My dd8 is learning Writing this year. And if I don't rip all of my hair out or lose my voice completely by the end of the school year, it will be a miracle! I am so frustrated! I feel like I am the one starting every sentence for her because she will just stare blankly at the page! Not only that, she cannot even come up with complete sentences when asked to answer a question in complete sentences. I feel like she just stares at the page and wanders off and is not even really thinking about something to write!!!!! AAAH! I'm losing it here! I need help! What should I do? Also, ANY work she does she cannot do independently! She looks for me to babysit her through the entire worksheet!!!! why? I don't just give her answers. She will sit and stare at the paper ALL day without my help! Could she have ADD?
My kids didn't work independently at age 8...that's still actually pretty young to expect alot of independent work. Maybe it's the physical act of writing that she has a hard time with. Have you tried getting her to answer questions in a complete sentence orally? Maybe try having her dictate to you. The process of making good writer should focus on the content more than the action. I have two "right brain learners" ~ one with ADHD and one not. Neither one of them did any significant amount of writing until they were about 10. Coming up with what they want to write (as a picture in their head) then transferring that picture into words, then transferring those words into symbols and then transferring those symbols onto paper was just too much. BUT, they had some great ideas and huge vocabularies. I knew they were both really smart and until I understood how they learned, this was ultra frustrating for me as a former teacher. Now that they are older, they do alot of writing (well, mostly they type everything b/c it's easier for them) and enjoy it. Oh, and now they have figured out some program on the computer that uses a microphone and actually does the typing for them as they dictate. Don't know where it came from, but I must say I'm pretty impressed at their resourcefulness. Don't give up! Best wishes!
Rest assured you are not the only one out there. My ds and dd do a lot of the same things. They both have ADD and ADHD, yeah me. There are so many things I try to do to keep them focused and working without me. My dd wants me with her at every single minute. It is so hard because I work outside the home as well. One day I set up the video camera and lined up her stuffed animals and asked her if she could teach the class for me. That helped out a little I still had to be there of course. But, I was able to see what she was teaching and help her out. I have not focused much on writing this year with my children, I plan on picking more of that up next year. I may kick myself but it isn't my strong point either. But, I did find a curriculumn through a friend of mine and I will have to look for the name of it but they learn to write by writing for a new paper. My kids seem excited about that. I told them they couldn't do it until next year. I sure hope it goes as well as I would like it to go. Maybe, you could find something like that which she may be interested in. Or how about interviewing a friend of hers on a topic and then have her write about it. It may just spark something! Don't stress.......I stress enought for everyone
So, Cherry, You have not taught any writing yet? My dd8 is techinically in 3rd grade. And when I look at her 3rd grade curriculum, so much of it is writing...I can't imagine her not starting 4th grade without some sense of what writing is all about. We have written newspaper articles, a family tree scrapbook, letters, personal narratives, journaling...nothing seems to stick. But I know that being a good writer and a good reader is so important. On the other hand...I just wonder....I don't want her to get away with less work just because it's hard but I also don't want her suffering because she's not ready. The problem is, how do you tell the difference between lazy and just not ready?
Sounds like something my son would do. If he didn't know how to complete a task he would go off into his imagination. I don't know about ADD, but some kids need explicit step-by-step instructions especially when confronted with a difficult task. Case in point - if I tell my son to go take a bath he stalls or gets waylaid by playing and when I catch him and tell him to go take a bath he just doesn't know how to get started even though I have shown him and he has been taking baths since he was a baby. But if I write him a list of 1. Get a clean towel and washcloth 2. Go into the bathroom. 3. Turn on the water.... etc he can do it without any problem. I used to think he had difficulty with remembering, but I discovered it is more an issue with organization. If I help him organize what happens and when it is to happen he can complete a more complex task easily. Maybe you can try that for a writing assignment. I was blown away the first time I tried it with my son - it was like night and day.
Both of my children (6 and 9) require that I sit with them as well. My 6yo really does need me for most of hers, but my 9yo could do it completely on his own. Neither one has ADD or ADHD. My 9yo, though, is an EXTREMELY social kid. He absolutely needs company or he gets lonely and starts acting naughty. He doesn't require me to do much but sit and keep him company, and I don't think that is a huge deal myself As for writing.. no sage advice there other than that my ds hates to write, and would do ALL of the things your dd does as well. Last time I wanted to get some real writing out of him, we did a brainstorming web first. That really seemed to help give him a direction for his sentences.
We haven't done much writing here either, yet. DS (8, 3rd grade) hates writing, so I let him tell me the story (or whatever we're working on) and I will write one sentence and let him write the next and so also. He is also still a bit needy in that he needs me to sit or at least be in the same room with him for most work. I think a lot of it is his age, so I don't plan to really push the writing thing for a couple more years.
Gee, that's a hard one. CLE and R&S specifically teach what a sentence is and how to write one in the first and second grades.
This is such great advice! Thank you! Sometimes I think...I just need to slow down and take it back to basics! Thank you for this reminder! I think that I am expecting too much from her. I am going back to her second grade grammer work and we are taking it slower. I like the idea of explaining things step by step. That used to annoy me, but it might just be what she needs!
It sounds about right! Beginning writers are just that - beginners. They don't know the steps involved in writing, and often a blank page can be daunting. Get out an old calendar and have her choose a picture from it. Then give her a page with the following sentence starters: I see _______________________________ (use this one about 4 times). I hear _______________________________ I smell ________________________________ Once she has filled in the sentences, go back over the writing with her and help her add details. So, instead of "I see a tree", help her writer "I see a tall, green tree." She needs to build confidence, and develop this skill - it's not something everyone can just "do".
