Asynchronous struggles are no joke!

[SanDiegoMom]

Background: So my twins are in ninth grade doing virtual public school, but my son is taking a couple of classes on the side because why not.  His public school classes are Spanish, English, PE, and Calculus (he's doing AOPS calc on the side, as well as Connie's Organic chem class). 

He is currently in an anxiety spiral because he has to write a 100 word story for English.  100 words.  He has finished his chemistry - no problem, he has done his AOPS homework - easy peasy .... but this story.  It's going to take him ALL DAY.  

This is why when I homeschooled him, creative writing always failed.  I tried it two or three times total, and then decided to go with SWB's philosophy that kids don't need creative writing.  He is so much happier doing anything but creative writing. 

 

 

[SanDiegoMom]

That was apparently in the writing prompt. (Also one writing technique, such as imagery or foreshadowing, and some dialogue!).   I thought he would be there all day, or just refuse to do it (anxiety spiraling into avoidance, which was something my oldest did as well). 

He actually managed to write it though, and even though he says it doesn't exactly match the title of "falling" he is happy with it. 

Here it is -- I couldn't fix the formatting.  

A pair of creatures passed above a cloud.

The turtle looked down. “We’re quite high up, I must say.”

The eagle gave no response.

“Where are we going, anyway?” questioned the turtle.

“Home,” the eagle said simply.

“My home? Oh, maybe you could meet my fami—”

“Mine.”

“Oh.”

That would be all right, the turtle supposed. He could meet the eagle’s family instead.

“Say, do you have any children?”

“Four,” responded the eagle.

“Shouldn’t you be taking care of them right now?”

“I am.”

“Really? How?”

“I bring them food.”

The turtle thought a while.

“Oh dear,” he said to himself.

The eagle silently continued to carry the turtle home.

[Not_a_Number]

I sympathize. I don't much enjoy creative writing. In my family, DH tells the stories, lol. I'm happy to read from a book, but I will NOT make things up. 

[Junie]

For a short time before kids, I taught high school English.  This is really good for ninth grade work, at least in my experience. :) He is right that it doesn't quite meet the prompt of Falling, but it is creative and pretty well written.

I'm looking at this and guessing that your son is a perfectionist?  If so, that is probably why writing assignments take him so long.  Not that he isn't good at it, but that he has a certain standard in mind that is hard to reach.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Junie

[Junie]

Also, short writing assignments are often much harder than long ones.  It leaves less room for error.  Every word is important.  From this one sample I would say that your son is quite talented in writing.  He included foreshadowing and dialogue and created something humorous.  I might be wrong, but I would guess that his submission will be one of the best in the class.

[Ausmumof3]

Is there any room for allowing him to do a retelling of an existing story, myth or fairytale?  One of mine struggles majorly with this but he can retell someone else’s story.  If it needs to be different he could do an old fairy tale but change one aspect or add a twist to the end.  

[drjuliadc]

His story was extremely good.

[SanDiegoMom]

14 hours ago, Junie said:

Also, short writing assignments are often much harder than long ones.  It leaves less room for error.  Every word is important.  From this one sample I would say that your son is quite talented in writing.  He included foreshadowing and dialogue and created something humorous.  I might be wrong, but I would guess that his submission will be one of the best in the class.

Thanks -- yes to your previous post he is definitely a perfectionist!  He's written very little creatively because he looks likes he's being tortured when he is forced to do it, so I never did, lol.  But he once he got over the 2 hours of back and forth (I can't do it, I can't do it, ok I will do it, I can't do it) and then sat down and did it... he was extremely happy with his results.  And I told him how happy I was that he worked through the anxiety, as painful as it was.  I tried to talk to him about how it's ok to phone it in sometimes, that it's about getting it done, not getting it perfect.  I don't think the lesson worked this time... but then again he is definitely phoning it in for Spanish class, so there's that. 

[SanDiegoMom]

12 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Is there any room for allowing him to do a retelling of an existing story, myth or fairytale?  One of mine struggles majorly with this but he can retell someone else’s story.  If it needs to be different he could do an old fairy tale but change one aspect or add a twist to the end.  

