The writing Roles of 'writer' and 'editor' help keep your writer in control of their writing. Dear families. Many of us have a tendency to believe that we know more than our children...and often we are right, but in the case of writing stories our children will know more. Do NOT take over your child's… Continue reading Writing: The first step – planning.
Category: reading and writing skills
Writing: first understand why they dislike writing, then negotiate.
A keen proud writer Writing fluently will remain an important skill our children need to master. Your child might not be very interested in writing because they have so many other interesting things they would rather do. Many children are much more interested in doing something physical than sitting down to write. Especially when… Continue reading Writing: first understand why they dislike writing, then negotiate.
Handwriting – How your child can write more easily
The days of boring old handwriting drills are gone. In the place of drills teachers give a series of short lessons on how to hold the pencil and correctly write letters and numbers, and then they correct students’ hand-grip and writing direction incidentally as they walk around the room. How your child holds their pencil… Continue reading Handwriting – How your child can write more easily
What if your child can’t read or write well….is that it?
A few weeks ago I met a young man in his twenties who in the course of our conversation disclosed what exactly his mother had done to help him at home when he was young and having great difficulty learning to read and write. What she did gave him the opportunity to fulfill more of… Continue reading What if your child can’t read or write well….is that it?
Help your child develop phonics skills and they learn to read for pleasure
Why reading for pleasure helps your child There is good evidence to suggest that young people who read for pleasure daily perform better in reading skills tests than those who never do. However, a recent survey carried out by the National Literacy Trust has indicated a decline in the amount of time children and young… Continue reading Help your child develop phonics skills and they learn to read for pleasure
Reading – how to help your child read well and with pleasure
Check out this blog by a mother of 9 titled 'raising children is not a default chore is inspiring. As parents living in a society with many pressures brought to bear on us to be so much more than good parents, we need all the inspiration we can gather to stay focused on remembering what… Continue reading Reading – how to help your child read well and with pleasure
Reading – it’s important: Help your child read more often.
Is your child reading regularly? If not, what is stopping them from choosing to read? You might think they don't read often because of all the electronic gadgets they use, or that they prefer sports, or that they have never been good at reading....But they are still not enough reasons to not read. Do you… Continue reading Reading – it’s important: Help your child read more often.
How to make helping your child with homework more fun for both of you.
Homework with your child can = serious fun! Some of it isn’t much fun of course but during a successful homework time together there can be wonderful shared moments of laughter, chat, triumph and pleasure. Here are some of my favourite ideas. Keep things light. When you and your child become too serious, irritated, bored… Continue reading How to make helping your child with homework more fun for both of you.
How to help your child so reading, writing, and Mathematics becomes fun.
Reading, writing, and doing Mathematics: How not to help your child. Think back to when you were a child and being told that you would like something you had already got to dislike. Do you remember how annoying and unhelpful those talks were? You didn't believe them. You wished they would stop trying to convince… Continue reading How to help your child so reading, writing, and Mathematics becomes fun.
Small steps climb the mountain: Chunking helps your child learn and remember.
"This is easy, my child should remember it.” When you first start helping your child learn and remember skills and knowledge they need, you may be impatient that your child quickly masters what you are teaching them, and feel deep disappointment when they don’t. You might notice that you have impatient and judgmental thoughts about… Continue reading Small steps climb the mountain: Chunking helps your child learn and remember.