Homeschool High School Writing Resources - Creative Writing -

Summary:  Creative writing is a great way to get your teens to improve on their essay writing.  Plus it teaches literary analysis, through story telling. Resources for high school creative writing. This post may included affiliate links to products that we love and have used or would use in our  own homeschool. Please see my disclosure policy.

Outside it's windy here, and a little rainy....Fall is here, with a feeling that the beginnings of winter are coming soon.  At this time of year, my daughter and I often wanted a little break, to try something new, something a little different from our usual homeschool routine.

There is something about November and having just gotten through all the busyness of early fall, with new curricula for the year, new activities, etc, that led us to want a break from our homeschool routine.

Why Take a Homeschool Creative Writing Break

My daughter, not being the crafty type, did not want to do seasonal crafts and activities, so we looked for something else.

So for us, our break became a creative writing break.  When my daughter was in 8th grade, we discovered the National Novel Writing Month. Has your family ever joined in the fun of that, in November? 

What is the National Novel Writing Month - NaNovWriMo?

It's a guilt-free way of taking a break from your homeschool routine in November!

My young teen had an interest in story writing, and had written a few short stories during her middle school years.  So when I asked her if she wanted to do more of that, we found the NaNoWriMo site, and decided to join in for our first year.

We dropped our other homeschool courses, and just did creative writing for the month!..

How We Did Our Creative Writing Break

Sometimes my teen went to our local coffee shop, and wrote there. Other times, she gathered our favorite blankets, and wrote on the couch. 

My daughter wrote a 2-4 short stories each year.  One time it was a science fiction story.  Another year, it was an adventure story/novella about a road trip and favorite pets.  We made time for editing/revisions only after her drafts were done.  Less is more!

But one doesn't have to have the goal of writing a novel...How about a short story, or trying poetry? Or writing about a favorite hobby? 

My daughter loved it!  So we made it a tradition, and did NaNoWriMo for two more years...ah, November.....cozy and warm, at home, with pen in hand.   Here's one of our favorite resources for that, from NaNovWriMo and more options for doing it as well.

Resources for a Creative Writing Break

1.  "No Plot, No Problem" Book 

To get started, my daughter and I ordered No Plot? No Problem! "It is a low-stress, guide to writing a novel in 30 days, and it helped a lot to encourage my creative writer.  This book coorelates to the NaNovWriMo program.

"This book is full of helpful ways to get past the fear of putting words on the page, and "leaving your Inner Editor behind.  While doing NaNoWriMo, we did not stop to rewrite, edit, or critique my daughter's work."  

Click here for the rest of my review of this book.

2.  Resources on The NaNoWriMo site

The NaNoWriMo site includes LOTS of info for writers of all ages. To join in the fun, you can register for their Young Writer's Program here.  They offer resources for young writers' here, which includes workbooks.  To join in with other writers, there is also an online community here, made up of young writers, who are all trying to get some words on the page.  It includes games and encouragement.  And another great resource is How to Write a Novel in a Month.

NaNovWriMo gives the student guidance and some instruction, but it is a loosely structured program, perfect for my teen who already had written some short stories.  

For students who would like a more structured program, the One Year Adventure Novel program might be a better fit. 

3.  The One Year Adventure Novel 

This course gives your teen much more structure.  BUT it could still be used as a way to take a break from the routine.  

This course follows a step by step program, teaching your teen all about story writing, using video instruction.  They also offer a community online, and extensive support resources.  

More information on it is here, or click here  to read the rest of my review of this course.

It could be done, just like the NaNovWriMo, by dropping the regular homeschool routine.  Or the course can be spread out and done as one of your teen’s regular homeschool courses.

Whatever way you go, we found many benefits from taking a creative writing break each year.


Benefits of Taking a Creative Writing Break

Here's 5 ways that a creative writing break can benefit your teens:

1.  Creative writing is fun, and it is a great way to learn how to express oneself in writing.  

That is so important to later essay writing endevours.  Doing NaNovWriMo was a more relaxed way for my daughter to find her own voice. 

2.  Writing a story is a great way to learn the components of good literature! 

Putting together a fiction story teaches your teen all about character development, setting, plot, etc.  My teen learned the parts of a story, in a hands-on way, by writing one.   

