Good Writing. What is it? Everyone has an opinion, but opinions differ widely. While one language arts curriculum infers that simply adding in more adjectives will “improve” sentences, other experts ‘quoting Mark Twain’ suggest that adjectives and adverbs should be hunted down and killed. Although most people would agree that clear and to-the-point writing is

Responsibility for a child’s writing instruction is usually accompanied by an obligation to evaluate the child’s writing. Such evaluation can be a daunting task. The following suggestions will help you give your child’s writing the response it deserves and will also help you provide the feedback that will make your child a better writer. The

For many people the hardest part of writing is thinking of something to write about. This problem can be bypassed if you stockpile ideas ahead of time instead of waiting to think of an idea when you need it. Keeping an Idea Bank An idea bank enables you to collect and organize your ideas so

Writing is a very complex process because your brain must tend to many different things at once: you must form your idea, put it into words, think about how to spell those words, consider what to capitalize and how to punctuate, and remember how to form letters (or find them on a keyboard). In addition,

Stories have great power. In fact, God uses stories to teach us about Himself from Genesis to Revelation. Jesus taught in parables, which are usually defined as short fictitious stories that illustrate a moral attitude or a religious principle. Thousands of novels and short stories today pour from Christian publishing houses. Stories go where you

I am among a growing number of women who are redefining the term, “having it all.” As of 2007, the number of homeschooled children in the US hit the 1.5 million mark and I am one of the women who have been successfully doing this for the past 17 years. I am investing in the

Common Mistakes and some options for teachers We’ve all suffered it at one time or another: Frustration about writing assignments. Either on the receiving end, or perhaps now on the giving end, there can be a few distinctly discouraging aspects to teaching and being taught writing. The tough questions include: What to correct and how

As in many areas of education, the “skill” of writing has been elevated to the status of “art,” which it rightfully should be. However, this has often been to the detriment of children. Equating “good” with “creative” and “creative” with “good,” many teachers, schools and curriculum publishers have taken an approach to teaching which more