Composition Age 7-9
As you can see from the Preparatory Level page, the only work I tend to do in terms of composition at this age is to help a child distinguish between sentences and non-sentences, and try to construct very simple sentences of his own. But this is a work in progress. Even after you have explained the four essential elements of simple sentence, you will find that for a long while your child, if asked to write an original composition, will still produce groups of words which are not sentences. In some ways, it's quite an abstract and even arbitrary set of rules you are imposing, and it's going to take him a while to assimilate them (many adults still struggle in this area). You may also encounter, especially with boys, a reluctance to write which may have more to it than a simple disinclination: some perfectly bright and articulate children do actually find writing difficult and if this happens, you'll need to find ways to work with that. Below I've outlined some of my own experiences with this problem and a suggested solution. These can be applied also to children who are perfectly happy to write original compositions but who get frustrated because they cannot yet express adequately in writing what it is they wish to say.
Potential problems with writing
Writing (meaning original composition as opposed to copy-work and dictation), can appear a complex business to a young child. Some just grab a pen and get on with it, producing reams of stories with apparently little effort. For others the whole process seems daunting. My second son, when he was about eight, said that what he found so difficult was having to think of what he wanted to say, then having to think of how to form the letters and words, and then having to think about how to spell and punctuate it - and all at the same time! When a reluctant writer is made to write at length, the quality of his writing (not to mention his mood!) will deteriorate, despite his best efforts. It may be that he simply can't manage it. It's up to you as the parent-teacher to work out when your child is being idle and when he genuinely is trying but can't complete a task for whatever reason.
In the case of writing, it could well be that in a boy of six his fine motor control is simply not yet adequate. Working on improving his fine motor skills would be more helpful than just demanding longer and longer pieces of writing from him. But even if his fine motor skills are very good he still may find writing peculiarly frustrating (one of my boys was doing very intricate colouring before he was four but still writes little, by choice, at nine). The usual response is, 'Well, the more he writes, the easier it will get, so just make him write', and there is some truth in that. Whenever we write we are training that essential correspondence between brain and fingers which we eventually need to become automatic. It's a bit like reading - the more the early reader reads, the easier the process becomes until one day he can just 'read': suddenly he no longer has to laboriously work out each individual word - he just 'sees it.' However, getting to that point with as little frustration as possible will be of benefit to all concerned!
A practical solution
One solution to this problem is to separate the processes involved. Breaking up the processes my young son identified (expressing original thought, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and correct letter formation) can really help reluctant writers to express their thoughts eloquently without being limited by their ability to formulate the written text. Here are a few suggestions to help you do this:
- do not require original written compositions (stories etc.) in the writing lesson - encourage them by all means but do not treat them as part of 'lessons': in other words don't require a piece of creative writing from your seven year old and then analyse, criticise and generally tear it to bits because it's chock full of glaring errors (which it probably will be) and it's your job to teach him to write correctly. The most likely outcome is that he will either give up writing stories altogether or write them but never show them to you.
- focus instead on studying existing writing (modelling, as it's sometimes known). How does this work? Well, it's very simple: just as your child learned to write his letters by copying, here you simply move this to the next level. Have him copy some simple but well chosen sentences. Even a reluctant writer should be OK with that. When he's fine with this, have him write the same sentences from dictation and see how well he remembers them (go straight to the dictation if you like but let him study the piece first). Let him mark them himself against the original then discuss with you where he went wrong (if he never gets anything wrong, make the sentences more complex, or try him with some sentences he is unfamiliar with). When this becomes too easy, move onto short paragraphs using the same method (copy, mark, write a studied paragraph from dictation, then write an unfamiliar paragraph from dictation).
You do not need any textbook or course to show you what to do: you are free to choose just about anything for modelling which you feel is appropriate, and which, just as importantly, your child finds interesting . This might be a passage from the book you are reading aloud to him; a passage from a non-fiction book he is enjoying - history, science, football, space travel, cars...anything, so long as it is very well composed. (One way to judge the quality, by the way, is to read it aloud: well-written work always reads aloud well.)
