Search Results for: blog creating creative writing prompts

Pre-Writing

I’ve started throwing away what I write. Really. I’ve started writing and writing and writing and then deleting what I’ve written or just opening another blank document and starting again. I might write about the same thing or I might write about something completely new. I might write about nothing or I might be inspired by a particular quote. There are various methods of writing but I’ve settled on this one. I’ve never been one for highly structured outlines prior to writing my papers. My brain simply doesn’t think like that. I don’t think in “beginning, middle, end” linearity or … Continue reading →

Creating Creative Writing Prompts

My kids always enjoyed creative writing when we were home schooling. They come by it naturally since I’ve loved writing ever since I could hold a crayon (though I quickly learned that walls weren’t to be used as giant pieces of paper). Thankfully, my kids never had the urge to scribble on our bare white walls. Even when they were very young, all I had to do is hand them a tablet and a pack of crayons, then offer them a creative writing prompt and they were content for hourse. Back then they could only draw stick figures and gibberish, … Continue reading →

2006 in Review: Homeschooling Blog at a Glance

As a new homeschooling blogger at Families.com, I wanted to know everything that has been discussed to date. In response to my own curiosity, and in an effort to make perusing our articles easier for you, our readers, I have compiled all of the blogs for the year 2006. Deciding to Homeschool Why homeschool Am I qualified for this? Reasons that Homeschooling Works! My Most Important Advice for Homeschoolers. The Cost of Homeschooling Instead of standing up for their own kids, why not stand up for all kids? Disclaimer: I am hardly an expert in education. Did You Know? ‘Empirical … Continue reading →

Short Answer

Once again my students are preparing for an exam and once again I am preparing to write up the exam they will be given. It is a complex course I teach. The students have three subjects, three instructors, three tests and a combination of in-class work, lecture, guest speakers and guest artists. One has trouble blaming them for asking what they should focus on while preparing for the exam. As such, they are given access to review materials in order to assist them in their studies. In truth, these review materials are often nothing more than the slides and notes … Continue reading →

Pushing Younger Kids Beyond Their Comfort Zone

When I first started home schooling my last three girls, two were in third grade and one was just starting preschool. It was a challenge wondering how I would present the lessons when there was such an obvious age gap between the older girls and the youngest. Being able to home school our kids allows us a lot of freedom though. Kids don’t have to be pushed ahead when they aren’t ready or held back when they are. What I did was to offer the same exact assignment for all of my girls, always at the age level of the … Continue reading →

Keeping An Art Journal

Notebooks are a wonderful way to keep track of science, language arts, history, creative writing, and other assignments. It keeps things neat and tidy, and there aren’t loose papers all over the place. I quickly discovered that having one big three-ring binder filled with notebook paper and dividers just didn’t work out well. The papers often tore out and they were heavy and clumsy for my kids to use. Instead, by purchasing color-coded notebooks and writing each child’s name on the front with a big permanent ink marker, it kept things more organized. My kids didn’t feel as overwhelmed as … Continue reading →

History Across The Curriculum

In previous posts I mentioned how I try to get as much “across the curriculum” learning out of a subject as I can. Why have separate reading, history, art, writing, and science projects when you can take one subject you’re studying and make it work for all areas? This is being frugal with your time and kids can really immerse themselves in the topic at hand rather than having their minds jump from one completely different subject to another. Another positive aspect of taking one topic and applying as many assignments to it as possible is that you can often … Continue reading →

Quick and Easy Cleanup at the End of the Day

Home schooling kids is rewarding, but it can also be messy. Having children around the house all day long rather than away at school for six or more hours means that we need to clean up several times a day rather than just once. Parents are notorious for trying to be superheroes and tend to do everything themselves. Whether it’s vacuuming, doing dishes, laundry, or cleaning the cat box, it’s often easier to just do it ourselves rather than listening to the kids moan and groan. Not to mention, we often have to prod them a thousand times before they’ll … Continue reading →