When I was a young homeschool mom (back in the days of dinosaurs, and just before the Model T and home computers), I had limited sources for support and resources:

1. A close-knit circle of homeschooling friends
2. My homeschool support group
3. Our annual homeschool convention
4. A small handful of local curriculum stores and catalog companies
5. The public library

Today’s homeschoolers have so much more at their disposal! With the advent of the Internet, the world has become a smaller place. Now, with the click of a mouse or the swipe of a finger, homeschool moms can access articles, experts, discussion forums, online stores, virtual conventions, product reviews, e-books, apps, and printable downloads.

And blogs. Blog upon wonderful blog.

There’s really nothing quite like the homeschool blogging community, “which puts so much inspiration and so many great ideas right at your fingertips, without ever leaving the comfort of your home.” ~Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

The homeschool-mom blogosphere has exploded.

Not only are there tons of amazing blogs, both established and emerging, there are now blogging conferences such as Relevant and the 2:1 Conference.

These conferences refresh, inspire, challenge, and equip women to become more successful bloggers as they tell their stories and share their journeys, lives, and faith.

Though next month marks the 4th anniversary of my own blog—In Our Write Minds, I’m excited to dip my toes in some new water as WriteShop helps sponsor three sweet bloggers who will be attending the 2:1 Conference in April.

Want to meet them?

Maureen of Spell Outloud homeschools her six children. I love her blog! It’s loaded with ideas and projects, free printables, helpful articles, loads of activities for preschoolers, and curriculum reviews and giveaways.

Stephanie blogs at Bowmania. She’s mama to five kiddos, including a new baby. She blogs about family, homeschooling, and life in the trenches (her family lost their house to a fire last year). Stephanie also does book reviews and giveaways.

You’ll find Shay blogging at Wonderfully Chaotic. A mom of two with diverse talents and interests that range from homeschooling to home birthing, Shay writes with refreshing honesty.

Please visit their blogs! I pray that the 2:1 Conference meets each of these women in a specific and fresh way. I’m excited to watch them continue to grow as writers, and I know I’ll learn a thing or two from them as well.

~Kim

If you homeschool in Southern California, you know that the CHEA Convention is one of the highlights of the year! With a great lineup of speakers and all sorts of curriculum exhibitors, you won’t want to miss this extra-special 28th annual event July 14-16.

This year, the CHEA Convention will again be held at the beautiful Pasadena Convention Center. Visit www.cheaofca.org for information, convention schedule, and downloadable workshop syllabus pages.

Vendor Booth

As you begin looking toward the next school year, it’s also the perfect time to stop by our booth to ask questions, see what’s new, or browse through WriteShop books in person. Find us in Booth #329.

At the convention you can:

• See our full line of WriteShop products
• Purchase the newest WriteShop Primary books.
• Preview the up-and-coming WriteShop Junior materials.
• Learn how you can teach a WriteShop co-op class in your area.
• Receive much-needed encouragement about teaching writing.
• Attend my workshop “Ten Stumbling Blocks to Writing” at 12:40 on Friday.

Visit the CHEA website for more information. Hope to see you there!

~Kim

Mariana Ashley joins me today as a guest blogger here at In Our Write Minds. Mariana writes for onlinecolleges.net.

Having homeschooled from age seven until about fifteen, I can say without reservation that the most important thing I gained during my homeschooling years was a love of reading. And I’m convinced that had I not been homeschooled, I would not possess the enthusiasm for reading that I have now.

Here are some tips based on my personal experiences reading at home:

1. Create a book culture at home.

You’ve heard the age-old saying “charity begins at home”? Actually, any life-long habit is always first established among your closest kin—the people you live and learn with every single day. As such, if you want your children to learn to love reading, they will have to see you reading often, too.

If you have a book collection in storage, take everything out and display your books properly. This sends a message that books are valuable and worthwhile! And when children are surrounded by books, you increase the chances that they’ll want to eventually read them.

