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How to Teach Cursive and Composition With A Fresh Perspective

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When pioneers were going west, ruts served as a guide in following others. Ruts are not necessarily a bad thing. However, when you need to veer off the beaten path when teaching cursive and composition because your well-worn path is not working, then you need a fresh perspective.

The first shift in my mindset that I had to overcome when teaching cursive and composition is to realize that they are two very different skills. As teachers we can forget that they’re related, but different.

Cursive is a fine motor skill and requires physical dexterity while composition is a mental process.

When both work together, it is an out of body experience as my son told me one time. Okay, okay, it is a total body experience.

Bottom line is that it can be flat out hard. Telling your child to pick his pencil up and start writing can be the demise of him.

For example, a child may be mastering fine motor skill, but needs help with ideas on what to write.

On the flip side, a child may be excited to write creatively, but his fine motor skills are holding him back.

Both skills are needed for a child to be an effective writer.

How to Teach Cursive and Composition With A Fresh Perspective. When you need to veer off the beaten path when teaching cursive and composition because your well-worn path is not working, then you need a fresh perspective. Click here to read these valuable tips!

Honing both skills need to be done simultaneously as well as individually for both to emerge strong.Let me get one more idea out of the way too. Cursive is both hard to teach and to learn, but print can be harder.

As the parent, you are the only one to know if the problems you’re having with your child are because of attitude or aptitude.

Some children do better when typing, but before you give in to teaching only typing, read on about my experience.

Cursive takes patience, consistency, and fortitude to teach.

Devices today are suppose to speed up the time we have, but they don’t. They can make both children and adults overly anxious.

They also teach us to instantly master whatever it is that we’re learning.

Teaching and learning cursive rubs opposite of the educational grain being thrown at us today. It’s a slow process and not instant gratification. Parents are left wondering if their child has a special need when in fact they may be developing fine.

How to Rock Teaching Cursive

Look at these tips for teaching cursive from a fresh perspective.

1.) Don’t teach cursive later. Big mistake. I hear it all the time: “I’ll wait until my child is in 3rd grade or 5th grade.” 

The best time to teach cursive is soon after he gains control of his fine motor skills. The rule of thumb is about half way through first grade.

One side note is that your child is still malleable and willing to learn cursive the younger he is.

By the time, he is in third grade or later, he may be too embarrassed or not patient enough to learn.

I started each child halfway through first grade and had plenty of time to teach it. Later is not better in this instance. Of course, this means if your child has no developmental issues.

By 3rd grade, my kids had a good handle on cursive and of course I expected them to use it all the way through to high school. And yes, they learned to type along the way.

How to Teach Cursive and Composition With A Fresh Perspective. When you need to veer off the beaten path when teaching cursive and composition because your well-worn path is not working, then you need a fresh perspective. Click here to read these valuable tips!

2.) Don’t teach cursive and composition at the same time.

Direct teaching is very different from practice.

For example, in the beginning while your child is learning cursive don’t make him agonize in how to spell or how to be creative. Just give him the answers and move on while he focuses on the physical part of writing.

3.) Don’t teach composition or cursive back to back in the day.

Whatever you do, don’t do two back to back heavy assignments.

If your child is struggling with both of these skills then space them out in the day.

Do cursive practice work first thing in your day.

Then, switch gears and do other subjects. Add in composition later after your child’s hand has had time to recover.

4.) Strengthening fine motor skills goes beyond practicing cursive.

  • Coloring is a great way to naturally strengthen skills. And coloring something worthwhile like science pages or history pages will make learning time productive. Check out the 10 Westward Expansion History Fun Coloring Pages and 20 Ancient Civilization History Coloring Pages.
  • Copywork is timeless for teaching beautiful penmanship and again worthy of your child’s learning time. Poems, scriptures, history, or science are straight and clear prose which are practical for copywork. Look at my article, Free History Copywork – A Roundup of History Resources.
  • Drawing and writing. Be sure to not criticize, judge, or grade these fun activities. But make sure they do BOTH writing and drawing. My sons wanted to draw a picture first and then the words swelled up from the inside as they viewed their magnificent drawings.

