Writing in your homeschool high school is not automatically an easy subject. Having an honest conversation with your students about what’s working, what isn’t, what changes YOU as the teacher can make, and what changes THEY as the student can own will make a world of difference. Equipping strong writers is a goal you can reach; you just might need to adjust the way you’re attempting it.
Homeschooler Hates Writing
“Every time I ask my child to write, she says she doesn’t know what to say. Getting started is so hard!”
“My daughter melts down when I correct her writing assignments. How can I help her become a better writer without her taking it so personally?”
“When I give my son a writing task, he starts off fine, but he ends up rambling and can’t stick to the assignment.”
“My child’s writing is lifeless. How can I help him without imposing my personal style on his writing?”
Writing is not a mystical, intuitive process for most people. Just as Math makes sense conceptually to some people but most of us need to have it broken down into steps for us to follow, writing can be broken down in a variety of ways to become more accessible to a variety of writers. Talk to your student to find out WHICH PIECES of the process are most intimidating.
Is getting started hard? Find help with the videos on the 7 Sisters Homeschool YouTube channel. There’s a 5-part series in this playlist that breaks the writing process down into manageable steps: 7 Sisters Homeschool YouTube Channel.
Is editing a writing assignment wrecking your relationship with your teen? Change your approach to correcting writing assignments.
If your homeschooler hates writing, try this: lose the red pen and instead try talking about the positives in the piece first. Then address simple spelling and grammatical errors; those are not subjective. After your child has corrected misspellings and grammatical errors, read the piece aloud and see if an awkward sentence might leap out to your child without you even making an issue of it. Stop to ask questions for clarification. Suggest that your child make notes on the paper in the margins regarding places to consider changes in wording.
You have to edit assignments or their writing will never improve, but some forms of correction feel less threatening than others. If you have a student who is in tears every time you hand back a writing assignment for further edits, a new approach may help.
What to do with a “ramblin’ rose”? Many writers hate to start with an outline (I am one of them, actually). But writing a rambling first draft can be effectively followed by outlining! If you encourage your rambler to write from the heart first, then have him or her go back to outline the way the paragraphs support the thesis (or not!), you may find greater success.
If you have a lifeless writer, it is a very delicate thing to coax forth a writing voice from your child without imposing your own style on the piece. Talking about your student’s goals for the piece with the paper out of sight entirely can be a key to success. Ask questions like these:
Guides to High School Writing at Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced levels – $24.99 each – from 7Sisters EBookstore can help your child become a successful writer!
* Do you want to convince someone to agree with you?
* Do you hope your reader will feel an emotion? If so, what emotion?
* Do you want to encourage the reader to take a specific action when he is finished reading? What action?
* Do you want the reader to picture something in his mind? Hear a sound in his imagination? Remember a smell or a taste or a touch?
Once your student has decided on a goal for the piece, it becomes much less threatening for you to say, “You said you wanted me to remember the taste of strawberry ice cream on the boardwalk at the beach. What can you add to your paragraph to help me do that?”
Even if your homeschooler hates writing, these subtle changes in the approach you take to correcting him or her just may make a world of difference in the writing that is produced…and the level of tension in your homeschool!