Writing is a skill we all need. What we need to write and when we need to write it, however, varies from person to person and situation to situation. Perhaps today I will write several emails, a few posts on social media, and this article on writing. Each of these tasks requires different skills. As homeschool parents we can help our children learn these different writing skills.
Writing for School
When our homeschooled children need to write for school assignments, we can help them by picking quality curriculum and resources. There are many excellent writing curricula available, from Institute for Excellence in Writing® to Cover Story from Clear Water Press.
Both IEW and Cover Story use streaming videos to help children work on their writing skills. You can also incorporate something like Sparkling Bits of Writing from Creative Word Studio into your homeschool day.
What skill sets do you need to teach when your students are simply writing for school assignments? These skills range from writing a standard five-paragraph essay to crafting a research paper and everything in between. Focusing on vocabulary, sentence structure, thesis statements, and spelling will help your children develop their writing skills for school requirements.
Is your child looking to pursue college? He or she can take these skills and use the College Choice Guidance from SchoolhouseTeachers.com to help with other details such as preparing for scholastic tests, visiting schools, filling out a college application, and more.
Writing for Work
The writing skill set our older children need often focuses on what they need either for college or future employment. They need to learn how to write to get a job (e.g., cover letter, resume) or work the job (e.g., reports, emails). If we include the skills needed to write for college in “Writing for School,” we can focus on those needed for work differently. From crafting a resume or properly filling out an application, our children will need a new set of writing skills.
But perhaps you’re raising a young entrepreneur who wants to start her own business? The student needs an entirely different set of writing skills. She might need to write a loan or grant proposal, a marketing plan, craft interview questions, and more, depending on the business being started.
For high schoolers, there are several options to brush up on their writing for work skills. SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers two business-related courses that can help guide them through starting their own business. In Starting a Micro Business (for Teens), students will brainstorm ideas and work on developing their concept and marketing. In Business Plan Creation, students will develop a plan, examine it, and even learn a little about accounting.
Writing for Fun
Many children enjoy writing. They like to put pen to paper to record all their stories, ideas, and memories. This may develop into a professional job as an author, but it could also be something they do just for fun. No matter why they write, crafting stories, poems, and recording memories require a different skill set than that used for formal school work or business.
You can easily tie in your child’s love of writing with school work, but remember to keep the joy in the assignments. If they want to craft their ideas into a coherent story, Crafting Fiction will help them write a good fictional story. And sometimes our children don’t enjoy writing, so we can use courses that focus on creativity to help them develop the writing skills they need. For example, in Creative Storytelling students will learn about characters, develop character traits, work on a plotline, and more.
What skill sets do you need to teach your children this homeschool year? Perhaps you are looking to accomplish a little bit of everything with them. Whether you need something to help your high schooler excel in writing or you want to capture the fun stories of your six-year-old, there are many great resources. Which ones are you going to use?
This article has been written by Kristen Heider. She is the Business Building Team Manager of The Old Schoolhouse® and the Social Media Manager of HomeschoolingFinds.com. She shares more about her family’s homeschooling journey at A Mom’s Quest Teach.