Last month I wrote
When he was younger and I transcribed his narrations, he would narrate stories much longer and more elaborate than the originals. Now that I ask him to write his own narrations, he produces short and stunted works. Sometimes when we sit together to edit, I can get him to be creative and use the Synonym Finder to spice up the writing. He is always allowed to use the keyboard, but perhaps I should man the keyboard when we are editing. I think I will try that next time.
Well I am trying this now, with success so far. He narrated the story of Perseus yesterday, which I typed for him. It was over a page long. Today he will edit it, something that may not go so smoothly but I do expect it to be better than in the past. I left most of my typos uncorrected. And he needs to use some more descriptive words. I am anxious to see how this works out. PRM
I struggle with helping my kids edit their writing. They get so defensive. We have been using IEW this year for N and S. And that has helped quite a bit. But Shoshie has taken the lessons to heart and now starts many of her sentences with phrases, but all too often they are misplaced modifiers. Her PSAT confirmed her need for a grammar program and I have ordered Analytical Grammar for her to start in January. She will hate it, I predict. She has hated every grammar program I have ever tried. Her spoken grammar is largely without grammatical errors but not so her written work.
Noach remains a constipated writer. When he was younger and I transcribed his narrations, he would narrate stories much longer and more elaborate than the originals. Now that I ask him to write his own narrations, he produces short and stunted works. Sometimes when we sit together to edit, I can get him to be creative and use the Synonym Finder to spice up the writing. He is always allowed to use the keyboard, but perhaps I should man the keyboard when we are editing. I think I will try that next time. PRM