3.  Story writing builds critical thinking skills, important for high schoolers, especially if they are college bound.

4.  Creative writing builds up the confidence needed for essay writing.

It can be made into a homemade course in writing.  Keeping track of the hours spent in writing, you can give your student a creative writing credit.  We did that, and it was accepted as a high school credit by all of our colleges.

5.  Taking a break brought all of us many benefits as well.  

We slowed down, built in more nature study (on the less rainy days), and when we got back to our routine, we were ready for it.  And we could face winter with a feeling of renewal.

Do you feel a need to take a bit of a break from your fall homeschool routine?  Do you have a budding writer in your midst?  Or one that hates essay writing, and wants to try a different approach?  

Do you have a college bound teen in your house?

Have you seen my book on college for homeschooled teens yet?  
My teen got into each of the colleges on her list, with scholarhship offers.  And it was not hard to get her into college.

I wrote a book to share how we helped our daughter get there in 10 easy steps. 

Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition gives you everything that you need to help you plan your high school homeschool for your college bound teen.  Plus get them into the college of their choice. 

Amazon for only $11.99

For more information, click here - Frugal College Prep for Homeschoolers or to buy it here - my book on Amazon for only $11.99.  

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, highschool, 
college, gifted/2e and wrote -Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition,   She offers homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting,  and has had some of her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

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Just encouragement for your homeschool 
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Copyright 2020
Updated 2019 All Rights Reserved

Spelling in Our Homeschool -

This article has moved here.

Teaching Homeschool Spelling and Help for Struggling Spellers

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is retired O.T, homeschool blogger, and most importantly is mom to her 2e college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, high school, college and 2e.  

Want to stay in touch?

Subscribe, Pinterest,  Facebook 



Copyright @ BJ's Homeschool 2023
All rights reserved.

Homeschool High School - YOUR Way

Summary: How to do high school your own way, even when applying to college. About pubic school graduation requirements and more.  Note - This post may included affiliate links to products that we love and have used or would use in our  own homeschool. Please see my disclosure policy.

As many of you know, we are a homeschooling family.  We began that early on, during preschool, and it worked well for our  daughter that we continued on for many years.  

Then we hit middle school.

When she was a 7th grader, we began to think A LOT about her future and the college options for her.  Our gifted, 2e daughter was thriving in our homeschool. 

She was exploring her interests in marine biology and also trying out her skills in teaching, as a volunteer TA. We loved that we could choose our own curriculum and adapt it as need be. Homeschooling was working well, and we saw our daughter continuing in it through high school. 

But there in lies the rub.  What about college?  

What about applying with a homeschool transcript?  Would our daughter have the same chances of getting into the college that she wanted, as a homeschooler?

As a homeschooling family, we had already heard of college experiences from our homeschooling friends.  The talk in our group was that it would be hard to get into the tier one U in our town, and probably still difficult for the other colleges in our state.  

Many of our friends went the community college route, and later applied to the 4 year college as a transfer students.  They told us that was the easier route, and that was a possibility for our daughter, too.

But we didn't want our daughter to be limited to that.  We wanted her to have the option of going to a 4 year college from the start. So she and I got busy studying the college entrance requirements for her top choice U, and some other contenders, too.

College Entrance Requirements

It was easy to find this information, just by checking the college websites.  

The good news was that all we had to do was to do those college entrance requirements and any extra homeschool requirements, if there were any.  (Be sure to check for those on each college you apply to.)

We added in high school electives and activities, which was the beauty of homeschooling.  And the colleges want to see some high school activities, too.  (See more on that below)

Public School Graduation Requirements

Homeschoolers in almost all states do NOT have to follow the public school graduation requirements.  Your state's homeschool association will know if yours in one of the few states that do require that.

Knowing that gave us a lot more leeway.  Instead of having to do economics during senior year, as the public school kids had to do, we had a lot of choices. 

You see, our college entrance requirements gave us lots of choices for social studies.  So my teen could chose from those, including sociology, psychology, more history in an area she was interested in, etc. 

We made sure the college requirements got done, but we didn't have to changed our homeschool style and we found time for teen-led learning, too.

Curriculum - Prepared or Homemade

For core studies, we used a lot of Oak Meadow and 7 Sisters Homeschool curricula, which were more creative and project-learning based, and my daughter really loved it.  

