Adding Sunshine

I am reviewing how I am teaching my children to write. I am not satisfied with where we are nor where we are headed so I turned to The Foundation for American Christian Education English Language Curriculum Guide.

Perhaps a notion that I grew up with was that “reading is the key to all later learning” and writing is a gift that some people have.

My dad is was a writer of journals, poetry and fiction. Now he is a researcher. I think he greatly influenced my desire to write and interest in it. Though I do not remember learning to write well. I just enjoyed doing it. I kept a fairly regular daily journal since I was eight years old, until I got married. I think the lack of writing created a lack of connection with myself.

My favorite paragraph in reading tonight explained that a child’s potential is blocked by being unable to “describe original thinking or to present plans persuasively to give leadership to others, or to report research and ideas in clear usable English.” This was my favorite sentence in the paragraph: “More importantly, the inability to communicate powerfully puts our children at the mercy of those whose skills may be strong but whose ideas and passions are evil.”

It ended great with: “A mind trained to write is a well-disciplined mind able to reason independently and stand firm in a stronghold of faith.” Amen! Let’s get learning and practicing how to write well!