Latest / The Christy-Faith Show / Ep. 114 - Why Your Kid Hates Writing — Two Master Teachers Divulge Their Secrets

Transcript

Ep. 114 - Why Your Kid Hates Writing — Two Master Teachers Divulge Their Secrets · The Christy-Faith Show

• 0:00
  Christy-Faith: Today's episode is taking me on a little trip down memory lane. When I was in graduate school and teaching full time, Scott and I didn't even have a penny to pinch together. I was tutoring on the side, and a lot of that tutoring was helping junior high kids learn how to write. And when I was planning today's episode and asked our guests to come on, I was reminded just how gnarly it is to teach writing. It's a big pain point for a lot of parents.
• 0:26
  The writing process asks kids to pull so many different skills out of their hat. Some come more naturally than others, and it's a lot to manage for the kid and for the parent teacher as well. I've been wanting to do an episode on writing for a while now because I know it is a struggle for so many of you listening. A lot of our mentoring in office hours is help. My kid hates writing or what writing curriculum is good, Christy?
• 0:51
  So when I decided to finally buckle down and do an episode on helping you guys teach writing to your kids in your homeschools, I knew exactly who I wanted to invite. She has a master's in elementary education, years of full time classroom experience. She presents workshops on teaching methods nationally and internationally. She homeschools her own grandkids, and she has become a dear friend of mine. I kinda wanna be her when I grow up.
• 1:18
  I don't know if she'd call herself a master teacher, but I absolutely will. So ladies and gentlemen, get out your notepads because today we are going to make you an amazing writing teacher for your kids. Some of what we cover today might surprise you. Some of it is going to give you that validation that you didn't know you needed. It's always good to know if we're on the right track.
• 1:40
  And if we do this right today, your kids just might fall in love with writing. Let's go. Welcome to the show, everybody. Sharon, I gave the listeners a little snapshot about you in the intro, but I wanna give you a chance to kinda fill in those gaps and introduce yourself to the ladies and gentlemen listening.
• 2:12
  Sharon Fisher: Well, first of all, I am very grateful to be able to talk to you about this because I know this is something you're passionate about for your own kids. But I'm I'm a mom. I'm a homeschool mom. I was a or a homeschool grandmom, I should say. I was a classroom teacher for a number of years, and where I really learned the writing process was by teaching it myself.
• 2:30
  So I do have an understanding of wanting to help moms not to be intimidated by this, because I had to learn it as I was going with my kids too. So it's okay to feel that way. I was a classroom teacher for a lot of years and became really interested in writing. Actually, I wanted to write a children's book for years. Never got to do that yet, and I keep thinking maybe one of these days, I'll do that.
• 2:54
  Maybe I'll do with my grandkids. I don't know. But in any event, I love teaching writing with my grandkids because we keep it pretty low key, but I also have the big picture in mind for them as they're getting older. And your kids are getting older too, knowing that they're gonna need some skills. I have to say that when I went to school, I went to public school, and we didn't do a lot of writing.
• 3:15
  We did a little bit of writing, but when I went to college, it was a huge shock to me to write a paper. It was devastating, actually. I felt very foolish because I hadn't really done much writing, and so it was very difficult for me to go through that writing process. I'd never been introduced to it before, and so it's kind of awkward at that point because there's a lot of writing going on. So now, as I'm thinking about homeschooling and the opportunities that we have to develop our children to give them those skills, writing is important, and we want to start as early as possible when it's appropriate for them to learn those things.
• 3:50
  So that's kinda my passion is to to be able to teach them when it's appropriate, give them the steps that they need so when they do whatever it is god's called them to do as adults, they're equipped to do it.
• 4:00
  Christy-Faith: My story is similar to yours. We didn't do much even though I was straight a student, pretty much a b here and there. When I got to college, I had a rude awakening. And you know what happened? Sharon, one of my professors in the history department brought me aside and offered to mentor me and teach me how to write, and he did.
• 4:20
  And I met with him on a regular basis and implemented everything that he was teaching me and tried to get better each time. But without him, man, I really did not understand the writing process. I think that one of the reasons why teachers don't assign a lot of writing is because it takes forever to grade. Because I was a seventh grade teacher later on in junior high, and I would spend hours grading the papers and marking up the papers, and it's really hard and time consuming to do when you're already working massive hours per week as a teacher. Don't you think that's part of it?
