The Joys of Writing

-
After bumbling around with different writing programs I finally stumbled across something that I love. It's called Writing Clear Paragraphs and it is actually a text for the high school and college level. However, I am using it with all three children and just gearing it for their age.
Photobucket

It has been an amazing transformation after just 2 weeks of using it to see the difference in their writing. My pet peeve is bad writing so the one thing I want to accomplish with them is being able to write well.

We are focusing on writing a good topic sentence which is specific, states your opinion about something and provides direction for the rest of the paragraph.

Emily's first sentence went from "I like painted ponies." when we first started to today's sentence of "Loud vacuum cleaners are annoying when you are trying to watch television."

Stephen's first sentence went from "Very funny jokes make me laugh." to today's sentence of "Sometimes young kids are gross because of their dirty, disgusting eating habits."

Nathan's went from "Corn snakes make a great pet for anyone who loves snakes." to "My hometown of ______ was looking like a ghost town, but now civilization is creeping in."

It's hard work for them but they are actually starting to enjoy it.

Here are some pictures of our morning:

Writing sometimes makes us sad!
Photobucket

Nathan is always happy no matter how difficult the subject.
Photobucket

Keeping up with her brothers.
Photobucket

Photobucket

These next two have nothing to do with writing but I thought I'd throw them in there.

Daddy's girl
Photobucket

They love each other though they do fight at times!
Photobucket

Comments

Post a Comment

I love your comments and encouragement! I can't always respond back but do read each comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Choosing Not to Kick the Cat

-
Image
The choices we make can either be good or bad. So many don't realize that even our attitudes and feelings are a choice. We have a choice each day to make that day one in which we will react to our circumstances or choose not to react. I can choose to let someone else's bad day ruin mine, or I can choose to not take on someone else's attitude. When Dan and I were first married we worked for a sales organization. I still remember listening to a motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar who was talking about this topic. He gave the scenario of a man being a work and having a boss that was berating him all day long. The man then came home and snapped at his wife. His wife, in turn, yelled at their son for a small infraction because she was upset. The son was now hurt by his mom and pushed his little sister. She, being the youngest, turns around and kicks the cat! Zig talked about making a different choice by not allowing others bad behaviors and moods cause you to respond in the
Read more

Oh What to Do; I'm Sixty-Two!

-
Image
Today is my sixty-second birthday and it's hard to believe I've achieved that....um....seasoned age! My first thought this morning was one of not being sure that I like it. However,  as I thought I about it, I decided to take joy in the fact that I've reached an older age. Because age comes with benefits. Benefit #1 - I'm a bit wiser.   When I look back at some of the decisions I made when I was younger, I cringe. With age has come the ability to slow down and think things through before I make major upheavals in my life. I've also discovered that getting worked up about certain things is just an absolute waste of emotional energy. Benefit #2 - I'm enjoying my life.   As I've aged I've learned all kinds of skills and hobbies and can honestly say that I'm never, ever bored. I love all the different things I'm able to do and it's fun! Benefit #3 - I've learned to appreciate my relationships. With age I've learned to work on developing a
Read more

Eating to Live

-
Image
  Despite the unexpected busyness and interruptions, I have been plugging away at my weight loss as well as writing the plant-based, whole food cookbook. Recipe testing fell by the wayside the past two weeks, but I've still gotten a good chunk of the book done. I also got on the scale this morning for another one pound loss which makes a total of 61 lbs. since I started this journey back in July. It's second nature at this point and I have so much more energy and feel healthy. The only negative is that because I've lost so much weight I'm seeing some sagging, crepe-papery skin happening. Yuck. Some of that is age and I need to figure out some toning exercises. It's definitely a life-style change, but a positive one which I'm so thankful I started on. The pictures above are a small selection of meals I've eaten the past two months and many of those will be included in the book.  This will be a printable e-book as I find that will be the easiest and most cost
Read more