Learning in the Absence of Education
Essays on Homeschooling
© Beverley Paine
Index
Homeschool
Australia
Ideas for Helping Children with Writing
(continued)
I know Roger started to really use his personal diary at thirteen years of age, and was quite proud of his entries every day.
Another great journal idea, for any age, is those large A4 hard cover exercise books. For many children faint lines won't cramp their artistic style. It is good to encourage the children to see the journal as a record of their lives and thoughts, a place to write, draw, do diagrams and paste in various things - from dried flowers and leaves to tickets. Most children love the increasing bulkiness of the journal as stuff is added.
It is important to see the journal not as an opportunity to encourage writing, although it works brilliantly at this, but also as an enjoyable pastime - a record that can be referred back to, to find out when the seeds were planted or the building project started. A journal is a personal history of ideas and activities. Often home educating families take time to read their journals out aloud - much like sharing the family photograph albums.
Adults keep diaries for all sorts of purposes - I've kept a food diary, and a weather diary, to help me track my allergies. Thomas has been most interested in the weather diary and designed his own, keeping track of the temperature, barometer readings, clouds, humidity and wind speed every hour or so for over a week. This became a full blown science project... meticulously recorded in his diary.
With the smaller blank book we made "I Can" books. Unlike the journal these books began each page with "I can...". Thomas would fill out the rest, or when he was four to six years he'd just draw a picture and I'd scribe. Sometimes he'd 'write' for himself, filling the space with scribble or sometimes strings of figures that were close approximations of letters and numbers.
As he grew and his skills developed he began to finish the sentence himself. Sometimes a story would evolve out of the "I can" statement, and I would need to record for him, the writing often spilling over on to the next page. I encouraged fiction as well as actual abilities.
These books are always great fun to look through years later as they really trace the development of the child - physically, socially, intellectual and emotionally!
Another great half size book we've made is the "How I Feel" book. This one can be explored forever but does need a creative parent to come up with never ending possibilities, once the usual emotions are done. Start with pictures on love, hate, anger, etc, and then move to frustration, pity, etc. We started with pictures of how he looked when he felt like that, or of some of the things that made him feel like that. But you could explore poetry, song lyrics, compositions, letters, any writing form. You can even review extracts from what the child is reading - and comment on this, or films, television - anywhere where feelings are explored...
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Excerpt from Learning in the Absence of Home Education: Essays on Homeschooling
© Beverley Paine, 1999
