Writing With Kids – as Much Fun as Writing For Them!
Writing with Kids by Samantha Bell
This year, I’m teaching two creative writing classes at our homeschool co-op. The first class is geared towards middle schoolers and is designed to get their descriptive juices flowing. We talk about choosing their words so carefully that the reader will “see” exactly what they’re trying to convey. We cover a lot of grammar in that class, too.
The second class is intended more for high school students, and as part of their coursework, they all signed up for National Novel Writing Month. In the young writer’s program, teachers (or parents) can set the word count for their students, so instead of the 50,000 word goal, I chose 10,000 words. The bonus for the educator: I could sign up to write just 10,000 words, too.
This was our first year trying this as a group. At first the kids were a little apprehensive – write a novel? Forget about the one-month deadline – write a novel??? So all during the month of October, we went through the workbook NaNoWriMo has online. And as we did, you could just hear all those gears (including mine!) turning. Each week they developed a different aspect of their novels, and each week they had more and more to share.
Then came the big day.
November 1 everyone began writing, and we logged in our word counts as we went. At the beginning of each weekly class meeting, we updated each other on how things were progressing, how our novels were changing, how we hoped to get them done in time. Our last class in November was held two days before the deadline, and everyone was so excited. I still had a ways to go to meet my word count, as did a couple of the kids, but we were all determined.
And…we did it!
And it was SO much fun! The following week we had a party with the rest of the co-op students celebrating their accomplishment. And we’re not done yet! My students are currently in the process of revising their novels, and we’re going to get them printed before the end of the school year.
If you have teens in your life, consider bringing them along with you on your writing journey. Set similar writing goals, share your ideas with one another, and attend conferences like Write2Ignite! together. As often happens when you “travel along” with a teen, you’ll probably find it to be an exciting and memorable adventure!
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NaNo for kids– that is great. I’m glad you can share your excitement and skills with these kids. Doesn’t it fuel your writing too? See you soon!
You know, I think having the group working on it at the same time was a big help in getting it done. Some had 3,000 or more words to write the last week, but knowing their peers were going to finish motivated them to work really hard at it.
There were also some kids outside of the class in our co-op who tried but didn’t make it, but we certainly included them in our celebration. We had a poster on the wall with everyone’s name who tried, although if you won, you got your name on the cookie cake.
You are sooo good! My teen and I attempted again this year – and didn’t make it! but that’s okay, we’ll keep trying!
Wow! This sounds like such fun! Don’t you just love it when “the light comes on” for kids? Then they become super-energized and highly motivated.
Hope you keep on having fun with your group of eager learners.
Jean