I need some ideas here. He says he hates writing boring things but I can't find something that he does not feel is boring in the realm of writing either. He says it is just easier to talk... I have explained to him that while that may be true there are times when writing is preferred and that no one is here forever (yet) so writing may be the only way that we have to preserve their thoughts forever. I have asked him how he would feel if his fav auther thought that writing was boring (he is an avid reader) to which he has no answer. It would not be such an issue if he just kindof did it anyway, but he is very stubborn and when given a writing assignment can take hours just to get started. Yesterday he say at the dining room table for 4 hours just to answer some questions that were the base for a book report. He loved the book, but didn't want to answer the questions in writing. It is not a matter of him not being able to do the work. When he saw that I was not backing down and that he would not be moving from the seat until he finished the work he completed it in less than 20 min. I am constantly blown away by the insightfulness of his writing when he takes the time to do it. It is so frustrating!
Heather, I'm convinced there is a special place in Heaven for the homeschooling mothers of strong-willed boys . It seems our boys are from the same mold. AND it was yesterday that we had another....er...encounter :shock:. Mine was to write out a few interview questions for a longrider we were going to interview for our newsletter. He was saying, "Mom, I can remember the questions!" We got into the conversation about writing and it's usefullness and it progressed to "you won't be able to graduate or get a job or even write checks if you refuse to write!!!!" Not my prettiest moment. In fact, I got pretty ugly. In the end he says it takes too much time....but I will say that most of his problem is he is a perfectionist and he gets to the point of tears when writing and he doesn't spell something correctly. But mostly he just has an awful attitude about writing in general. I decided yesterday that we are going to have to do something more formal for writing...previously I had been doing "real life" writing assignments...like the interview stuff. For my son I know it will need to be a daily thing and an expected routine before he submits mentally to writing. When we did phonics workbooks he got used to it--for the most part . I'm anxious to see what others suggest as I need this help, too!
Hmmmm...Brian is a perfectionist too and it probably has alot to do with it. He gets one or two formal writing assignments a week though because I know that it is a weak spot for him. Every other week it is a book report on a book of his choosing (he reads many during any given 2 week period) and on the off week it is related to one of his other suject areas (next weeks is answering the question of why the leaves are turning brown since we are studying life cycles of plants/trees, animals, and the seasons). Last year, in ps, he had journal writing daily plus other things...his journal pages never had more than 1 sentance on them when he was expected to be writing much more...
What are some things he IS interested in? It may be one of those areas where you have to start small with some areas where he is interested (write a "sports column" about his favorite teams' game this week for a newspaper, draw and write a comic book, etc.). Just a few ideas.
My son(12) is the same! Also a perfectionist. Firstborn - I think that has something to do with the perfectionist thing as I am also firstborn. He doesn't even like to write in his journal. We have a preset idea every week from the BJU Spelling book. Getting more than 1 sentence or even just a few words must be required by me PRIOR to the assignment! He says he can't think of anything interesting to write, but he can always seem to draw a picture there. He loves to draw and make things with clay - he is very creative. My daughter(10) will sit and write an entire page before he has 2 sentences. He almost blows up when I ask for a book report. He will write as few words a possible on any assignment - to the point of trying to figure out how many words IS the fewest. This is the most frustration in all of our schoolwork! I finally just make it mandatory - I gave up on the interesting thing - it never changed anything. Sabrina
are there any writing contest out there in the boys interest? Maybe if he inters a contest that could have a potential award then there could be something worth writhing about.
Thank you for your ideas...I am going to try out some of them like trying to write and articleon one of his favorite teams or looking into a writing contest. I am also going to look into a pen pal for him I think...he loves recieving mail, so it might be some incentive, but I am not sure...
Heather~ You should post on here for a pen-pal (if you haven't already, I haven't checked the other threads)- some of us have been very successful finding pen-pals on this board. And, it is a great way to promote good writing skills. My oldest daughter, 11, wants to write, but it's hard for me to constructively criticize (and she needs alot of it!) I just ordered Wordsmith Apprentice, and we've been using that for about a week, and she loves it. The premise is that you've gotten a job at a local newspaper, and since you're just starting out, you need to learn to work in all the different areas. It's for grades 4-6. I forget how old your son is, but maybe something like that would help him. I've found that Ashley works better from a book, that from Mom's mouth! Good luck,
I think many kids fall into this category. Your son is still very young and I wouldn't really pressure him too much into writing. The more you push the more he'll resist I suspect. Does he like to just write in a journal about anything? My dd loves that but doesn't care for writing assignments that I make up. I just ordered a Scholastic book called "Quick & Fun Writing Assignments Just for Young Learners". I'm hoping that will have some fun writing ideas. Also, I have found that dd likes to write to people (cousins, penpal, etc). When you ask him to do reports what are your quidelines? Do you give him a book report form or just ask him to write a report? I ask this because maybe he needs an outline or form to make the task a little easier and less stressful. Hmm... I also have found that kids like to have fun writing assignments. For example, have him rewrite a simple story like The Three Bears. You could read the book "Goldilocks and the Three Blairs" for a model. And, try having him write his own MadLib type stories for you to fill out. He's also not too old to enjoy shape or theme type books. Hope this helps some.