Teaching composition is equally teacher intensive. There are no short cuts. Learning how to express ideas clearly doesn’t just happen. It is modeled by the teacher.

It reminds me of summers I spent with my granny when she was alive. I watched a southerner master cook whip out the most delicious recipes I fondly remember to this day. As I stood beside her, I wrote down her ideas.

I added a few ingredients to her pot under her supervision and then learned to cook delicious meals like her.

Teaching Composition that Goes from Limp to Life

Composition can be the same way. Don’t make it an event where all life goes limp. Make it a time that is memorable for the right reasons. Tears are not a good sign.

Composition starts off as a shared project when your kids are just learning.

You start the “pot”, let them stir it by adding a few key ingredients.

As you model how to write, your kids learn by watching and participating.

Look at these ways to teach composition that are out of the box.

  • Take a week and brainstorm topics instead of writing a composition. In order to have your child’s ideas flow abundantly, you take control of the physical act of writing.
  • Let your child record his ideas on his phone. Then play them back and write them down. This breaks this hard process down into two steps.
  • Have your child use his phone or your phone to take pictures of objects that might interest him. Go on a scavenger hunt. Scrolling back through the pictures is not only fun, but gets your child excited about what to write.
  • Also, I would find a funny picture or some other picture that I thought would evoke a strong emotion and muse with one of my sons about what the title should be. How many titles or ideas can your child come up with?
  • Make writing a group effort. One activity we did was to have each child write part of the story. This is not only fun, but it takes the pressure off of coming up with the whole story.
  • Another thing I did was to write story starters on a strip of paper and have each child draw a topic from a jar. Some kids like the element of surprise and challenge.
  • For one son, he loved it when I wrote as he dictated to me. He had beautiful prose, but his handwriting held him back. So I would write as he focused on his thoughts. When I finished the draft, he would copy it. Eventually, his physical dexterity caught up with his creative mind.
WriteShop

Also, there are many writing programs that I have used through the years, but one of my favorite writing programs that not only taught writing well, but gave me support is WriteShop.

WriteShop has a unique way of helping the homeschool parent because it was written by homeschooling moms.

Not only does it have a fun way of helping the littlest budding writer, but it gives you practical tips in how to teach.

WriteShop Primary

A lot of writing programs can assume that you have a professional background as a teacher. I do not.

From the time you open the curriculum and read about setting a realistic schedule and see a visual of one to how to grade upper grade compositions, WriteShop guides you in every step.

Ruts can be valuable to a routine, but they can also hem you in.

How to Teach Cursive and Composition With A Fresh Perspective. When you need to veer off the beaten path when teaching cursive and composition because your well-worn path is not working, then you need a fresh perspective. Click here to read these valuable tips!

Fresh ideas in how to teach cursive and composition need to be nurtured. Try one or two of these ideas above and let me know how it works for you.

What do you do when you need a fresh perspective?

Also, I know you’ll find these other posts super helpful!

Hugs and love ya,

3 Beginner’s Tips: Homeschool High School Literature

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have easy beginner’s tips for teaching homeschool high school literature. Also, look at my page How to Homeschool High School.

As if entering the high school years wasn’t daunting enough, you’re expected to be instantly informed about how to teach high school literature.

I began gathering teaching tips and resources for my first high school son.

However, all I could think of was my own high school years, and that was a long time ago.

Gradually, my basic plan for a starting point has changed as each son entered high school because my own high school experience was not much help.

3 Beginners Tips for Homeschool High School Literature. Look at this quick and easy overview to give you a heads up about what to expect. Click here to scoot by and read the AWESOME tips! #homeschool

Today, I want to clear away some of the mystery surrounding how to teach literature because I want to give you a beginning point.

Also, teaching high school literature is a very comprehensive topic.

Instead of taking you to the glazed-over-eyes point I want to stick to a basic foundation, which I think is more helpful.

Try to remember as I share the three beginner’s tips that you can build on them each year.

Try not to sock it all to your teen like I did in the beginning.

Look at my 9th Grade Homeschool High School – Avoid the Sock It to Them Attitude.

ONE/ Hone your definition of what is high school literature.

Literature is any written material.