• 4:49
  Sharon Fisher: It is. It's very tedious. In fact, my, daughter-in-law teaches sixth grade English, and I know that during spring break, she told me she had 84 papers to grade. And that's just the papers. That's not even the process things that she has to do, and it it took a long time, and there was some dread there.
• 5:06
  But on the other hand, she was super excited to see where the kids had come, what they had learned, and then where to go for the rest of the year. So it is really it can be a lot. So I think for a homeschool mom, it's keeping it in perspective, what writing looks like by the grade level, where your child is, and having the big picture in mind. Because if you're doing things systematically and thoughtfully, it's not going to be as big of a trauma. And then for the parent, you're learning how to grade and what's important to grade, so that by the time they're doing the higher level things, this is not as big of a deal.
• 5:39
  In fact, most homeschool kids that I know, especially particularly using BJU Press homeschool, those kids thrive in college. Their writing skills are fantastic. So I think it's just perspective and just being equipped to do the things that we need to help them to do.
• 5:56
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. And, you know, I love that you said that so it's not such a shocker, like a lower lowercase t trauma when they're older like it was for you and me. Because I think that, you know, kind of like exposure therapy, just the more you're doing it, the easier it is. And that's one thing that is very important to me is my kids are producing a piece of writing every week in their homeschool. Is it perfect?
• 6:18
  Are some weeks better than others? Yeah. But just doing it, just Mhmm. Doing it makes the process so much easier. I know that today you kind of prepared, which is so amazing, some important mentoring points for us homeschoolers to keep in mind.
• 6:37
  And I think this is gonna be so incredibly valuable. If you haven't gotten your notebook, get it out now. This could even be an episode that you listen to with your kids, actually. It might be really cool. But I wanna ask you the first question.
• 6:50
  How do most parents approach writing, and where do you think it goes wrong?
• 6:55
  Sharon Fisher: Well, it's hard to know how most people parents approach writing. I think a lot of it depends on your experience with writing. So if you love writing, if you love literature, if that's your thing, you're gonna approach it a little differently from one who has dread. And I think for just like for a lot of other moms, if you've had that not good experience with writing, you're approaching it with, I don't even know what this is. I don't know what it looks like.
• 7:19
  So you're looking at curriculum, and you're trying to decide what is the best thing, and you're overwhelmed by all kinds of things, and what's the what's the right appropriate thing for my child. So there's already too much information
• 7:30
  Christy-Faith: Mhmm.
• 7:30
  Sharon Fisher: For that parent. So I think understanding for a parent, you know, what are your goals? And it really every child is different. Even knowing for which child what your goals are gonna be, and they're gonna change for a child as well. So I think really just evaluating, you know, why are we homeschooling?
• 7:46
  What are my goals for this child this year? And being realistic, you know, because people will sell you everything. We have all the things. This is why you need this, and this is why you need this. So, you know, I think that looking over the big plan for your child, what do I want my child to be able to do and accomplish in elementary school, in middle school, and in high school?
• 8:07
  And then how do I go about doing that? And then get the materials and and structure your your homeschooling, your plan for your child, have those things to support you as you do it. So really, you're the decision maker. You decide what your child needs, but then get the right things that you feel will help support you and not keep you from doing a good job. So if you have too much stuff, way too much grammar, way too many projects, we're doing lab books, we're doing book reports, we're doing letter to the editor, we're doing and we're writing ourselves silly, We've worn ourselves out.
• 8:40
  So I think where we can go wrong is that we could get a little too excited Yes. And and overwhelm ourselves, but also we need to have a plan. And I I think for new homeschoolers, we probably don't know what the plan is. So, you know, that's gonna be part of having those discussions with your spouse or with a trusted mentor. You know, what do you think is useful?
• 9:05
  What has worked well for your kids? For me, when I'm looking at the big picture for my grandkids, because I've raised kids now, I know what I think is important for them at first grade. We've got one in the first grade, one in seventh grade. I also am looking to her future for high school and beyond. And so I'm constantly evaluating what is important, and where is she lacking?
• 9:27
  What do we need to build up on? What do I need to cut back on? So I think for a parent, it's just being really aware of what your child needs, and then giving yourself the materials and the tools you need. And don't overwhelm yourself. You're not gonna get everything perfect immediately, and that's okay.
