What parents can do at home to help your kids with Writing

1. Build a climate of words at home. Go places and see things with your child, then talk about what has been seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched. The basis of good writing is good talk, and younger children especially grow into stronger control of language when loving adults — particularly parents — share experiences and rich talk about those experiences.

2. Let children see you write often. You’re both a model and a teacher. If children never see adults write, they gain an impression that writing occurs only at school. What you do is as important as what you say. Have children see you writing notes and emails to friends, letters to business firms, perhaps stories to share with the children.

3. Be as helpful as you can in helping children write. Talk through their ideas with them; help them discover what they want to say. When they ask for help with spelling, punctuation, and usage, supply that help. Your most effective role is not as a critic but as a helper. Rejoice in effort, delight in ideas, and resist the temptation to be critical.

4. Provide a suitable place for children to write. A quiet corner is best, the child’s own place, if possible. If not, any flat surface with elbow room, a comfortable chair, and a good light will do.

5. Give the child, and encourage others to give, the gifts associated with writing: pens, pencils, textas, erasers, diaries and journals

6. Praise the child’s efforts at writing. Forget what happened to you in school and resist the tendency to focus on errors of spelling, punctuation, and other mechanical aspects of writing. Emphasize the child’s successes.

7. Share letters and emails from friends and relatives. Treat such letters as special events. Urge relatives and friends to write notes and letters to the child, no matter how brief. Writing is especially rewarding when the child gets a response.

8. Be alert to occasions when the child can be involved in writing, for example, helping with grocery lists, adding to emails, sending holiday and birthday cards, writing messages, writing notes to friends, helping plan trips by writing for information, and preparing invitations to family get-togethers.

Regards, Linda Smith

Head of Department (Curriculum)