Writing Helps

We started by reading to our child, familiarizing him with language. At some point we had him narrate to us what was read, absorbing the language. Our child traced his name. Then he began copying — letters, sentences, paragraphs. Now that he is familiar with language and has been writing comfortably for some time, we […]

Once a child is comfortable holding a pencil, he can begin copying. Rather than starting with copywork, some prefer to start with tracing. Probably your child’s first writing lesson was when you printed his name and he traced it or copied it. Or maybe you started even earlier with one letter instead of a word…. […]

I remember when we first started homeschooling our oldest. I, fortunately, didn’t know any better than to just pull together those materials I thought we needed. One of these gems was the first book in the Writing Strands series by Dave Marks. This little book focused on writing — “oral writing.” It was much later […]

Most great writers are great readers. That makes sense if you consider that, by reading, an authors’ words and the way they are used are input, and “copied” when we write — albeit with our own words and style. Someone once said that the books I read will make the difference between who I was […]

Before your child reaches school age, does he know how to talk? How did he learn? Did you pull out the flashcards, go over grammar, show him diagrams of how to form sounds with his mouth, use neat ditties to encourage that sound out of the mouth? Probably not. More likely he simply imitated you […]

  So you have your children writing every day. Great! Now, of course, you need to become their editor. Here is where some find a challenge in the natural approach to language arts. What if I don’t feel competent to edit my child’s writing? We’ll address the underlying problem with that argument further down, but […]