Posted in Writing

Teaching writing has not been easy for me.  I always enjoyed creative writing when I was in school but when it comes to teaching someone else how to write and the different types of writing, I have not been very successful.  After reading a lot about copywork, we began doing this (my thought was that doing this was better than nothing).  Well, we still incorporate copywork into our school work (after years of wondering if this is going to be helpful some day).  I still think that it will benefit my children although I may not see the fruit of this until later years.  A couple of things that were very helpful to me regarding the use of copywork were Language Arts the Easy Way by Cindy Rushton (click on the link and scroll down until you find it), and this article.

A great source for copywork that I discovered last year is a yahoo group that consists of copywork samples that correspond to the Ambleside Online curriculum.  We don't use Ambleside's curriculum (although I have friends who love it!).....but I have used these copywork selections a lot.  They are divided by grade level and by book, and then by selections from the book.  My kids have enjoyed doing copywork from books they have read in the past.  Click here to go to AOCopywork.  This is not a chat group -- the copywork is in the files section.

We have tried many, many writing curriculums through the years and have never found one that we could stick with and enjoy going through it -- until this year.  A friend introduced me to Shurley English and I began using it with my younger two boys (they are 3rd and 5th grade, so I bought the 4th grade curriculum and they are doing it together).  They love it and it is really easy to teach (takes my time to be right there with them, but is all laid out for the teacher).  I am amazed at how quickly they have learned to identify and label the parts of speech.  It also includes teaching some writing each week, which has been really good for them.  I think that I will be able to add some copywork and other occasional writing activities to this and it will be plenty.

My oldest two boys have done several online classes with Eileen Heath at home2teach.com.  This has been one of the most beneficial things we have done for writing.  She is an excellent teacher and they have learned so much from her.  We will probably continue to take these classes off and on over the next few years.  They are six-week long classes and are fairly intense during that time, but well worth the money.  They also have done or will be doing Winston Grammar Basic and Advanced over the next year.  This is really easy for them to do on their own when they are older.  It's a great hands-on way to learn grammar or to brush up on what they already know.  It really sounds like a hodge-podge of things but we have had some variety and are steadily learning and improving our writing skills.

Posted in Writing

I was about to buy several handwriting workbooks when I came across this website where I could purchase the font instead and make my own practice pages.  I spent about the same amount of money for the font as I would have spent on the workbooks, but now I can make our penmanship practice go along with whatever we are learning about!  I can make extra practice pages for any letters or words that we might need to repeat.  It cost me $22 to buy the font -- which sounds like a lot, but I know that we will use it for years and not have to buy the workbooks!  Here is a link if you're interested in checking it out -- School Script Lined Font.  If you know of a website where you could download this for free, please leave it in the comments section.  This is the only one I came across that I could install where I can use it in all of my computer applications.  If you buy it, be sure to keep their web page pulled up and follow the step-by-step instructions for downloading and installing.  This is going to be great for copywork!

Posted in Writing

We are halfway through our first experience with an online class.  My 14-yr-old son is taking the paragraph class from home2teach.com and I have seen vast improvement in just a few weeks!  He has been enjoying it and it has taken the burden of trying to teach something I felt completely incapable of teaching off of my shoulders!  After the class ends, I plan to go back through and make up assignments from what he did and we plan to stick with these classes as much as our finances allow.  So far I am thinking it is worth every penny!!! 

Posted in Writing

Okay, there's teaching writing....and there's teaching penmanship.  Since teaching writing has never been a strength of mine (okay, I've struggled and struggled with it), I'll talk about penmanship.  There isn't a whole lot to say on the subject.  It kind of happens naturally if you work a little here and there with your kids while they are young and don't push them.  That is probably the most important lesson I learned from teaching my first son (firstborns seem to make great guinea pigs).  I pushed him into doing a penmanship workbook waaaay too early regardless of the fact that he really despised it.  I later learned that he probably didn't have the fine motor skills required to do it and that handwriting is something you absolutely should not push boys into. 

When they are old enough to start doing a penmanship book, we use the Italic Handwriting Series for printing.  If they are really young and just wanting to learn their ABC's because older siblings get to do school work, I start them with Book A.  If they already know how to write their ABC's but are ready to start some daily practice, I skip Book A and start them out on Book B.  We do Book C until it gets to the cursive part.  I then switch them to A Reason for Handwriting to learn and practice cursive.  We start this with the book that says "Transition" on the front cover.  For us, this just seems to get the best results as far as legible handwriting.  A Reason for Handwriting has about the right amount of practice we need for cursive.  Although it is a different style from the Italic, the Italic series seems to be really easy to write and to read when learning to print.  If I had it all to do over again, I would probably just start them all off in the Reason to Writing series and call it good.

My oldest son (again, the guinea pig) used Handwriting Without Tears for cursive.  I don't think it was presented extremely well and didn't have enough daily practice for us.  His cursive is still not the easiest to decipher.  I'm not trying to discourage someone from using it because I know a lot of people use it successfully.  This was just our experience with it.

Just to emphasize the important lesson I learned with this....Do not push them in this area -- it will come with time and interest level.  Do not compare their progress with every other child you see -- this is a skill that will come with time and interest level.  (Did I emphasize that enough?)   

A couple of other things that we have used consistently through the years....

     StartWrite Software - I have used this quite a bit to make my own handwriting pages.  Very user-friendly and worth the money.

     Draw Write Now Books - My boys have really enjoyed these books through the years.  I have never "taught" using these.  I just have made them available to my kids and gave them the blank book to do their work in.  They enjoy finding things that go along with whatever they are learning about or reading about and just take off on their own to make their pictures and copy the sentences.  These are great!!!