Mr. C is 7 years old, and he’s in fourth grade for almost all of his subjects.
He’s consistently been several years ahead in school work, all except for one…
Writing.
Mr. C does not love to write at all.
He struggles with every single aspect of writing.
Physically handwriting, processing what he wants to write, actually getting from thought to paper, grammar, spelling, all of it.
We knew that we needed to find a writing curriculum for struggling writers that would help him learn the mechanics of writing while not making him absolutely hate writing forever.
*I was given a copy of WriteShop Curriculum to try out in my family. It has been immensely helpful for my struggling writer, so I love sharing it with you! All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. Please see my full disclosure for details.
Super Simple Ways to Make Writing Fun for Struggling Writers
What exacerbates the problem is that I. Love. Writing.
I mean, I’m a writer. So obviously, it’s one of my favorite things.
I was that kid in school that wrote a five-page paper when the teacher asked for five paragraphs.
So how in the world can I teach writing when it came so naturally to me, and is anything-but-natural to him?
Keep Your Writing Lessons Hands-On
Okay, the very first way that I’ve found to keep writing fun for struggling writers is to keep it hands-on.
This is suuuuuuper hard for me, because I tend to see hands-on activities as “busy work” and it drives me a little batty.
And for kids like me, hands-on activities are pretty much busy work. If your kid gets it without the extra activities great.
But for kids that don’t naturally write? Those hands-on writing activities are vital to help them take our confusing English language and make it into something concrete.
With WriteShop (Mr. C is using WriteShop Jr. Book D this year) with each lesson he creates a new “Grammar Fold and Go” folder/book with explanations on the mechanics of writing.
The first one we did was punctuation, and he loved it.
Not only did he have to add the punctuation to the sample sentences and read through the explanations of every way each punctuation mark is used, he made a physical book that he can refer back to again and again when he forgets how to use his commas correctly!
Find some fun hands-on writing activities here.
Incorporate Art Into Writing
I love to write, but I can’t draw to save my life.
Stick figures are about as “artsy” as I get.
Mr. C, though? He LOVES to draw and color and paint and do ANYTHING to do with art.
Funny how that works, huh?
We found that if we can add art to his writing lessons, they are so much easier for him to focus on.
Give Writing a Clear Purpose
One of the things I absolutely loved when we started using WriteShop is that each unit has a specific writing project.
You aren’t just writing a random paragraph with no real purpose.
You’re working purposefully towards a specific purpose.
The first lesson we ever did with Mr. C had him write a letter. He chose to write a letter to his cousin who lives out of state and tell him all about a birthday party we’d been to recently.
He was actually excited to write because he was writing for a specific purpose.
Make Writing Relevant to Your Child
Does your kid love dinosaurs?
Maybe their first story can be about what would happen if they were transported back in time to the time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
- What kind of things would they see?
- Where would they explore?
- What adventures could they have?
A kid who loves dinosaurs will be much happier writing about that than if they were forced to write about life in a castle.
Another way to keep writing relevant for your kiddos is to relate it to other subjects.
Mr. C is a voracious reader, and some of his favorite writing projects have been writing about the books he’s just read.
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