of writing, and sometimes he writes the word that is shortest. In that book, I think they are transitioning from copywork and early writing to summaries and amplifications. I wouldn't go through the entire revising and editing part until later. I would look over for any mistakes just to get in the habit, but they would have left space in this curriculum if they expected a full revision. The sentence exercises are preparing for that when they have them change out certain types of words to change the sentence, etc. They will get to full research paper with revisions, etc. later in the series.