• 9:44
  This is a process. So
• 9:46
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. Well and I have an opinion on this, and maybe it's a hot take. But I don't love teaching writing in homeschooling with like a spaghetti on the wall approach or find this download on Pinterest and do that. Or I definitely view the writing process very similar to how I view the science of reading, and also we now are there's all this news coming out on the science of math. I definitely see the value just when I look at child psychology, developmental psychology with kids, that a systematic approach to teaching composition is what will produce a great writer.
• 10:22
  And, and so and there are lots of programs out there. I have my favorites, but, that that do that and sticking with it because I also think that for, mom maybe in her first five years of homeschooling, having that security blanket of, okay, I know this produces really strong writers in the long run. We are going to do, you know, this small lesson today. Now, Sharon, you are big. When you do your talks on writing across the country, one of your main points that I think is really important, I think we should start here because it's a little bit of a deschooling sesh, which I think is really important, is you talk about that writing is a process, not an event.
• 11:01
  Can you talk about that mindset shift? Because this alone could, you know, could be everyone's price of admission for listening today. This one first point, don't you think?
• 11:10
  Sharon Fisher: Right. Well, absolutely. And I think it's it's really very simple. And for a lot of moms, I think we just don't know this. So there is a writing process, and really you can find this just about anywhere.
• 11:22
  Print it out, and put it in front of you, but you know, there there is a process. So if we don't follow the process, we're not going to have the best possible product. But not only that, also, the process gets icky for you as the parent and also for the child. There's frustration. So it it is important to follow the process mostly so that you can accomplish your goals and be happy while you're doing it.
• 11:46
  So, you know, learning to draft requires time. You know, I'm the kind of person when I type my typing is terrible. So when I'm drafting, I'm drafting away, but we have tools now to help us with our spelling and our grammar. But for a young child, drafting sometimes is learning how to sit down and hold a pencil Mhmm. And then thinking through things.
• 12:05
  And most kids, when they get a blank piece of paper, it's like that it's everything's ethereal. We don't know what to do. So as a parent, we need to give them some structure, but it doesn't have to be intense. It can be something very simple. So for, you know, for a first grader or kindergarten, today, we're gonna write about and we just saw the moon landing.
• 12:25
  You know, we just saw all that happen yesterday. So what do we do to introduce it? Well, we may get out pictures of the moon. We might watch a video. We might talk about things.
• 12:35
  We might have some vocabulary and some words that would be interesting. Right? And we toss around ideas. And for a young child, that probably means I'm jotting them down as the parent because they're not proficient at writing it. Right?
• 12:49
  So I may help them draft or write a sentence or two. But for an older child, they should be able to make an outline, use a graphic organizer, and basically, we're just planning. A lot of times when we accomplish things in life, we have to have a plan. We just don't go right to it. We are planning.
• 13:06
  We're writing an outline. We're thinking three things. We're crossing them out. We're revising. We're changing our minds.
• 13:14
  Right? You know, you and I did that when we talked about this. I had an idea. You had an idea. We Yeah.
• 13:18
  We go through it into AI. We both changed it again. We're changing it as we go.
• 13:23
  Christy-Faith: By the way, her idea was the best idea.
• 13:26
  Sharon Fisher: I don't know about that. It all comes together. And at the end of the day, that's part of the beauty of it is sometimes it's the process that helps us to get to where we go. You know, it's a journey to get there. So we're gonna plan.
• 13:39
  We're gonna draft. But then once we have our plan and our draft and we're writing, we're gonna double check, and we're gonna check our grammar. And what is appropriate for first grade grammar is gonna be different for a sixth grader or a twelfth grader. So I'm not gonna expect my grandson to use quotation marks and commas and things in first grade. He's not ready for that.
• 13:58
  So I'm gonna be accepting of of different things for him than I am for a dolert child. So for me, as the parent, then having a rubric or having some type of goal for them Mhmm. Is important while they're drafting, while they're revising, while they're proofreading. And then when we're grading it, we're checking it. And then I have a rubric for the child too because they need a checklist, especially if your child is struggling with attention.
• 14:24
  You know, they need to check off and go, did I do this? Did I do that? Because that helps them to be a better writer. And for me, I need a checklist all the time. So this is a really good thing.
