Beyond the infamous "January burn-out", the second most common complaint I hear from homeschool moms is how difficult it is to teach good creative writing. Either they struggled with writing themselves as a student, and have no idea how to teach it so their children will have a better experience ... or writing comes naturally to them, but they have no idea how to teach it to their children because they just "do it".

Obviously there are a wide variety of resources and curriculum materials available for purchase for teaching this difficult subject. Homeschool publishers did their research well and pounced on this potential money maker years ago. In a moment I'll list a few with which I have experience, but I thought I would share just a few of the tips that I have found to be helpful over the years.

**The simplest, yet most difficult advice I can offer is that the best way to teach writing is to have your kids write and write and write and write. The more they write and re-write, the better (and more confident) they will become at it. Have them write letters to grandma, journal their thoughts, write newspaper articles, write stories, interview a friend and write an article, and on and on the list goes. And to make this approach even more effective, you need to write with your kids. Don't worry that your kids will be discouraged when comparing their written work to your masterpieces ... instead, look at it as a joint venture. Point out the areas where their ideas were "different" from yours and praise their original thinking. Let them read your writing and pick up some good ideas.

**Second ... look for a set of simple writing rubrics and use them consistently. You can find some online, or create your own. Bottom line, a simple set of grading guidelines, used consistently, will greatly benefit your student (who will know what your expectations are) and you as the teacher (who won't have to re-create the wheel with every assignment).

**Finally ... before your student begins any formal writing, teach them to "map" their thoughts. One of the most difficult concepts for a young writer to conquer is the ability to brainstorm ideas, and then put them in some sort of coherent, logical order. You can bypass this frustration by utilizing specialized software such as Inspiration, or give them your own visual format to work within. For example, a friend of mine used to use a "dresser" visualization with her kids. The dresser was the topic at hand (maybe baseball). Each of the five drawers in the dresser were the five main points the student wished to address in their paper. Maybe the top drawer was "history of baseball", second drawer was "rules of the game", third drawer was "legendary baseballs players", and so on. You get the idea. Finally, each drawer contained a variety of items. Just like the top drawer of the dresser in their bedroom might contain socks, t-shirts and shorts ... the top drawer of their outline might contain three "sub-topics". Once they were finished "outlining" their dresser, they were set to move on to writing their first draft. Either approach works ... one simply has more "bells and whistles" than the other!
As promised ... here are a few products I've found helpful in our homeschool:

• Diamond Notes - an inexpensive, easy approach for teaching young writers. This worked well with our youngest.
• Writing Strands was very popular when our oldest was learning to write. We had some limited success with this workbook approach (our oldest loved workbooks).
• Bravewriter has received lots of great press over the years. We used them for one year with good success, but they are pricey.
• WriteatHome is my current favorite. This is our second year and I have found that having a writing coach for each of my students has been a great idea. Their feedback is always chock full of good pointers, but they're also incredibly encouraging. A real winner in our household and now we can integrate with our Sonlight-based writing assignments.

So don't delay ... today is as good a time as any to begin! Have your kids write that dreaded annual Christmas letter ... or better yet, have them create what could become an annual Christmas newsletter.

Blessings ...
~Judy

Depending on which direction your politics lean, you're either smiling or shaking your head this morning. But either way, this is certainly an important time in our nation.

I was thinking, last night as my kids and I were watching news reporting on the election results, that this is another one of those HUGE teachable moments. As important as your political convictions are (and yes, this is a great time to share them with your kids), I've been thinking about what an awesome opportunity this is to discuss the process. I must admit that though I can mutter and sputter with the best of them about the economy and government, I live in a country that has a pretty amazing process in place when it comes to electing government officials.

Now my kids have learned American history over and over again, and we've discussed the process of a presidential election myriads of times. But I was reminded again last evening that often those facts don't stick until you see them in action (i.e. the teenager who asked what's the electoral college again mom?).

So now is a great time to put some shoes on those facts. Help your kids to see the process (if you haven't already) that led to last night's election results. Talk with them about what happens now? We had a rather interesting discussion last evening about how "powerful" President Bush will be for the next two months or so. Can he really accomplish anything now that the next president has been elected? How does the transition between this administration and the next take place?

I've found the Internet to be a wealth of resources for presidential election education. Here and there I've seen people refer to sites that helped them better understand the process. A few that impressed me:

• History Central has a phenomenal site that provides information on every presidential election back to the late 1700s. Find out who the candidates were, how the electoral votes played out, and what the major issues were.
• Wikipedia has a great explanation of how the electoral college works, and some interesting links and maps to back up the information.
• There's a nifty interactive electoral votes map found at 270 to win

.So whether your candidate of choice won or lost last night, don't miss this tremendous opportunity to help your kids understand the process, and how it came to be.

Keep on keeping on ...
~Judy

I was reminded last week why I have always found homeschool co-ops to be so valuable. In a word: CHEMISTRY. There's no way you can possibly hear the distaste in my voice/mind as I type that word, but it's there nonetheless.

Let's face it, no homeschool mom is an expert in every field she has to teach. Over the years I've seriously doubted that I'm an expert in any, but some are certainly easier to teach than others. One of my favorite subjects has always been Biology. I love studying and investigating the intricacies of the human body which the Creator has so marvelously designed. And even more, I get excited over passing that love on to students. Even the most squeamish come away from dissecting frogs and earthworms with a new appreciation for how amazing the creation truly is.

I'm afraid, however, that my love and excitement for Biology does not extend to Chemistry, which relies so heavily on math (another subject that has the ability to make me squirm). As I watched and listened to our small chemistry co-op (just 4 students) puzzle over measuring the specific heat of a chunk of metal last week, I patted myself on the back for once again expending the energy to seek out moms of other high school sophomores who needed a chem lab. None of us is really an expert in the field, but there is one among us who has an innate sense of how chemistry works, and is a whiz at math. So she leads our little group, and the rest of us help and cheer her on.

Obviously science is not the only subject which lends itself to sharing teaching and learning, but the lab sciences do seem especially perfect for such a setting. And it's really not terribly difficult to establish a co-op. You certainly don't need a large group of students, nor do you need a special location, or experts on any given topic to make it work. What's really necessary is a common desire to share the burdens of teaching and the excitement of learning. Sprinkle in a little bit of motivation and commitment to make it work, and you have a made to order "no frills" co-op. And you know, we've come us with some pretty amazing co-op classes and teachers in the past. One year we held a speech class and invited a homeschool mom who was an English teacher in her "past life" and had a passion for public speaking and drama. A friend of mine once hijacked an acquaintance who is a meteorologist to come and speak to her middle-school co-op science class. We've also invited "guest lecturers" by way of DVD and field trips. The sky truly is the limit.

So if one of the subjects in your homeschool seems to be lacking some excitement or "punch" ... and you just can't find the motivation to make it more interesting ... why not consider a homeschool co-op to spice things up!

Keep on keeping on ...
~Judy

PS ... a couple of very practical "helps" I've found in my struggles with chemistry: Sonlight's Chemistry Supplies Kit and a nifty web site called the Periodic Table of Videos which a friend recently shared. See, I really *do* look for ways to make Chemistry more palatable!