2. Start by suggesting books based on movies.

I know, I know. The book is always better. But if your child is already familiar with a character or plot after having seen the movie, her interest will be more greatly piqued. This is especially helpful for children who find reading boring or whose attention span is so short they have trouble getting through a book.

3. Make oral reading a tradition in your household.

For many families, story time ends when children reach age five or six; when they don’t have trouble falling asleep anymore; or when other forms of technology begin to entertain them. First, don’t stop reading aloud! That rich bonding time continues to send the message that reading—in all its forms—is held in high esteem in your home. Keeping that oral tradition alive is also important for further developing reading, writing, and comprehension skills.

And don’t forget to include other oral activities. When I was homeschooled, my parents had us memorize poems and short prose pieces, which we’d recite out loud. This is a great tool for helping young children acquire an ear for good writing, and it gives students of all ages a chance to “marinate” in passages of great literature and poetry.

4. Turn it into a game.

Many schools offer reading incentive programs or competitions in which children earn “points” for reading books. You can set up a similar game yourself. For example, my parents assigned points based on book length. Books that were longer or of greater difficulty earned us more points. Whoever had the most points at the end of the month got to spend a day out with mom and dad for pizza and ice cream. Even better, why not set a “points goal” based on age and reading ability? This way, every child who reaches her personal goal can earn the special treat.

Picking up good reading habits can help your child in other ways too. For example, the verbal section on the SAT was so much easier for me because I’d been an avid reader since I was seven. Reading also helps lengthen attention span and generally improves cognitive skills. Reading and writing often go hand-in-hand, and while reading alone won’t turn your kid into the perfect writer, it will surely go far.

Lesson learned: Never underestimate the power of a good book.

Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online degrees. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031 @gmail.com.

. . . . .

You might also enjoy

• Build a strong reading foundation
• Picture books as a pre-writing activity
• 7 ways to introduce genre

Ever have one of those days? Do tell!

Cartoon © Todd Wilson at Familyman Ministries. Used by permission.

Today I feel like sharing the love. And may I just say that I love The Old Schoolhouse? This company does so much for the homeschool community. I want to let you know about some of their great free resources as well as a few other special offers and opportunities. Take advantage while they last!

FREE Resources to Download Now

Right now, TOS is offering two excellent—and free—digital resources!

The Old Schoolhouse Guide to Examining Curriculum will help you better discern how to find your way through the maze of homeschooling products. Includes helpful articles, tips, and suggestions for understanding book reviews and shopping for curriculum. Also includes a number of product reviews.

Homeschool 101 is the perfect place to get a broad overview of homeschooling in general, or enjoy reading up-to-date articles from some of the best authors and homeschool companies. With almost 200 pages full of articles and resources, you won’t want to miss this . . . and you don’t have to—it’s totally FREE!

More TOS Opportunities

The Schoolhouse Expo virtual homeschool conference was a rousing success. Did you miss it? That’s OK. Expo To Go! will provide you with all the sessions from the Schoolhouse Expo—you can listen to the MP3s of 36 different sessions.

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Vote now and be heard with the TOS 2010 Excellence in Education Awards. Take this brief survey to vote for your favorite homeschooling products. The results will be featured in the Spring 2011 issue. At the end of the survey, you will be redirected to a page where you can download two free gifts just for taking the time to vote!

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For a limited time, TOS is giving away this great tote with a subscription to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. You get 9 issues for the price of 8, the Homeschooling with Heart tote bag, E-Book: Dreams and Designs–Homemade Supplies to Complement Your Homeschool, and the July through December 2009 Schoolhouse Planner modules. It’s a $146.65 value for only $39.

A while back, I talked about the importance of strong writing skills in the workplace. Today I want to take a look at the grim statistics regarding poor writing skills on college campuses and help you explore things you can do now to ensure that your children do not join those ranks.

The Problem on College Campuses

First-time college students face their new post-high school careers with excitement, fear, and any number of challenges. But good writing, for many freshmen, may pose the biggest challenge of all.

