Writing Help for Kids Who Think They Hate Writing

Does your child hate writing? Mine thinks he does, but I am slowly but surely showing him that handwriting (penmanship), grammar (verbs, word order, etc.), spelling, and creative writing are all different subjects.

If you have a child who says "I hate writing," ask some gentle questions. What does your child hate? Often it is actually handwriting or spelling that is the real problem.

I want my child to grow up to be able to communicate. He is a strong reader (mainly because we have always treated excellent books as a joy), has a great oral vocabulary, has a good imagination, and a great sense of humor. There is no reason he should hate writing. But he does.

However, I have come to find that it is the tedious nature of stopping the creative process of thinking of what is in his head (that is, what he wants to write) because of the need to control the pencil, word things grammatically perfectly, spell each word correctly and such that hold him back.

Once we gave him access to the computer to type his stories, told him the grammar did not matter right off (a rough draft is fine at first) or that he could dictate into a tape recorder, things began to improve.

However, I believe that many adults miss the things in children's lives that teach language arts skills without handwriting or spelling on paper. Things like drama classes, reading, reciting fun poetry, watching shows like Wheel of Fortune and such greatly add to the education of a child. Anything that involves thinking up story plots (with dolls or stuffed animals), putting on skits or puppet shows, and things that seem "fun" are also building those writing skills that may seem so difficult for a child to understand.

I wrote the articles below to reflect these beliefs. I have seen them work with my own homeschooled children. They can work with schooled children as well.

Breaking up Language Arts into its various parts and also bringing them together with good, enjoyable literature and games (including computer games) can go a long way toward turning a "non-writing child" into a writing child.

I hope this helps.

Janienne Jennrich
Copyright May 2008, May be used or copied with permission only.

ARTICLES TO READ

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