LCP Ep 10: Teaching your Struggling Writer How to Write

Have you ever seen your learners with “a deer caught in headlights” look when holding a pencil over a blank piece of paper?

Is it a struggle to get your child to write down more than a word or two?

Visit Katie’s website for more fun ideas and tips to use in your homeschool at Katie’s Homeschool Cottage  or her Facebook Group.

Join Katie Glennon as she shares tips and practices in getting even your youngest learners more comfortable putting pencil to paper and conveying their thoughts into written words.

You’ll soon be using these techniques every day in your own routine easily and naturally.

Show Notes

Quick Writing Practice Opportunities

Post cards or letters to friends or relatives about a trip or event.

Pen pals.

Science nature journal or sketch pad with captions or labels on a nature hike or walk.

Grocery lists or other lists – favorite things, to do’s, menu, people.

Emails.

Thank you notes for birthday or Christmas.

Birthday cards or other cards, including invitations.

Posters, flyers, brochures, book jackets.

Journal or diary (can be just a sentence or more about their day).

Scrapbook or photo album with captions or names underneath.

Use invisible ink or secret code to make writing more interesting and fun.

Write using different media and materials – colored pencils, gel pens, scented pens, colored paper, chalkboard, white board, window or mirror, eraseable writing pad (the one with the plastic pencil and you lift the plastic sheet up to erase your writing.), driveway with chalk or water with a brush, large poster board or paper with paint, write in sand or at the beach.

Creat slide shows with Powerpoint or Google slides or Prezi.

Collaborate and take turns writing a story, taking turns one sentence at a time.

Write a story as a character or famous person using “I”.

Interview someone for real or pretend and write down what they say.

Write about an event or nature hike using “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, “why”, and “how” to tell you what to write about.

Write a revision of a well-known story revising an event or a character in the story in your retelling. Write a new ending. Keep it a simple story like Red Riding Hood, The Three Bears or Three Little Pigs, or The Gingerbread Man.

Websites to Help You Draw and Write Your Own Story

These sites assist your child in creating a picture for a scene or multiple scenes in a story either drawing your own picture or using graphics they supply. Once they create the picture/s, they can type in the story and either read it online or print it off for their own book.

Story Jumper

Read Write Think Printing Press

Story Starters by Scholastic

My Storymaker

Writing with Writers

Imagine Forest

Writing Prompts

If you choose to use writing prompts as a topic instead of the retelling of a read aloud or a short simple story, I highly recommend you let your struggling writer draw a picture of the scene that comes to mind from the writing prompt. This way they can write about what they see happening in the picture and it will be less challenging for them to verbalize a story from the prompt. (Remember – in the podcast we discussed that creating a story from scratch takes the writer away from focusing just on getting over the overwhelm of putting words in a sentence on paper.)

Writing Prompts for Kids

Free Writing Prompts

Daily Writing Prompts

180 Journaling Writing Prompts

251 Free Creative Writing

Writing Prompt Printables for all Ages

Be sure to comment in the Comments box any ideas you’d like to share about how your family has overcome the “deer caught in headlights look” or the overwhelm of putting pencil to paper! Or, what techniques from this podcast or list of ideas you found helpful! I would love to hear from you!

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