The writer at work, in her own time. October 27, 2009
Posted by threegirlpileup in Homeschooling, unschooling.Tags: writing
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Maggie, my early and enthusiastic reader, has been much slower to write. There are a combination of factors at play, I think. For one thing, her early reading seemed to thwart her rather than help her, since her ability to form written language was so far behind all her other language skills–and she knew it. She always resisted any kind of inventive spelling, and was frustrated with getting things “wrong.” And like many lefties, she has found the simple mechanics of holding and pencil and forming letters to be challenging. So while we’ve made some strides over the past months, Maggie has continued to feel like writing isn’t something that she’s good at. We’ve had some success with dictation, so she can focus on storytelling and leave the lettering to me, but my instinct has been that she could use some sort of support or push or encouragement that I wasn’t providing.
So, on something of a whim, I signed Maggie up for a writing workshop for homeschoolers. I wasn’t sure how it would work, but she was interested, so I thought it was worth a try. I had a promising conversation with the teacher, so I signed her up, set the alarm clock (!) and set out for the class on Monday morning.
Maggie emerged telling me that it was “awesome.” The teacher had given her some practical tips, like writing smaller and writing “messy,” i.e. not worrying about making beautiful letters. She was thrilled about her homework, and tackled it with abandon. Then she turned to the story she started yesterday, and began writing. And writing. And writing.
In the hammock…
In the chair…
and at the counter.
She spent literally hours bent over her notebook, working on her story. I had to drag her away from it to finally feed her some dinner at 7 p.m. She returned to it after bath, and her last waking activity was to read what she had written (the first chapter!) to her dad.
Sometimes, I am just astonished at how dense I am. At how hard it can be to trust that she will learn what she needs when she needs it. I admit it–I’ve been fretting more than a little about how to support my young writer. But when I was watching her tonight, poring over her story, I realized that we’ve already been down this path so many times. With swimming. With piano. Maggie really needs to come to things in her own time. Now, I admit that the timely support of adults has also been important, but I seem to have to learn over and over that given time and support, it really will all come together.
In fact, I blogged about almost exactly this same thing just about a year ago. Apparently it hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I guess Maggie’s not the only one who needs to come to things in her own time.
You’re such a good mom. <3 I'm so proud of you, for finding the right thing for her, and helping her write in a fun way without making it into a nightmare chore like so many others do.
Good job! And tell your girl good luck with her story. ^^
I think your “whim” shows what an intuitive parent you are. One of the other threads I share with parents in my workshops is the importance of audience when it comes to kids’ writing–and writing workshops are some of the best audiences an aspiring writer can find. I’ve been facilitating them for years, and it’s almost magical how much inspiration and motivation kids can glean from them.
I love the photos of Maggie writing all over the place!
You know, Patricia, I hadn’t really thought about it until you said that–but I think a big challenge for me as a homeschooling mom is to learn to trust my own intuition about my kids and what they do and don’t need, without looking elsewhere for validation. I’m most of they way there, I think, most of the time, but it’s hard to get rid of those niggling doubts and worries. Maybe it’s because I (briefly) used to be a professional educator, and what I’m doing now is so different, and honestly casts a lot of doubts on that approach. I mean, after all–isn’t my deep and intimate knowledge of my children perhaps the most important thing that I bring to my role as their partner in learning? And that’s not something a classroom teacher can provide, except in a very rare circumstance.
Okay, I guess it was my turn to ramble on this one! But your reply got me thinking!
My girl is exactly the opposite. She’s always been into writing but reading is much slower. She thinks of it as hard and doesn’t think of herself as a reader. Although at this point she is reading everything in sight–signs etc. They are all on their perfect path in spite of us, aren’t they. I enjoyed seeing your daughter’s intensity and passion. Thanks.
dragonfly–in spite of us is so right! my kids are so good at getting themselves on the right path if I can just stay out of the way!
oh, and thanks for the link!
[...] Cameron presents The writer at work, in her own time at Three Girl Pile-Up. In this post, Barbara admits that sometimes it’s hard “to trust [...]
This is wonderful to read. I wrote about Trusting That Writing Will Come a few months ago. How old is your daughter? Mine is 6, and she started reading at 5 (and hasn’t stopped!), but she’s not so interested in writing. She likes for me to write for her because my writing isn’t “so huge.” I’ve wondered if I should be providing any more encouragement or persuasion for her to practice, or if she’s just not ready yet. I really think she’ll do it on her own eventually though. I’d love to know how that class went. Do you know of any other suggestions the teacher gave?
Maggie is 8. She started to read at 4, just to give you an idea of the gap between reading and writing for her.
The teacher didn’t have a lot more specific suggestions, other than encouraging Maggie not to worry about spelling and other mechanics on a first draft, since she can go back and change it later. I think in general, M. is feeling more freed up to just write and not make everything “correct” on the first go-round.
Knowing what I know now, I would have been much more relaxed about writing when M. was 6. Did you read the post I linked to on dictation? Patricia’s blog (www.patriciazaballos.com) is one of my favorite resources and sources of inspiration on working on writing with kids.
Thanks for your comment!
wonderful :^)