Our Writing Experiment

In January this year, I started blogging.

I love to write, and I love to teach, and I love to homeschool. Blogging has become a way to process our year in real-time for me! It has helped me clarify ideas, think critically, and make adjustments as we progress throughout the school year.

In these first four months of blogging, I have written 40 posts discussing homeschool writing projects, how we use reading in our homeschool, projects and games to enjoy as a family, and curriculum reviews.

One of the first journeys I wanted to write about was Our Writing Experiment. (You may have read the introductory post, a few months back).

As we started our third year of homeschooling last September, I felt a little flustered. I love to write, and wanted my kids to learn to write. We hadn’t done any formal writing curriculum yet, but I couldn’t seem to find one I really loved. I also didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars, especially if it ended up being a flop for either myself or my kids!

So, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Custom Writing Portfolios

First, I started simple. We ran to Target, and I grabbed a few colorful 3-ring binders from Target: one for me, one for my son (4th grade) and one for my daughter (2nd grade). I loaded them up with page protectors. Then, I wracked my brain for every creative writing project I could think of: either from my own elementary school experience, my teaching experience, and what the internet suggested!

Next, the kids decorated their portfolios, and I chuckled at the stark contrast in “theme” they chose (see below). I like having my kids personalize their school items whenever possible, especially for things like portfolios. I think it gives a sense of ownership, and is a fun activity to kick off with.

After a bit of research and brainstorming, I created a spreadsheet of potential creative writing projects, and jumped straight in.

How To Start Teaching Creative Writing in Homeschool

For our very first writing project this school year, I thought back to what my teachers would typically have me do, when I was in elementary school. It’s common to start the school year with something fairly simple, and something universal everyone can write about: their summer experiences. Whether you stayed home and captured bugs in your backyard, or your family traveled abroad to an exotic location, everyone has an experience to share.

I have been doing some writing myself recently, and have loved focusing on the idea of “showing” versus “telling.” As Anton Chekhov famously said, “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” The idea of showing versus telling is a bit advanced for lower elementary, but I wanted to include it. I think it is still in their zone of proximal development.

So, I tried to think of a way to ease them into it. I wanted to teach them to make their writing interesting, engaging, and rich. We started with a simple concept: incorporating the five senses. I used free graphic organizers from Teachers Pay Teachers (you can download them free here and here).

Our first project was describing a Summer Memory. We used the same experience for both of their essays: our vacation, at a resort we visited for the first time. I brainstormed with them, and we bounced ideas off each other. (Read more about collaborative writing within your homeschool, in this post).

The results were phenomenal. I absolutely loved the little essays they wrote. We focused on making our writing memorable, sensory-rich and utilizing specific detail, and it worked. They were marvelous.

Homeschool Writing Projects

I have posts on some of these writing projects, but not all, yet. Eventually, each one will have a blogpost and provide more information! For now, here is a list.

The homeschool writing projects we covered this school year:

• Summer Memory
• Grandparent Interview Essay (#1) (blogpost here, template here)
• Tutorial, or How-To Essay (blogpost here)
• Children’s Story / Sticker Story
• Restaurant Review (#1) (blogpost here, template here)
• Company Letter
• Creative POV
• Grandparent Interview Essay (#2)
• Country Research Essay
• Holiday Sensory Essay (Christmas)
• Persuasive Essay (#1)
• Persuasive Essay (#2)
• Sibling Story (Mentor Text: Diary of a Wimpy Kid)
• Animal Research Essay (template here & here)
• Restaurant Review #2
• Homeschooling Essay
• Famous Person Essay
• Movie Review Essay (blogpost here, template here)
• Compare & Contrast Essay
• Best Book Persuasive Essay
• Summer Bucket List Essay

Celebrating, Reflecting & Planning

I feel really, really proud of this. Writing was a priority for me this year, and I feel thankful that we were able to accomplish so much. As homeschool moms everywhere can attest, more often than not, things don’t go the way we plan! It felt great to have something that I prioritized, be successful this year.

I found these amazing, FREE Post-It-Note templates on TPT, which I used to print the above writing types. I then stuck the post-its on each corresponding plastic sheet, in my kids’ writing portfolios, so that everything is labeled. I love me some labeling! 🙂

Next year, I hope to repeat many of these same concepts and projects, but take them a step further. I am a big advocate of repetition in learning: it is a simple concept that often gets overlooked. I love making a structure for learning, then repeating elements of that same structure over time, to reinforce concepts and also tweak them so that they evoke new learning.

Have you seen success with any particular writing process or curriculum? I would love to hear about it! Additionally, if you’ve been wanting a simple creative writing project but don’t see it here, send me a message and let’s chat! I love creating content for homeschool moms.

Write on!

Cait