Nope, he does not like writing in a journal about anything...the ps had tried that with him last year. They would give him free range at one point and still nothing. When I ask him to do reports, especially the book reports, he is given a list of questions to answer. Once he answers them, they serve as the backbone for his final "paper" which is usually nothing more than a paragraph. His first one was on the book "Half Magic" and I think he ended up with 5 sentances on his final paper. This week he has chosen "Red Badge of Courage." Last week's writing assignment was on what it would have been like to live in this area in the mid 1700's (what kind of house he would have lived in, what kind of education he would have recieved, what kind of chores he would have had, what would have been hard about living in that time, what would he have enjoyed about living in that time)...it is an assignment that he is still talking about, he was just telling some stranger at the store last night the things he would have enjoyed about it and what he would have found "annoying" but to get him to write it on paper is like pulling teeth.
OH!!! One thing dd liked doing was writing reviews (like on amazon.com) for books and toys. I make her use correct grammar and sentence structure. She loves it. Maybe you could find something like that to interest him.
I can identify with the perfectionist firstborn thing, too.....dh, ds and myself are all firstborn...makes for an intense home :shock:. It seems to be a common theme with boys in general. Makes me wonder just how come we push writing so early. Ds would sooner type than write. And he will spend 10 minutes figuring out how to use the least amount of words to write anything down but you can't get him to keep quite if he is talking :lol:.
That site looks awsome...I would hope that the story being "published" would be insentive for him...I am going to put some feelers out there with him tommorrow on this one and I think we are going to give it a try! Thank you...
Yeah, I was looking at that wishing Sami was old enough to get her going on it. there were some 4 year olds on there but I don't think she is ready to do that. Hopefully it's as good as it looks.
Heather I've been thinking about this for day's now.......Just in the back of my mind. Boy's & dogs I understand well & If I could be around him for 10 minutes I'd have an answer.But I don't think I can help over the internet. Assuming you have a husband what does he have to say ??? That would give me a better clue. Men,boy's & Dog's are really simple creatures. Generaly when you come across a male that has issues with something it's because of insecurities but........most males would never confide in a female about their insecurities.Meaning I doubt your son would ever tell you why he dosen't want to do the writing assuming of course he's insecure about writing. He could simply think it's stupid...........which it is if you think about it..........I like all manner of things & seldom if ever do I write a report about it.lol If that's the case then your not doing a good enough job of putting it into perspective.Maybe your husband could do better. I'm all the time putting things into perspective for Nathan that would never dawn on my wife to say. Women like to talk about doing things & men just like to do them......or at least get them over with.Quit talking so much with him..........Be quiet........wisper & speak in low tones.Don't yell or argue or barter. One of the best lines I've heard for putting things into perspective is from the 3rd Indianan Jones movie..........A young Indy rushes home with his hard fought prize just to have it taken away from the local Sheriff & given to the "Bad" guys............The Bad guy being a cool guy understands how Indy feels & was once the same boy.........So what does he do ???...........He tells Indy,"You aint gotta like it kid" & puts his fedora on Indy's head.That one scene speaks volumes on how to handle boy's.
RB, thank you do much for your thoughts and insights...unfortunatley when it comes to things like this, my Hubby is completely stumped by Brian and gets nowhere but frustrated with him. It is Dale's belief, that is my hubby btw, that there are some things in life that you just have to do and by making mistakes you can learn to do things better. It is Brian's belief that he should not have to do boring things and he avoids even the thought of making mistakes at all costs. Yes, my son is a perfectionist...I don't know why he is, especially since I have always told him that mistakes are expected in life and there is much to learn by fixing our mistakes...he is afraid of misspelling words or not writing well. He says that writing is BORING even when he gets to pick the topic...or he is given something fun to do. Dale has tried talking to him about it, giving him incentives, helping him with it, even brainstorming with him about how to make it fun...Brian's answer is always the same when it comes to writing "this is BORING" (everytime he says the word "boring" it sounds loud and kindof like Lerch from the Addam's family...Grrr). Now, Dale is not Brian's father, so you would think that I would have extra help with his dad...but my ex-husband says that if the boy doesn't want to write I shouldn't make him even try, that is why God gave us computer's with voice recognition IDK, we are trying the web site that was suggested above and a pen pal...I am hoping that we get somewhere with this
Heather~ This is off the writing subject, but may help you out........ the words "boring" and "bored" are not allowed to be used in my home! (I'm not super strict with it, but both the girls know when it is appropriate.) Sounds like you feel about it just like I do!
Heidi, I have honestly considered banning it in my home the same way I have banned the words "hate" and "can't". My kids have to pay me everytime they use them and anything they can't pay for they have to "work off." I do dispise it when my son says that something is "boring" and he has not given it a chance...or he is just being too lazy or whatever to try it!
