Episode 67: Sharing the Pen

Layers of Learning Podcast

The Layers of Learning Podcast with Karen and Michelle is here to help you get your whole family learning together in your homeschool. We are the sisters behind Layers of Learning. We love getting together to chat about homeschooling and this podcast is just a series of our chats. We’re inviting you to listen in on our conversations.

We both have big families, but we teach almost all of our school subjects to everyone at once. We want to help you find the joy in that too, so we talk a lot about family homeschooling. To see all of our episodes, visit our Layers of Learning Podcast Page. Join us as we explore how to have a happy, hands-on, family-style homeschool.

Sharing The Pen

For emergent writers, placing a blank sheet of paper in front of them and asking them to write can be absolutely overwhelming. We forget just how many processes go into writing even a single word or sentence. As homeschool parents, too often we fail to break down the process. We think kids should just be able to write and don’t take the steps to teach them. Things that are automatic for us aren’t so simple for emergent writers.

During this podcast, we’ll give tips for breaking down the writing process and help you know how to actually teach writing instead of just expecting it. This process will help your kids to learn that writing is fun and creative instead of just getting overwhelmed and discouraged to the point that they begin hating it.

Here Are A Few Topics You’ll Hear About In This Podcast

• The Levels of Writing—modeled writing, shared writing, interactive writing, guided writing, and independent writing
• No one is an independent writer. Every writer has an editor. Kids should too.
• A lot has to happen for kids to even write a single sentence. Scribbling, making circles and lines, and tracing pathways are all beginning writing lessons. Letter formation is the next step, followed by learning the sounds of each letter. Soon, kids can write simple words by combining letters together. Not long after that, they can put strings of words together and begin to form sentences.
• They will soon be learning about how to make sentences complete.
• As mistakes come up in your kids writing, take a bit of time to teach them the correct ways. Think of yourself as a partner and mentor rather than an editor as you’re teaching them out loud.
• Overall, your task is to take the pressure off of young writers by sharing the pen and having lessons be interactive and vocal. You can make the difference between your kids hating and loving writing.

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