- use the method of oral composition or narration. In this method, the child expresses to you what he wishes to write and you write it down for him. You will find that he will express himself much more freely, accurately and eloquently than he would if he were having not only to compose his thoughts but also to figure out how to set them down neatly and grammatically correctly (again, you are helping to break down the writing process). If you like, you can use these narrations as material for his handwriting practice/copy work, and/or use them for dictation and/or discuss with him the sentence formation, use of punctuation etc. as he watches you write up his own thoughts.This isn't 'cheating'! It's a slower process but it pays off in the end and there will be fewer tears, I guarantee.
Again, it is interesting that the educator Charlotte Mason did not require written compositions until her pupils reached the age of ten. Perhaps even more telling is Miss Mason's insistence that none of her pupils be taught 'composition' as a formal subject until the age of 14.
So what about creative writing?
Some argue that this approach quells creativity, but in truth I have found that few children can express their thoughts to their own satisfaction in writing at this age. In fact, as Ruth Beechick argues in her book 'The 3 R's', after a while spent modelling well-constructed writing a child can begin his own creative writing a little later but at a much higher level. Demanding creative writing from a young child and then subjecting what he has produced to a critical analysis in terms of spelling, letter formation, grammar usage etc. (which is likely to be harsh since he has not yet the knowledge to write correctly what he wants to say) is almost guaranteed to be a discouraging experience for both child and parent.
One of my young sons had a wonderful vocabulary at this age, expressed himself in complex constructions and had a vivid imagination. "He'll write amazing stories!", I said to myself. I was woefully disappointed (and he was almost embarrassed) when his literary efforts fell depressingly far below his oral expression. I had not realised that he simply did not as yet have the skills and the confidence to transfer his wonderfully rich thoughts onto paper. (The happy ending to this is that at 16 the same son scored an A* in his English Language IGSCE. Phew, that's alright then!)
As you can see from the Preparatory Level page, the only work I tend to do in terms of composition at this age is to help a child distinguish between sentences and non-sentences, and try to construct very simple sentences of his own. But this is a work in progress. Even after you have explained the four essential elements of simple sentence, you will find that for a long while your child, if asked to write an original composition, will still produce groups of words which are not sentences. In some ways, it's quite an abstract and even arbitrary set of rules you are imposing, and it's going to take him a while to assimilate them (many adults still struggle in this area). You may also encounter, especially with boys, a reluctance to write which may have more to it than a simple disinclination: some perfectly bright and articulate children do actually find writing difficult and if this happens, you'll need to find ways to work with that. Below I've outlined some of my own experiences with this problem and a suggested solution. These can be applied also to children who are perfectly happy to write original compositions but who get frustrated because they cannot yet express adequately in writing what it is they wish to say.
Potential problems with writing
Writing (meaning original composition as opposed to copy-work and dictation), can appear a complex business to a young child. Some just grab a pen and get on with it, producing reams of stories with apparently little effort. For others the whole process seems daunting. My second son, when he was about eight, said that what he found so difficult was having to think of what he wanted to say, then having to think of how to form the letters and words, and then having to think about how to spell and punctuate it - and all at the same time! When a reluctant writer is made to write at length, the quality of his writing (not to mention his mood!) will deteriorate, despite his best efforts. It may be that he simply can't manage it. It's up to you as the parent-teacher to work out when your child is being idle and when he genuinely is trying but can't complete a task for whatever reason.
In the case of writing, it could well be that in a boy of six his fine motor control is simply not yet adequate. Working on improving his fine motor skills would be more helpful than just demanding longer and longer pieces of writing from him. But even if his fine motor skills are very good he still may find writing peculiarly frustrating (one of my boys was doing very intricate colouring before he was four but still writes little, by choice, at nine). The usual response is, 'Well, the more he writes, the easier it will get, so just make him write', and there is some truth in that. Whenever we write we are training that essential correspondence between brain and fingers which we eventually need to become automatic. It's a bit like reading - the more the early reader reads, the easier the process becomes until one day he can just 'read': suddenly he no longer has to laboriously work out each individual word - he just 'sees it.' However, getting to that point with as little frustration as possible will be of benefit to all concerned!
