{"id":2134,"date":"2014-12-03T06:52:59","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T13:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/\/?p=2134"},"modified":"2015-11-18T15:52:33","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T22:52:33","slug":"teaching-an-older-child-to-write","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/teaching-an-older-child-to-write\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching an Older Child to Write"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Photoxpress_4560323-150x150\"<\/a>Question:<\/h3>\n

I have a 9th grade daughter that really struggles in writing. She does not like writing so it has always been a battle and I have not pushed it nearly enough. Now I find she is really behind in writing and I am feeling panicked because writing is so important to every other subject. Do you have any suggestions of how to help an older student learn to be a better writer? I really feel like I have failed her.<\/p>\n

I do have your\u00a0Journal and Language Arts program <\/a>and will be using that with my 4th grade son soon. Should I use that to get my daughter started too?<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/h4>\n

Yes, I would start your daughter on the\u00a0Journal program<\/a> too. \u00a0It is a great way to learn to write! \u00a0You can use a notebook with wide ruled paper (or have her type it on the computer, teaching her how to use the spell check feature).\u00a0 Every day, have her write a journal entry of at least 3 paragraphs.\u00a0 At first, do not comment on grammar, spelling, neatness, correctness. Just get her writing. She can write about anything she wants\u2014no restrictions on topic or use of slang, etc.\u00a0\u00a0You are just trying to get her writing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1408\"<\/a>So, for the first week, have her write her 3 daily paragraphs.\u00a0 If this is too overwhelming, start with sentences\u2014such as 5 sentences, and then move up your requirement every few days or week, until she is writing 3 paragraphs per day. \u00a0If she is totally stumped, get\u00a0Kid Talk <\/a>and have her choose a card to write about each day. \u00a0Note: this is not her private journal, which she will keep on her own. This is her \u201cSchool Journal\u201d. \u00a0She can choose any subject, but you have to be able to read it.<\/p>\n

Once she is writing daily and it is going smoothly, then it is time to ease her into self-correcting.<\/strong> Start by teaching her the spell check feature on your computer\u2014misspelled words are visible as the underlined words.\u00a0 Teach her how to check the word using the spell check feature. \u00a0Have her copy and paste the corrected word onto a spelling list document. This spelling list should be studied daily, along with the new words being added to it daily from her writing. \u00a0On Friday, give her a spelling quiz. \u00a0Any misspelled words from the quiz go onto next week\u2019s spelling document. \u00a0Have her print the corrected version, hole punch it, and store it in a binder.<\/p>\n

\"homeschooling-how<\/a>If she is doing her writing by hand in a journal, \u00a0have her write in either pencil or erasable pen so it can be corrected, and when you check her work, put a little erasable tick mark in pencil at the beginning of the sentence that has a misspelled word, and let her try to figure which word it is.\u00a0 Often she will say, \u201cOh, I thought that was misspelled\u201d and identify the word.\u00a0 Have her correct the word and add it to the spelling list as described above, and study for the Friday quiz. \u00a0A book I really recommend is\u00a0How to Spell it,<\/a> because no matter how the word is spelled, she will be able to find it in this handy book, and correct the spelling.<\/p>\n

Keep working on having her identify and correct her spelling for a few weeks.\u00a0 If she is misspelling a large number of words, then just choose the most common words to correct.\u00a0 Work at it gradually until she learns those words and can spell them correctly in her writing, and then move on to correcting more words.\u00a0 Don\u2019t overwhelm her.\u00a0Nobody wants to write if they have to go back and correct every third word! <\/strong>Ten spelling words per week is plenty.<\/p>\n

As soon as she adjusts to having her spelling corrected and to working on looking things up (before she misspells them), you can move on to the next step, which is getting her punctuation correct, and making sure she capitalizes words properly. \u00a0You can find the rules for punctuation in my Journal and Language Arts program.<\/p>\n

Keep going with this, working through the mechanics of good writing, all via her daily writing (on her choice of topics).\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about topic. My son spend an entire year writing about knights and medieval times and how to build catapults, and his writing still improved dramatically! \u00a0The topic doesn\u2019t matter, and allowing them total freedom to choose a topic keeps their interest high.<\/p>\n

