Teaching Homeschool Writing? 9 Simple Tips to Spark Creativity
If you are teaching homeschool writing this year, you might be wondering the best ways to foster creativity and get your child’s ideas on paper! These 9 simple tips will help you teach homeschool writing in a fun, easy and effective method.
The famous writer E.B. White once said, “Everyone has a story in them. The difficulty is to know how to get it out.” Does your child lose themselves in fantastical stories, or weave intricate narratives around everyday moments? You might just have a budding creative writer in your homeschool.
Nurturing this talent can be challenging in a homeschool, especially in a busy household.
There are many resources, opportunities and tasks that we can do at home to teach homeschool writing.
Please enjoy these tips to help foster the desire to create and write stories, poems and plays. I hope that you find them helpful.
This post contains affiliate links.
Read Aloud
My favorite part of homeschooling is reading aloud to my children. We begin every day reading aloud and over the years we have read books from all genres.
Our current read aloud is Lepunia, by Kevin Ford. We are really enjoying it.
Reading aloud is a great way to introduce your children to genres, ideas or writing styles they have not encountered yet, so mom can answer questions or concerns about the storyline. Discussions around great books is an important first step in teaching writing.
For the best tips on reading aloud to your children, follow Sarah MacKenzie’s podcast, The Read Aloud Revival.
Visit the Library
When you take your kids to the library, it’s okay to let them pick their own books. Kids love to be independent at the library. My kids love to fill their book bags and use their own library cards. Your kids will too!
I also think it is important to add a few books to the check out pile of MY CHOOSING. Check out books on art, poetry, science, history, etc. Pick at least five different genres of books and leave them about the home, where your kids can access them.
I have regularly done this with my children, and they have learned much about subjects they would have never pursued on their own. For a budding creative writer, reading broadly will fuel the imagination. This will make teaching homeschool writing easier.
Ask for Narrations
In a Charlotte Mason and classical education, educators ask for narrations.
To narrate mean to “tell back.” It is a great way to assess what a child has learned from a text or subject or story.
Ask your creative child to narrate- tell back- about her life experiences and about things read, watched or experienced. Narrations are an easy way to encourage vocabulary, sequential thinking, and it helps kids condense and organize their thoughts.
Small Moments is a sweet resource to help kids narrate their own experiences. Processing and telling back our own stories are important!
Writing Prompts
As part of our morning time routine, we often take a few minutes, once or twice a week to have a family free write.
I will give the kids a writing prompt, and we will (yes, mom too) write for 5 minutes. After the timer buzzes, we will share what we have written with everyone. It is a great way to start the day with some laughter!
Elly Elementary has created some fun writing prompts that go along with pictures. Find Picture Prompts Encourage Writing All Year, at this link.
I created a free writing prompt guide for all of my subscribers. If you would like to get a free Writing Prompt guide, details are below! Writing prompts are a great way to teach homeschool writing in an organic way.
Start (or Join) a Writing Club
Another fun way to teach writing is to find friends or family members who share a passion for writing. Form a writing club or exchange and start sharing stories and writing pieces in person or digitally. This encourages creativity and accountability and will keep up the habit of writing.
If you would like to outsource your homeschool writing, here are two great solutions.
Outschool is a popular homeschooling company that provides classes on almost every subject and also hosts clubs for its students. See their popular writing classes and clubs here.
StoryMakers Wednesday Writing is another online writing club that meets twice a week, for ages 7 and older.
Activities for the Creative Writer
Besides notebooks and pens, there are resources that can help and encourage the creative writer. These are some of the fun things that we have used to teach homeschool writing.
A great addition to our morning, these little cubes are like dice. Each has a picture on it, and from the pictures, each person has to create a story. It can be played like a game or in many other creative ways and would be a great way to get your kids loosened up and laughing as you begin the school day, or any other time!
I put these tiles on my white board in the school room and the kids are often moving them around to make funny poems or stories. I can’t resist them either! We are often surprised by a new message when friends visit too.
Here are three different story writing templates from Elly Elementary. Blank story templates provide a structured framework that simplifies the writing process for young learners. This writing printables perfect for your independent writer.
This lovely book could be used as a stand alone writing curriculum or just as a fun hobby for someone who loves creative writing. There are several other books in the Usborne series of writing. This one is for upper elementary or middle school.
This book making kit has everything needed for a creative writer to turn his story into a published, full color, 20-page hard back book. My creative writer would love this!
Creative Writing with the Thinking Tree Books: Minecraft Edition
The Thinking Tree Books makes great books for everyone, but they especially cater to creative thinkers who are dyslexic or ADHD. They have creative writing journals on so many subjects, but I think my sons would enjoy this Minecraft Edition. The Thinking Tree Books are a must have for your creative writer.
Homeschool Curriculum
If you would like to include creative writing as part of your homeschool curriculum, there are many different sources. Here are a few worth researching.
These are cute workbooks that playfully help your kids while developing reading, writing, and storytelling skills.
This is a really interesting writing program and app. Creative writers can submit stories and other submissions online to be shared.
Story Starters is a JUMBO book of writing prompts to encourage children to write in ways they have never written before.
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Young Writers Program
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, empowering approach to creative writing. The challenge: draft an entire novel in just one month. For 30 wild, exciting, surprising days, you get to lock away your inner editor, let your imagination take over, and just create!
One Year Adventure Novel (for Highschool)
Through 78 video lessons, The One Year Adventure Novel high school English curriculum guides 9th–12th graders step by step in creating an original, fully-structured, compelling adventure novel—in one school year.
Lantern English (Middle School and Highschool)
Lantern English has 9 different levels of creative writing classes. They are all taught in 8-week sessions. Our family has enjoyed the Lantern English Program.
Writing Competitions
There are so many writing competitions available for students and some of them lead to scholarships. My sons were invited to participate in this one, sponsored by the Sons of the American Revolution.
Your local library or homeschooling organizations might already have creative writing contests in place. There are also many national writing competitions for students, check out these links to explore further. They all have cash prizes!
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
Bennington College Young Writers Award
Embrace the Fun!
Remember, teaching writing in homeschool should be fun and engaging. I hope these tips help you create a supportive environment and foster a love for language, creative thinking and storytelling as a hobby. Your homeschool writer has many opportunities to grow and touch others with their gifts.
Don’t forget to grab your free writing prompts before you go!
For more homeschooling tips:
How to Teach Reading: The Best Homeschool Resources Teaching Drawing in Homeschool When You Can’t Draw Yourself
Nice Tips for fostering creativity in young ones. Very inspiring. Your tip on Reading aloud also gives me also the idea to take turns or read character parts to encourage read as an interactive activity. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for your comment. I love the idea of team reading with my kids too.
I got my son Once Upon a Pancake workbooks and he loves them. Thanks for the great tips
I am happy to hear that he enjoys them! Happy writing!
Great article with easy tips to help kids get better at writing. Reading together, library visits, and writing prompts are such cool ideas. Really helpful stuff. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Natalie! It is a gift to be able to express yourself through creative writing.
Thanks for these tips. I think I might try doing writing prompts together with my little budding author!