Writing tips for homeschooled children
It is easier for an adult to seek paper writing help in college, but children, especially those homeschooled, need all the help they can get from their parents. Many parents find themselves short of ideas as to how to teach their children writing. And most children, on the other hand, feel reluctant to write. Even if your kids are in this category, you can still help. Below are some basic tips that will help you as a parent.
- Let the child decide on what to write
People do better when asked to write about things they know. It happens to adults as well as children. Remember that you are still trying to work on your child’s interest in writing, so allow him or her to choose the assignment. They can pick more topics and also decide which one they like to write on first.
- Use a bait to make writing fun and interesting
Kids see writing as a burden. They would prefer to play video games or engage in other activities than write. However, parents can use things like the computer as bait. They can write with it to develop more interest in writing. Of course, writing with something like that is more engaging.
Give them the opportunity to publish their personal stories, write and send emails to friends and family. Let them label family photos and write for the fun of it.
You can get help from professionals to help you draft out a good plan for your kids. They can help you choose topics that your child can write on. Visit www.thesishelpers.com for more!
- Encourage them to write using oral communication
Children can talk for hours, but feel the world is on top of them when asked to write for just a few minutes. They believe talk is easy while writing is difficult. So your duty as a parent would be to work on that mindset to effect a change.
Allow them to talk and use a tape recorder to record their voice as they speak. Replay the recording and ask your child to write down as he listens.
- Encourage the child more and reduce criticism
Children need all the encouragement they can get to develop more interest in writing. So, try to encourage and praise them for making attempts, even if their writing is filled with spelling or grammar errors. Many parents are quick to criticize when they see mistakes. And such act will only destroy the little interest the child has in writing.
Even if there were a bunch of spelling mistakes, were other parts of the content good? Does the expression or vocabulary indicate signs of improvement? If yes, then praise the child for that and constructively criticize him or her on spellings and grammar mistakes.
You can post the child’s best performance on the wall for everyone to see. Brag about it to family and friends. And take it a step further by rewarding the child. Such act will encourage the child to put in more effort and try to impress always.
- Reward the child
Children like rewards. They can go out of their way for a couple of candies or trip to their favorite destination. Rewarding your child for a brilliant performance tells him that hard work pays. Though shouldn’t be regular, rewards will help your child develop more interest in writing.
The lack of interest is why most children hate writing. And using rewards can bring revert that and make things much easier for parents homeschooling their children.
- Support the child to write regularly
Allowing your child to write every day will make him or her to develop good writing skills. Practice makes perfect. Even though the child writes few lines on a daily basis or spends few minutes, it will help them to develop good writing skills.
Conclusion
Parents encounter numerous challenges when teaching their homeschooled children how to write. Most of them are as a result of the lack of interest as most children see writing as a burden. The tips above can help you teach your kids how to write and develop their interest in writing even if they are homeschooled. So, choose what works best for your kids from the few tips provided.
Photo by Jan Kahánek on Unsplash