• 14:34
  And then teaching your child how to revise, teaching your children to go back over the grammar, making sure, did we explain this well? Did I forget some steps? But for me as the parent to do that, I need that writing process just as much as my kids do so I can help walk them through it. So I need to understand it really well. And that's where I think having a good curriculum or having good materials that explains those things to you Mhmm.
• 15:01
  And then shows you a mentoring text, shows you examples. Right. And then you tweak it and make it work for your child.
• 15:09
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. Okay. So there were so many things there, and I was writing a couple notes because I wanna revisit a couple of gems that you had touched on back there. So when you were talking, it reminded me of a story. This was when I was in my early twenties.
• 15:23
  My parents lived in North Carolina and I was in college and I would fly back for holidays. I was in California at Biola and, I would fly home to North Carolina. I'm not from North Carolina, but that's where my parents were living. They lived there for about a decade. Well, one of those Christmases, they were invited to a church gingerbread making party.
• 15:43
  K? And that was super fun. And the host family actually didn't even do the store bought. They actually baked all those pieces, which is yeah. That's but that's not here nor there.
• 15:53
  But here's my point. There was a father there, k, who I don't I don't really know. But I was only in my early twenties, and he was controlling every single aspect of his kids' gingerbread houses to the point where these kids just kind of stepped back. So this almost brings me to tears because I think that's a sometimes it's really great to use like different analogies to help us to shed light on it. Cause I wanna tell you what happened at co op on Thursday.
• 16:23
  Homeschooling four kids means I'm juggling roughly 24 different subjects at any given time. And a few years back during a particularly busy season, I hit a wall. I needed some serious help with the heavy lifting of teaching everything myself and managing schedules for four kids. That's when I found BJU Press Homeschool, and we've loved their courses so much that we keep going back. Some families use them for everything and love it.
• 16:45
  I use them for certain subjects. Either way, total mental load relief. Here's what my mornings look like now. Let us take science for example. My three girls do that one together.
• 16:55
  They fire up the lesson taught by a real teacher, well produced, actual teaching, not just click through busy work. And I sit there with my coffee, watch them, or make breakfast, and we discuss the big ideas. Every BJU Press homeschool course prioritizes critical thinking, a biblical worldview, and hands on learning. I just guide the conversation and pick which activity or pages or projects we want to do, and everything's already planned out. They have an online platform included for you called the homeschool hub, and it keeps everyone on track, both me and my kids, without micromanaging or nagging.
• 17:26
  And when I have questions, I call my Homeworks consultant. These people don't just help you get set up. They're available for you whenever you need them. It's like having a homeschool expert on speed dial. Go to bjupresshomeschool.com or click the link in the show notes to find out more.
• 17:40
  People are always curious what curriculum I use for my own family, and honestly, it changes. We've tried a lot over the years. Some work for a season and some completely missed the mark, but there is one that's stuck, CTC Math. It's a full k to 12 online math curriculum, and it's won oodles of awards for a reason. It's just that good.
• 18:01
  I use it for all four of my kids, and they couldn't be more different when it comes to math. Finding one curriculum that actually works for all of them, that's been nearly impossible. You know that pit in your stomach when you realize the curriculum that you just invested in isn't working again? Yeah. That was us until this one.
• 18:18
  The genius behind CTC math is that it's adaptive. The questions adjust to each kid's level in real time. So they're always challenged but never crushed. And mama, it does the teaching and grading for us. Yes.
• 18:32
  You heard that right. That's a homeschool mom's dream. Well, especially for me when it comes to math. I would think it's too good to be true if I hadn't been using it myself. And it's not just me.
• 18:41
  Here's why it's become the go to for thousands of homeschool families. Free diagnostics show you exactly where to start, access to all grade levels so your student can fill in any gaps or move ahead, short video lessons that keep your children engaged, automatic grading with instant feedback, and progress reports so you know exactly what's happening without hovering. Math used to be our hardest subject. Now my kids do it independently. Here's the best part.
• 19:08
  Our listeners get 50% off. Use the link in the show notes to do a free trial or to get that half off deal. Don't spend another year kissing math frogs. This one stuck for us, and I have a feeling it's gonna stick for you too. My youngest was drafting a paragraph, and it was going to be on her one of her favorite places and why.
• 19:26
  And it was just a simple paragraph with a topic sentence. She was doing it at co op, and she chose the library. And I had all in my own mind. I had all sorts of reasons that I think the library is really cool. Our library happens to be right next to a very good park that has kind of a man made pond a trickling stream that looks like a real stream and and this and that and the other.
