Perhaps others who have traveled this road may be of some help. DS7 skipped to 3rd grade is out of school for the summer. His strengths are Math and Science, his area that is not as strong is writing. Last year we talked with him about taking a 3 week course during the summer through CTY. He liked the idea, we then talked about which one to take, he decided to try, Explorations in Writing: Stories and Poems for grades 2 to 3. The course is a good one but requires a lot of writing and the homework is longer then he is used to. Typically homework was 10min to 30min while in public school. This course is 2 hours of homework. They are in class from 9am to 4pm on this one subject. There are fun parts to the class, they get the usual breaks, and it seems that many kids like the program. Except our DS7, he really dislikes writing short stories. Their assignment on Friday was to write a 5 page handwritten story of their own choice due on Monday, then this week the need to do a 6 page story with Dialogue internal and external, Similes, metaphors, personification, and alliteration. Their must be both an internal and external conflict, flat and round characters. This is the first time he has been really pushed into something he is not strong at (Just barely made CTY cut off for language arts test score). My dilemma is that he really is fighting the writing part, reading and poetry is ok. I want him to learn how to stick it out and finish what he starts, but I also want him to learn to enjoy writing. I also want him to have a fun summer, he has cousins that are also out of school, playing video games and playing, where he is driven an hour to school and back and does 2 hours of home work, With weekend homework. My belief is that he has about 1 and � weeks to go, just tough it out and do your best. However another side of me says this should be fun, not work. Complete what you can, or maybe even just not complete the course. I know that overcoming challenges is a great way to build character, but at what point is too much, I do not want to drive him away from writing. Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated. As you can tell, writing is also my weakest subject, and thank god for spell check.
