This is a chapter from our book. It includes some of my thoughts on How We Can Encourage Our Young Writers. I hope it blesses you! Love, 
Cindy

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Tips For Encouraging Your Young Writer...
An Excerpt from Language Arts...The Easy Way!
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Wouldn't you just love for someone to come alongside you and share some of the things that have encouraged their child to write? That is what this chapter is for! You must go back to the point where Matthew and I were about to pull each other's hair out! It was a real tough time. I had gone to the public schools, so all I knew was what I had been taught about writing from my teachers. I brought those techniques home without ever asking God if He might have a different plan...until... Well, as I saw my little boy dread each and every day of school much less writing, I knew that there had to be a better way. Around that time, I ran across a wonderful little book by Ruth Beechick. Actually it was one of three little books called The Three R's. One of those books, A Strong Start in Language, introduced me to the Natural Approach to teaching writing.

Using this approach for only a few weeks brought new life into our Homeschool. No longer did my son detest writing...he actually LOVED it!  Writing became his favorite subject. Now, he even considers himself a REAL writer! This year he actually published his own book...more on that later!  What are some of the things that made the difference?? The following are some of the tips that I have jotted down that seem to make the difference…

* Teach your children to dedicate all of their writing to the Glory of God...100%! The pen wields a mighty power! As we teach our children that writing carries a mighty responsibility, they place importance in their own creations. As our children see the challenge to be faithful to share truth with our hungry society, they will find a purpose for their writing!  Teach them to be faithful to write all that they write for God and His glory!

* Encourage your children to become great readers! Encourage them to read as much as possible! One cannot know what others like to read unless they themselves are avid readers! Plus, reading will give lots of ideas to write about, which will blossom into great works of their very own!

* Beware of criticism! Criticism will steal the joy and life in writing!  Most critics are the ones who never get anything done for themselves because they constantly over-analyze every little detail! These "critics" stifle the child from writing with a heart of delight! Instead, let's teach children to write what God leads them to write (just like "real" writers do!) in firm conviction. Let God do the critiques! By coming beside your children as their encourager, you will find their desire to write begin to grow!

* Beware of the "editor" and "pickiness" mindsets! Both of these can be within you or within those you allow to influence your child's writing!  This mindset frustrates, disheartens, discourages, exasperates and sets up the writer for failure.

* Encourage your young writers to develop a deep interest in one area.   I always suggest that children be encouraged to develop a deep area of study which brings them the greatest interest and joy. My son loves to study all about Marines, The Military, and The Civil War. I dearly love studying and writing on Homeschooling/Writing/ Sewing/Bible Studies! Often the area of special interest is the one that God uses in writing to minister to the hearts of others! As the subject area of interest is pursued (collecting information, studying intensely, gathering interesting information), sharing that knowledge and love through conversation or writing will come naturally!

* Set a standard of excellence instead of perfection! There is a big difference!

* Encourage your children to take a look at different authors. What is it that they like about their writing? Is it meaty, deep, funny, light, short, long? What do they want to imitate...Conversational, peppy, serious, teaching, intelligent, formal, informal? Teach them to model their writing after their favorite type of writing! Teach them to become a student of the great writers! Copywork helps in this area...see the ideas for Copywork later in this book!

* Begin keeping journals! Journaling tempers writing, brainstorms ideas for writing projects, gives logical flow and order, eliminates the fluff in writing, develops thoughts fully, and challenges the thinking process!  In Journaling, the writer has an outlet for their heart as it fills with ideas, emotion and spirit! The Journals help the writer to continue thinking so that great thoughts can be developed! Journaling always pays off as it teaches our young writers that they have many great thoughts that need to be written down to preserve for the future!

