Getting It All In Writing
all about, the ability to communicate with our fellow human beings. We do try to get more words into their vocabulary, because we all need to learn the nuances of language. We prefer they learn to say, "I'd rather not have any more spinach, thank you!" rather than "That stuff sucks!" which is half manners, but also half vocabulary. Some kids do not get the differences, leaving them at a social/communication disadvantage.
We use the Internet as a part of our educational system of writing by the time they reach ten. We access different sites like the one by Yale which has the Federalist Papers in it, and then ask the boys to write one like it, using similar language. We'll take any subject they are currently studying, and ask them to write about what life would be like without, say, the First Amendment. What would life be like if you were a pioneer wife? (An extremely difficult assignment for young men, I assure you!)
A child of ten or so loves to write in a journal, especially if that child has read Harriet the Spy. I can't say we've gotten much use out of journal entries at this age, but it does get the child into the practice of writing, so it does serve an educational purpose, as well as being cathartic for the child.
We have also written riddles, rhymes, haikus and plays. It is a lot of fun to make copies of short plays and read them as a group, each one taking a part. Selecting who gets which part is the most telling part of the excercise, because we decide which one of us is that "type" of character, and then the person who decides must tell why he decided that that character fit that person. There are few better ways to develop descriptive language abilities. It is fun to re-write the endings of favorite television shows, as well.
An article in a home education magazine contributed the idea of a "poetry reading" where the teacher selects several poetry books and makes a pot of hot cocoa. The chidren then select a book, and read their poems to the others while relaxing with their cocoa. My boys love this so much!
I have also borrowed an idea from my high school creative writing teacher, Mellanee Kvasnicka, who had us read something we had written every
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