Getting homeschool students to write can be quite a chore, but it doesn’t have to be. Usually getting started is the hardest part. Here are some ideas that can spark your child to write and maybe even enjoy writing:
1. Make an album – Find some old or new pictures and have your child paste them on a page and write a caption or description for each picture so they don’t forget who the person is or what they did when they look at it years later. Sometimes baby or toddler pictures can spark your child even more to want to write about what they did.
2. Write letters – Your children can draw pictures and/or write letters to friends or relatives. If they are very reluctant you can write a letter and let the child add a sentence or two or a drawing. These letters can also be to imaginary figures like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.
3. Retell a popular story – Use your child’s favorite fairy tale and have the retell the story from a different perspective. If they like little red riding hood, have them tell the story from the point of the wolf.
4. Make Lists (lots of them!) – When you’re in the car, ask a child to write down your grocery list as you dictate it to them. When you are going on vacation, have your child make lists of what they need to bring. Make Birthday lists, Christmas lists, favorite book lists, what they want to do this summer lists, and many more.
5. Take Turns Telling a Story – Have each person in the group write a paragraph of a story. One person can start and then pass it on to the next person to add another paragraph until you have gone around the group a couple of times or until you think your story is done. This could provide some hilarious entertainment.
6. Take Turns Writing a Poem – Along the same line, you can adapt the previous example for writing poetry. Each person writes a line of a poem and you keep passing it around until you feel your poem is complete.
Homeschool students can enjoy writing. You might need to be a little more creative with some students than others. Learning to express their ideas can aid them tremendously, especially as they become a teen and then an adult.
