Friday, February 1, 2008

You CAN Teach Your Children to Write

I’m amazed by the number of homeschooling moms I know who are intimidated by the thought of teaching their children to write. I think the long, dragged-out process of learning to write in grammar and high school gave them the idea that learning to write is a major endeavor.

But let’s face it; there are many school subjects that take way too long to learn in school, because school is nothing if not inefficient. One teacher trying to lead a group of children in a certain direction will tell you it can be a little like herding cats. Each child learns uniquely, has different interests and may or may not want to be there. That makes it pretty hard to tailor the instruction to fit all of their needs. So it takes a long time to teach a process like writing in school.

We homeschoolers don’t have that disadvantage. We have time with our kids, and we know them better than any teacher can know them. Given that we’re free of the restraints of school, teaching our kids to do something as basic as write in their native language should be easy, right?

Well, not according to those intimidated homeschooling moms I mentioned. They lack confidence in tackling the job of teaching their children to write. Some believe that they are not good writers themselves.

A quick trip around the homeschooler blogosphere will dispel that notion. There are many good writers out there! You all need to have more confidence in yourselves :)

However, even if you’re not the world’s greatest writer, you can still provide your children with the tools that will enable them to become good writers. You can also prepare yourselves to teach your kids to write.

We have a special report, “Teaching Your Children to Write,” that we usually sell at homeschool conventions. But we’ve run out of copies, and we’re taking this year off of the convention circuit anyway. So if you’d like to print out your own free copy of that report, just go here. I hope reading it will help you realize that you don’t have to fear teaching your children to write.

3 comments:

Middle-Aged Moi said...

I have to admit, this is an area that scares me. More that I am teaching it okay and not teaching them bad habits. Plus, you know how boys are....they're so....well, they're boys. I have to make their assignments "boy friendly". :-)

Nicole said...

Thank you!!

Barbara Frank said...

Janet, wait until they're older. My son really got into writing papers in college.

Nicole, you're welcome! Thanks for stopping by.