Homeschooling 101

Lesson 4: Insider Secrets

Encouraging Creative Writing and Handwriting Practice

Recently, someone asked me how to encourage handwriting practice in their homeschool. Here are just a few ideas!

• Family Newsletter
  The one idea I have used in the past, and will use again when we move is a family newsletter. The boys and I brainstormed what they wanted to write about (they asked for help. If they hadn’t, I would have let them do it themselves), and then I helped them figure out where to find the info, and then put it all together. I know of homeschool kids writing newsletters about nature, history and a bunch of other things, that they actually have subscribers!

• Magnetic Poetry
  We all know magnetic poetry, right? Here is a version for kids. (But I’ll warn you ... you might just catch yourself playing with it, too!)

• For Girls:
  Klutz makes a journal called "My Life According to Me." It has black paper and a silver pen ... it asks questions about the kids` life, their thoughts, their birth, etc. It has a place for pictures and keepsakes.

• For Boys:
  Christian got a set of gel pens for Christmas and hasn’t put them down!

  To make a book for gel pens, we picked up a pack of black construction paper (under $2 at a craft store) cut two pieces of cardboard to size to make covers. Put the book together, and hammer a nail through both covers and the pages, (so you can tie it) and tie together with crazy shoelaces.

• I have done things like: You want that toy? Write me a story about it. Christian wants an RC car called "Dragonfly." I told him to write a story about the car. It has to be about the car, but that’s the only stipulation I gave him. It can be about him driving in the car, he is the car, or whatever he chooses.

• Keep a book of quotes
  From songs, TV, movies, books, the grocery store ... wherever they hear something that "clicks." Don’t know that it would work with a younger child, but you never know!

• Brainstorm: Set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes, and each of you take a piece of paper and write down anything that comes to mind. You can then take one idea and use it as a starting point, or try to use ALL of the ideas and see how silly the story can be. After a few times, you will notice they are sillier and sillier!

• Brainstorm on a particular subject.
  (What you are studying... Winter, apples ... whatever) Try to use them in a story. See who had the most words, the longest word, the most unique word, how many you had all together, how many started with p... whatever.

• See how many words you can make using the letters in the chosen word/phrase or see how many words you can come up with that rhyme with it. I would start small ("love" instead of "Valentine’s Day") and work your way up.

• Here is a page full of topics for writing! Writing Topics

• A Word a Day
  Subscribe to have a vocabulary word and its definition delivered to your in box everyday.

  Try writing a paragraph around the word. Write about the word. See how many times you can use the word in a paragraph. (It has to make sense!)

• Poetry Pebbles from Kinderart!
  This is so cute! You paint words onto small rocks. Choose a set number of rocks, and go from there!
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