As Spring is upon us, a home learning activity like writing a book can be great for your child for the following reasons:
It can help develop your child's writing skills.
It is great for aspiring young writers to practice their craft.
It can keep your child occupied with a long term project.
They can complete this project at their own pace.
It encourages independent writing.
They can recognise their writing style.
They can also recognise any errors in their writing.
It gives the parents some free time!!
You may have a child that loves writing stories and you have noticed they are starting to develop a portfolio of stories.
You may have an aspiring young writer in your household, and if you would like to know if your child is a natural writer, please click on my other blog post below for more details:
But whether they are an avid writer or not,
How can they get started?
Here are my top ways on how your child can start writing their book in the warmer days ahead:
Top 7 Ways To Write A Book In Your Child's Spare Time
- Brainstorm ideas during quiet times
As an online writing tutor, I have ideas constantly flowing around my head.
And when that occurs, I usually jot down my ideas on my phone and keep them in my idea folder. So encourage your child to jot their ideas down whether it is on paper or their phones, as you never know when they need inspiration.
And what better way to get inspiration is from their ideas!
- Draft ideas using a storyboard
Your child might be a visual learner and need help mapping out their stories visually. They can either sketch their storyboards, or you can get some storyboard templates online.
- Keep a notebook during travel time
If your child prefers to have their notes on paper, having a designated notebook just for their stories will help them to be more organised.
And they can jot notes while they are commuting to school or walking to the park,
TOP TIP: Advise your child to take pictures of their notes and leave it on a secure hard drive, just in case their notebook goes walkies.
- Set a regular writing routine
If your child needs help to be consistent with writing, maybe get them to carve out this time in their routine. But have this as a separate allocation to their school work, as we want them to see this as a leisure activity and not a chore.
In the same way that they might play football once a week, writing their novel can be the same as preparing for their extracurricular activities, without them having to write it down on their home school or in-school timetable.
- Set a realistic time to write
With all homeschooling or home learning activities, we have to teach our children that less is more.
If they can only commit to an hour of their book a week, then let them stick to an hour. If they can do more depending on the amount of energy they have, or if it is even less than 30 mins, that is fine also.
Tell them that they need to pick a time that is realistic and manageable.
- Get inspiration from their favourite writers
This is a great opportunity for your child to explore their favourite writers and to discover how they get their inspiration.
Our children are so privileged to have the world of Google and UTUBE at their disposal because they find so much information with the touch of a button!
So get them to research books that they have enjoyed in the past and the authors.
Hopefully, they can find a video of the author on UTUBE.
- Share ideas (if possible)
During their writing journey, encourage them to share their ideas with someone that they trust, and someone that would give them positive feedback.
Maybe their teacher, tutor, older relative or you!
My Writing Journey So Far.........
I have been very quiet about my writing journey, and I think this is the first blog I am talking about it. But I am currently writing two books at the moment; one is a help guide to grammar for parents with teenagers, and another is a children's novel.
I have completed my plan for my novel so far and used a book that helped me delve deep into the characters.
It took me months to just do the plan of the story, but this method aims to get you to have an engaging and consistent story for your readers and to attract your target audience.
This book is more for adults, but for a children's help guide to writing a novel, I would recommend:
However, I am finishing my help guide to grammar first, and aim to finish the novel by 2022.
If you have any more questions about my writing journey, please reach out to me and let me know.
So to Conclude.....
Top 7 Ways To Write A Book In Your Child's Spare Time
Brainstorm ideas while they are having their quiet times
Draft ideas using a storyboard
Keep a notebook on their travels
Set a regular writing routine
Set a realistic time to write
Get inspiration from their favourite writers
Share ideas (if possible)
コメント