Teaching kids to write

Writing has always been one of my favorite things to do. Teaching it on the other hand sometimes leaves me frustrated. I sometimes feel that if I critique too much my daughter will lose the desire to pursue her creativity yet a page long story shouldn't be one giant sentence. :) Then on occasion I will worry about what the writing standards are for other children her age. ( I really try not to compare though) I have always bought her journals that she fills up however she wants, and with those unless she asks I do not offer advice. I have seen her go back to a journal a couple years later and read them and she has seen how far she has come in her writing. Next month I am hoping to get her into an online writing course to help her learn a little more about the technical side of writing. I think she will take it less personally if someone else is critiquing and advising her writing.

This last year Z~girl has started her own newspaper. (with her brother's help at times) I think she is going on her fourth publication and it includes weather, local news, and of course a comic page. With this she does ask me to do some proofreading and also how to spell the occasional word. We give this paper to a couple of our neighbors and mail it to the grandmas. Everyone enjoys her newspaper which is called the A to Z Gazette. The picture below is of a couple of the pages.

I think a field trip to the local newspaper will be planned for this spring!

Oh and if you are interested check out Homeschoolliterature.com as I interviewed my very first author. (Susan Marlow from Circle C Adventures) In the interview she gives some very helpful insight on teaching children to write.