I am starting to run into this as well. My 6th grader is on auto-pilot with respect to written assignments at this point. Her writing is decent but not dazzling. She is very independent, rarely goes to her teacher for assistance and does not appreciate unsolicited writing critiques. She would not respond well to a "sea of red" from me. She wants to do everything herself but can't get to the next level on her own.
I've been working on giving feedback within her narrow, acceptable parameters. At this point, I am giving her the option to have me review her work and what types of comments I am allowed to make. For example, she is notorious for using run-on sentences and recently asked me to review her paper for them. Afterward, I asked her if I could make some other comments about potential improvements. She grudgingly listened to a few comments. Last week, she asked me to review a piece because she knew it wasn't great but didn't know how to fix it. We had a wonderful conversation about the differences between objective and persuasive writing styles. I'm hoping that we will continue on this path where she allows me to comment without violating her sense of autonomy.
