*Obviously this is a tongue-in-cheek title. But my review of {affiliate} WriteShop is for real! We were given a free copy of this amazing writing curriculum {Book C} and have had a fantastic time reviewing it this school year.
Seriously, you guys. If you’re a homeschooler {or work with your child at home in any way} and are looking for a writing curriculum. One word: WriteShop. And today, you’ll see why.
Ugh…I Have to Teach Writing?!?
Writing is one of those content areas that I frequently hear parents {and teachers} say they don’t enjoy teaching. These complaints sparked 5 Days of Unleashing the Writer in Your Child, Simple Writing Lessons in the Primary Grades and finally Preschool and Kindergarten Writing Lessons.
And it’s no wonder we sometimes don’t like to teach it. Often our kids don’t like it either. But could it be a vicious cycle? Maybe our teaching methods cause our kids to be reluctant writers. Or dare I say it…maybe they cause our kids to resist or even HATE writing. Nope, this isn’t a post intended to make you feel badly about how you teach writing. My goal is to get us all to re-evaluate why we teach writing the way we do. That’s what good teachers do, after all!
5 Reasons Kids HATE Writing
1. We cut off their voice as a writer.
Kids need time to explore writing in all kinds of ways in order to discover their own writing voice. But doing this can get kind of messy, so we tend to prefer copywork and writing prompts to keep writing in a nice, little box that we can easily grade or check off our list for the day.
But the real joy in writing {coming from an author here} is finding your own voice. For example, how does your writing stand out from the rest of the world? You will find with WriteShop that there is plenty of wiggle room for kids to explore different genres and explore their own voice through writing drafts, revising, editing, and even publishing their own works!
2. We do not provide choice in our instruction.
Providing choice for our writers helps them make it meaningful for them. After all, multiple and meaningful experiences are the key to learning almost anything.
WriteShop curriculum introduces children to several different kinds of genres of writing like personal narratives, descriptive writing, mysteries, and journal writing. But once the genre has been introduced and practiced, away kids can go with their own choice of topic. This is oh, so important!! It also ties right back into #1 above.
3. We do not provide enough support.
Too often, we just tell kids what we want them to write instead of showing them HOW to write. In each WriteShop lesson, you will find mini-lessons designed to help you SHOW your child the craft of writing. Sometimes, it’s through a read aloud while other times you are encouraged to write with your child to model a specific skill or genre.
I also love the simple worksheets that are sprinkled throughout, which help kids practice how to craft a certain genre with you before you set them free to try it themselves. This middle step {doing it WITH the child} is so often skipped before kids are asked to try things on their own and I love how WriteShop weaves it into every lesson.
4. We feel the need to correct every mistake, even spelling errors.
I’m sure our kids look forward to the days when we sit beside them while they are crafting a work and nit-pick every spelling error and/or grammatical error. I honestly think it just sucks the life right out of their work. Is there a place for conventional spelling and grammar. ABSOLUTELY. 100% YES!!
And while WriteShop provides lots of great tips for helping kids spell, like keeping a portable word wall, they also say that kids are going to misspell words. Often times, in draft mode, kids are just trying to get their thoughts down. My son will even ask me to leave the room completely during this time so he can focus on “dumping” his thoughts on the paper.
But once the drafting is done, WriteShop encourages and teaches kids to edit their own work, which I’m a huge fan of. There are even helpful tips for when editing reduces your child to tears. Instead of saying things like, “Oh, you should know how to spell that word!” WriteShop provides helpful strategies that build up your writer while helping him perfect his craft.
5. We don’t add some spice now and then.
I love, love, love how WriteShop throws in these fun experiences to get kids writing and publishing in different ways.
For example, in his personal narrative, my 3rd grader wrote about a recent sleepover at his grandma’s house. He was encouraged to draw a picture, type it up and then create a puzzle with his own story. Talk about original!
What We Have Truly Enjoyed about WriteShop This Year
1. The flexibility. I loved that I could plan my own schedule {we have fluctuated between the three-week lesson plan and the two-week lesson plan.} If you are teaching students on different levels, there are special notes sprinkled throughout to help you adjust your teaching accordingly such as steps you may need to add or even not include at all.
2. The freedom of choice {for parents and students.} WriteShop does not have heavily scripted lessons, which I greatly appreciate. Teaching writing isn’t a pre-boxed thing and WriteShop doesn’t pretend that it is. Book suggestions are there for modeling certain skills, but teachers are also encouraged to pick books of interest to the child.
3. The foundation for teaching and learning the craft of writing. WriteShop provides such a great foundation for teaching writing as a craft with all kinds of genres. Not only will you find this throughout their curriculum, but their blog as well!
~Becky
Becky, I’m nearly speechless! Thank you for this wonderful review. I’m especially grateful for the way you captured the very essence of WriteShop. I pray that your review encourages moms and teachers to approach writing in a fresh new way–no matter what method or curriculum they use.
Aw, I’m so glad you like it. We truly have enjoyed WriteShop. It aligns with the core of how I’ve always felt writing should be taught. My son has written more with these lessons than he has in some time. 🙂 Thank you!
I am excited about this program an would love to try it with my independent child.
Thanks so much for the helpful review and giveaway! We would choose level Junior D or Primary C.
This is a great program! Thank you for introducing it to me:) I would love the K-3 level to help my littles who are just coming up to that age group.
What an exciting curriculum! My son and struggle through writing. The Primary (K-3) would be a tremendous help!