Professors want to see concise, coherent and well-reasoned writing assignments. And regardless of the discipline—whether English, history, biology, or art—they expect students to write at a higher level than they did in high school.

We hear again and again that many freshmen lack the most basic skills to write clearly, effectively, and coherently because their working knowledge of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and paragraph structure is so poor. According to a recent article by the California State University:

About 60 percent of first-time freshmen enrolling at the CSU each year do not show entry-level proficiency in [college-level English] assessments, even though they have earned at least a B average in the required college preparatory curriculum. As a result, many students must attend remedial classes, which do not count for college credit and add cost and time to earning a degree.

When High Schools Fail to Prepare Their Graduates

Tufts Daily, the independent student newspaper of Tufts University, reports that it’s becoming more and more apparent that the nation’s high schools are not devoting enough time to writing skills and may not be providing students with a strong enough writing-based curriculum.

The Tufts article notes that according to a study by the Chronicle of Higher Education, 44 percent of university faculty members say their students are simply not ready for the rigors of college-level writing.

When College Writing Courses Don’t Teach Writing

Arriving on campus is no assurance of success for incoming freshmen who need basic writing courses but aren’t necessarily getting them.

Professor Stanley Fish says universities should rethink the political and ideological emphasis of most composition classes. He rightly suggests that “unless writing courses focus exclusively on writing they are a sham.”

Fish relates that a few years ago, he became alarmed and curious about the poor writing skills his English graduate students demonstrated in their research papers. Graduate students should write well, Fish believed; especially since they were responsible for teaching undergraduate students how to write in introductory composition classes. Fish asked to see lesson plans for the 104 sections in which English graduate students taught composition to undergrads. He found that in 100 of the sections, “students spent much of their time discussing novels, movies, TV shows and essays on a variety of hot-button issues — racism, sexism, immigration, globalization.” Only four sections emphasized grammar, rhetoric, and the craft of writing well. (Eagle Forum Education Reporter)

A Sad but True Example

Several months ago, a friend came into possession of a freshman English paper and shared it with me. Sadly, it serves to reinforce the statistics and testimonials that only too frequently cross my desk. From start to finish, this student’s essay on William Blake’s “The Tyger” is riddled with errors:

• Uncapitalized proper nouns such as jesus and greek
• Missing punctuation, including periods
• Casual language (“…it is actually about more than just a tiger and stuff.”)  
• Slang (“Allusion is all over the freekin place.”)
• Misplaced apostrophes and more slang (“Tyger’s have four feet. Cool, huh?“)
• Use of second person (“If you look at Blake’s history…”)
• Run-on sentences and sentence fragments
• Absence of transitions
• Lack of organization
• Use of numerals instead of words (“…5 years ago…”)
• Use of Wikipedia as a “credible” source

This student represents a mere drop in a very full bucket. Thousands of similarly skilled young men and women are accepted into major universities every year—high school graduates whose writing abilities just aren’t up to par.

You Can Make a Difference!

I could continue filling your brain with testimonials and data and examples. But why rehash when the bottom line remains the same? Students are emerging from their high-school cocoons as undernourished butterflies whose wings are inadequately developed for flying through college writing.

It doesn’t have to be this way. You’re in a privileged position to help your homeschooled students. In future articles, I’ll get into more detail, but for now, rest assured that you can:

• Learn to identify your child’s unique grammar, spelling, and writing issues.
• Tailor curricula and writing lessons to address those needs.
• Make sure you’re covering the basics.
• Expand instruction to include more college prep work.
• Offer your child what a classroom teacher of 150 cannot: one-on-one instruction, frequent writing assignments, and detailed, consistent feedback.

Copyright © 2010 Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

It’s 2010!

And now that your Christmas decorations have (we hope) come down, it’s time to shake off the winter blues and get your homeschool into gear again. Does that excite you, or does it make you want to dive under the covers?

The January Blahs 

Sometimes, it can be tough for homeschooling families to get back into gear in January. Mom feels burned out. The kids lack motivation. Foul weather doesn’t help much either and can often lead to cabin fever and a general sense of “blah.”
 