We did that in the past when we homeschooled and it helped a lot! And we used SWB's Writing With Skill 1-3.  Which was an entirely different type of torture, but one that he was able to do since it wasn't creative! 

[SanDiegoMom]

18 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

I sympathize. I don't much enjoy creative writing. In my family, DH tells the stories, lol. I'm happy to read from a book, but I will NOT make things up. 

Both his sisters love to write.  His twin sister is in his class and she just rattled something off within five minutes and had it submitted with no issues.  My oldest daughter has written about 500 pages of various novels-in-progess. But I could count on two hands the entirety of my son's creative writing portfolio from the time he started writing.  

[Not_a_Number]

6 minutes ago, SanDiegoMom said:

Both his sisters love to write.  His twin sister is in his class and she just rattled something off within five minutes and had it submitted with no issues.  My oldest daughter has written about 500 pages of various novels-in-progess. But I could count on two hands the entirety of my son's creative writing portfolio from the time he started writing.  

What can I say? People vary 😛 . 

I'm actually a decent writer, and I do a very good job with essays. But creative writing? Not my thing. 

Edited October 9, 2020 by Not_a_Number

[Junie]

1 hour ago, SanDiegoMom said:

Thanks -- yes to your previous post he is definitely a perfectionist!  He's written very little creatively because he looks likes he's being tortured when he is forced to do it, so I never did, lol.  But he once he got over the 2 hours of back and forth (I can't do it, I can't do it, ok I will do it, I can't do it) and then sat down and did it... he was extremely happy with his results.  And I told him how happy I was that he worked through the anxiety, as painful as it was.  I tried to talk to him about how it's ok to phone it in sometimes, that it's about getting it done, not getting it perfect.  I don't think the lesson worked this time... but then again he is definitely phoning it in for Spanish class, so there's that. 

Would it help for him to just write down something really fast -- something that he will think is terrible -- and just hold it in reserve?  Then he can spend as much time as he wants writing the perfect essay, knowing that if he doesn't get it finished he has *something* that can be turned in?  Maybe that will take some of the pressure off so that he isn't so stressed about it.

I'm guessing that some of the kids just wrote a quick paragraph about "One day I fell off my skateboard..."  What your son did was create two characters and give them personalities, create a plot, and tell their story in a humorous way using dialog.

Maybe if he starts out writing something more simple first (just to hold in reserve, not necessarily to turn in), he will take enough pressure off himself to be able to write the story he wants without as much difficulty.

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, Junie said:

Would it help for him to just write down something really fast -- something that he will think is terrible -- and just hold it in reserve?  Then he can spend as much time as he wants writing the perfect essay, knowing that if he doesn't get it finished he has *something* that can be turned in?  Maybe that will take some of the pressure off so that he isn't so stressed about it.

I'm guessing that some of the kids just wrote a quick paragraph about "One day I fell off my skateboard..."  What your son did was create two characters and give them personalities, create a plot, and tell their story in a humorous way using dialog.

Maybe if he starts out writing something more simple first (just to hold in reserve, not necessarily to turn in), he will take enough pressure off himself to be able to write the story he wants without as much difficulty.

Yeah, I know that when I write, getting SOMETHING down gets me unstuck. And I also have perfectionist tendencies... 

[SanDiegoMom]

17 minutes ago, Junie said:

Would it help for him to just write down something really fast -- something that he will think is terrible -- and just hold it in reserve?  Then he can spend as much time as he wants writing the perfect essay, knowing that if he doesn't get it finished he has *something* that can be turned in?  Maybe that will take some of the pressure off so that he isn't so stressed about it.

I'm guessing that some of the kids just wrote a quick paragraph about "One day I fell off my skateboard..."  What your son did was create two characters and give them personalities, create a plot, and tell their story in a humorous way using dialog.

Maybe if he starts out writing something more simple first (just to hold in reserve, not necessarily to turn in), he will take enough pressure off himself to be able to write the story he wants without as much difficulty.

We've done that for non fiction writing SOME, but not a lot.  It's a skill we've worked on occasionally.  He definitely prefers to write the perfect and only draft, and seems to be afraid to commit to paper something "less than". -- even though nobody but he will ever see it.  We've talked about how much work is supposed to go into rewriting, revising, editing, etc.  He's learned that it's ok to struggle with math through AOPS, and those were pretty tough lessons to learn.  But now he knows that he can go down a path that's wrong, backtrack, and come up with something completely different and it is ok.  So maybe we will try to extrapolate that to writing.    

