My son has two 500 word essays to do. One on the eye, the other on the ear. I know that he needs to read up on these subjects and do the report himself...but I feel like I need to give him some guidance first, however I'm not really sure where to start. Also, I was hoping someone could direct us to a good online source for the reading so we don't have to make a trip to the library over the holiday. One more thing...just so you'll know our background....he's part of a homeschool group that our assitant Pastor leads, we homeschool 1 day a week. THANKS!
Oh, and about the online source...I realize I can google "eye" and "ear", but it just seems so broad to do that and most of what comes up does not seem too kid friendly...just to have him read page after page won't do the trick. THANKS AGAIN!
This may sound way too generic but I would probably start with Wikipedia & Google and go from there. I'm not sure when these are due but you could start here and then make a run to the library one day next week after the holiday. Best of luck to you both!
web md probably has some good information also. I would probably tell him to take some notes on what he's reading, the high points. Then have him put those together in the form of a rough draft. Arrange that to the best flow (make sure that things follow logically), then have him get started. Best of luck!
I have my kids use the CD Rom Encyclopedia Brittianica - it is a great resource for that age. However, first you need to do some prewriting so that way the info is all well organized. There are lots of websites that have graphic organizers to help. Another good idea is to organize according to the "who, what, where, when, why, and how" of each part of the eye, for example. So first, figure out the order you and your son want to present the material. Each paragraph (you will have about 5-6 for a 500 word essay) should focus on one specific part of each topic - with an introduction and conclusion paragraph, that means 3-4 body paragraphs. After you do all that, THEN hit the research, and let him take notes on his graphic organizer. Then, after he has all the info, have him put it together into a rough draft essay, then go over it JUST for content - can he add more info or detail? Does any info seem to be missing? Have him correct all that, then have him revise as best he can for langauge, grammar, mechanics and the like. After that is done, he will have his final draft. It can take one - two weeks to do all these steps, but when he is done, he will have a strong essay. (BTW - I'm an English Prof and these are the steps I take both my college kids and my own kids through to write! ) Good luck.
I think a lot depends upon how much writing he has done in the past. If he has never researched or written something before, I wouldn't attempt to have him do it all on his own. If this assignment was from the pastor, I'd just explain the situation to him and explain that you wish to closely direct his first attempts at writing a paper. Early writing assignments are very scary to children. It is my opinion that if they are just told to "do it" and left to their own devises and then criticised because they didn't do a good job, it can ruin their joy of writing for their life. I, personally, would not start him out this big unless he's been working up to it. If he has done writing before, then that's different. If he has researched before, he should be fine. If not, I'd help him every step of the way, from finding the research to picking out the important details to actually organising and writing the paper. IMO, to assign a 500 word paper out of the blue without working up to it is not really going to teach him how to write. He needs to work up to it. If he has been learning how to research and has been learning how to write a paragraph or two about his research, then he is probably ready to move on to the paper all by himself! Sorry this is so general, but only you as his mom know where he is and what he's done so far. If he's worked up to it, don't be afraid to let him tackle the big project with just minimal guidance. If he's never done anything remotely like the research and report thing, then I'd walk him through every single step. In fact, I'd insist he start out smaller. First a sentence or two, then after several of those on different topics, a paragraph or two on different topics, then on to a research paper! No matter their age, the subject has to be taught precept upon precept! Wishing you all the best with your dilemma!
We are 'behind' in writing ourselves. But this does seem like a big assignment. When the girls were in ps they were given very definite steps to research writing. Everyone went to the library....like gwenny said. And definitely for 6-8th grade they were often given thier sources. Use these 3 articles and write your report from them. We are currently writing a report on Geronimo and it has been almost impossible to find age appropriate references. AND we live in NM!!!! (4th grade) We have our web graphic...and our questions that we want to anwer. Now I have to read everything aloud, editing as I go, so he can take notes. (we use note cards so he can rearrange them for writing) Sometimes it has worked for us to google the term and then tack "for kids" on the end. You will get more appropriate stuff that way. there should be a lot of health sites that have interesting things. you might try Brain Pop if you have access.
