Today, I have tips for homeschool creative writing. Also, you’ll love the tips on my post Which One is Really the Best Homeschool Writing Curriculum (a comparison).
Have you ever fumbled your way through teaching a homeschool subject?
Then realize later that you gave your children an amazing start?
It’s not a teaching method I tout because blunders don’t always turn out so productive.
However, teaching is partly influenced by what we were taught growing up.
And homeschool creative writing was a painful process for me.
In middle school, I wasn’t given a specific and detailed explanation of what is creative writing.
For example, I was told to write creatively.
But as a child I thrived with details, planning and wanted specificity.
My teacher was naturally creative and it was almost a lethal combination for me.
My middle school teacher thought I couldn’t relax and let thoughts flow or so it seemed.
And I thought my teacher didn’t know how to teach because she was unclear in her assignment and didn’t mind the details or so I thought.
Until I started homeschooling my own children, I didn’t really grasp what my teacher was excited about.
Hoping to bridge the difference between exceptional homeschool teachers who are naturally creative and those who can be when they clearly understand the assignment, look at three things I learned the hard way.
Freedom from the Homeschool Curriculum Box
That is powerful if you think about it.
It is about emotions, thoughts, and self-expression. It’s about you and who doesn’t like talking (or writing) about their self.
In explaining creative writing to my boys, I used the example of a group photo taken by one of their friends.
When my boys’ friends show them the photo, can you guess what my boys look at first? Yep. They look for themselves first in the picture.
We can’t help it, it’s natural. We want to see how we look.
What is Homeschool Creative Writing
Creative writing is like finding yourself in that photo.
Naturally creative teachers know that putting thoughts on paper is the outside of what is brimming on the inside of an individual.
Once explained to a child, he can bring comical thoughts, deep emotions and even fears to the surface for writing topics.
Digging up those thoughts in a child’s mind may require effort on the part of a teacher.
Though I didn’t fully understand all the benefits of reading aloud when I started homeschooling, I reaped the benefits of doing it each day.
When I turned my boys loose, my sons could write pages and pages of stories based on their wild imagination that was stimulated by excellent literature.
After they would write pages and pages, I failed again. I switched to teacher mode. Correcting grammar and errors is what I thought writing was all about.
That wasn’t working because I almost created a resistant writer with my first son because I had stifled his creativity.
Thinking that my oldest son had to make a point to the endless stories he was penning was the second mistake I made.
Being a product of my schooling, I had been taught to be clear, concise and brief in my speech and writing.
Those qualities are important as I learned, but not to the extent that they diminish my son’s love for words and expressing emotions through artfully contrived words.
Being part of the solution is to let your child write without fear of being overly corrected, mechanical or trying to make their writing fit your boxed curriculum.
More Homeschool Creative Writing Tips
- Which One is Really the Best Homeschool Writing Curriculum (a comparison)
- 5 Creative Ways to Boost Handwriting in Older Kids
- Cursive Matters; Handwriting Style Doesn’t + Free Resources
- Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 3
From my childhood and experience teaching my first child who was similar to my learning style, I knew that if told him that creative writing was like painting with no rules, he would add his flair to his writing. And he did.
Also, I learned to not bring my teacher mode to the table and start correcting his paper or in other words smother an ember before it becomes a flame.
And I always added in a good dose of reading aloud each day to help all my boys find their style for writing.
Adding creative writing to your curriculum can be challenging but having confident writers years later has been worth every effort.
But I learned a few more things too.
I learned to use my teaching strengths as a spring board to creative writing ideas. And I learned how to help my kids create and brainstorm for writing topics.
Writing and Composition Resources For All Ages
Whether you’re teaching handwriting, composition, or creative writing solid tips comes from having an abundance of composition and materials to choose from.
The Aesop for Children Story and D'Nealian Copywork Book, Volume I, includes seventy-three original unabridged fables illustrated by Milo Winter. Also included are copywork selections using the moral of each fable in D'Nealian style manuscript with adequate space for students to copy the included examples in their best handwriting. How to Teach Copywork:Copywork can seem simplistic. Give your child a sentence or two and have them copy it. It can also seem like busy work, but the benefits are great! Copywork is a simple introduction to handwriting, spelling, and composition. Have children copy only the best authors, with the best writing, and ideas to fill their growing minds. When to begin copywork:Once a child learns how to write their letters comfortably, they are ready to start simple copywork. Start with very short sentences and have them copy it, always in their best handwriting.
Learn basic communication skills with this updated Writing Strands curriculum for a new generation!
This Beginning 1 course was created for students learning to write sentences and paragraphs on their own. The assignments gently guide students through their work each day, helping them master basic writing with unique exercises on dialogue, reporting, interviews, role playing, persuasion, story writing, and organizing and grouping ideas.
In Writing with Ease, Susan Wise Bauer lays out an alternative plan for teaching writing, one that combines the best elements of old-fashioned writing instruction with innovative new educational methods. The Complete Writer workbooks (each sold separately) complement this plan with lessons, student worksheets, and teacher instructions for every day of writing instruction. Each covers one year of study. Used along with Writing with Ease, The Complete Writer, Level One (first in a four-volume set) complete the elementary-grade writing curriculum.
ump In, 2nd Edition retains the step-by-step features of the first edition and its conversational style, along with some humor to ease the fright of writing! Students master the art of writing paragraphs, different types of paragraphs, topic sentences, and main ideas (thesis statements). They also practice writing nine types of essays and one research report. Proofreading lessons are included, along with suggested writing schedules and specific student checklists for each essay assignment.Let student-directed Jump In, 2nd Edition teach composition for you. A suggested writing schedule and checklist come with every essay assignment.Teachers will enjoy the new grading grids for each essay in the Teacher’s Guide, making grading much easier.Middle school. Two semesters. 98 daily lessons.
Finally, your teens will write without dread! Have they almost given up on writing? Do they reach for the tissue box when you say, "Write an essay"? Do you worry they won't be ready for high school or college writing? Do they say they think of things to write but can't write them down? With THE POWER IN YOUR HANDS: WRITING NONFICTION IN HIGH SCHOOL, 2ND EDITION, they'll learn essay writing in a relaxed, nonthreatening atmosphere with a little humor thrown in. This 2ND EDITION includes proofreading marks and exercises, a new chapter on common grammar mistakes, and numbered lessons to easily keep track of daily lessons. This course teaches your teens what they need to know for high school and will be prepare them for college writing: persuasion, compare-and-contrast essays, literary analysis, a research paper with MLA documentation, and much more. In addition, students will learn how to write description and narration essays. Beginning writers will feel safe, and advanced writers will enjoy Digging Deeper lessons.
If you have ever felt mystified by, or unable to enjoy the significance of poetry, this book will lead you step by step to understanding and love of this branch of literature, guided by a gifted poet and teacher. The Art of Poetry is an excellent middle school or high school curriculum; it will teach the practice of reading a poem slowly and carefully, introduce students to the elements of poetry (such as imagery and metaphor) and the many forms that can make a poem, from sonnet to open verse. In the belief that practice is the best way to learn, this book is rich with explications, exercises, and activities. A biography of each poet is also included, and we are providing audio files of many of the poems.
Curriculum is a creative one-year writing curriculum for middle school students
Later I realized that I don’t have to give up details, planning or specificity when writing. I will share specific details in an upcoming post about how I used my strengths to make creative writing flourish.
What about you? Are you afraid to step out of the box and teach creative writing?
You can do it!
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