If you’ve read my blog in the past, you know that I am passionate about writing.  I believe that with the right motivation and the right approach, any child can learn to write and write well.

The ability to convey ideas in writing has become even more essential with the advancements of technology.  An individual who can communicate well, earns respect.  And with email becoming the communication tool of choice, we must ensure that our children have the tools to write well.

The Power of Dictation

I had a conversation with a homeschooling friend this week whose sixth grade daughter is struggling with writing. “She is so unfocused when it comes to writing elements of our homeschooling that we end up stretching out our day into the evening or weekend just to get it done.”

Our Homeschool Road Trip was a mix of fun, learning, and the beauty of God’s creation.  Many of my readers have asked how we filled the drive time.  Well, for some of the time, we worked on specific subjects but for most of the time we found ways to take the basics and turn them into a game.  This not only helped to pass the time, but brought out the creativity in all of us.

Diagramming, identifying sentence patterns, finding parts of speech . . . every student’s favorite element of grammar, right?  How many times have you heard your child ask, “Why do I have to learn this?” As a writing teacher, I loved that question because it was always the perfect lead in to a unit on the value of sentence patterns in writing.