As a veteran homeschooler myself, I really want you to succeed—and not just to survive, but to thrive—which is why I love passing on great resources as they cross my path. My friend Terri Johnson of Knowledge Quest offers two fantastic homeschool classes—Homeschooling ABCs and Upper Level Homeschool—which are sure to jumpstart your homeschooling endeavors in the new year.

Signing up for either course means lots of free bonus gifts valued at up to $275, including a January-only BOGO (buy one, get one) so you and a friend can take the class together! Here’s a brief look at each class:

Class #1: Homeschooling ABCs

Homeschooling from A to Z. Whether you’re brand-new to homeschooling or have been at it for a dozen years, this excellent 26-week class will encourage you along the journey of teaching your children. If you feel overwhelmed, unmotivated, or discouraged, this class will provide focus, direction, and encouragement,.

This is absolutely a MUST TAKE class for all homeschoolers – new or seasoned! I cannot recommend it enough! I have been homeschooling for a decade, and last year lost all enthusiasm for homeschooling. I was prepared “to ship them all off to school!” Your class has helped me to refocus my goals, remember why I wanted to homeschool, and get out of the rut we were plodding through!  –LeeAnn, homeschooling mom

It’s only $10 a month for 6 months—an amazing value! To sign up or learn more about the course, check out Homeschooling ABCs.

Class #2: Upper Level Homeschool

Homeschooling Your High Schooler. Are you daunted by the idea of homeschooling through high school? Upper Level Homeschool is an online course specifically designed for homeschooling parents of middle- and high-school students. Don’t let self-doubt or lack of knowledge rob you and your teen of these very exciting years! All you need are a few basic “how-to’s” and your high schooler can be well on his way to academic success and a very bright future.

Writing is one of those areas that can intimidate the bravest of parents, so Terri invited me to contribute the course material for Tackling the Timed Essay. Drawing from the timed-essay lesson in WriteShop II and my workshop, “Teaching the Timed Essay,” I’ve put together a syllabus for you that’s jam-packed with tips for teaching timed writing, including preparing for the essay portion of the SAT college entrance exam.

And there’s so much more to this excellent 13-week course! To sign up for the class or learn more about it, check out Upper Level Homeschool. At just $15 per month for 3 months, it’s the best money you can spend to gain peace of mind about teaching your kids through high school.

Don’t forget that each of these great courses comes with fabulous bonus gifts such as forms, checklists, maps, lesson planners, and more! Check out each class to see the different bonus gifts offered.

Sigh. Once again, it’s “writing time” at your house.

During the past hour, your reluctant writer’s paper has become riddled with scribbles and smears. And e-v-e-r-y time he erases with frustrated vigor, a tiny hole appears in the middle of that gray smudge. As the hole grows larger, his mind freezes up and closes in. Then the laments begin:

• What do I write about?
• Where do I start?
• How long does it have to be?
• I’ll never think of something.
• “I HATE WRITING!”

There’s so much frustration behind those blinked-back tears. And you know what? It’s not just kids who experience it—YOU struggle too.

Why Is It So Hard to Teach Writing?

Teaching writing is one of the biggest hurdles homeschooling families face. First, parents can feel insecure, inadequate, and under-equipped. For many of you, teaching writing ranks right up there with a trip to the dentist. Although we know the importance of passing on this skill to our students, so many excuses stand in our way!

• How can I teach if I never really learned to write?
• I don’t write—I’m just a math-science person.
• What if I don’t know how to grade a paper?
• Writing comes easily to me—but I don’t have clue how to teach my kids.

Second, children are often paralyzed by writer’s block, fear, and perfectionism. Most students want to write a paper once and declare it done. They hope we’ll rave over it and accept it as a finished product. The smallest hint of suggestion from Mom sets off howls of protest: Why can’t I leave it this way? You never like anything I write!

Blank paper, reluctant child, and insecure parent—combine these three ingredients together and I pretty much guarantee that your hopes for teaching writing will fail.