• 19:50
  And I I had to stop myself during her brain dump. So like that first brain dumping phase of drafting or brainstorming, she was doing the brain dump where you just get everything out on paper. And by the way, those of you listening, this is how I write all of my books, all of my articles, everything. I start with a brain dump. And it was taking and here I know better.
• 20:14
  I know better. And it was taking everything in me to just be quiet. And so I think that's really important because what what I think people don't understand is the stakes are very high if we are not quiet. We are robbing them of their I almost wanna cry. Am I emotional today, Sharon?
• 20:34
  We are robbing them of the delight of their own ideas, of that final draft being completely their own. If we step in and start correcting or giving our kids ideas in that brainstorming and drafting phase. So did anything because you're just nodding and smiling. What do you have to say about that?
• 20:53
  Sharon Fisher: Yes. So one, good for you. This is the one most creative thing they get to do. You know? And so this is their voice.
• 21:05
  This is their opportunity. And if we squish that, what is the point of this anyway? They can produce a paper? No. And the reason I'm smiling is, and I hope you don't mind me doing this here.
• 21:17
  I I'm pulling something out from a twelfth grade book, and this is the big picture, and maybe this will help. Why are we writing in the first place? What is the point? We live in a world where God has given us a voice, and we have opportunity to share our voice, and we can be salt and light in using that voice and teaching our children that their opinion matters. That's why we do opinion papers, and we guide them when their opinion sometimes is a little off, and we have to help them understand.
• 21:46
  But at the end of the day, we have opportunity to influence. And if we're just squishing them down to what we think, they're not using their critical thinking skills. Mhmm. They're not they're not using their grammar and their writing and their figurative language. And all those read aloud things that we've given them and filled their hearts and minds with, we've just squished it down to a process.
• 22:07
  So the process is important, but that's not all the things. You know, we want that creativity. We want them to be able to, hey. You know what? Instead of writing a paper, could I do a play?
• 22:18
  Could I do a video? Could I do an interview? Well, yes, you can because god uses those things in their lives, and those are skills that we wanna develop too. So I think it's really important that, yes, we do need to follow process skills, but we don't wanna put them in a box. Right.
• 22:34
  And sometimes it's really hard because you're like, this is not my goal for you here. But at the end of the day, what really is the goal? And could I give them room to do that? And, you know, I will tell you, I'm never sorry when I do that ever. It's more beautiful and more wonderful than what I had planned, and it is more memorable for them, and it spurs them to do more.
• 22:52
  So good for you that you recognize that, and we definitely wanna encourage that in the kids.
• 22:58
  Christy-Faith: Yes. And she was coming up with stuff that I wouldn't have thought of and stuff that was off topic, and I did I not stop wrote down her brain dump because I can write much faster, and her brain was moving fast. Because later on in the editing stage, we can decide if that particular piece doesn't fit under the topic sentence. Maybe that will turn into a whole another paragraph. But if I would have stopped it Yep.
• 23:21
  I would have stopped the flow, I would have been doing her an incredible disservice. I love that. Yeah. Another thing too, I just loved teaching writing. And and there I was I taught when I was going through graduate school, I was also a teacher.
• 23:35
  I was
• 23:35
  Sharon Fisher: doing both. And
• 23:38
  Christy-Faith: really the secret, which is what we're talking about today, is as long as I broke down the writing process into really manageable chunks, no one thought it was too hard. Everyone could do that little piece. One thing that I love about the writing program that you use and so do I is that those chunks, they span over many, many days. So I wanna talk about smooshing. This is the next important thing because a lot of people are like, okay.
• 24:07
  Let's make an essay or let's make a paragraph, and they they tire their kid out. Their kid has now been sitting there for two hours having to do all of the writing stage process in, like, all that time. It reminded me of something because I'm doing a a master class coming up and I came up with a title a week ago that I was like, that's such a good title. Right? Guess what happened yesterday when I opened up the document and looked at my title?
• 24:29
  I was like, this is a terrible title. What was I even thinking? Right? If we don't step away Yeah. So anyway, I wanna talk about the writing process because it's very tempting to mash stages together.
• 24:44
  Like, for example, during drafting, correcting your kid's spelling. By the way, can you write no on the top of your notebook right now? And say, never do that. When your kid is just flowing and the ideas, you just you just praise those ideas. You're like, wow.