We also made our own homemade courses , too and designed her learning based on her college entrance requirements. 

Meanwhile, I contacted a number of admissions departments, and did research on  course descriptions, college reference letters, assigning high school credit, transcripts, scholarships etc, in an effort to best present my daughter to the colleges.  

College Reference Letters

We were concerned about the college reference letters, as they asked for one from a teacher and one from a school counselor.  But we were able to find a way that worked for us.  Coaches, group leaders, youth ministers, etc can be great resources for those college reference letters.   

The Common Application asks the homeschool parent to write a recommendation letter on their student, to the colleges.  I wrote up a guide on this, which is available here.  Just a few additional bits of paperwork required for homeschoolers now.

Colleges Becoming More Homeschool Friendly

And in the spring of my daughter's senior year, we got good news. My teen was accepted by her top college choice U and the other colleges that she applied to as well, with scholarship offers. And here's a second piece of good news. 

My teen's top choice college now has all but dropped their extra requirements for homeschoolers, the year after she was accepted. And that seems to be the trend, in our state of WA, and around the U.S. as well.  

I am so glad that we stayed with the homeschooling option, as it allowed our 2e daughter time to explore her interests much more than she would have done if she were in public school. 

High School Activities

Even though she was busy with her core studies, she also had time for irish stepdancing, some science camps, mock trial, and a leadership program, called Youth and Government.   And the last two groups helped her to discover what she might want to do as a career.  

Are you familiar with these two programs?  Mock Trial was offered at a local high school, where teens enacted real court cases, under the supervision of volunteer lawyers. 

 Youth and Government is a leadership program that focuses on state government and politics. The teens write their own mock bills, debate and discuss them, then compete regionally.  Finally, they gather once a year, in their state capital for the Mock Youth Legislature.  

There, they take on the rolls of legislators, senators, and elect a governor, while voting on the mock bills that are presented there. These activities later helped my daughter to decide on her college major of Communications, with global leadership and political science. 

100 more ideas for high school activities and electives is now a chapter in my new book below. 

Most colleges want to see what high school electives and activities that your teen has done.

The colleges are looking for leadership and perseverance in their applicants, and those things can easily be shown through our teen's high school activities.

If your teen wants to go directly into a 4 year college from homeschool, you may like my book called Homeschooling High School with College in Mind - 2nd edition.  

Do you want a guide to high school and college, plus my exclusive guide to the Common Application for homeschoolers? 

I have gathered together all my best tips for high school and college and put it into my new book, Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition. 

It gives you everything that you need to plan your high school homeschool for your college bound teen.  Plus how to help them get into the college of their choice.

Amazon 

Paperback is on Amazon for only $11.99

This book is an easy-to-read guide to college for homeschoolers, recently updated with 7 NEW chapters, including:

- My own homeschoolers guide to the Common Application

- How to write the Counselor Recommendation Letter

- Where to find college scholarships

- SAT/ACT Prep

- How to make your own homemade courses

-  Included are also 12 homeschool high school planning printables to make your record-keeping easier.

10 easy to do steps to homeschool high school with college in mind. And it really is NOT that hard!!  

This book does not tell you how to homeschool high school.  Instead it gives you guidance for doing it your way!  

Keep your nurturing homeschool style and showcase their accomplishments to the colleges!

Recommended by: Lessa Scherrer, Certified College Counselor

                               from College Inside Track

"Betsy has a wealth of understanding and knowledge to share with the parents of college bound homeschoolers.  She provides support, encouragement and step-by-step advice on all aspects of the homeschool high school and college application process. This book is a must-read for parents considering homeschooling high school and for parents in the thick of the application process."

And help for record keeping!  With my exclusive high school and college planning printables.

The high school and college planning forms include:

College Entrance Requirements Form

Overall High School Plan

Curriculum Planning Sheet

High School Credit Record Form

Transcript Form

Activities and Awards Form

Homemade Course Form

Writing the College Essay Form

Course Descriptions Record Keeping Form

Reference Letter Request Form

PE Record Form

For more information, click here - Frugal College Prep for Homeschoolers or to buy it here - my book on Amazon   

And don't worry about forgetting things!

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, highschool, 
college, gifted/2e and wrote -Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition,   She offers homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting,  and has had some of her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

Want to stay in touch?