Let’s face it. It’s easy to keep pushing writing to the back burner with intentions of getting to it “someday.” And for many, “someday” has come and gone, and now you have:

• a high schooler who can’t write;
• a panicked mom burdened by guilt;
• and the infernal blank page that taunts you both.

10 Stumbling Blocks to Writing 

We need to 1) recognize some of the most common stumbling blocks that stand in the way of your child’s success, and 2) determine how your writing program can help. Take heart! These stumbling blocks are neither so heavy that they can’t be moved, nor so tall that they can’t be scaled.

Here are the ten stumbling blocks we’ll be looking at:

1. Lack of confidence
2. Lack of skills and tools
3. Lack of motivation
4. Limited writing vocabulary
5. Perfectionism and self-criticism
6. Laziness
7. Procrastination
8. Worry about criticism from mom or dad
9. Wondering what’s the point
10. Learning difficulties that interfere with the writing process

Over the next few months, I’ll talk about each of these in greater detail and give you some ideas of how to help your student overcome them. Most of my suggestions will be aimed at older students (5th or 6th grade through high school). Still, parents of younger children will find tips and suggestions that you can apply now. By doing so, you can begin to ward off some of these problems early on, setting your children up for greater writing success in the future.

Come back next week as we take a look at the first of these ten stumbling blocks and talk about ways you can help your student overcome each one in order to become a stronger writer.

Please share your thoughts: What’s your child’s biggest stumbling block?

(Leaving a comment at any “Stumbling Blocks” article enters you into our January drawing for a $25 WriteShop gift certificate. Increase your chances of winning by commenting here and again at each of the 10 upcoming articles, beginning with Stumbling Block #1 – Lack of Confidence.)

2009 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

Could you imagine a student telling his professor: “Can I have another week? My sister was hogging the computer.” or “Sorry I missed the test yesterday—I was too tired—but I can make it up later this afternoon.” We can all laugh at how ridiculous this sounds, but chances are, you yourselves have caved to these very requests!

But We’re Homeschooling!

For homeschoolers, it’s easy to let deadlines slide. The sense of urgency just doesn’t exist at home as it does in the public or private school setting. Homeschooling brings with it a false sense of security that says, “We have time…what’s the rush…he’s only 14…that’s why we’re homeschooling,” and so on. As a result, many homeschooling parents either don’t give due dates at all, don’t adhere to them if they do, or don’t impose consequences for late assignments.

Do you want your student to succeed in college? Of course you do! Then you need to realize that in the real world, such permissiveness will never fly.

Create a System for Keeping Track

You need a system for posting and keeping track of deadlines. The best method is to post a large monthly calendar in a prominent spot (in your school area, on the fridge). Even if you use a lesson plan book and give your student daily assignments, it is so helpful to be able to step back and see—at a glance—clearly marked essay or project deadlines and test dates.

A calendar of this nature gives your teen a quick daily review of the panorama of impending deadlines. This prevents the dreaded “due date creep,” where it suddenly dawns on a procrastinating student that he has a test, an essay, and a science project all due in the next day or two.

It also encourages the student to pace himself more carefully when working on big projects, including spreading out the work over several days or weeks, and starting the project early enough to finish without having to pull an all-nighter. A college-course syllabus is sure to include one or more long-term assignments, so developing the habit of scheduling and pacing will prepare him well for handling multiple deadlines that typify college work.

.  .  .  .  .

College prep 101: Learning to meet deadlines

College prep 101: Creating a quiet workspace

College prep 101: Limiting social networking

College prep 101: Teaching responsible study habits

When we were homeschooling, I absolutely loved writing across the curriculum with my kiddos. It was such a natural way for them to write about the very things we were studying for history, geography, or science.

I’m excited to share one of our family’s favorite writing exercises—journaling with a twist—where kids write first-person diary entries as if they were someone (or something!) else. This is a great activity for kids of all ages—kindergarten through high school, pre-writers or prolific, reluctant or motivated. Continue reading →