That doesn’t help much so you need to help your teen understand what is the importance of studying literature.

Battle for the Mind

Try this.

Literature is any written material, but it normally means works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama which having artistic value and makes one think.

In addition, classic literature is written work that transcends time or has outlasted current thinking.

Too, great literature or masterpieces are written works that gives shades of meaning to their topics. Opinions, feelings and emotions will vary.

Whether it’s a short story with limited characters or poetry that reflects the author’s world, they all share identifying marks which are to move you and make you hate or delight in the undertone meaning.

And like one of my boys said, they just keep talking to you today.

Whether the material is about showing a stylistic technique or it’s an unusual genre, it’s a battle for the mind.

TWO/ Introduce literature through American, British, and World authors.

Something else I did wrong was to be all over the place when selecting curriculum.

No matter how organized my first high school teen was, I frustrated him because I didn’t have a method to my planning.

Dividing up grades or semesters by reading and analyzing poems, novels, and short stories from different parts of the world and different time periods gives your teen a well-balanced view.

3 Beginners Tips: Homeschool High School Literature. Look at this easy starting point!

For example, a study of World literature would obviously include authors from all over the world, but it should coincide with the different time periods of history.

This way you’re covering some of the greatest material from different ages.

Don’t forget the timeless tip of using one history book for analyzing literature while reading about history.

For example, when I read the novel by Dickens of A Tale of Two Cities with my boys, it gives a good view of the Victorian period and the French Revolution.

You’ll want to add to it by having your teen research a bit about the French Revolution unless he has already studied it.

Understanding the world the author has created or is writing about places your teen right in the middle of the conflicts.

The conflict of two distinct classes, the rich and the poor, along with the way Dickens explains sad times gives your teen a preview of not only literary topics, but history.

THREE/ Literary devices or terms need to be your framework.

I never required my boys to do a book report when they were younger, but I did require critical thinking skills and a broad understanding of literary devices in high school.

I would hear moans of how boring it was and I tried not to make it boring.

But, this is high school literature and the skills taught at these grades should equip your teen at the least to think like an adult.

Whether you’re preparing your teen for a college prep course or not, he still needs to learn how to think beyond black and white.

This is the time when your teen forms values, opinions, and beliefs and you need to look beyond the idea that you’re mutilating a good read.

How to Reflect on American, British, and World Literature

Making the connection to our belief system during our study time as we discussed it together was an unexpected benefit.

What I mean is that this is not just the time to read about boring literary devices, but the time to understand the message that the author is illustrating through literary devices.

Sometimes, it’s necessary to memorize definitions like rhyme, meter, or sonnet, but it’s more engaging when you and your teen understand why poetry was written in that style.

Digging into why ancient poets wrote how they did gives your student a richer understanding of the world around him.

You want your homeschooled teen to clearly state a verbal or written response to the topics of today’s world. It begins by analyzing a great book.

I hope this simple beginning and quick glance will give you a good foundation to begin your planning. In my upcoming posts, I will be sharing resources to help guide you and your teen.

Do you think you would like that?

Look at these too, you may like to grab the tips there.

More Homeschool High School Literature Tips

What You Must Know to Teach High School Unit Studies

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Until my sons reached high school, I didn’t know if my unit study approach would meld with tracking credits and courses. Check out my how to homeschool high school page for awesome tips.

Also, there didn’t really seem an abundance of prepared high school unit studies.

Between determining if unit studies were a good fit for high school and understanding record keeping, it was a lot to wrap my mind around.

Until my sons reached high school, I didn't know if my unit study approach would meld with tracking credits and courses. Also, there didn't really seem an abundance of prepared high school unit studies. Click here to read these 3 must know tips!

Sorting out myths from truth, I hope these 3 tips will help you to easily homeschool high school with unit studies. Or at least give you a beginning place.

3 Tips for Teaching High School Unit Studies

ONE/ Understand first that high school is just a continuation of the lowers grades – really!

Yes, it’s true that you’ll need to track credits and courses, but before stressing out about them, plan high school subjects like you’ve done in the lower grades.

That’s right. Begin with what you know.

