While driving home from visiting my parents this weekend, I popped in a couple Andrew Pudewa tapes a friend loaned me.  Among other ideas, he presented the method of encouraging reluctant writers by creating "keyword outlines."  Well, the whole reason I borrowed the tapes in the first place is because I was at my wit's end trying to pry 3 sentences out of DD9.  So if you're unfamiliar with the method, the idea is pretty simple.  Choose a short piece of writing at or below the child's reading level, and ask him to choose 2-3 keywords from each sentence that will help them remember the idea for that sentence.  The keywords become the outline from which they will re-write the story.  You may think it's "cheating" that the child does not have to use his/her imagination to come up with a story.  However, Pudewa suggests that teaching the mechanics of writing is easier if the child can write something they already know.  Take it up with him.

In fact, when I told DD that she would not have to "think" of a story, but she could just pick an Aesop's fable and simply re-write it, she was VERY intrigued.  (Actually, I told her she could just leave her brain in the other room, because she wouldn't need it -- she was ALL OVER that .)

Well, I don't want to drag this out, but let me just say....EUREKA!  She understood the outline idea, chose her keywords carefully, tested her outline to make sure it worked, and re-wrote the fable.  Hers was different from the original, to be sure, but she wrote it without complaint!  That, my friends, is what you call a MIRACLE OF GOD!

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

   Once there was a boy who watched a flock of sheep near a village.  He would cry, "Wolf, wolf," and the villagers would run to him.  When they found no wolf, the boy would laugh.  One day, after he had tricked them many times, a wolf really did appear.  He cried, "Wolf," but the villagers didn't want to be laughed at, so they ignored him and the whole flock was killed.

Moral:  If you tell a lot of lies, no one will believe you.

DS6 tried the same thing.  Here's his entry as dictated to me:

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

 Once upon a time there was a boy who used to watch a flock of sheep near a village.  As a trick, the boy would cry, “Wolf, wolf,” and the villagers would come as fast as they could.  But no wolf was really there, and the boy just sat there and laughed, “Ha, ha!”  After the boy tricked them several times, a real wolf did appear.  And the boy cried, “Wolf, wolf!”  But no villagers came because they were tired of being laughed at.  And the whole flock was lost.

The moral:  Don’t make a lot of lies or no one will believe you if you really tell the truth.

Okay, I know his is longer, but he DID have the advantage of dictating.  DD will still go for the least amount of written words to convey the idea.  But we're working on that!