The fourth R of our homeschooling day (after Redemption, Recitation, and Reading) is Writing. Like Reading, we divide this into "learning to write" and "writing to learn".
"Learning to write" includes several skills - physically learning letter formation and penmanship, and also learning the skills necessary for writing coherent sentences, paragraphs, and longer pieces. To be more specific, we spend our time on the following areas. But please realize that we don't do everything everyday!! That would be WAY too much! I will share our schedule at the end.
- Penmanship - We used the Abeka manuscript and cursive books, as well as free cursive worksheets from Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood and Prescripts from Classical Conversations.
- Copywork - Because our daughter is finishing second grade, she uses a Primary Journal book to both write and draw about what she is writing. (A note about copywork: she doesn't just copy, but we talk about why the sentence is written the way it is, with capitals, verb tense, and punctuation, building awareness little by little). Here are some of the resources we have used:
- Draw Write Now - This is a set of eight books that has both drawing instructions and then several sentences to copy about the topic in printing. It is great for younger elementary students.
- Draw and write through history - This is a set of six books that goes from Creation through the modern time, with drawing instructions and copywork in cursive, so it is better for older elementary students.
- Copying the history and science memory work from Classical Conversations or Bible verses that we are memorizing - for this, we sometimes make our own handwriting worksheets for free at www.handwritingpractice.net.
- Spelling - I hate the idea of buying a new spelling book every year, so we use the word lists in Spelling Plus, as well as the accompanying Dictation Resource book. We have our daughter copy and practice the words from one list and write the dictation sentences from the previous list. It is not colorful, but it works. We also use a website called Spelling City to make it a bit more fun.
- English Grammar - for this, we focus on practicing the Classical Conversations memory work (both copying and repeating). We have also used First Language Lessons from time to time, and if we were not already using Classical Conversations, this would be my first choice.
- Latin - We include our Latin memory work in this block because of its impact on future language learning. We keep it short and sweet right now.
"Writing to learn" is the process of using writing to restate or tell about something we have learned or to express something on a personal level. Activities we spend this time on include:
- Working on a weekly presentation for CC - Classical Conversations requires each student, from age 4 up, to give a presentation every week. With the little ones, this is just like show and tell, and with the older students it tends to be more academic. For us, this involves deciding on her topic and planning it out. When she was in kindergarten, this was just talking about what she could present. Now that she will be in third grade, I will require her to write out more.
- Writing letters to friends and relatives - we are trying to do this once a week, an old-fashioned letter that you mail with an envelope and stamp.
- Responding to what she reads - Sometimes, I have her summarize what she learned from her reading, especially about history and science, to practice her recall skills and ability to sequence events. When she was younger, this was dictated to me. Now she is writing on her own.
- Using a dialogue or other kind of journal - Sometimes I have her write out her thoughts and questions in a journal that we can write back and forth to each other in, or in one that she can keep. I especially like one called Fine Linen and Purple that is in the Brother Sister Bundle and the Fine Arts Bundle (in the Build Your Bundle sale that starts today). It is meant for teenage girls, but many of the topics are good for upper elementary girls, too, and it has coloring pages that are beautiful!
So we don't do it all everyday, and we only spend thirty minutes on Writing each day. Here is (roughly) how we squeeze it in. And yes, if we go over our thirty minutes anywhere, it will be here.
How do you teach writing to your children? Share below!
- Spelling/Penmanship (we alternate each day) - 10 minutes
- Memory work (Latin/English grammar) - 5 minutes
- Copywork - 5-10 minutes
- Writing to learn - 5-10 minutes
How do you teach writing to your children? Share below!
RSS Feed
