10 Ways to Use Notebooking: #4 Writing

Another one of the earliest notebooks we implemented in our homeschool was a writing notebook.

The writing notebook was the one that was typically bursting at the seams by the end of a school year. At times this large notebook just expanded beyond the current year into the next year, and the next — never really having a good place to cut off.

In the beginning the writing notebook held brief writing assignments, narrations, or sometimes copywork. Then it grew to the short story in progress, the errant descriptive piece, or the essay. There were rough drafts, and edited drafts, and final drafts included.

And when you looked back, it was thrilling for student (and Mom) to see the incredible progress.

When you require your children to write every day, you need plenty of room to store their work!

Suggestions

Since this notebook will be visited each and every day, give your child time to personalize it, making it his own and a place he will enjoy spending time.
Require your child to write every day. Can’t emphasize this principle enough. Of course, that means you need to become his writing tutor, and you will have to edit his work every day! But that time invested reaps great rewards.
In the beginning, it is quite likely your child will not know what to write. Keep a few writing ideas or prompts handy for the occasion. One of the options can always be copywork. This prevents a child from being required to be creative when he doesn’t have anything to output.
Keep your child reading. To have an output (write) we must have an input (read). Exercising his imagination will better enable him to provide outputs.
Include:
- Copywork.
- Narrations.
- Dictations.
- Essays.
- Comparison/contrasts.
- Descriptive writing.
- Outlines.
- Biographies.
- How-to essays.
- Book reviews.
- Letters.
- News stories.
- Research papers.
- Persuasive writing.
- Poems.
- Character sketches.
- Short stories.
- Encyclopedic-type articles about something of interest.

Additional Resources

Writing Helps
A collection of posts to keep your child writing. Includes writing prompt ideas, story starters, prewriting ideas, and writing ideas for the older and younger student.

Books

Learn to Write the Novel Way by Carol Thaxton
Student writes a short story utilizing Mom as mentor. Great way to learn how to edit your child’s writing. Read our entire review.