Kerry Beck’s Blog

I have been using a new idea to teach grammar to my 13yo. This week he is writing in his reading journal about his daily readings. There is no pressure to make it perfect, just a way to write down his ideas about his readings.

I type out one of his entries (double-space) and give it to him to edit. It looks like an Editor in Chief paragraph, but it is actually his own writing. This helps us tie together his reading, writing and grammar. Yesterday, we spent about 5 minutes going over his corrections.

It was interesting to note that he found most of his mistakes when he read it aloud. I think kids can “hear” their writing mistakes. The same thing happened earlier this week when my 16yo read aloud her research paper to me. She would say, “Oh, that doesn’t sound right”, and then correct it.

What I like about this activity is the way it involves the ideas of read-write-discuss from Leadership Education Homeschool Curriculum.

Kerry