A practical solution
One solution to this problem is to separate the processes involved. Breaking up the processes my young son identified (expressing original thought, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and correct letter formation) can really help reluctant writers to express their thoughts eloquently without being limited by their ability to formulate the written text. Here are a few suggestions to help you do this:
- do not require original written compositions (stories etc.) in the writing lesson - encourage them by all means but do not treat them as part of 'lessons': in other words don't require a piece of creative writing from your seven year old and then analyse, criticise and generally tear it to bits because it's chock full of glaring errors (which it probably will be) and it's your job to teach him to write correctly. The most likely outcome is that he will either give up writing stories altogether or write them but never show them to you.
- focus instead on studying existing writing (modelling, as it's sometimes known). How does this work? Well, it's very simple: just as your child learned to write his letters by copying, here you simply move this to the next level. Have him copy some simple but well chosen sentences. Even a reluctant writer should be OK with that. When he's fine with this, have him write the same sentences from dictation and see how well he remembers them (go straight to the dictation if you like but let him study the piece first). Let him mark them himself against the original then discuss with you where he went wrong (if he never gets anything wrong, make the sentences more complex, or try him with some sentences he is unfamiliar with). When this becomes too easy, move onto short paragraphs using the same method (copy, mark, write a studied paragraph from dictation, then write an unfamiliar paragraph from dictation).
You do not need any textbook or course to show you what to do: you are free to choose just about anything for modelling which you feel is appropriate, and which, just as importantly, your child finds interesting . This might be a passage from the book you are reading aloud to him; a passage from a non-fiction book he is enjoying - history, science, football, space travel, cars...anything, so long as it is very well composed. (One way to judge the quality, by the way, is to read it aloud: well-written work always reads aloud well.)
- use the method of oral composition or narration. In this method, the child expresses to you what he wishes to write and you write it down for him. You will find that he will express himself much more freely, accurately and eloquently than he would if he were having not only to compose his thoughts but also to figure out how to set them down neatly and grammatically correctly (again, you are helping to break down the writing process). If you like, you can use these narrations as material for his handwriting practice/copy work, and/or use them for dictation and/or discuss with him the sentence formation, use of punctuation etc. as he watches you write up his own thoughts.This isn't 'cheating'! It's a slower process but it pays off in the end and there will be fewer tears, I guarantee.
Again, it is interesting that the educator Charlotte Mason did not require written compositions until her pupils reached the age of ten. Perhaps even more telling is Miss Mason's insistence that none of her pupils be taught 'composition' as a formal subject until the age of 14.
So what about creative writing?
Some argue that this approach quells creativity, but in truth I have found that few children can express their thoughts to their own satisfaction in writing at this age. In fact, as Ruth Beechick argues in her book 'The 3 R's', after a while spent modelling well-constructed writing a child can begin his own creative writing a little later but at a much higher level. Demanding creative writing from a young child and then subjecting what he has produced to a critical analysis in terms of spelling, letter formation, grammar usage etc. (which is likely to be harsh since he has not yet the knowledge to write correctly what he wants to say) is almost guaranteed to be a discouraging experience for both child and parent.
One of my young sons had a wonderful vocabulary at this age, expressed himself in complex constructions and had a vivid imagination. "He'll write amazing stories!", I said to myself. I was woefully disappointed (and he was almost embarrassed) when his literary efforts fell depressingly far below his oral expression. I had not realised that he simply did not as yet have the skills and the confidence to transfer his wonderfully rich thoughts onto paper. (The happy ending to this is that at 16 the same son scored an A* in his English Language IGSCE. Phew, that's alright then!)