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We have been working on this months WINTER theme. It’s been a whole bunch of origami, snowflakes, tinsel, pretty pictures and a whole lot of paper for our scraps pile. Regardless, the smiling faces all around made it all worth it.
We have a certain display area on the wall for grammar rules which I aim to change every week. This week we have been learning about onomatopoeia. This idea of displaying the rules and work associated with it has had positive feedback from my children and helps the rules to really stick in their heads. I know from way back in my own school days that I have forgotten many rules and concepts of the actual school work but I can remember the words, pictures and layout of my classroom like I was there yesterday.
My style of teaching recently has been strict traditional school type, with textbooks and handouts from an already set out curriculum. My fifth grader is currently using the Calvert School Curriculum. I love this curriculum, because it is easily laid out for you, complete with a very detailed lesson plan. However, I’ve found this teaching approach doesn’t work too well with my son, who is a very hands on learner. Therefore, I have been forced to be inventive and incorporate the curriculum into an everyday fun experience! Therefore, I’ve decided the first step is to encourage his imagination and more pride in his abilities by better displaying his work around the ‘classroom’.
We have also began a Weather Lapbook for Science this week and I’m hoping to learn and work through it this month so I will blog the finished lapbook at the end of the month.
My sons weakness at the moment is his confidence in his imagination and creative writing. Which is what I have decided to work more on this month. He is an avid reader and finishes many books a week. However, when it comes to his writing, if I provide a blank page and ask him to write me a story, he does not have any inclination to accomplish this task. Even when adding prompts such as a topic sentence, he complains that it is too difficult. I know that he is capable of this because he is happy to orally tell me the story and answer questions or complete worksheets and forms his sentences well.
I have come to realise that perhaps it is not him that has the problem but myself in the way I teach him. Therefore, I’ve found that with a different teaching approach he is eager to display his work and needs less coaxing to complete it. On the other hand, my daughters love to write and can fill journals with their ideas and imaginations but simple questions and concepts seem to need a few extra lessons and techniques in order to learn them. Please let me know if any of you have experiences which has caused you to change your teaching techniques or have had similar problems. I find it truly amazing how unique we all are and I want my children to accept and be proud of that.
“Having a low opinion of yourself is not ‘modesty’. It’s self-destruction. Holding your uniqueness in high regard is not ‘egotism’. It’s a necessary precondition to happiness and success.”
Bobbe Sommer
Striving For Purity 
My son has the very same issue with writing (which is totally normal–especially for boys). I’m completely in love with our writing curriculum– Institute for Excellence in Writing http://iew.com/
It teaches how to write using previously written work, breaking it down into the key points (of either the sentence or paragraph) by having the student create a “key word outline” using only 3 words for each point, and then using their created outline to write their own version of whatever the primary source was. The course coveres Key Word Outlines, Stylistic Techniques (using words to dress things up), Narratives, Reports, Writing from Pictures (creative writing), Essays and Critiques. The key word outline has proven to be an invaluable technique-my kids use it for all sorts of things including oral presentations. Andrew Pudewa is a quirky lecturer, but his teaching style and techniques are unreal. It has worked with my reluctant writer!
Thank You for your comment. I’m feeling a lot more confident in my homeschooling knowing there are others striving just like me. Thank you for your recommendation, I will be sure to check out this writing curriculum as I love the idea of key word outlines. Seems like such a great way to teach children how to create great writing through examples.