• 25:03
  What an imagination. Do not please do not correct grammar, spelling, or anything. But can we talk about mistakenly mashing the stages or stressing about spelling at the wrong time and this and that?
• 25:15
  Sharon Fisher: Yeah. So this is where the goals are for you. So you have the big overall goal of the project being however you wanna grade. You have your rubric for that. You can also create a a rubric or some goals for each stage of what you're doing.
• 25:30
  So I'm gonna just show you this is okay. This is just a first grade. I just pulled this is something my grandson's getting to do right now. Do you see how uncomplicated this is?
• 25:38
  Christy-Faith: Yes. Well, that's why, you know, BJCompress Homeschool does so great at the graphic organizers. Like, it it is and they're they're engaging for the kids to interact with.
• 25:49
  Sharon Fisher: Right. And you don't feel the need to spell everything correctly in a graphic organizer. So some of it is just the way you just the way you present. So for drafting, having a graphic organizer, you can find these everywhere. They're everywhere.
• 26:04
  Yes. And they're free just about everywhere. So you and you can do what doesn't work for one child will work for another, but a graphic organizer is a place to write, but it also helps you to organize. So you have your who, what, when, where, and they're writing freely, or maybe you're writing it freely. And don't worry about the spelling because the spelling doesn't matter right now.
• 26:24
  What we're trying to do is get the creativity and listen. Sometimes it takes everything just to get the creativity and and getting them on board to wanting to do it. And sometimes you may even have to do it with them or for them or, you know, if this is gonna be a really bad if your child is really hesitant, then why don't you do something together? Go, you know what I really was thinking about doing? I was thinking about writing down writing a letter to so and so, or I was thinking about making a project or whatever, and I really need your help.
• 26:52
  I will tell you when I go to my daughter-in-law or I go to my son Mhmm. Or I don't go to my grandkids and I tell them I have a project and I need some help, you know, there's a desire to help and to look at it at from their eyes. And it's not like, is her spelling correct? Is she doing it right? It's let me help you with this big picture.
• 27:11
  The other thing that's cool about this is when you're homeschooling, you have siblings. Right? So collaboration's a big deal. If your child is not really good at one thing, then have another one come along and go, here. Let me help you.
• 27:25
  Who's the who's the what, the why, the where? Mhmm. Let's put it into some blocks, and then let's see if we'd like it. And, you know, if we don't like it, we cross it off. We don't it's too much information.
• 27:36
  Like you said, your daughter had other ideas that would be good for something else. So if you're doing it on a computer, you just cut it, put it in a new document.
• 27:45
  Christy-Faith: Is your child struggling with attention, memory, reading, writing, or math? If you're experiencing this, you know how heart wrenching it is to watch them face these hurdles. You've poured love, time, and attention into their education, yet the struggle persists, leaving you feeling stuck and desperately searching for answers. You guys, I want you to know about LearningRx, a proven program designed to help your child's cognitive skills, enabling them to think faster, learn more easily, and perform at their best. I'm talking getting real long term help here with things like ADHD and dyslexia.
• 28:17
  LearningRx is backed by thirty five years of research, and their results are transformative. Use code HOME 50 for $50 off your cognitive skills assessment. Go to learningrx.com or click the link in the show notes.
• 28:29
  Sharon Fisher: So the drafting is important because you wanna get the ideas. You wanna talk about things. There's no right or wrong answer. It doesn't matter if it's spelled correctly. We're just getting ideas.
• 28:40
  This is just fun. If it's not fun, then go get some hot chocolate and go somewhere else outside or go somewhere and have some fun. If this isn't fun now, it's not going to be fun later. So writing, drafting, and getting these ideas, the the brain dump, all that is important, but then we have to whittle it down because it's too much information. So once we start to write, you know, this is where you're gonna start thinking through things and going and this is you as a parent.
• 29:11
  I would like three paragraphs. Right? And at this point, you've already taught, hopefully, what a paragraph looks like, what a sentence looks like, what is a good sentence. It has these characteristics. So for a first reader, we're just writing sentences.
• 29:27
  Mhmm. We may just write three sentences, and it may take me a week to write a good sentence. And then we read it together, and we double check the spelling, or I may have to check check the spelling with them. Is this really what you wanted to say? Let's revise it.
