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Does anyone else ever feel like they are in "writing purgatory" with their kids?


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My girls are taking an online course now----it' excellent----no complaints there whatsoever! But, sometimes getting them to write is excruciatingly painful! The material is probably somewhat advanced for my 13-year-old, but even with my 15-year-old today, it took them forever to get their assignment done! I had to coach them, coax them, goad them, prod them, etc. etc. (you get the idea). I discussed the material with them, helped them find some references for the material, but would not do the writing for them!

 

Does it ever get better? Do our children's brains finally mature to where they can start writing more fluently? Where the thoughts finally start flowing through their brains, down their arms, and into their little fingers?

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Last week they worked really hard on their tutorial, the ideas were flowing, the fingers were typing, Mom was smiling! :) But, yes, today was purgatory with them! We sent off their assignments, but there was this very "unfinished" feeling about it all. I just wish I could get the writing tutor to move next door to us! Then all would be well! :D

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Does it ever get better? Do our children's brains finally mature to where they can start writing more fluently? Where the thoughts finally start flowing through their brains, down their arms, and into their little fingers?

 

If my son "connects" with the topic, the writing can indeed flow. Our problem now is to have him write eloquently on the less than exciting topics given on SAT/ACT exams. We've had a couple days this week in which he has been given 25 minutes to produce an essay on a random topic. He would rather argue on why he shouldn't have to write the essay, but I am insisting that he sit down and write something.

 

I have decided that we are having an intensive writing and Latin day on Monday. The NLE is coming, so we need to buckle down. On the writing front, I am going to sit at the table and write essays on the same topics with him. Timed. It may turn out that I'll be the one arguing on the ridiculousness of the topic.

 

If no one hears from me by the end of the day, call out the National Guard!

 

Jane

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more practicing for the SAT/ACT essay. She did a Bravewriter course that was excellent, but she struggled mightily with the imposed time limits. That's the way writing has been all along for my girls---they want to write what they want to write, not what is assigned to them. SO---a similar problem to the struggle with topics your son is having! My dd would do the same thing---she could make excellent arguments against having to write the topic in the same time it would take her to tackle the beast and get it done!

 

When we're done with the tutorial, I'm going to give them a break for a week or so from writing and then have her start doing some more SAT/ACT practice, perhaps 1X per week.

 

Congrats on preparing your ds for the NLE! I hope he does well!

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Sigh. They think of ingenious ways of not following the directions and the awful part is that by the time they explain to me why they can't or don't want to, they have me agreeing with them.

 

Learning to type well, using a word processor, and doing various brainstorming activities first then getting something, even if bad, down so we move out of the original writing stage and into the fixing stage has been helpful. It is hard to write enough for the process to speed up and the writing to improve when you write slowly. It is a vicious circle. I didn't do a lot of fixing until they sped up.

-Nan

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I've been in Ancient Egypt report writing purgatory -- since before Christmas! GAAAGH! This year I thought we were ready to tackle longer papers, and do them ourselves..... ok, ok, I hear y'all laughing loudly there!

 

Finally took charge this past week and realized this is just not happening unless I still sit with them for the organizing part, and we're finally getting rolling with these multi-page papers. BUT... I always loved the ancients, even since I was a pre-teen -- but if anyone in the future ever mentions "pharaoh", "mummy" or "pyramid", I am going to run screaming from the room. LOL!

 

Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone! SOOOO appreciate you ladies! Lori D.

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