“There is no perfect time to write. There’s only now.”
-Barbara Kingsolver
Perfect time to write
October 27th, 2010 | Quotations
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Glad You’re Here!
Hi, I'm Kim--curriculum author, speaker, retired homeschooler, and grandma to seven. Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere. My heart is to equip and inspire you to teach writing, even when it seems like it's always an uphill battle. I invite you to poke around the blog, where you'll find writing and poetry activities, grammar tips, and hope for reluctant writers. Thanks for stopping by!
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- ▼ 2013 (42)
- ► May (8)
- Noun and pronoun variation
- Bicycle writing prompts for National Bike Month
- 2013 Teach Them Diligently and NCHE Homeschool Conventions
- Celebrating Children's Book Week
- 10 Mother's Day writing prompts
- Taming the Cluttered Writing Monster
- More Mother’s Day writing activities
- Printable Writing Prompt for May
- ► April (14)
- 2013 Teach Them Diligently & Homeschool Book Fair Conventions
- How to write time capsule letters
- Journal prompts for cat-loving kids
- SHEM and MassHOPE Homeschool Conferences: April 2013
- 7 tips for teaching free verse poetry
- Homeschoolers, copyright, & consumable workbooks
- 22 writing prompts that jog childhood memories
- Poem in Your Pocket Day 2013
- Product review: All About Spelling {and giveaway!}
- Descriptive essay prompts for middle schoolers
- Helping your child write thank you notes
- MidWest Parent Educators Conference: April 2013
- Printable writing prompt for April
- April foolishness for punsters
- ► March (9)
- The heart of Easter: 4 meaningful writing prompts
- Help your child get published in a magazine
- WriteShop's 2013 homeschool conference schedule
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- Review & Giveaway: Little Pilgrim's Progress
- What's your viewpoint? 5 writing prompts for opinion essays
- Essay writing: Using direct quotes
- Printable writing prompt for March
- 5 fabulous ways to close letters and emails
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- Paint chip stories
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- 4 tips for teaching the strong-willed writer
- Home School Book Fair 2012: Arlington, TX
- Mother's Day writing activities
- On children's books and growing a reader
- Using our senses: A descriptive writing lesson
- ► April (11)
- 5 ways to use narration with pre-writers
- Poem in Your Pocket Day - April 26
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- Spring Special
- 6 tips to strengthen your writing
- Experiencing poetry with children
- Build skills with puzzles and word games
- WriteShop Twitter Party
- 4 ways to celebrate National Poetry Month
- Pet peeves, apostrophes, and plural family names
- Writing a "never poem"
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- 4 ways to promote reading at home
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- Where's the beaf?
- When writing efforts fizzle
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- Should outside classes be part of your homeschool?
- Helping children write about a favorite memory
- An "intellgent" post
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- 7 ways to introduce writing genres
- Tips for writing across the curriculum
- This shoer is bad spelling
- 10 favorite apps for language arts
- Enhanced learning . . . or busy work?
- Helping reluctant writers embrace the process
- As seen in the skool hallway
- In Our Write Minds: 2010 in review
- Out with the old, in so many words
- ► 2010 (152)
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- Christmas carol haikus
- Do I really need a writing curriculum?
- Thankful in so many words
- Small Business Saturday 2010
- Grammar lesson, Humphrey Bogart style
- English is confusing
- Happy Thankgivening
- I'm nominated!
- 30 days of gratitude
- If one is good, two must be better
- Making an ABC book
- NaNoWriMo – Are your pencils sharpened?
- ► October (11)
- Helping your high schooler with writing
- Perfect time to write
- Hopscotch: Practice adding story details
- Frustrations of teaching writing
- What’s your favorite part of writing?
- Polish and polish some more
- Helping your 5th-8th grader with writing
- Sentence-building game
- Bad spelling since 1981
- Helping your 3rd-5th grader with writing
- News flash! Kids hate to self-edit
- ► September (8)
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- Free class: "Ten Stumbling Blocks to Writing"
- Do you have a reluctant writer?
- Warding off writing fears
- Sonbeams interviews Kim Kautzer
- Fall Schoolhouse Expo 2010
- Masters of punctuation
- Inspire writing with old-fashioned joy
- A man, a plan, and a Sharpie
- Writing for an audience
- Bringing order and logic into the language
- Same story, different twist
- Propaganda holder
- ► July (11)
- CHN Family Expo 2010 - Ontario, CA
- Why do writers write?
- 100-word stories
- Punctuation deliverys needed
- Ode to the reluctant writer
- Making a home for oneself
- How is a writer like a spelunker?
- Where are they now?
- I'll have the nuchos, please
- From the mouths of babes: Pre-literacy writing
- An Independence Day word bank
- ► June (17)
- In-correct punctuation mark's, anyone?