My oldest is going into kindergarden (well slowly getting into it this summer) and I think he would do well with primary level A.
I love the look of this. I would love to try level c worth my creative writing kid next year. (He says he’s going to be an author when he grows up).
This looks like a great tool too use with my students! I teach K, so K-3 would be great for me!
I struggled with Write Shop because I started it with 3 kids, 3 levels based on their grade recommendations. If I won I would start with the primary B with my oldest struggling writer and just modify to make it more challenging. Then when his writing time is routine, I would start Primary A with my youngers! I borrowed it and so don’t own it!
This seems like such a logical way to teach writing. I agree with you that many teachers (and parents) are afraid to teach writing and I can’t count the number of students I have had that hated writing. I would love to give the K-3 level a try with my kiddos.
Oh I definitely need this for my kindergartener! K-3 level would be perfect…..he HATES writing and I need help!
Thank you! I am new to homeschooling and I definitely do not know what I plan to use for writing yet. I will check this out.
We are working through WriteShop Primary right now. i would love to win Primary set C of Junior Set D
Hello, I work with Special Education and would love to win the Junior High/High School set – this looks like a great resource!
I really need this! I teach fifth grade and writing frightens me!
I would love WriteShop Primary for my daughter.
Thank you! I have not heard of this program before. We will be sure to check it out.
This would be great fill in for the summer time with my 1st grader
I think WriteShop Primary B would be the best option for my kids. My word lover and reluctant writer could both benefit from this program!
I would love to try this approach. Students are so reluctant to write. I would need the Junior level. Thanks!
I wad just looking for a curriculum to teach my daughter more about writing!
Hi Becky!
Thanks for the pointers and reminders about the challenges of helping students write. As a classroom teacher, I find that this is always my biggest challenge! If I could add a sixth….we don’t give enough time to write. I know time always seems to fly away before we get anywhere close to finishing! Perhaps The WriteShop resource can help with that. I teach third grade and would love to have the corresponding program for it.
Thanks for hosting this great giveaway!
-Naomi M
Naomi, YES. And a million times YES! Time is a HUGE one. Thanks for adding that!
This is a wonderful review. I can’t wait to look into this more!
Would love the 2nd Grade Level for my son!
I would love Primary A. WriteShop is something I keep coming back to when I go internet window shopping.
K level would be great!
Since the best to start is often the beginning..which is where our homeschooling journey is. We would want WriteShop Primary, Level A
This is an amazing review! I am always lost for writing resources and of course with our dyslexic kiddos, writing is always a huge struggle but we focus so much on decoding that we often leave writing to copy work like you stated 🙁 no wonder our kiddos so often are not prepared for higher level writing which I would argue is as important as reading and math! I would love to be able to utilize this resource in a new free program we are designing to work with a handful of struggling students from our inner-city schools. 🙂 thanks as always for the great ideas
I have never really, really taught writing in my Title groups but sure would love to have something at my fingertips to know just how to approach it in a better way! I have K-2 kiddos in my groups so a level in that grade/age span would be terrific.
Write shop I for my high schooler
I would love love to have the junior, 3-6 grade set.
My kindergartener often has a notebook with her to draw and take notes in. I’m so glad you wrote this review, it’s very timely for me. I would order the kindergarten/1st grade level.
I would love to win Primary B. We are currently using Primary A and love it!
I will have a second grader and fourth grader next year, so I’d love to win the K-3 level! Can’t wait to learn more about this program!
My daughter hates writing right now…thank you for the tips! We would use the primary level and hopefully that would get her interested!
Thanks for this giveaway. I would love to win WriteShop Primary Level A!
I would love the WriteShop Junior for grades 3-6. Thanks!
I think my 10-year-old reluctant writer may need WriteShop Level C. He reads on a 3rd-4th grade level but his writing skills are closer to 2nd-3rd. I’d love to try WriteShop!
I was already looking at the WriteShop Primary B set. My son loathes writing so I think anything would help!
I wanted to try this writing series out for my daughter… I’d need something around the first/second grade level. I’ve heard great things about this series!!
This package sounds amazing! I will head over for more i lnfo and thank you greatly for always sharing the best of your own work, & the best of your helpful finds!! ;D
We have been looking at this program for our daughter for next school year, thanks for the review!
I am a student teacher and I’m very interested in WriteShop! The primary set for grades K-3 would be fabulous for me.
I have been looking at this program for some time and it looks like it would be perfect for our family. I would use Primary Book C.
This looks fun, thanks for the info!
This looks awesome and I would love to use this for my kinder and 1st grader!
I struggle with teaching writing and I, personally, love to write. This sounds like it might be the answer to my problem! I would love to have the Kindergarten level of this program.
I’d love Primary, I love to write and I think this would help my kiddos love it too :o)
My 5th grader would love a more independent and kid friendly curriculum. This looks great!
While WriteShop Junior is most definitely kid-friendly, and children love the hands-on activities and creative writing topics, it’s not an independent program they can do on their own, There’s a lot of parent involvement. On the other hand, you’d only be working three days per week, so it’s not overwhelming to either of you. Just thought I’d throw that out there!
I would love love LOVE WriteShop level E. I have a couple of sons that think they can’t write and it brings them to tears!
Thank you for your review and the opportunity to have WriteShop in our homeschool curriculum! It is a child and parent friendly writing program, I would use the Primary Book Set.