In my article How to Choose the BEST Homeschool Lesson Planning Pages for THIS Year, I not only give you tips on how to do that, but each lesson plan form lists subjects by general categories; math, language arts, science, history and electives are the framework of well-rounded out high school courses.

It’s not hard to plan when you understand that you’re covering the same basic subjects albeit in more depth analyzing views instead of just a question answer format like your child did in younger grades.

TWO/ Look for resources which teach 2:1 or two-fer resources.

A two-fer resource is another secret tip to homeschooling teens.

Using a resource which teaches two subjects is vital when your child enters high school.

You don’t want your time wasted and neither do teens.

More important though is the reason that unit studies rocked in the younger grades is the same reason which holds true for high school.

Learning makes more sense when subjects are tied together instead of studied as separate subjects. Additionally, unit studies have always been a research-based approach.

This is a skill which is needed on into adulthood.

Living Books for Unit Studies

Resist giving up your unit study approach because it may require a bit more time to put together.

Sure, it’s easy to assign a text book and move on, but you and I know that high school is just hard sometimes. It’s a challenge to plan but still doable.

Begin again with something you know. Look at these things you may already know how and are doing with your kids in the younger grades.

  • Reading history living books and having your child choose writing topics based on history.
  • Reading science living books and choosing writing topics based on science.
  • Reading math living books and having your child choose writing topics based on math.

Now that you understand that high school courses fall into general categories and understand to look for two-fer resources, here are some examples of how to put it together.

We love the book Undaunted Courage.

Just a side note here.

When I look at a book which can serve as a springboard for high school unit studies, I note 3 things:

  • that it’s a living book,
  • that it’s high school level so that I can legally note on my high school transcript that it’s a high school level resource,
  • and I mull over how hard it will be to add external resources to enrich the study.

Not only is your teen covering part of his credit toward history when reading Undaunted Courage , but he is covering credits for literature too. Writing is part of a literature credit.

So your teen is covering 2–3 subjects at once depending on what credits you’ve lined out for the year.

Because covering literature in high school means more than just reading, you’ll want to have a variety of resources for analyzing literature and for guiding your teen how to write well.

A literature-based unit study which has a history setting has been the easiest to start off with at the high school level.

For example, I find it a challenge to round out a history book with literature analysis than a great book suited for literature analysis.

How to Put Together High School Unit Studies

It’s been easier to add history and science of a time period to a great read.

One super helpful resource we only discovered this year and that is the Thrift Study Editions by Dover. 

Not only are the books for high school level, but each one comes with a study guide in the back. 

For example, while reading A Tale of Two Cities, we studied about the culture of France and England and learned about the issues of the French Revolution.

With a resource like that, doing unit studies are a cinch at the high school level. This brings me to the third point you want to know.

THREE/ Fill your teacher nook with specialized how-two books for you and your teen.

Tackling how to teach a subject with out a curriculum can be daunting, but you can go from research to reward if you choose specialized teaching books.

Here are a few of my favorite resources. You don’t need all of them, but I’ve used them at one time or another to round out our unit studies.

Literature Unit Studies

  • The Design-A-Study series are timeless. This series of books about science, history, and composition gives an overview of what to cover in each grade.  Instead of giving you subjects, it’s helpful because it gives you the big picture of what your child needs to know from K-12. A resource like this is especially helpful if you want to cover a skill or topic that your highschooler may have struggled with in the earlier grades.
  • Warriner’s English Complete Course. This set of books have been around for years and helps to hone writing. Christine Miller of Classical Christian said, “This excellent reference can be used throughout all three years of the dialectic to teach writing. It thoroughly covers grammar in detail, which provides a nice review for those children that need it, or for those children that missed some grammar instruction in the grammar stage. It also covers writing in detail, with a complete section on writing mechanics, usage, writing correct and clear sentences, paragraphs, and papers, the research paper, using references, and even public speaking.” Read the rest of her review here. Before we started using Rod and Staff high school levels, we used Warriner’s. Rod and Staff’s Communicating Effectively I liked one year because I felt like it was more streamlined. It helps to.understand that I used Rod and Staff in the younger grades and their grammar is very rigorous and by 8th grade formal grammar is completed. When you click the link above you can see the sample of their English and what is covered in the high school years.
  • Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School. Don’t get overwhelmed by this book. There is no need to have to read all of it. Focus only on the grade level for this year. Having a handy reference like this will guide you to subjects for each grade.

