The Unschooled Writer & Writing Development
I have not formally taught Big Snail about question marks. I have never told him what a question mark was, never pointed one out to him, or taught him how to write one. Yesterday, while working on a story for our circus unit, he wrote this:
When I asked him what this was, he replied, "It's a question mark, momma." I was completely blown away by this. This is an awesome first attempt (from a 4 year old) at writing a question mark without ever being directly instructed in what a question mark is. Unschooling works! Kids really can create their own knowledge. His reading and writing are taking off!
As a former early childhood teacher, I have always been interested in the reading and writing development of young children. I will be embarking my doctorate in a couple of weeks and this is one area of research/study that I hope to take part in. One reason we homeschool is because the public school system does not use methodology that I believe in. In public school, they teach that reading comes first and writing comes second. I have always believed that writing should come first, before formal reading instruction. I think this because writing is the true application of reading. Peter Elbow believes this, too. He said that "(s)tudents will put more care into reading when they have had more of a chance to write." Because of my belief in this, we write. A LOT. The Snails write within the context of their learning, which is based on their interests. Currently we are writing about the circus.
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4 friends said...:
I do believe that reading and writing go hand and hand. They are connected. The more you read to a child, they begin to pick up on that written language. I am big on writing. Children must write daily and have choices. I was a public school teacher and we did a ton of writing in my classroom. We created class anothologies, personal books, brochures, etc.
I think that the emphasis on writing in the classrooms varies greatly. I've taught in a few schools. One was big into writing, having the kids follow the writing process early on, while another was pretty traditional. I don't think that kids know how much fun writing is unless you give them the opportunity to do it regularly.
I just found your blog! I am loving what you have to say. I totally agree that writing comes before reading. It's obvious if you watch the natural development of a child. My daughter has been writing for years, starting with scribbles and progressing as she was ready. Reading came later. Now her reading has surpassed her writing, but yes, the writing was first.
Great post!
I am very interested. I have to read more about this. My four year old is reading a little, but he is not very interested in writing - it's a bit of a battle. I would love any advice you may have.
Princess *loves* to write words, but hates to sound them out. We homeschool (unschool, really) ... she is 5 and Lil Man is just about 3. Lil Man has picked up so much from watching "Sissy" learn that he is flying ahead. She is doing well with math and writing, but reading is of no interest to her at all. Any ideas?
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