How do you cover ELA efficiently while facilitating a love of writing?

Hello Deb,

Your children are at the perfect age to ask the question, “How do you cover ELA efficiently while facilitating a love of writing?”

• What is your recommended approach to covering the varying aspects of ELA efficiently while facilitating the love of creating and writing? How would you balance the creative element versus the more structured work (e.g. grammar, spelling, vocabulary, constructing sentences and paragraphs)?
  My first piece of advice is to start by breaking down the aspects into two broad categories: mechanics and creative. Have you ever been in a situation where there were so many parts to follow that you started to drown in what to work on first? That does a great job of demonstrating why mechanics should be largely pulled out of creative writing instructions for young learners. There are so many arts to them that when also trying to get your ideas down, it can feel overwhelming.
• How does this balance change over time as the child gets older?
  Most young people are natural storytellers with no mechanical skills. As they age, they begin to master mechanical skills. You should look for those to show up in their writing. Do not look for a mechanical skill that is just mastered to show up on the same level it does in a lesson devoted to that skill, however. That takes practice. In the case where a student does not apply mechanical skills when they are writing creatively, ignore that in the first draft. Then, ask the student to edit it with a focus on the mechanics. Be thoughtful about this being overwhelming. If there is a lot of mechanical work needed, I recommend breaking it into pieces. Choose a limited number of skills to focus on at a time.
  You can also expect older children to be more sophisticated with their creative writing techniques. Sometimes you will see writing that is similar to techniques in books they have read. Practicing through close imitation can be an important part of learning for students. When you see this, comment in a positive way. It is exciting to see writing techniques used by “real” writers show up in student’s work.

Here is a sample breakdown of them:
Mechanics: Grammar, spelling, vocabulary, constructing sentences and paragraphs

Creative: Storytelling, imagery, artistic word choices and techniques
Find resources that are a good fit for your learners to teach the mechanics. For the creative side, I recommend immersing yourselves in the craft of writing. Words shape ideas, take us to new places, and help us understand. With the frustration of the mechanics out of the art of storytelling, you are able to focus on that. Start with the writing, structure, and word choices in the books your children and you love.

Find authors who you can call wordsmiths. Discuss not just the story, but also the way the story is crafted. This doesn’t all have to be fiction. Nonfiction writing that resonates with you is crafted, too. Introduce the words metaphor, simile, alliteration, and personification when you encounter examples in text. This type of teaching writing is called descriptive writing.

Katie Wood Ray puts it this way in her book Wondrous Words. With descriptive writing,
Language is seen for what it really is, something that gets used in real ways by real people, not a land-mine field of “rules” set up for writers to cautiously make their way around. Language is beautiful, alive, wondrous, and studying the craft of it in use will remind you of this again and again.

• Do you have any favorite curricula?
  I do have favorite curricula for writing.
  I would not recommend anything, however, without knowing more about your children. I recommend a learner-centered approach when homeschooling. With that approach, you choose materials and resources that honor who the learner is, that scaffold the areas where they need more support, and create opportunities to soar in the areas where they are strong.
• To help with this, I recommend you break down each mechanical skill for both children. Make a simple rating system like 1, 2, 3 (that I would not share with the kids) indicating where they need more help, where the materials are just right, and where they are flying through the materials. Mechanical writing skills that are a struggle are important to identify early (included in this should be fine motor skills.) You also want to notice areas where your child’s ability outpaces materials. Once a skill is mastered, there is no reason to keep working on it through curricula. The beauty of writing is that once mastered, mechanical skills get plenty of practical review.

Reading to your children is an important part of writing. There are some great book that will get you talking about writing and techniques.

In addition to these, I own every book mentioned in Wondrous Words. I really fell in love with Ray’s focus on the craft of writing.

A final tip: The number 1 rule of teaching writing is to write with your writers. The best writing teachers can share their ideas, their struggles, and their successes in real time with their students.

Enjoy the Journey Blair!

Check out more articles through the Ask Blair Page on this website.

This article appeared in the April 2022 issue of the SEA Homeschoolers Magazine.

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