\"4080\"<\/a>When she is accustomed to daily writing, and is able to correct any errors you note when you check her daily writing, she is ready for a good writing program. \u00a0 I like the Wordsmith series, starting with\u00a0Wordsmith Apprentice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just ease into it, step by step, and you\u2019ll soon see her writing improve dramatically, and maybe she\u2019ll really enjoy it and want to write stories, poems and more.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re on your way!<\/em>
\n\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

May I recommend:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"Photoxpress_44768981-300x199\"
\nPoor Writing
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\"louisakto6\"
\nTeaching Children to Write the Natural Way
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\"1737\"
\nAll About Me
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I have a 9th grade daughter that really struggles in writing. She does not like writing so it has always been a battle and I have not pushed it nearly enough. Now I find she is really behind in writing and I am feeling panicked because writing is so important to every other subject. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,187],"tags":[87,115],"class_list":["post-2134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-what-articles","category-writing","tag-older-child","tag-writing","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Photoxpress_4560323-150x150.jpg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6IrRN-yq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":528,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/poor-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":2134,"position":0},"title":"Poor Writing","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I could use some insights on how to get my kids to turn out better quality book reports and just writing in general.\u00a0 My oldest is in 6th grade and the next child is in 3rd grade, and here we've done grammar and writing year after year and yet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What"","block_context":{"text":"What","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photoxpress_44768981-300x199","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Photoxpress_44768981-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":553,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/teach-children-to-write\/","url_meta":{"origin":2134,"position":1},"title":"Teaching Children to Write the Natural Way","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"I would like to share with you some of the things we\u2019ve done in our homeschool that have really worked so well over the years. Teaching my children to write\u00a0 has been a joy to teach, and any mother can easily do it without any expensive program. I start when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What"","block_context":{"text":"What","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"My daughter Louisa has kept her school journals since she was 4 years old. What a treasure they are now! A whole childhood recorded.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/louisakto6.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":265,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/writing-in-my-homeschool\/","url_meta":{"origin":2134,"position":2},"title":"Writing in My Homeschool","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Come take a peek inside my homeschool. Here's how I teach writing! And it works\u2014one of my sons got a perfect score on the English portion of the ACT test for college. Journal Writing Each day I expect my students to write a journal entry. I use the number of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "English: Writing"","block_context":{"text":"English: Writing","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/english-writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"emily_journals","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/emily_journals-234x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1022,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/summer-journals\/","url_meta":{"origin":2134,"position":3},"title":"Summer Journals","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Writing in a journal is wonderful in the summer because there is often so much more to write about! Swimming, vacations, gardening, the county fair, church picnics, camping . . . all these topics give my children plenty of writing ideas for their daily journal entries. In the summer, when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "English: Writing"","block_context":{"text":"English: Writing","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/english-writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/69.195.124.81\/~homescp3\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/homeschooling_1081_zpicnic1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1129,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/overwhelmed\/","url_meta":{"origin":2134,"position":4},"title":"Overwhelmed","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am overwhelmed, feeling like I am doing, doing all day long for my kids and fall into bed at night exhausted, with little accomplished. We seem to get farther and farther behind on homeschool. How do I get out of this hole? Answer: I so understand. All moms\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How to Homeschool"","block_context":{"text":"How to Homeschool","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rebekah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/rebekah_reads-231x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":847,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/be-that-person\/","url_meta":{"origin":2134,"position":5},"title":"Be That Person","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I thought to myself, \"If I didn't have kids to teach, I'd go back to bed.\" Ever feel that way? Teaching children really helps us to do our best\u2014doesn't it? The plan for raising good kids and educating them is simple: just be who you want your child to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Molding the Heart"","block_context":{"text":"Molding the Heart","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/why-homeschool\/molding-the-heart\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"bethatperson","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/bethatperson.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2134"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8041,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134\/revisions\/8041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}