Subscribe, Pinterest, Facebook 

No spam ever. 
 Just encouragement for your homeschool
 in your inbox.

Copyright, 2020
updated
All Rights Reserved

4 FUN Ways to Help your Young Handwriter

Summary:  How to encourage your child's handwriting skills through a playful approach, based on my Occupational Therapy experience.  This article includes tips for fine motor play, strengthening, developing mature grasp patterns for handwriting and more.  #homeschool #handwriting

Do you have a child who is just starting to learn to write?  

Or do you have a child who is struggling with handwriting?  Do they hold their pencil in an awkward manner, hold it very tightly, or just hate to write?

Today, I'd like to share 4 different types of activities that may help your struggling handwriters.  And most of these ideas do not involve handwriting at all!   They include helpful activities to build good:

1.  -- Fine motor skills
2.  -- Mature grasp patterns
3.  -- Postural control and shoulder strength
4.  -- Visual perceptual skills

If your child is struggling with handwriting, they are likely to have problems in one or more of each of these areas listed above.

And they can improve their handwriting by working and playing with the activities discussed below.

Each activity is fun and play based. They come from my work as an OT, and also from my time homeschooling. 

I hope they will be a help to you as you encourage and guide your young handwriter.  

First, let's look at fine motor skills.

1.  Fine Motor Activities

The first thing that we usually look at when there is a handwriting problem is small muscle coordination.  Does your child lack hand strength or small muscle coordination?  

  

If so, the post below includes a number of clever and easy to do games for developing fine motor skills. 

Small Muscles Games 

Click here for lots more ideas for fine motor coordination--Small Muscles Games. 

Then, if your child needs to strengthen their hand and finger muscles, Oak Meadow has a number of ideas for doing that with clay, below.  These may appeal to the older child as well.

For hand strengthening click Developing Hand Strength with Clay Activities. 

Next, let's talk about how your child holds her pencil, or grasp patterns.

2.  Grasp Patterns

Does your child have a very awkward grasp of their pencil?  Do they hold it with their whole hand?  Or do they have a tight grip on their pencil?

The post below explains what a mature grasp pattern is, and shows many ways to encourage that, through playful games.  

These fun activities are all designed to encourage a fine pincer grasp.  And when your child uses that kind of grasp, writing will become so much easier.  Click the link below for much more on grasp activities.

9 Ways to a Mature Grasp - Games and Fun!

There are many variations on the theme, re mature grasp patterns, so if your child develops one that is not quite the same as the photos show, that is ok.  

The idea is to find a grip that decrease the effort and pressure when writing.

Some kids do better using a grasp aid or device.  Here are a number of them, offered by Draw Your World.  If you see one that you would like to try, I recommend googling it.  There are many devices on the market now.

For more on Aids/Devices for Grasp just click this link.

Another thing to think about is your child's posture when writing.  

3.  Postural Control and Shoulder Strength

When our kids struggle with handwriting, we usually think about doing small muscle activities, but sometimes that is really not the problem.

When we write we need good postural control, which refers to strength in the core muscles of the trunk.  And the shoulder muscles are also important to handwriting.  How can we help our kids develop these foundational skills when they don't have them?

Play Pack Gross Motor Cards have some easy to do activities that can help.  More info on this here.

Click here for those activity ideas that can help build postural control and more in your kiddos.

And lastly, here's some ways to help kids who struggle with visual perception, also key to handwriting success.

4.  Visual Perceptual Skills 

Visual perception is not fully developed until age 9.  That can make learning to write and staying within the lines.. SO hard for kids.  

If you child's writing is all over the page, writing guides discussed below may really help.  

Click the title below to learn about these simple-to-make writing guides: 

Helping Struggling Handwriters 

So we have discussed four different things that may help your struggling hand writer, including:

- developing small muscle coordination and strength
- encouraging a mature grasp pattern
- developing core strength and shoulder strength
- compensating for visual perception issues

I recommend scrolling through whichever topic or activity speaks to you,  and start with one of two activities at a time.  

What have you found to be helpful for your struggling handwriters?  I so love to read your comments.  It makes my day!  

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her college grad, whom she homeschooled from preK through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, high school & college and wrote - Homeschooling High School with College in Mind.   She offers free homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting. 

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All Rights Reserved