In an upcoming post, I’ll show you how I plan credits now that you can see how easy it is to satisfy two to three subjects using carefully selected resources.

What You Must Know to Teach High School Unit Studies. Click here to grab the tips!

Also, check out Diving into Homeschool Unit Studies: The Dos and Don’ts and 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together and Homeschool High School–How to Log Hours for High School.

Hugs and love ya,

How to Transition a Child From Reading to Literature

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When I was in 8th grade I had an English teacher who loved words and literary analysis. I picked up her love of words and reading, but not so much her affection for literary analysis. Later in life, my fondness for literary analysis and literature was ignited but my earlier aversion affected how I started teaching reading.

When I was in 8th grade I had an English teacher who loved words and literary analysis. I picked up her love of words and reading, but not so much her affection for literary analysis. Later in life, my fondness for literary analysis and literature was ignited but my earlier aversion affected how I started teaching reading. Click here to get tips on understanding the difference between teaching reading and literature.

Determined that my boys would not be aliterate, I did some things right and some not so right when I first began to teach reading.

What I should’ve done with my first son was to introduce elements of literature earlier than I did. I’m grateful I didn’t totally mess up my kid because his love for excellent literature is apparent today.

From Reading to Literature

Let me back up first because understanding what is literature and what is reading can be confusing to the non-professional. It was to me.

And because there are so many facets about comprehending what is literature, it can seem almost over the top to grasp.

I’m going to speak in broad terms here because it’s important to see the big picture before you know how to transition a child from reading to literature. Teaching a child to read has these elements:

  • from the time he can sat on your lap, you begin reading aloud;
  • you teach him to associate symbols, which he later understands are letters with sounds;
  • you teach him that grouping together more than one letter helps him to blend sounds;
  • you begin to engage in formal and direction instruction which is phonics;
  • you continue with assisting him in learning phonics to about the fourth grade if necessary;
  • while you’re teaching him letter sounds, he cements those sounds by reading them in books, which gives him a purpose for reading;
  • you progress from early readers to chapter books; and
  • all throughout the years, you should be very picky about the quality of literature so that you hook an emerging reader on to lifelong reading.

Not focusing just on how to read but fostering a love of it in the early years is the key. That’s a tough enough job.

Here is one of my favorite programs to teach reading!
All About Reading

Switching gears to teaching literature is a gradual process as I’ve learned. It’s my opinion that whether or not you take a literature course in college, you’re not really prepared to know when to introduce all the features of literature to a young child. Of course, if you’re an English teacher that is different.

Before I go further, it’s important to also look at the elements of teaching literature which gives you a starting point in how to teach it. Here are some easy to understand features:

  • it’s about using good books that inspire readers;
  • it can effect the lives of people;
  • it may be praised for its literary value;
  • it may be famous for its historical value;
  • it’s about learning genres along with the elements of fiction;
  • it’s about exposure to a higher level vocabulary;
  • it’s learning how to extract meaning beyond what the author is stating;
  • it’s appreciating why literature can move us;
  • it’s about choosing a method, whether it’s an oral discussion only or part worksheet or part oral discussion to find one that suits your child’s learning style; and
  • it’s about moving from soft or fun literature to sophisticated literature which may not always be so fun.

As you can see, literature is an immense area to study. Knowing when to transition to teaching literature and not teaching reading is not an exact science.

Taming it doesn’t have to be a struggle if you know what to focus on at which ages or levels.

Now that you have an overview of the difference, here are a few strategies that won’t overwhelm you.

One/ Introduce genre in a natural way and not like I did with a workbook.

Even though I messed up with one child, I still had time to for a do over.

Instead of pulling out a worksheet to match genre types for books which your kids may not have read, simply explain the type of book it is.

As we read together from about third grade on, I saw the need to start explaining the genre and setting.

Now that two of my sons are young adults, I get different opinions from them.

