Cassie’s Story

Around 10:30pm last night Cassie was industrially working away on a piece of paper writing or drawing something. Every once in a while she would ask me if something spelled something, just to verify she was getting it right.

“Does T-H-E spell the?” for example. Which she knows perfectly well it does. She just lacks confidence sometimes. So anyway, the only word she really needed help with was Dance (with a “c” not an “s” her brother corrected her). And the word “night”, which I just casually recite to her and explain that “igh” makes the long “i” sound sometimes. She always thinks it’s funny when there are weird combinations of letters to make certain sounds in words.

Her final paper read:

THE CAT AND ME

THE CATS DANCE ALL NIGHT WITH ME

IM A CAT WITH A KITIN

She also started one about the Dog and Me. We shall have to wait and see just what the dog will do with her.

Cassie is 7 and my late bloomer when it comes to reading. All the rest of my children learned to read by the time they were 6, some earlier (Kevin at 3 and Stephanie at 5). But Cassie enjoys being read to and I highly suspect she wants to hold onto that privilege just a little longer. Even though I have explained that I will always enjoy reading to her.

I’m not worried though. Her comprehension and understanding of plot subtleties in books and movies prove to me that reading is only one aspect of language arts. She can sit and watch an episode of Lost and remember 2 seasons back what the reference is. I have to ask her to explain situations to me sometimes on these shows!

What I love the most about this little story writing episode is the spontaneity of it and the self directed learning that takes place. It really helps the child retain what they are learning when it is child directed learning.  Without a doubt I know she now knows how to spell “night” and I expect to see it appear in future daily writing activities.

My Budding Comic Book Creator

Well, I feel it is time to officially announce my son's career choice. It has become abundantly evident that Eric will some day be a famous comic book/cartoon writer. Here is his latest "comic".
These scans don't come out as well as they should so here is the interpretation of each comic strip.
Title: Swearing Causes Nothing but Misery
First Comic Strip:
Tatle Tale
Panel #1: whistling while cooking hot soup on stove
Panel #2: Uh Oh! Earth Quake! (soup splashes out of pan)
Panel #3: Ow! (Bleep) (soup gets in his eye)
Panel #4: (figure in open window) You said a bad word! I'm gunna tell your mom!
Panel #5: Hey She douse [does] as well!

Second Comic Strip:
Bad Past
Panel #1: Ahh...I had such a great past....
Panel #2: (memory sequence begins....)The ice scream store is next.
Panel #3: trips and falls....
Panel #4: Says a bunch of bad words. Girl friend thinks "break up!"
Panel #5: Wate! [wait] what? How? Why? (a little shaken up over the fall and the break up)
Panel #6: (end of memory sequence) Wate [wait] a second!
Panel #7: I had a horrible past!

I believe Eric is getting the idea of quick short gags and jokes. He is constantly amazing me with his wit and humor. You can believe I am saving all of these for his portfolio and to share when he is famous!

More on Writing

Today I was talking with a new homeschooling mom who was very concerned about teaching writing to her daughter. She showed me an example of her girl's writing lessons and my first reaction was "did you write this for her? " The printing was impeccable and the spelling and punctuation perfect.

"How old did you say she is?" I asked.
"She's almost 8."
"And what is your concern?"

I really didn't get it. I saw nothing wrong with this young girl's writing. Sentence structure was fine. The sentences made sense. And the handwriting floored me. I know that often girls are more meticulous than boys but when I thought about my son's handwriting I have to admit I was a little embarrassed. I'm not sure I'd want to show this particular mom a sample of Eric's writing. Especially since she obviously has very high expectations. You see, she was concerned because her daughter had struggled to write this paper. She had complained and whined and fussed. She wanted to go outside and search for bugs not write a paper. Mom was worried that her daughter wasn't up to par with others in her age bracket.

I did my best to reassure her. At the same time, inside of me I wanted to say, "cut the girl some slack!" She has been having her daughter write a daily journal, as well as do all other kinds of writing depending on the curriculum assignments of the day. No wonder the girl was whining! I would whine too if I had to sit for 3 hours a day writing when the world outside was calling me.

Even as a seasoned homeschooler it is hard for me to get parents to understand that this kind of coercive writing is not going to encourage a young child to be creative. She complained to me that her daughter didn't have any ideas for what to write and had a hard time using her imagination. My best advice to her was to ease off. Have her write one story a week. The rest of the time, let her explore her world. As she is given the freedom to do this, I have a feeling the ideas will start to flow.