Teaching3bears Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 My son is 13 and just starting to learn essay writing. It is not his favourite thing to do. Is there a fun way to help him learn? I am wondering if there are any online resources I could use. Cool or entertaining youtube videos? He particularly likes programs where he can get points and/or advance to higher levels. He needs to feel confident with essay writing and he needs to improve his writing skills in general. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leahtalbot96 Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 What about free typing programs? Will they help or not? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 It's not computerized or independent, but this is what therapists and intervention specialists use. https://mindwingconcepts.com/collections/thememaker/products/thememaker-quick-start 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, leahtalbot96 said: What about free typing programs? Will they help or not? That is such a good point about access to tech and proficiency using tech. Some kids will get our more if they type or use dictation. Most devices now (tablets, phones, computers) can do some form of dictation (he talks, it types) for free. Inspiration software is another goodie, because it allows him to dump his thoughts as a mindmap that the software then converts to an outline. For kids whose thought processes are distinctly NOT LINEAR, it can be amazing. I used it successfully with my dd. Inspiration Software, Inc. - The Leader in Visual Thinking and ...www.inspiration.com Another thing that was good for us was outlining and rewriting well written magazine articles. Muse has great stuff for this. Edited February 23, 2020 by PeterPan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 My DD began writing Essays when she began in 6th grade in TTUISD Middle School. At that time, she could barely read or write in U.S. English, because the school she was attending was incredibly weak in English, although she could speak/understand U.S. English without any issues. Your DS will benefit, enormously, the more Essays he writes, before he gets into 9th grade (High School) and before he begins writing Essays for university applications, scholarships, overseas programs, etc. There was a mention here on WTM some years ago, about an English web site, I believe at Indiana University but am not sure about that. I remember visiting it when my DD was in TTUISD Middle School, to check it out. Pretty sure it was in the state of Indiana in a Public University there, if not at IU. Practice makes it easier, but I cannot tell you how much stress there is on the students when they are in High School and taking the SAT and the ACT and applying for all kinds of things, at the same time, with deadlines... Again, your DS will benefit tremendously, starting to improve his Essay writing skills now. Good luck to him! As the years go by, he will hopefully become somewhat proficient with MS WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT and/or their Google Drive equivalents. All of those things take time to learn ("a learning curve") and there is no need to him to become an "Expert", but there is a need for him to know how to do BASIC things and how to find help, within the Application and by Googling for How to Do it and for using YouTube. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 OP: Follow-on to what I wrote earlier. When she was cooking our Breakfast, I was telling DW about your thread and about how well prepared DD was in TTU K12 (formerly TTUISD) for writing Essays. My DW told me that now that our DD is in UNC, if she needs to write an Essay for a class, it's not an issue for her. She has had a lot of practice writing Essays. That rigor from English spills over to other subjects, where university students are required to write Essays. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 My 12 year old did an essay course with time4writing last year. It was good and it removed the stress from me while he groaned about it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teaching3bears Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 On 2/24/2020 at 7:00 AM, Lanny said: Your DS will benefit, enormously, the more Essays he writes, before he gets into 9th grade (High School) and before he begins writing Essays for university applications, scholarships, overseas programs, etc. I agree with this completely. That is why I want him to learn to do it well now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristin0713 Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Well I don’t know about “fun”, but my 13yo DD took an 8 week essay writing class through Lantern English in the fall and it helped her tremendously. She took 7th-9th Grade Essay Basics. Their classes are very affordable at $60 a quarter and the format is email correspondence with the instructor. Next year I am going to have her take Growing the Essay. They are accepting registrations now for the fourth quarter starting in March. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 OP this is the web site I was trying to refer you to the other day. I believe they have things on the web site for High School students too. This may help your student: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/index.html Oh, no; that is Purdue, I don't think that's the school I had seen before, because I knew 2 people who got their B.S.E.E. degrees at Purdue. I think it was at Indiana University. If you Google, you may find the Indiana University Writing Help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.