One son critiqued me and wished I was more formal at the time when explaining the type of literature we were going to discuss and to include more worksheets. The second son critiqued me and said he wished there were no worksheets at all.

Teaching literature should take your child’s learning style into consideration but I also remember that I’m doing the teaching. And just because something is forced, it doesn’t mean it’s not good for my sons.

A balance between discussion and workbooks I feel gives a well-rounded approach and I ended up adapting to both learning styles

Two/ Book reports are not always required but you’ll want to determine a standard in how to analyze a reading.

What you would expect from a middle school student is not the same that you would expect from a high school teen.

Instead of doing book reports, take time to discuss the book with them. This means they read and come back to tell what they learned. I know it takes time, but literature is about taking time to let it move you.

In the beginning, they will just want to tell you what the book is about. Believe me after hearing the retelling of To Kill a Mockingbird numerous times, I thought I would lose patience. But seeing expressions on each of my son’s faced as they read it, made each time feel new. Each kid will identify with the protagonist, Scout, whether they agree with her or not. And understanding a six-year-old with a great wit is what drew my sons into learning about the story.

Three/ Analyzing  and teaching literature is a gradual unfolding.

I did this part wrong too. When Mr. Senior 2013 started middle school, I thought that instantly he was going to understand things like a figure of speech, the elements of fiction, author’s point of view, and etc.

I needed to slow down and realize that from about middle to high school, analyzing literature is a gradual process. Just like higher level math requires a more mature thinking, so does literature.

Don’t be locked into grades, but evaluate each child’s reading level and comprehension.

If a child can’t read well yet or is still struggling to comprehend, it’s hard to delve into a deeper meaning of a novel.

Let him lounge in the learning to read stage a while longer.

If You Can Read, You Can Teach Literature

Although I didn’t completely turn my son off to excellent literature, I almost made the mistake by several educators which is to make learning about it too mechanical.

With my next sons, I added in hands-on learning in the elementary grades and middle school.

For example, while discussing the setting of a book, my sons drew what they thought a time period looked like.

When we read Winnie-the-Pooh they drew a forest for the Hundred Acre Wood. A simple map brings the setting of the book to life.

More Language Arts Resources

I didn’t know using puppets would be such a great hit with understanding If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

Those are just a few tips in such a broad topic but I wanted to dive into sharing with you what worked and what didn’t work for me.

I’m going to continue on this topic by sharing some upcoming posts with tips about teaching your kids to high school.

Would you like to get some more tips? Tell me what kind of help you need the most.

Hugs and love ya,

3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

It’s a scary feeling choosing a writing curriculum when you don’t have a professional background in education. Also, look at my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter.

Knowing that thousands of parents embark on teaching their children each year, I too made the leap to choosing the perfect writing curriculum.

But you and I both know that perfect writing curriculum doesn’t exist, or does it?

3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

Looking back now that two of my sons are graduated, there were some things I did right although I didn’t feel that way at the time.

WRITING CURRICULUM

Hoping to spare you the same agony I went through because of my aversion to teaching writing, I learned 3 ways to choose the best writing curriculum for a growing homeschool family.

1. There is a right way to teach writing. No smoke and mirrors are involved.

A writing program needs to give you and your children structure and sentence variety.

Short and compound sentences are only two sentence types, but a beginner writer needs plenty of practice developing them.

Moving from basic sentence writing to a paragraph is foundational to strong writing skills.

As your child matures, he widens out in his ability to write creatively, but the foundation is first.

Does your writing curriculum give numerous subject topics, practice with sentence variety and instructions to the non-professional educator?

2. As the moods of your children change, your writing environment can’t.

When it comes to scheduling, I could easily be known as a Nazi mama.

I’ve been hard on myself through the years so that I don’t push too hard.

But years later, I’ve learned my structured environment was key to my boys learning how to write well.

I fully appreciate now that relaxed homeschooling is not lazy homeschooling. Finding balance is key to being a good writing teacher.

A well-rounded writing curriculum should give you guidance through each step of the writing process and tips to accommodate your kids changing needs and moods.

For several years, my sons needed to write about boy topics.

