SKL Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Has anyone found any ideas to encourage writing practice over the summer? (I mean composition, not penmanship.) I am not looking for a workbook type program. Also my kids will be in day camp full-time all summer, and will have evening and weekend activities as well. The goal is both to address reluctance to write, and to develop "correct" writing. The latter is because I don't feel our school has done enough writing instruction. Some things I have available - may not use all of them: Library teen writing club. This seems to be about creative writing. It's not super close to home; meets 1x or 2x per month. Travel journal when we do our usual summer trip. AHG pen pal program. AHG creative writing badge? A one week cram course toward the end of summer (they are signed up for this already). We have some books about writing, which have been in their bookcases but never got used. I also have some old workbooks. But I am doubtful the workbooks are going to ever be used. The kid who needs encouragement here is not easy to motivate. There will be much moaning and groaning if I push anything, and unless there is an amazing idea I've never heard of, I don't see her being self-motivated to write. Ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underthebridge Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 My kids are younger than yours, but I am looking for something similar for my 3rd grader this summer. During the school year, we went through Writing Skills by Diane Hanbury King. For the summer, I am looking at Bravewriter courses. They do not have a specific meeting time, unlike the IEW classes, which don’t suit our schedule. I need to do more research into Bravewriter to see if it would be a good fit. I’ve also heard of San Diego Scribblers The Bravewriter classes are short, so during the rest of the summer, I will give DD assignments from Just Write and the next Writing Skills book. https://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/024789 https://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/002919 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted April 19, 2018 Author Share Posted April 19, 2018 Hmm, Brave Writer sounds interesting. Maybe the Fly High 3-week course and/or the book club - these would fit our schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 These guys have some amazing classes, at least from what I've seen: https://826national.org/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted April 19, 2018 Author Share Posted April 19, 2018 Does anyone know how much of a time commitment a 3 or 4 week Brave Writer class would be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 My son needs practice writing. Both of my kids want to me to teach them over the summer so I'm planning to do the first science course _Science in the Beginning_ and my son will be expected to write out answers to some of the questions after we do the experiment and discuss it. He also will have a required book to read for 6th grade English, I understand. So we may do a paragraph summary of every chapter of that -- to help with understanding the book better as well. Probably with some kind of incentive chart to do a good job.I just have to figure out what the qualifications are and how much is expected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acresoft Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 Writing and Rhetoric from Classical Academic Press is one option. Another option, for a student that enjoys reading story books, is writing your own book, using Learn to Write the Novel Way form Konos. It might also be rewarding to keep a journal or scrapbook on a hobby or activity of interest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underthebridge Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Has anyone taken a Bravewriter class? I’m wondering how much interaction, if any, students have with each others’ works. Are they able to read other students’ work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted April 23, 2018 Author Share Posted April 23, 2018 I went and looked at the Bravewriter site, and it seems to say kids can see each other's writing and also the teacher's comments on the writing of the various students. I don't have any actual experience though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted April 23, 2018 Author Share Posted April 23, 2018 Also re Brave Writer - I emailed them to ask about he time commitment. They said 60-90 minutes per week. I think that is do-able. Now to consider whether to enroll one kid or both .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthmerlin Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 I've been following this thread and think a couple ideas may work for my kid as well. However, she's in 3rd & so I'm looking for suggestions on how to get elementary children writing more (elaborately & organized) over the summer--in a cross-curricular way. Anyone want to chime in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 I am seriously considering Bravewriter over the summer too. I hear great things but have no experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 My daughter asked me to let her do creative writing (instead of her current math program) at Sylvan over the summer. While this is not a cheap option by any stretch, I think it is the right combination of effectiveness (for the kid) and hands off (for me) at this time for us. My other kid will be doing math tutoring at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underthebridge Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 I have been reading The Writing Revolution by Judith Hochman, and I’m pretty sold. I am still considering a short Bravewriter class for creative writing, but I will focus mainly on on sentence composition for my rising 4th grader. Appositives and subordinating clauses, here we come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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