[Not_a_Number]

8 minutes ago, SanDiegoMom said:

We've done that for non fiction writing SOME, but not a lot.  It's a skill we've worked on occasionally.  He definitely prefers to write the perfect and only draft, and seems to be afraid to commit to paper something "less than". -- even though nobody but he will ever see it.  We've talked about how much work is supposed to go into rewriting, revising, editing, etc.  He's learned that it's ok to struggle with math through AOPS, and those were pretty tough lessons to learn.  But now he knows that he can go down a path that's wrong, backtrack, and come up with something completely different and it is ok.  So maybe we will try to extrapolate that to writing.    

Sounds like an extremely useful life lesson, so worth working on! 

[Condessa]

Actually, I love that this is his response to the prompt "Falling".  Starting out flying with that prompt makes you think of a physical fall, but the real falling is the turtle's emotion when he understands what is happening. 

[SeaConquest]

I don't have any advice, only empathy. I made the mistake of signing Sacha up for a Writing in the Humanities class through the Davidson Academy. It has become the bane of my existence. SO.MANY.TEARS.... SO.MUCH.DRAMA.... and it is only October. I feel you. Hugs, mama.

[SanDiegoMom]

On 10/20/2020 at 11:48 AM, SeaConquest said:

I don't have any advice, only empathy. I made the mistake of signing Sacha up for a Writing in the Humanities class through the Davidson Academy. It has become the bane of my existence. SO.MANY.TEARS.... SO.MUCH.DRAMA.... and it is only October. I feel you. Hugs, mama.

It's good to see you around on the boards! I was wondering how you guys were doing and how your schooling was going! I'm sorry about Sacha's Humanities class. -- we have bailed on many a class due to too much output for this anxiety prone kiddo. Just last year he only made it through like 3 weeks of the writing class through Online G3 -- no grades, even! But it was just too stressful for him.  Now this public school class  -- other than this one assignment -- has been a complete breeze.  There is SO LITTLE WRITING.  I'm glad for him, as he didn't really need the extra stress, though I wish for my daughter's sake there was just a little bit more writing and feedback.   (they are in the same class)

 

[daijobu]

You can include me in the I Hate Creative Writing Club.  I still have great difficulty thinking of stories out of thin air.  How do people do it?  

I coped in 5th grade with our weekly creative writing assignment by writing stories about the students in my class.  Every week we had a different adventure and I made sure everyone was mentioned at least once in every story.  At least then I didn't need to think of characters, only plot.  

I have nothing but enormous respect for people who can build entire worlds like JK Rowling and Dune and similar.  How do people conceive of things that don't already exist?

[Not_a_Number]

9 hours ago, daijobu said:

You can include me in the I Hate Creative Writing Club.  I still have great difficulty thinking of stories out of thin air.  How do people do it?  

Perhaps we need to start an actual club... 

I'd blame it on being a math/engineering type, but DH is a math professor, and he loves making up stories. So does his physicist dad. So I don't get that excuse. 

[ieta_cassiopeia]

On 10/24/2020 at 2:40 PM, Not_a_Number said:

Perhaps we need to start an actual club... 

I'd blame it on being a math/engineering type, but DH is a math professor, and he loves making up stories. So does his physicist dad. So I don't get that excuse. 

I think it's to do with specialisation - maths/engineering does not require the ability to tell creative stories, so if someone's self-concept has maths/engineering as a major component, they wouldn't necessarily believe they need to be able to tell such stories. It's a short walk from "I don't need this" to "this does not matter much for purposes which involve me"...

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, ieta_cassiopeia said:

I think it's to do with specialisation - maths/engineering does not require the ability to tell creative stories, so if someone's self-concept has maths/engineering as a major component, they wouldn't necessarily believe they need to be able to tell such stories. It's a short walk from "I don't need this" to "this does not matter much for purposes which involve me"...

No, I’ve been like this forever! I’m a good writer, actually — I write good essays and I’ve published translated books. But making up stories has always been unpleasant.