Writing can come naturally to some children, but others find it a little more challenging and can give up due to the struggle.
While we want to push our children to do things that are difficult I have found over the years as I have home schooled our children that pushing and pushing and pushing doesn't always work.
It actually can back fire and discourage students from writing and over time they learn to hate it.
So instead of fighting our reluctant writers I am going to share 10 tips to help encourage our struggling writers so they can learn to eventually love expressing their thoughts on paper!
#1 Make It Fun!
An easy way to make writing a little more fun is to provide your child with their very own notebook. This could be a specially designed journal from the store, or a plain one you buy and they decorate.
The main thing to remember is this is THEIR notebook/journal. Let them pick the colors, let them have the freedom to decorate it. If they feel safe decorating it, then it will feel like a safe place to write!
#2 Try Word Art
This is a very easy art project that combines writing in it as well. Have your child pick something to draw, it can be as simple as tracing their hand, drawing flowers, or anything! Then they write words that describe their drawing or if they do their hand have them describe themselves.
They write these words tracing around the picture until the entire image is filled. They can repeat words, but try to encourage them to think of more and more descriptive words.
If your writer gets tired...take a break! Come back to the activity later that day or on another day. Remember low stress!
#3 Try Dictation
I have found oral dictation very helpful for some of my very reluctant writers. Dictation is where you have the child tell you the story and you write it down for them.
Now hold up, you might think this is not encouraging them to write...but hear me out.
Many reluctant writers struggle with not only writing the story but formatting it as well, and when they try to do both at once it can be a major road block for them.
As my student grows we change up dictation, normally I start with me writing the first few sentences then they write the next one and we trade back and forth.
Over time as they build confidence I have them write more and more of the work on their own.
#4 Have Them Draw It Out
This helps a lot when a child has started a story but has gotten stuck and is frustrated.
I encourage my children to take a break from the writing and draw out the scene. We fold a paper into 6 parts and they draw a square or two showing what has already happened, then they draw what is to come.
Switching from writing to drawing can really get their brain moving, especially if they tend to be more visual.
Normally when they are done drawing we tuck the picture into the journal and take a break before starting back on the writing. Though I have had several times where my writer has wanted to get the words down before he forgets them.
#5 Use Writing Prompts
Now this has been hit and miss for some of my struggling writers. I have found it helps to use the prompts alongside dictation or drawing out their writing for some to have more success.
Prompts help struggling writers have a jumping off point.
They don't have as much pressure to come up with a story, structure it and then write it all down. That can be super overwhelming for some of them!
I love these writing prompts form The Secret Life Of Homeschoolers, they have writing prompts for every season and best of all they are free!
https://thesecretlifeofhomeschoolers.com/writing-prompts-for-kids-for-every-season/
There are many other amazing writing prompts on Pinterest so check them out!
#6 Read Books!
Again you may be wondering how this will help your child to write, but reading not only helps grow children's imaginations, vocabulary but it helps them see sentence structure, story flow and format and so much more!
Have them pick a favorite book and write what they think would happen after the story.
Go to the library and pick a new book read it and write a story to go with it.
#7 Create a Graphic Novel
Graphic novels are great if your child loves to draw, loves adventure but doesn't love writing yet.
Graphic novels introduce youth to story line, flow and telling a story in a unique way. Let your child draw their images and encourage them to write dialogue and sound effects to make their story come to life.
Kitchen Table Classroom offers free comic book templets to help your reluctant writer start creating!
#8 Encourage...Encourage...Encourage!
Nothing makes writing more miserable than feeling like you are failing. If your child is frustrated try to breathe, offer breaks, but most of all try to control your frustration.
When they do write, even if it's not perfect, or a bit sloppy offer lots of praise. As their confidence grows there will be time for correction but if your child is struggling now might not be the best time to tear apart their work.
Encourage them with helping them add more, ask them questions, give suggestions (don't tell them what to write but maybe offer an idea or two).
The goal is to have a smile on their face when they are writing!
#9 Type It Out
Sometimes just making a simple switch to typing an assignment can make a big difference.
Now this tip works best for children who have some typing skills. A child who can't type at all will just become more frustrated!
Again you may combining typing with dictation, or having them look up pictures that fit with their story to help further encourage their story telling!
#10 Change It Up
Similar to typing you can use other mediums for your child to write on. Two of my boys really enjoy doing their writing on a white board. Now you can't keep it so we use this for small writing assignments but they sure enjoy erasing it when they are done!
You can also buy scratch paper students can write their assignments on, this would be really fun for the Word Art project above.
Overall the end goal is to encourage our reluctant writers to find joy and love in expressing themselves. Writing is such a wonderful outlet and as long as we can show them that they will eventually embrace writing!
What have you found that helps your reluctant writers? Please share in the comments so we can all grow and learn together!
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