On the writing front, as a writer, I see that my 7th grader has to write a lot of papers and gets comments on his graded papers, but he has very little actual writing instruction. When my DS12 writes his papers he writes as he thinks and then goes back and makes sure that the computer isn't telling him he has mispelled words or forgotten capitalizations. And then I tell him to go back in and make sure he explains why he's making the statements he's making. And then I tell him to make sure he adds adjectives and adverbs to make his writing more interesting. But the thing that seems to take discussion between him and me is when it comes to how a paper is organized and how it flows. I think some kids get all this instinctively (I know I did) but other people need help seeing how what seems logical to them needs to be explained to other people. I think it's important to talk about writing for a particular reader or readers. Heck, half my graduate writing courses were about this very thing!
Anyway, my point is, I am able to help my kids because I am a writer, but I get frustrated that the actual writing process is not really taught by a teacher, and I think that at middle school age kids really don't want to be taught by their parents quite so much. So, while I know it takes a lot of a teacher's time to discuss a student's paper with them, it would be really wonderful if they did!
