Day 10: Writing and Reluctant Writers {10 Days of Language Arts}

Besides those areas, children need lots of time practicing. So keep them writing! Notebooking and written narrations count as writing. So do journal writing, reading journals, and typical language arts assignments. Just make sure your child has a chance to write something every single day. Writing really is like math and reading in this sense that it requires daily practice.

In general, I would agree that an 11 year old should be doing more writing on his own. There’s certainly nothing wrong with discussing ideas in the prewriting stage, but he should be able to write drafts independently. You then come back into the picture for the editing and revising stage. However, the beauty of homeschooling is that we can adjust to our child’s particular levels and needs. Remember that an 11 year old boy is immature. Writing — the thinking involved– is hard work.

Is he not ready to move into independence? Or is it a laziness or self-discipline issue? Only you can know that for sure. I would forge ahead with what you are doing, teaching and encouraging. I believe it will click eventually.

Meta-cognitive Strategies

One thing to consider is meta-cognitive strategies. Meta-cognitive means thinking about thinking. (It is one of my favorite words.) When you give your son a writing task, ask him what he should be thinking or asking himself to get the job done. If he’s not sure, model that with your own thinking processes. That means you think outloud so that he can hear the thought processes you go through to write. You might even write down those questions for him to use as he works independently.

Disclaimer

Before I share more tips for reluctant writers, let me say that there is no magic bullet for making difficult tasks pleasant. I despise and fear going to the dentist. There is really nothing anyone can do to make me enjoy the experience. Even if I knew you were going to give me $300 at the end of the visit, I would still hate every minute of it as I looked forward to that $300. A kind hygienist and patient dentist can help it be less horrifying, but the terror factor never totally disappears (for me). Writing may be one of those “grin and bear it” kind of subjects for some kids. And that’s okay.  But you are good homeschool moms, and you want to make writing less horrifying for your child (and for you). So try these ideas.

General Tips for Motivating Reluctant Writers

Let the student choose the topic.

It’s hard, maybe impossible, to write well about something that bores you. Although I encourage writing in the content areas — history, math, art, science,  reluctant writers need to be enticed with what interests them. What is your child’s passion? Turn that into your writing topic. Are there hobbies or interests that he could write about? Is there something that makes him angry? Can he write a persuasive essay about it?

You may have to wade through dozens of essays about video games, legos, or robotics; in my case it’s cats. We’ve had essays about different breeds, comparison and contrast of her own cats, famous cats in history. Yes, it gets a bit dull, but Sprite can still learn how to write with a topic as broad as cats.

(Sprite is not a reluctant writer, but I still want her to write about topics that she is passionate about. It makes her writing better and improves motivation. Good teaching strategies work with all kinds of students.)

Use technology.

Typing on the computer makes the entire editing process much easier. Using spell check and grammar check are additional helps for the reluctant writer.

Many students who have trouble coming up with what to write have no trouble talking about their topic. The solution is to make an audio recording of the student’s thoughts. After recording, let the child listen and dictate what he said. It will need work, of course, but a lot of the ideas will be there.

Use peer pressure.

It is common for students to resist editing their drafts. For one, it’s difficult to analyze weaknesses and improve them. Furthermore, many students have an emotional connection to their work or an insecurity about having their errors pointed out which makes them not want to discuss and make changes.

A wonderful solution to this problem is peer editing where children read each others’ essays and give feedback. I started a middle school peer editing group in my area. We have met twice so far, and the children have really benefited from the positive peer pressure.  Most moms confirmed that the children took extra time in getting their essays ready for the peer editing session just because they wanted to impress the other students.

If peer editing won’t work out, try to find some kind of audience for your  child’s work — a blog, a newsletter, a penpal. Knowing that someone besides mom is going to read the essay helps motivate a child to put forth more effort.

Choose a good time of day.

What time is your child’s at his sharpest? Let writing be done at that time even if it is late at night or some other time not convenient for you.

Keep lessons short but daily.

When frustration sets in, put the paper aside. Shorter lessons mean that you need to do writing more often, though. So establishing a daily writing habit may be the best thing for a reluctant writer.

Reward your child for bursts of diligence work by calling a close to the writing lesson before there are tears or anger. I’m as guilty as the next parent for dragging out a lesson when things seem to be going well. But just like company should leave before the host wants them to, you should end the writing lesson while the mood is still happy.