- Choosing correct ending punctuation
- Editing and evaluating writing: 4-6th grade
- How Twitter makes you a better writer
- Using questions, prompts, and dialogues
- Write bravely
- WriteShop and the 6 Traits of Effective Writing
- College prep: Focus on key writing skills
- Translation error
- Editing and evaluating writing: K-3rd grade
- More puns, please
- The reality
- Summertime: No excuse for chaos
- Intro to editing and evaluating writing
- Is your child a budding novelist?
- Street signs don't have spell check
- Beating the Summertime Blues
- ► May (11)
- Better to write twaddle...
- We've got (more) mail!
- Free homeschooling resources from TOS Magazine
- Newspaper bloopers
- A murder of crows: Fun with collective nouns
- Ideas for expanding writing vocabulary
- Finger posts
- FAQ: Teaching spelling
- Spelling isn't on the menu
- Oh, deer: English language silliness
- Describing a food: The good, the bad, and the ugly
- ► April (16)
- Making "A Book About Me"
- Word pictures
- Students are ill-prepared for college-level writing
- Garden verse poetry contest
- EXPO ticket giveaway winners!
- The little problem of . . . apostrophe's?
- Schoolhouse EXPO ticket giveaway!
- Teaching writing conventions
- 5 tips for writing concisely
- Spring word bank
- You must write it
- Key to the grammar quiz
- Do you need a grammar brush-up?
- Concrete writing: A descriptive feast for the senses
- Central Coast Home Education Conference - April 10, 2010
- Misspellers' sanctuary?
- ► March (14)
- Lost in translation
- Spring writing activities
- A miraculous feeling of words
- Where's Kim?
- Guaranteed . . . in writing
- Book review: All About Homophones
- Schoolhouse Expo 2010 - Virtual homeschool conference
- On revising
- Haiku contest winners
- Purim for Punsters
- Comma splice errors: An object lesson
- The "best" of bad signage
- What does your writing reveal about you?
- Writing a haiku poem
- ► February (14)
- Words Matter Week - March 1-7
- A process of discovery
- Choosing vocabulary to describe a place
- Berry bad spelling
- 26 golden rules for writing well
- Help your child plan a funny story
- 5 writing tips for kids
- The breathings of your heart
- Valentine mailboxes
- Helping kids find an audience for their writing
- Recipe for writing a paragraph
- Spelling repair needed
- Writing math poetry
- WriteShop Primary: More help with choosing a starting level
- ► January (19)
- Homeschool writer of the year competition
- Prizes, drawings, and more - oh, my!
- Say What You Mean Convention coming Feb. 3
- Book reviews: Betsy-Tacy and Betsy-Tacy and Tib
- Words matter
- On-the-job writing skills are more important than ever
- Incredible homeschool sale benefits a family in need!
- Adjectives in a series: Commas or no commas?
- Bakery blunders
- Winner of our 10 Stumbling Blocks drawing!
- A recipe for writing fun
- The trick to finding the balance
- What you really want to say
- 13 warning signs of a bad poetry contest
- Stumbling block #10 - Learning challenges
- Writing with your little ones
- No grander the second time around
- Winter blues? Jumpstart your homeschooling in 2010
- Stumbling block #9 - What's the point?
- ► 2009 (86)
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- Owed to the spell checker
- 10 stumbling blocks drawing - will you win the prize?
- Christmas wishes
- O Come, O Come
- Writing with lists
- Stumbling block #8 - Parental criticism
- Marry Christnos!
- Brrrr! A winter word bank!
- Stumbling block #7 - Procrastination
- Writing a Christmas cinquain poem
- Christmas word banks, part 2: Ho, ho, ho!
- Stumbling block #6 - Laziness
- The 5 Ws of Christmas?
- Sharp sign
- Christmas word banks, part 1: Jesus is born
- ► November (13)
- Our winners!
- Stumbling block #5: Perfectionism
- This our hymn of grateful praise
- Thanksgiving acrostic #2: I am thankful
- Black Friday Sale
- Stumbling block #4 – Limited writing vocabulary
- Creating a writing center
- Thanksgiving special
- Stumbling block #3 - Lack of motivation
- Stumbling block #2 – Lack of skills and tools
- Yoda strikes again
- More Thanksgiving writing ideas
- Stumbling block #1 - Lack of confidence
- ► October (10)
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- Writing game: Toss the pepperoni!
- College prep 101: Limiting social networking
- Dr. Seuss meets the CPSIA
- Apostrophes made to order
- College prep 101: Create a quiet workspace
- Writing contests: 3 benefits for kids
- Valentine’s Day writing activities
- Fun writing prompts for children
- College prep 101: Learning to meet deadlines
- A true professional
- ► January (16)
- CPSC issues temporary testing stay
- More tips for stronger papers
- Just for the pun of it
- 4 tips for stronger papers
- TOS sponsors writing contest for homeschoolers
- Appositives
- Don't leave till you get here!