My kids have been doing research papers lately, and while I won't let them use and cite Wikipedia as a reference, they can start there. Most Wikipedia articles have links to "real" references on the topic.
This has all been so relevant and helpful! Thank you to all who responded, we will be implementing your suggestions! I love homeschoolspot!!!! We have been doing age appropriate "book reports" since 1st grade, so we have worked our way up to being at this point, I guess I am more freaked out about it than he is. (That seems to be a pattern in our home! LOL) Again, thank you all so much for the SUPPORT and ENCOURAGEMENT along with all of the PRACTICAL HELP!
I agree with INmom - don't use Wikipedia as source - use it to find other sources or get other info that you can look up on reputable sites. Wikipedia is just not reputable enough to serve as a strong source. That is why I recommended the Encyclopedia Britianica CD ROM or the like instead. I specifically tell my students NOT to use it.
We do us wikipedia...mostly as a starting point...but at this point it is often written at a level they can understand. I have told my older son that it is not a legitimate source for research in the future. but we need easy to read and it usually has photos. Maybe I should go ahead and get a cd encyclopedia....(I am just so cheap.)
We use google a lot of the times to find information, I don't like to rely on wiki because anyone can change the information. I did find this one, http://www.encyclopedia.com/ and we haven't tried it yet but you can try it. And there is also this one, I'm not sure if you have to pay for it, http://www.britannica.com/. We use the following site to organize information for reports, it does it in two different ways and then you can print it out. http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=28&title= I hope this helps you and your son out.
You can get CD encyclopedia for cheap on amazon.com - just get the ones that are a year or two old. I have the Encyclopedia Britiannica CD ROM for 2006 (I think it is) and I got it for less than $5 plus shipping.
Okay I am in shock, a 500 word essay for a 6th grader? Yikes, My highschooler had a hard tiem coming up with that many words for her 12 grade essay. Good luck!
I love the description that gwenny99 has given on the process of essay writing. If you start your child off with the right habits, it only gets easier.
Thanks MelissaM! It is the process I used with my ds12 - we also used IEW last year, which, while repetitive (and that drove me NUTS) and doesn't allow for any student generated thought (which is even WORSE) it does help with some of the basics and with great ideas on how to fully develop (or dress up) sentences. The writing process I gave is a great start, then you can pick ONE or TWO elements to have the student improve on. For example, we might have him go through the essay when he is done and add adjectives/descriptive language to most nouns. Or, as we did in his most recent essay, he had to add specific examples ( a specific number of people who participated, specific names of people, stuff like that) and begin work on using endnote citation and on using a bilbiography. Just focus on a different element or two with each essay, and the student will slowly start bringing all those elements together him/herself. Once they have that writing process down, though, writing come very easy. My ds is a hesitant writer, but we are at the point with him where I can tell him the topic and how many pages, and he can organize the ideas (he might have to do some prelim research if he doesn't know anything about the topic to come up with ideas), start making notes/prewriting, do some research and write down more info, then draft it into an essay with full paragraphs. And the kid is only 12. Once they have the basics down, it is easy to fine tune it, and they will have a skill that most kids, EVEN IN COLLEGE, lack. Good luck and happy writing!
For me we did Book reports about a book we read, so are you saying a report on stuff? or what? Like we have done reports on places or things where they had many pages in a notebook form... but I didn't count the word count or anything. When do most of you start calling the writing papers they do essays i am wondering.. I think I will start up a new thread for this thanks !
Hi.. There are many online resources about essay writing. You just search it in Google or in any major search engines with the keywords: "essay writing" or "essay writers". Hope this helps.
If my son, age 14, had to write a 500 word report, he would disown me as a teacher. He is in the process of writing a 300 word report, and he sounds like his teeth are being yanked out of his mouth without novocaine :roll:. We are using a curriculum which is good despite the groans coming from my son. The curriculum's method for teaching report writing is the same way that Gwenny99 says.
