Part of the problem is some kids need a reason for what they are asked to do. Ditz hated writing with a passion. I'm telling you it was like drawing hen's teeth. I'm a creative writer & Ditz always had good ideas & her stories were brilliant ~ if I did all the actual writing. I threw her in the deep end with the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge last year & the child hasn't stopped writing since. There's a children's forum as well. Yes, she likes using the computer. No, we are still battling with her punctuation; she doesn't see the point but I have learnt for her to really grasp something I want she needs a reason she can understand to do it. We covered resumes last term because she wanted to apply for a job. Guess what? Fussy as about correct spelling, punctuation, presentation. Frustrating!!
every child is unique in his/her own way. I have 2 dds. 1 loves to write anf the other hates it. but I am still working on both of them. practice is the key. The only advice I have is we need to stop comparing our kids with others. whether the other kids are homeschooled or public schooled. our kids are special and they are trying their best( not perfectly). 1000 miles starts with one single step.
Ya, you know what it is.. we alow them to learn by what they want to learn in some areas so they think they can voice it, I dont think its anything to do with just being home schooled but here they arent mindlessly doing it, they think about it and are not afraid to say " I don't want to do this." in a way its a good thing, but we have to overcome it some how
Carefull! Some study done a few years back made a whole school district restrict the teachers use of red pens becuase it "Made the kids feel bad about themselves" So at Daniels Farm Elementary School in Trumbull, Connecticut, parents have objected to the use of red ink for grading papers. Red writing, they said, was "stressful." http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/4-30-2005-69355.asp hahahahahahahahaha (Deep breath) hahahahahahahahahaha!
haha hahaha hahaha Thats so funny Jen, when I read about that I Went out and bought a real "teacher Pencil" labeled that and everything, in both RED and PUrple, lol it doesnt matter what color you use if its wrong, the kid feels bad, if its right they feel good, lol! my kids get a bunch of marks and they dont care, or they throw a fit, what are you gonna do about that? I realised today... if my kids are not upset that I am a tough teacher then I am not doing my job! Think about it? Which teachers do kids usually complain to thier peers about? The tough ones, the ones who make them work for thier grade etc. So when mine get mad cause I gave them a redo then I can feel good about myself, I am no longer a softie! I can't afford to be!
When I student taught 6th grade, I had all the "top" kids for language. We wrote stories, and I went through their rough draft and commented on EVERYTHING in red pen. But this was MORE than corrections!!! I would ask questions, ask for clarification, comment on an especially well-written phrase, as well as do the normal correcting of grammar. So before handing back the papers, I warned the kids that there were LOTS of red marks, but that did NOT mean they were poorly done, or that I didn't like it!!! Even so, several of the kids had a hard time with it. I even had one mom who actually read my comments and tried to explain to her upset child that I was trying to get her to think things through, rather than tearing it apart!
I enjoy reading over my old stories from high school and they are covered in pen marks, pencil parks etc from the teacher.. I look at the grade first then read the remarks, my creative writing teacher was awesome! She could encourge me even with all the marks, that took a lot at that time in life! HA!
I still have some of my work from creative writing. I enjoy going back to read them. Ems gets a kick out of some of the papers that have red ink all over them.LOL I guess because she realizes that even I had to have my work corrected.
LOL about the red pens! I bought tons of them on clearance at Target last month! In my writers' group, we say that editors choose red ink because they're writing "LOVE" all over our papers. I think that's a good line to use at home, too...if we didn't LOVE them, we'd let them write any old way.
