Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Homeschooling and writing resistance-help

Well, we are about 5 weeks into homeschooling and overall it's been a major improvement. I'm just a little unsure how to work with the writing resistance. When he did his evaluation for 2E, he came back with grade level writing. The content is excellent the pencil to paper looks like 9yo boy. It's not unreadable. I went to help in his sister's class last week and left him with a book report outline and came home to a 2 page paper. Well beyone my expectation and I gave positive reinforcement for great effort. BUT he's becoming resistant to ANY writing. So, what I'm looking for is, what is a reasonable expectation for written output for 9 year old?

Learningmom, We are also about five weeks into hsing and if I can get DS9 to write a paragraph a day that is a lot. He totally balks at it and while he has good handwriting and good composition he still hates to do it. I usually have to resort to bribery - e.g. If you write one strong paragraph for seven days I will renew your ToonTown account.

I am glad to hear hs is going well for you. We are struggling here. If I could just hs one kid at a time it would work great but the two are NOT a good mix.

I don't know what a reasonable expectation is for written output (in spite of the fact that I have a 9 y.o. also), but at this point, why not typing?

My kids have issues with handwriting and the psych recommended that they learn to use a keyboard ASAP. My dd did the following program in a matter of a couple weeks. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/ though I have yet to make her type anything (we're doing a little bit of afterschooling with Latin, and thus far it seems faster to have her tell me the answers orally; I'm not sure when I'll have her switch over to written).

We are currently using IEW SWI which means in a two week time my DD will write a key words outline, a rough draft, and a final draft for three, one paragraph papers. This is the first two weeks. Toward the end of the 20 weeks they are doing one, three paragraph papers over that same time period. You can speed it up and do two weeks in one, but since my DD already doesn't like to write and is actually doing pretty well with this program I am happy with the two week schedule. I keep in the back of my head the fact that the public school was requiring four papers a year.

Honestly, I love the homeschooling so much and DS has gained 3 lbs. He's stretched his little perfectionistic heart to attempt and enjoy ice skating, guitar and skateboarding. Truely, in many respects he is blossoming. I would love to bring his sister home but don't know if I can handle 2 intense children. So far, she would rather be at school. He is actively learning the keyboard and I can hear his fingers flying but we haven't gone to the typing the response stage yet. I've read about IEW and that amount seems very reasonable. His writing resistance is increasing, wanting to verbalize all answers including math. I want to make sure I accomodate as appropriate as well as set reasonable expectations. LOL, He just came in to inform me that he's quitting all school. Good grief. Any help?!

If I may be so bold...I strongly recommend doing whatever you can to separate handwriting from composition from editing. They are very different tasks that demand very different skills sets.

I prefer short handwriting lessons that don't require that DS8 get his own ideas down on paper (unless he chooses to do so--it's okay if he wants to, but it shouldn't be required). He writes 4 lines of careful cursive each day, all words or sentences assigned by me. DS8 doesn't have a lot of trouble with handwriting. If it were hard for him to write, less than this would probably be better. You want high-quality work and good practice, not a tired, frustrated, angry kid. It usually takes DS8 5-10 minutes to complete his handwriting.

We have a separate time to work on composition. This should probably be the longest time spent on it of the three. He can type his work if that works for him and isn't too slow to be frustrating to him (or to you!). But it's perfectly okay for him to dictate his composition to a voice recorder or to you instead. (Just refrain from editing for him. This is hard for me!) The focus here is on his thoughts, his ideas. For a 9yo, it doesn't have to be more than 15 or 20 minutes.

Finally, allow a third (short-ish) period for editing and proofreading his writing, focusing on organization, word choice, grammar, spelling, etc. This helps to combat perfectionism, too, since it allows him to worry less about getting it exactly right in the composition phase. Unless his composition is a real mess or there are grammar lessons required to explain why something must be changed, 5 or 10 minutes is probably enough editing and proofreading.

So there's a 30-minute lesson, give or take, and it will probably be pretty productive AND pretty painless for him. It works at our house, FWIW.

I'd definately seperate handwriting from writing. We use Handwriting Without Tears for handwriting because is a short lesson that they focus on. A short lesson with full effort is much more productive that a drawn out one.

My DD types or dictates all composition. The thing I like about IEW is that the key word outline is done one day and then they orally explain the paragraph to you, the rough draft is done the next day, then the final edit and hand in the next. It's short and sweet and my DD loves that it is factual based to start. You could certainly do something similar with whatever topic you want.

Thanks Kriston! I was hoping you would put in your 2 cents. I've been having him do 1-2 pages of Handwriting Without Tears, which has been okay. He prints everything else. We tried dictating to me but it was a bit awkward. We could try it again. I haven't even tried editing at this point. I could still see it was an issue. I think you all have given me some good ideas for a reasonable goal- Many thanks! Update-he's 'quit school' but is in the chair reading high school physics book. I think that counts as science for the day-

LOL! Ya' think?

Maybe he's telling you he needs to self-direct more than he has been?

I generally say that every subject must be covered, but how it gets covered is up to us. (I don't say that they all have to be covered every day either. I think there should be some flexibility there.) So if "no school" is the line he takes, my response would be to say that he can learn at home or he can learn at public school, but school is his job. Period. However, if he has suggestions about HOW to do school, then I'm all for it. It is HIS education and he is the best person to help you decide how best to teach him.

I'd toss it back to him. Make him responsible for his own education. If he helps ID the problem and helps solve it, he'll be a lot more invested in making the solution work.

Yep, I came home from picking up his sister and asked him if he wanted a chance to talk with me. He said he wanted to learn differently. He would like to write 3 sentences each day in cursive. He would like more reading and videos for for science and history. He likes the math and games as they are. Woohooo, love some communication!!! I also had the 'school is your job' talk. Hard to have NASA for a goal without the education love-

melmichigan- Did you do the teacher training for IEW?