- Practice with free writing: A rant against CPSIA
- 7 ways to curb perfectionism
- Congress bans kids from libraries?
- Brainstorming ideas to inspire your children’s writing
- CPSIA: What happens when the hammer falls?
- What will they think of next?
- CPSIA: Thoughts on the demise of the children's cottage industry
- Picture books as pre-writing activities
- Printable word games
- ► 2008 (150)
- ► December (9)
- ► November (8)
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- ► September (14)
- Notable confusables
- Using diaries to write about history
- Make a story pocket
- How's you're grammar?
- How to write a book review, Part 3
- Diamante contest winners!
- Who pays for this stuff?
- How to write a book review, Part 2
- Writing and remembering: 9/11
- Writing a diamante poem
- How to write a book review, Part 1
- Inch by inch...it's a cinch!
- Cheedear, anyone?
- And the winner is...BLUE!
- ► August (12)
- 6 Simple truths
- Vote for our new poster design!
- Six People, One Idea, and 3000 Miles
- Put some fun into editing!
- How do I motivate a 9-year-old?
- How to slip and fall
- Introducing nouns
- Introducing writing through narration
- 10 things about me
- Apostrophe catastrophes
- Writing with young children
- Cinquain poetry
- ► July (12)
- The key to teaching self-editing
- Pottery Barn meets sentence variations
- Writing warm-ups
- VHE Convention 2008: Modesto, CA
- Making writing less subjective
- This sign should be unortherized
- Homemade picture dictionary
- FREE gift with WriteShop Primary pre-order
- Becoming your child's pen pal
- All this failing...
- Projects: Great writing alternatives
- Error's at the fruit stand
- ► June (17)
- What’s in the bag?
- Simple words...
- Jane's grammar nugget: Bits and pieces
- 7 tips for writing clearly
- Learning disabilities & writing, Part 2
- Writing cento poetry
- Risky business
- Writing a business letter
- Learning disabilities & writing, Part 1
- A real proof copy. Really!
- Jane's grammar nugget: Not your grandma's grammar!
- The improtnace of slef-edintig
- On sale! World of Animals StoryBuilders
- Win a set of Vision Forum DVDs!
- How to write poems of comparison
- Is your child perpared?
- I or me?
- ► May (20)
- Update: WriteShop Primary Book A
- Your child's writing: Garden or weed patch?
- How to write good
- Orlando Homeschool Convention 2008
- Just don't tell anyone
- FAQ: To type or write by hand?
- WriteShop Primary Book C - take a peek!
- New baby!
- Interview with an editor, part 2
- Interview with an editor, part 1
- Jane's grammar nugget: Writing more effectively
- Willy Worm Word Wall
- Journaling . . . with a twist
- A gathering of adjectives
- Home School Book Fair May 9-10
- Growing your child's writing vocabulary
- Editing tips for the faint of heart
- The story behind WriteShop, part 2
- We've got mail!
- Meet an amazing 11-year-old
- ► April (19)
- Jane's grammar nugget: No lie!
- Timed-release curriculum?
- The story behind WriteShop, part 1
- It's vs. its: What's the difference?
- Book review: Secret of the Scribe
- Spring into writing, part 2
- FAQ: How much time each day?
- An interview with David Borrink
- Jane's grammar nugget: Who or whom?
- Another cover unveiled!
- Spring into writing, part 1
- FAQ: Giving high school credit
- A Peek at WriteShop Primary
- Graphic organizers
- Teaching writing, part 3: The writing process
- Drum roll, please...
- Help us pick cover illustrations!
- Jane's grammar nugget: Comma or semicolon?
- WriteShop wins award
- ► March (20)
- Teaching writing, part 2: Some good news
- What's new with WriteShop Primary?
- Writing a cinquain poem
- New trademarks for WriteShop!
- FAQ: Is WriteShop a complete grammar program?
- Teaching writing, part 1: First the bad news
- Deer skool...
- Speak the truth in love
- Jane's grammar nugget: Punctuating titles
- Paired adjective challenge: the winners and more!
- Fun with pointers
- Paired adjectives spotted at museum
- Writing historical fiction: Spotlight on Family Tree
- Editing and proofreading tips
- In defense of paired adjectives
- A writer's alphabet
- It's National Procrastination Week!
- Table of contents poll
- The key to teaching self-editing
- Thesaurus game: Describing a person
- ► February (11)
- Legos don't build themselves, you know!
- Printers and layouts and deadlines...oh, my!
- Reluctant writers tip #1: Using a tape recorder
- FAQ: Preparing for SAT timed essays
- An interview with Nancy I. Sanders
- Reminder...
- Boardless Scrabble
- Introducing Nancy Sanders
- Help for writer's block
- Born to blog
- On words and writing...
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Yes! There is only now!