Many moms say that just the thought of teaching their children to write overwhelms them. I don’t think they fear the teaching of words and sentence structure nearly as much as teaching their children how to write long essays and (eventually) term papers.
I assigned all three of my older kids to write term papers over the years, and I’m not sure how much they got out of it beyond learning to organize information in a logical way that flows. That’s an important skill to have, of course, but it’s certainly not the only hallmark of a good writer.
Perhaps because of my own training as a reporter, I’ve tried to stress to my kids that it’s important to be as clear and concise as possible when you write. That can be a tough goal to attain when you’re writing term papers because they usually include a minimum page requirement. But I think that most of the writing activities they’ll face as adults will require clear, concise writing as opposed to organizing 30 pages’ worth of facts in an understandable manner.
So how do you teach your children to write in a clear and concise manner? Recently, while flipping through a writing book my daughter requested from the library (The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier, see link below), I found this statement:
The best writing teacher I ever had limited us to one-paragraph essays. We had to fit lots of ideas into our paragraph, so we learned to use words sparingly. You can too. Simply distill in your mind the essence of what you want to say, and then state your ideas in simple, clear sentences. You don’t need to dress up your thoughts with extra words.
This sounds like a great way to teach your children to write clearly and concisely. Ask them to write about your family vacation, or a book they read, or an event that occurred in the neighborhood. Challenge them to fit as many ideas as they can into one paragraph.
A benefit for you: correcting a paragraph is way easier than correcting a term paper!
For more ideas, download Cardamom Publishers’ free special report, “Teaching Your Children to Write.”
I LOVE it. I always think it’s a shame when a teacher gives a student the direction that he must write 10 pages on whatever topic. What if he could do a better job writing 5 pages? I tell my kids there is no particular limit. They have to write about what I’ve asked them to write about and be CONCISE. They’re probably pretty sick of hearing that, come to think of it….:-) A lot of LONG papers are repetition. A lot of long papers are repetition. See how annoying that is? 😉
Janet, I think teachers give those directions because otherwise most kids will turn in something brief because they’re not motivated to do more. That’s yet another good thing about homeschooling….we know each child and what they’re capable of doing. We have the freedom to say, just write!
Hello. Thank you for showcasing my book. I believe it is an excellent resource for homeschooling (and pretty much anyone else who wants to improve their writing).
I wanted to let you know about my blog, sentencesleuth.blogspot.com, which homeschoolers might enjoy (and their parents, too!). Please check it out and vote on this week’s poll.
My book is available on the Timberdoodle homeschooling site.
Best, Bonnie Trenga
Happy to help, Bonnie—thanks for stopping by!
I recall an exercise in a writing class in college. We kept rewriting a long description of a room in fewer and fewer words. Eventually, we were limited to some very short number of sentences. It was very difficult, but so surprising how much our descriptions improved.
A similar assignment, and a good one….thanks for sharing that, Dan!