It has been 13 years and Teddy has not done a lot of writing. He will make comic books and write thank you notes but he was never a kid who wanted to sit down and write. I had many conflicts in my own brain about what to do with this. Because of the books I have read and the conferences I have been to I took a leap of faith. When Teddy was 6 years old I decided not to make him write, read out loud, or do projects like kids do in school. Teddy can be found reading books hours on end and I knew this would help him when he began to write. Recently I have been taking graduate courses in which Teddy sees that I have to write a lot. He would like to go to college so he made the decision to take a writing course in order for him to learn how to write for college. The course he signed up for was through a homeschooling coop where most of the students have had a more structured schooling experience. He is given an assignment on Monday and he has to have it turned in by Friday. On the next Monday he has a 15 min. one on one session from a person who use to be an editor. (I have to sit in so I get to learn too!)
After his first writing assignment which had the requirement to be 11/2 pages long or longer and written in a formal way (no I's or you's) he did it. I am excited to see that all the years of reading has really paid off! Teddy's teacher told him that his writing is comfortable and that a professor who would have to read hundreds of papers would enjoy reading his. I think the teacher was a little surprised to find out that this was Teddy's first formal paper, and honestly I was too!
I am so glad I did not pressure him through all those years to practice a skill in which he was able to learn in such a short time. Granted he did write here and there and I would help him if he asked how to spell a certain word but for the most part there has never been a story written or a research paper made.
Waiting is hard but the benefits are great!
Now for Froggy....
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