I don't know how you can tell if it is something she truly can't handle right now or if it is just difficult and she doesn't want to do it. If you can figure that out, I would advise: 1. If she is truly struggling and it is stressing her out to the point of quitting- back off and let her answer in a few words and not sentences. Then maybe as you go over her work, you could help her form sentences from a few of the answers. I have heard that copywork also helps. This would have her writing sentences-without having to come up with her own. 2. If she CAN do it and is just being stubborn. I would let her know what you expect and tell her that she can't do X or Y until she does it. Just don't have unreasonable expectations.
My first child was born with a pencil in her hand. I don't remember ever having to help her write. She just always wanted to. However, when my 2nd dd was at the end of third grade, I was very nervous that she would never write! She would sit there, stare at the paper, and cry! Now, 3 years later, she can write on grade level! (She doesn't like it, but she can do it) I also have a 4th graded that struggles with writing, but does slowly progress. I just keep working with her and praying!
Writing Woes I can sympathize, and I found an interesting answer to this. My older son is using Institute for Excellence in Writing for a curriculum, and in it is explained that often we are expecting kids to learn the SKILLS of writing as well as be creative, all at the same time. That is too much, and way too hard for many kids. IEW is terrific for the little older child (5th and 6th would be my recommendation although they say younger), as it uses key words and sample texts to teach skills. For our younger writers, I found a terrific and inexpensive workbook series from Steck Vaughn. It is from their Core Skills series and you can get it at Rainbow Resources by searching for "Core Skills". Their writing workbooks are super inexpensive, and help guide a reluctant or beginning writer one baby step at a time, and they work on skills and lead them towards ideas at the same time, simple ideas that can easily be put into writing. Each lesson does not really require a ton of writing at the 1st and 2nd grade levels, but it does teach solid basics about all kinds of writing issues, proofreading, the writing process, etc. We will keep with this series all the way through then move on to IEW, and we will have very capable writers without a lot of pain We're pulling for you! Writing is a super tough one if a learner is reluctant. The right materials make it much less painful though Cindy
Teach MB...what a great idea! Could work with ANY picture!!! I'm stealing it too. I LOVE the Calendar/Picture idea - maybe you could do the same one for a few days in a row....start by doing it orally....have her look at it a few times during the day....then the next day do a couple sentences. Writing is an issue in our house as well...but only when it's an assignment and they have to fit "inside a box" with it. For my oldest, writing is hard because she's very black & white, there has to be a "right answer". Writing is too organic for her, she's afraid she'll write the wrong thing. We're using IEW this year (well, sorta....we're behind!) I like the way they teach writing....they start by editing and rewriting excerpts from known works. I've been told by many a teacher that writing is hard for many reasons....one of which is that they need to train their brain to hold information long enough to write it down. This is where narration, dictation and copywork come into play. It teaches kids to hold the information long enough to get it down into paper. as in their hands don't write as fast as their brain speaks....so they need to teach the brain to remember it long enough for the hands to catch up. I find this very true in my house. My kids are fairly independent in their schoolwork, even the Kindergartener (she learned to read over the summer, so that's part of why she's independent - that AND she doesn't want me around when she's doing her stuff! LOL I think that's b/c she sees how her older brother & sister are and she wants to be just like them). I do remain floating about where they're working, though. That way I'm there for questions, guidance, prodding, etc. I very rarely SIT right next to them to work with them. My middle (a boy) requires that most - I'm sure if he were in school they'd have diagnosed ADD and want him on meds. He's VERY smart, but he lacks focus when he has to sit down.
My DD9, in 4th grade, was the same way. She would not even write a sentence last year. This year she is writing 3-5 paragraph essays. We just did a lot of narration and dictation. This really helped her. Especially when she narrated something to me, I wrote it down and then dictated it back to her. She has been reading since she was 3, but writing has always been a struggle up to this year. I think kids hit a developmental milestone around 4th grade where the are able to think about what they want to write and then be able to transfer it onto paper. We used Writing With Ease last year.
You're not alone. My son is 8 and nothing will get done if I don't sit next to him and keep him on task. We haven't even done much writing this year but it's just too stressful for our first year of homeschooling.
Have you considered just doing copywork for a few months, and then trying the writing assignments again? Jen
here is how we learn about sentences...a sentence has to have a beginning middle and end. Take out a bunch of index cards and write a bunch of subjects on them...3 or 4 will do. (the big pig...the fat frog...Mommy...Susie...etc.) Then write some action words on some cards (ran...ate...fell...is) Last write some endings. (in the mud...on the bed....in the house) Let your dd play with the words. Let her make the silliest sentences she can figure out. (Mommy fell in the mud.) She needs to see that every sentence has a beginning, middle and ending. Then hand her a card and take one out of her sentence. Let her come up with a word to fill in the blank. After you've played with words and sentences for a week, give her a picture to look at. Get out your photo book and write on the cards beginnings, middles, and endings about the pictures you have. (Susie was a fat baby.) Then help her make some cards for a photo she likes. You may have to help her. (sweetie...look at this photo? Who is in the photo?? What are they doing? So the beginning of the sentence would be......) When I did this with my dd I used colored cards. The beginnings were all the same color, the middles were the same colors and the endings were the same color. This book by Peggy Kaye is very helpful too... http://www.amazon.com/Games-Writing-Playful-Child-Learn/dp/0374524270
