How to Help Your Child with Writing
We all want to help our children with their homework, however sometimes parents are a bit too helpful. Children learn by their mistakes and by figuring how to correct those mistakes. When children aren't allowed to make those mistakes, then they do not learn. Below is a list of ways that you can help your child without overdoing the helping.
- Spelling: Tell your child which words are misspelled and have her look up the spelling of the word in a dictionary or online. This gives your child control over her spelling and she is more likely to learn the spelling of the word than if you just correct the misspellings.
- Grammar Errors: Point out that there is an error, but do not fix it for them. Explain the problem and give an example. Example - Me and my brother looked for sticks for the fire. The rule is that "me" does not come at the beginning of a sentence. You would say "Me looked for sticks for the fire." What would you say?
- Improving word choice: Let your child look for better words using a thesaurus. Do not give him words because he not know what the word means.
- Typing: Let your child type his or her own paper. When you type for your child, it is too easy to fix what you see is wrong or add to the writing to make it better. I know this from personal experience. You can help them format the computer, but he or she should do the typing alone.
