A Letter of Homeschool Encouragement From “the Future”

Hind sight is 20-20! Looking back at our homeschool journey, if I could travel back in time here’s what I would tell “worried old me” concerning my 9 year old son and his struggle with creative writing.

A Letter of Homeschool Encouragement from “the Future”

Dear Lisa:

I know you are questioning whether or not you are cut out for this job of homeschool Mom. Let me assure you, by default, you are uniquely qualified and gifted by your Creator.

I know you are ready to pull your hair out because your almost 4th grade son can barely write a sentence on his own without crying.

This has left you feeling like a failure. Here’s what you don’t know. Your insistence on reading and stressing its’ importance will carry him further than you know. In fact, it is the most valuable academic pursuit you’ve taught him. It will show in his reasoning, communication, vocabulary and ability to be a self-directed learner.

Don’t fret about writing. The ability to write develops at different rates for each child. Your son’s writing skills won’t begin to blossom until FOUR years from now!

In the meantime, your son will excel in science and math. Continue to patiently teach writing in small, manageable chunks and do not compare him to others.

In high school, your son will be articulate and well-thought out. He’ll be a great technical writer, tackling math and science with flourish. With your help, guidance and prayer your son is becoming whom God has created him to be. Steadfast, trustworthy, intelligent, kindhearted and a joy to be around.

So – Lisa 5 years younger, just relax! Relax and enjoy the days teaching your son because these precious times are fleeting and soon he’ll be grown.

Signed,

Lisa (the voice of experience)

I hope this letter speaks to some of you who are feeling that they aren’t keeping up or their kids aren’t ‘on target’ in a given area of their homeschool. Every child develops at their own rate AND not every child is cut out to be an artist, or a journalist or a brain surgeon. Each child is unique in their giftings. Your job is to help your child walk in the gifts that God has given them.

On a practical note there are a few writing programs that REALLY helped my oldest when he was struggling.

An inexpensive, mom-friendly program is from Stack the Deck . These workbooks are for 2nd grade and up. Each chapter of this curriculum is broken down into bite sized chunks of warm-ups and ‘word play’. Followed next by brain storming sessions with leading questions. These really help get those creative juices flowing for the writing assignment. When we discovered this program, my son started at a level below his ‘current grade’ and made great progress. This is a VERY affordable program for tight budgets. We used this program for many years until I was blessed with an opportunity to review the following program.

My next recommendation is Institute for Excellence in Writing. It is more expensive, but, can be used for multiple years and is good for those who are really struggling in their writing. This program is in DVD format. You can read my review.

And for highschoolers, I also like The Power in Your Hands. Check out my review!

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