A few years ago my oldest three children and I went to a writing workshop.  The one thing that I walked away with was the idea that you always encourage the writer.  It has proved to be an invaluable perspective as a home educator.  Sometimes teachers, including mothers, cannot get over the misspellings, the messy handwriting, or the absence of punctuation.  Therefore, there is a tendency to not appreciate the ideas, the language, or the choice of words.  In other words, the child is left discouraged as a writer.

Now there is a time and place for correcting grammar and spelling, but remember even the best authors in the world have editors, who check and correct their work.  Do not give in to the temptation to criticize the writing at the expense of the writer. For some, this idea might be liberating as educators.  For others, you are thinking, “How will they ever learn proper mechanics?’

I submit that one can eventually learn proper spelling, proper punctuation, proper grammar, etc.  However, it is much more difficult to learn to write well.  To communicate on paper what you want to say is the purpose of writing.  Therefore the substance, the use of the English language, and the emotional response created in the reader are my focus when teaching my children.

Please indulge me today.  I am sharing a writing assignment done by my oldest son, Clayton.  He is fifteen years old.  His assignment was to write an essay about his name.  It could be factual or not.  His focus was to find his voice and write beautifully.  I was more than pleased with his work.  In my desire to encourage the writer, I am sharing it with you with his permission, of course.

My Name
by Clayton Holliday

In English, it means a town built on clay.  Just an ordinary town, full of ordinary people.  In that town, there was a man.  He was strong and proud.  His name is mine.
It is the water that flows through a meadow where people come and find happiness and comfort.  Here all of their worry and frustration drift away with the current.
The tree that withstands the most brutal of winds or the fiercest fires, which gives shade to those who seek it and shelter for those who need it.  That is my name.
The gentle breeze that dances over the still and lonely fields, breathing life into the grasses and trees.  Playing with the birds as it passes.  That is my name.
It is Autumn, crisp and cool.  Transforming the world wherever it goes.  Always shifting colors, from green to red to brown.  Never stopping.  Forever restless.  That is my name.
Space, cold and never ending.  Full of stars and planets waiting to be explored.  To some, however, it is lacking in interest and unworthy of their attention.  While to others, it is wanting to be explored and its secrets unraveled.  That is my name.
My name is also like the sound of silence, a dark void from which no light exists.  Full of fear and hopelessness.  Evil.  It is also, however, the gentle warmth of sunlight through a window, carrying comfort and strength on it beams.

(Note: Clayton has indented each paragraph, but for some reason my computer is ignoring them and won’t show them in his essay.)

Whether you like my son’s writing or not, you have to appreciate the beauty of his language.  The use of personification, metaphors, and similes.  He writes very poetically.  It is a complex piece of work for a fifteen-year old boy.  I am proud of him.  I hope to continue encouraging the writer in him and in the rest of my children.  If you want to help me encourage Clayton, please leave a positive comment.

Tags: beauty of language, communicating with paper, encouraging the writer, finding your voice, metaphors, personification, similes

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Homeschooling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.