Easy Writing Curriculum Tips

Getting them in touch with their warm and fuzzy feelings didn’t work for them. An excellent writing curriculum really needs to serve the needs of both girls and boys.

In my inexperience, I learned a valuable nugget which is that a structured writing environment nurtures creativity. It worked opposite of how I thought it would be in the beginning.

Instead of focusing on the grade level, a writing curriculum needs to give you a clear picture of the process.

For example, does it move from planning, prewriting, drafting, revising to editing/publish? Does it help you to teach each step clearly?

If the writing curriculum is written for multiple ages, then you can teach to the writing ability for each child.

It’s a costly mistake to buy a writing curriculum that does not give you abundant teaching tips at each stage of the writing process.

For example, just because a child is in middle school doesn’t mean he is ready to write high school essays. After all essays are just a lot of practice in paragraph writing combined to make a lengthy paper.

Practice in paragraph writing can span many grades and it’s more about maturity than age.

When you’re given clear short-term goals and long-term goals of the writing process, your child can advance based on his maturity or simmer at one level for a while.

Again, teaching writing from the novice to the accomplished is about giving kids a structured environment which should be one of the important details in your program.

Writing, like math, is a skill that needs to be practiced each day. Skipping writing for numerous days and then asking your kids to write 5 paragraphs in one setting is pure torture.

Like other skill subjects, writing quickly becomes boring if a child is not writing about what interests him.

Does your writing curriculum give you writing prompts or ideas, encourages your child to write about topics that interest him and remind you to give praise for your child’s good communication skills? It should.

3. Lessons must be geared toward ensuring writing success.

Writing programs aim for writing success, but many miss the mark.

Not having a teaching background makes me require more of a writing program than just telling me about the writing process.

Look at these key bullet points to help you gauge a top-notch writing program.

Writing Structure Gives Kids a Strong Edge

  • Equipping teachers with scripted lessons is the start to creative writing. Like cooking, not everybody needs a recipe but sometimes you need exact measurements. However, in the beginning an inexperienced cook starts with a pattern or recipe and adjusts a recipe as she hones her skill. She adjusts a recipes to fit her family’s needs. Teaching writing is similar. Learn from seasoned writers by carefully following a script and then adjust it to meet your family’s needs.
  • Providing detailed instructions for budding writers is an essential component. New writers seem to have no fear when it comes to ideas. They need structure and guidance daily. The challenges are quite different for a more mature writer.
  • A program should ensure writing success for older writers who have more experience in life but may have experienced many writing failures. They may lack confidence. If a writing program fails to ensure that each writing adventure is a success, why would you choose it?
  • Ample ideas for editing, revising and giving feedback are necessary. My boys never responded to the red pen marks on their paper. It didn’t take many times for me to do that until I realized that writing is very personal. Tips in my curriculum like discussing topics beforehand, having my child explain his thoughts to me prior to writing and having my child listen and watch me as I thought outloud while writing were key teaching points I learned.

Teaching Kids to Write Clearly and Creatively Without Crushing Them

One year when one of my sons was in middle school, I thought he was a very creative writer. At least more so than I was at his age. What I was helped to appreciate from teaching writing was that my son needed to make a point with his writing while entertaining readers.

Having eight pages of words which sparked his imagination was beautiful and creative, but honing it for meaning is equally important.

As a mom of bright boys, I refused to believe that just because boys came later to the writing table that it meant they were delayed.

They were not, they just needed more entertaining than girls. A boy’s need to wiggle, move, and use up their energy had to be incorporated into the lesson plan.

I’m not telling you that teaching writing is easy, but it can be less intimidating when you choose the best writing curriculum. Take your time choosing one and ask a lot of questions.

3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

What is working and not working for you right now?

More Writing Curriculum Tips

Also, look at how to teach writing with these other tips.

It’s a scary feeling to choose a writing curriculum when you don’t have a professional background in education. Knowing that thousands of parents embark on teaching their children each year, I too made the leap to choosing the perfect writing curriculum. But you and I both know that perfect writing curriculum doesn’t exist, or does it? Looking back now that two of my sons are graduated, there were some things I did right although I didn’t feel that way at the time. Click here to grab the 3 tips on how to choose the BEST writing curriculum.

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