spelling

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How an Unschooler Learns to Write

My daughter Imogen loves writing. It’s part of who she is. “When did you start writing?” I ask. “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing.” My fourth child was writing stories long before she knew how to form letters into words. “Do you remember how Charlotte and I would sit side by side at the kitchen table and draw…
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How Kids (and Adults) Learn

In this week’s podcast, episode 108, I’m telling some stories and chatting about how kids and adults learn: What is the best motivation for learning? Why do we persist using teaching methods that we know aren’t working? Why do we waste our time? Would more people unschool if there was no such thing as homeschool registration? What bad habits have adults learnt…
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Encouraging Kids to Write (and the Youngest Child in the Family)

When my son Duncan was about six or seven years old, his head was bursting with stories he wanted to tell. Every morning he would sit in front of an old manual typewriter and hammer on the keys and his tale would appear on the paper. While he worked, his face was lit up with a huge smile. His whole…
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Sharing Some Thoughts on Children and Writing

Will my child write? This seems to be a fairly common worry for parents. Some children want to write and some are more reluctant.  All my children are writers and always have been. Is this because I am a writer and they are following my example which they have grown up with, or do they have writing genes? I often…
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Some Bits and Pieces…

The other day I was looking at a letter Gemma-Rose had written to a friend. It was long and detailed and her spelling was almost perfect. “When did you learn to spell so well?” I asked. Gemma-Rose shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I do read a lot, you know. Maybe I remember what the words look like.” Well, she…
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Wanting to Learn How to Spell

Gemma-Rose isn’t a defiant child so when she said to me, “You can’t make me learn anything I don’t want to learn,” I stopped and listened. We were talking about spelling. Did Gemma-Rose want me to enrol her in an online spelling program? “No thank you, Mum.” “Well, how will you learn how to spell?” “I’ll pick it up as…
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