Writing

I have always known that my children's weak spot was writing.  You can tell from my posts it is my own.  Believe my you don't want to know how bad my handwriting is!  (in defense of homeschooling, my husbands is worse and he was traditionally public schooled)

In general I dislike writing curriculum; they either expect so much of my kids (and therefor of the teacher) or the seem like pure busy work.

Charlotte Mason seems to recommend copy work and verbal narration, and I guess in the later years written narration.  This leaves something out in my opinion. Verbs? Adverbs?

After Dude tested barely at grade level for 'grammar' last year the tester recommended 'Daily grams' which we started using and really do like.  In only 5 questions a lesson it covered simple basic review of grammar, punctuation, capitalization and the like.

After one year in the book Dude pulled his test score up to 9th grade level.  But.....

He still doesn't use those rules when he writes.

Looking back on my own education; I knew the rules myself, yet rarely bothered to use them in writing.  Spacing, capitalization, punctuation and certainly spelling never entered into my 'creative' writing (which to this day remains more of a regurgitation of old info and musings, nothing truly creative.)  I only began to really apply the rules when I wanted to communicate via the old 'message boards'.

I remember my mother one time sitting me down to 'write' a story about a mouse.  I don't know if she came up with the theme or I did.  I dictated a whole story to my mother and she wrote it down.  At the end she said it was a great story and wanted me to write it down.  I don't recall what she or I said, but I distinctly recall the expression she had when I wanted to scrap the whole story.  It was far to long to write!  Plus I think I was bored.  I already did that story, why write it again?  I hated handwriting.  (thankfully Mom did make me do that much-though far more than I wanted)

Back in the day we had to download packets of essays..  My father let me download from topics I was interested in and respond using his computer network (and consequently his username)  I always prefaced each writing with my 'profile' (a teen writing on my Dads computer)  but still folk missed that info when replying.  I learned not only that HOW I wrote was important, but that how I READ mattered.  If countless strangers were too busy skimming the essay to bother to notice the BOLD ITALICS HEADLINE how could I expect folk to make excuses for my age, inexperience, or lack of clarity?  On the other hand I had better make sure of what I read before I go off replying based on what I 'think' they wrote.

Someday I will have to ask my father if he ever dealt with any odd repercussions from letting a young teen write for him.

The short version of all that practice is that I no longer enter into political debates online (no time) and I (kinda sorta partly), learned to spell, punctuate, and capitalize.  Oh and I really am quite good at typing for a gal who constantly has only one hand free.  (alas much of my two handed speed was lost)

So how do I replicate that experience for my kids?  I prolly can't (see still can't spell that word).  Today the short 'Tweet' is king, getting a kid to take the extra second to type 'too' instead of 2 is a struggle.  All that thought and effort before voicing an opinion is absent.  If it only takes a second to click that like button folk will skip the actual reading much less thinking of what the are 'liking'.  Digg.com has a problem where folks 'digg up' articles they haven't even read!  Why would you recommend I read something when you haven't!

The Well Trained Mind recommends a lot of writing. I gathered that they teach the mechanics in the early phase (grammar) and then something about sentence diagramming in the logic phase.  Taking care of all the basic skills so that in the 'rhetoric' phase a teen can easily write.  I get the point of that.  It is one reason why we do math constantly.  (in fun ways)  If the mechanics of math are second nature then algebra is simply the ordering of those basics.  Calculus builds upon that.

Math makes it easy though, from fun games, manipulative, computer toys, and just plain using your fingers.  You can practice the basics in a variety of fun ways involving your whole body if desired and not tiring out your hand.

Writing doesn't seem to have that flexibility.  And yet in some ways writing, the ability to communicate with others via 'stone' (yes once it is online it is really 'written in stone') is more important than math.  A calculator will take care of most math that the average adult will do. Excel can handle the basic algebra, and you can pay someone to do your taxes.

So am I failing my kids by letting them take it easy in the writing department?  Or will they have time to catch up later?

Well this is getting to be a long babble session.