by Stefany Smith

Created on: August 03, 2011   Last Updated: August 04, 2011

As a homeschool teacher you have the awesome privilege of teaching your young ones to write. This begins most basically with learning to print the ABCs and can morph over time into preparing college entrance exams. If you are just starting out, the task may seem daunting, even overwhelming. I want you to relax, take a deep a breath, and read on for some very helpful tips for teaching your children to write.

First of all, homeschooling allows you to find writing in every place in the world around you. To encourage young ones to want to write, your greatest tool will be signs. As you walk into restaurants, museums, hospitals, hotels, and even at your local park, you'll find signs. These signs will range from warnings to rules and to schedules. The key is to point them out to your child, and then read them with him/her. This will help your child discover that the written language is important, and is used to transfer information from one person to another. This is the fundamental underpinning of our written language.

Next, you'll want to provide as many opportunities as you can for your young one to explore writing. At first this can mean writing with chalk, colored soap on the sidewalk, shaving cream on the kitchen table, and jello in Ziploc baggies. It may also mean that you allow your child to develop their own written symbols and ask them to translate their language to you. This is a very normal and natural process to learning to write that shouldn't be skipped.

As your child develops the ability to print, you'll want to encourage writing for fun. If you can make fun out writing you'll make the task that much less painful for you and your child. To encourage writing for fun, begin with dictated stories. As your child daydreams and tells you a fantasy story, a dream, or a wishful tale for the future, write it down. Write down every detail, in your child's own words. Then read it back to him/her and ask him/her to draw a picture or two. After doing this 5 or 6 times, begin to put these stories together in a binder or folder. As the years progress, your child will enjoy looking back at his/her imagination, and maybe even laughing at some of the "childish" language s/he used.

You will also have to encourage and teach your child to write in a more professional manner. The best way to start this is with book reports and how to instructions. This instruction can begin as early as first grade, and you can develop the skills throughout high school. Many book stores have educational sections where you can find workbooks with writing prompts, research project ideas, and book report organizers. You may also find helpful resources at your local library to help guide your instruction time. Finally, homeschool supply stores have a wide variety of writing materials to help you on this journey.

Here are a couple words from the wise. Writing can be difficult for most students, so it is imperative that you don't overwhelm your students. If your child appears to be shutting down, lighten the load. Remember you don't have to make gigantic leaps all the time, small baby steps are often just what are needed in developing writing skills. As you teach your children the skills of writing, remember the five basic writing steps: prewriting, writing, editing, proofreading, and publishing. Only focus on one of these steps at a time. And above all, allow your child to see you writing and enjoying it and they will be more apt to want to join you!

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