* Focus on getting what they do know on paper. The alternative is what we commonly find in writing courses...testing to see what the children do not know! Professional writers are told continually to write what they know or want to know. My personal standard is to only write what I feel is OK for others to quote me on! I want to really know what I am talking about so that my work offers answers. This passion for the topic gives me confidence and anoints my writing. I would die if I were given a topic such as those most commonly given to children. Remember those topics such as "What I Did During Summer Vacation" or "My Family." Although I love life, I would not love those topics! I also do not like looking at a blank piece of paper without a thought on my heart! I think it is only right to require 
that our children do, as we would be able to do. Just as I do not write on anything that I am not fully convinced about, neither can children! Just as we cannot write with confidence and boldness if we do not know enough about a topic to "write what we know," neither can our children! The best way to help your children to have plenty to put on paper is to simply read widely on lots of topics, copy great models, narrate and discuss great literature, and spend lots of time Journaling ideas and writing outlines! It may take a lot of input over time, but you will find the output worth the time spent in waiting! It has taken 5 years of study before Matthew detected a need to write about. After this time, he was overflowing with a passion on that topic!

* Help your children to find a purpose for writing. If writing is taught artificially with pages and pages of diagramming...filling in the blanks...writing fake letters, you cannot expect your children to see a point or purpose in writing! There are so many great ideas for teaching Language Arts in much more natural ways. The key to encouraging your young writer is to find a natural motivation...a product to make for themselves (notebook, booklet, book), a market (to sell as a home business), to better learn a topic, to write on an issue (writing articles), to critique a book (these are also in big demand in magazines!), to share a message (articles, letters, so on)...encourage your children to find a purpose for writing their own ideas! 

* Produce! If you want for your children to become great writers, then you must begin by requiring them to write! Even if it is letters, articles, book critiques, research, notebooks, stories, how-tos, booklets, books, tip sheets, so on. Write something every day! We require our children to write every day, all year round! Matthew began when he was ten to write a full page each day of Copywork...Elisabeth, seven years old, writes about 2-3 lines. Not only do I require them to write daily, but I also model this same discipline before them. If I am not busy around the house, I have a book or notebook and pen in hand! I keep notebooks just like I encourage my children to. When I was only nineteen and had not ever heard of homeschooling much less Notebooking as a technique for teaching  Language Arts, I began a notebook collecting verses and information on what the Bible has to say about Godly Womanhood. I now have binders on all kinds of topics of my interest. Any one of them could be developed into a book.  Because my children have always seen my passion for study and collecting information into a product, they naturally began to compile their Copywork into Notebooks on topics of their interests! Another thing we encourage is for our children to keep Bible Journals with thoughts, verses, and notes from their quiet times. Again this is modeled in our home as we have our quiet times. My children love to pour over my journals and read my notes!  This shows them personally the importance of writing daily so those thoughts are recorded for others! 

* Teach them to always test their writing for excellence. Ask...Is it current? Is it accurate? Is it dependable? Is it in a logical order?  Is it smooth? Does it have any quirks (repeated words or phrases)? Does it answer all of the reader's questions that it can answer in this space?  Does  it cover the subject? Does it keep the interest of the reader? Is it specific? Does it sound professional and confident or does it sound schoolish (like they are trying to follow ALL the rules...too
simple...boring...without passion!)? Does it sound defensive about convictions or thoughts? Does it sound preachy or whiny? Let them test their own writing as they proofread so they can learn to measure their own writing by their own standard...one of excellence!

* Teach your children that others may not know about their topic and would really love to! My son has a passion for history. If there is one thing that I believe has encouraged him to put what he knows on paper, it is that we have taught him that he has too much valuable wisdom about too many areas to keep it to himself! He began to consider himself to be a historian and a writer at just 10 years old! Teach your children to share what they know. This will serve them all of their lives!

* Teach them to write from the heart! Write with passion in an area that they want to be or already are pros! Write on those types of topics letting their heart just flow!

Ok...you now have the practical tips to get you on the road to encouraging your young writers! The harvest is plentiful, but the field is empty...who will write for the glory of God?