• 29:42
  Let's rewrite it. For an older child, you're letting them write, and then you're double checking. Okay. We have a topic sentence. Is this really did you have your proof?
• 29:52
  Did you, you know, did you have your main ideas? Did they meet the need of the topic sentence? Did you support it properly? So as you're getting older, you're getting more technical.
• 30:02
  Christy-Faith: Yes.
• 30:02
  Sharon Fisher: But you also have the checklist to help them. So I actually for my granddaughter, she's doing a seventh grade project, and I took her rubrics, which I love the rubrics because it's helping us to keep a list, and I put it into AI. And then I added my own notes to it, and I said, this is what I want because I'm looking at I know her.
• 30:23
  Christy-Faith: Yes.
• 30:23
  Sharon Fisher: And I know her tendencies to do things, and I and there's some things at this point that I know are weaknesses for her
• 30:30
  Christy-Faith: Mhmm.
• 30:31
  Sharon Fisher: And things that are strengths. I put it into AI, and I said, I want you to give me a step by step. So it created a document that's 10 steps long and an explanation, and I explained it to her. And so step one, and she can check it off. You're going to do this, and absolutely, I need to be explicit with her.
• 30:50
  You need to do this. Step number two, do this. Step number three, and now there's freedom to do that. And then step number four, introduction. Now we're structured again.
• 31:01
  Number five, write your paragraphs. I explained what to do, and I need by seventh grade, I need x y z, and then I need this counter conversation. Write your conclusion. And now now we've done this drafting, which in her case has been four steps. Now she's going to revise, and then I tell her what that looks like, what revising looks like, what editing looks like.
• 31:26
  Yes. I will come alongside her and help her do that because I wanna make sure the things that we've learned in grammar are corrected and things maybe she didn't know, and I can help her learn in that process happens. And then we're gonna proofread it, and we're gonna make sure it makes sense, and then we're gonna do our final and produce it.
• 31:46
  Christy-Faith: Oh, that's so great. Well, something came to mind that you were using AI. I used AI recently for in in a different subject area, but very similarly. But I think that if for the parent where maybe there's a little bit of negative history there, that putting it through AI, it's really coming it's AI is telling you to do. Like, is doing best practices.
• 32:07
  This isn't me, mommy delivering this in a in a way, and it could mitigate some arguments. But something that I think is really important just to put out there in terms of humanity, okay, is that people love and want to be heard. Yes. And they want to be understood. And we are created to be imaginative.
• 32:31
  We've been given tools to be able to communicate. So when I see a kid, just in all the years that I've been teaching, when I see a kid who says I hate writing, there's I am not like, oh, I don't give up. I want to I view that as, okay. I gotta investigate. What's happening here?
• 32:52
  Because it's it's the same as when you hear someone say, oh, I don't like reading. They actually love story. There's other stuff that and it could be a multitude of things going on, whether it's perfectionism, you know, with writing, which I wanna hit on in just a second here, or all sorts of things that can make you not enjoy a process that we actually are designed to enjoy. So one thing though, I wanna backtrack a smidge because we're talking about the writing process. And something that I wanna make sure just on like a a mentor from, you know, us two writing teachers to you mama right now
• 33:26
  Sharon Fisher: Mhmm.
• 33:26
  Christy-Faith: Is whatever step you're on, praise the effort in that step. So if your whole idea if the if that is the brainstorming phase and you're doing brain dump, praise that particular activity just for what it is. And then you complete that writing task, and then you go to drafting. And and even with my reluctant writer, I just say, write well, she's at the point now where I can say, write your first two sentences and bring them back to me, and I'm gonna give you she loves physical touch, so I say you're gonna get a hug. And she'll come back for the hug.
• 33:59
  Right? We even do this with cleaning the kitchen when it's a lot of dishes. I go just do 10. Do 10 of the hand wash. Come, and we'll I'll give you a hug and a high five.
• 34:08
  But make sure that you're not jumping ahead or praising, like, final result or anything. You're you're literally just praising that particular thing so that they feel so good about what they just did. Could you do better? Yeah. You're grown.
• 34:23
  Of course, you have better ideas than them. Like, duh. Right? So Right. But these are their ideas.
• 34:29
  And so I think that's really hard sometimes for parents to realize, like, it could be so much better. It could they could do this. They could say this. They could do this. No.
• 34:37
  No. Because you're not seven. This is great for seven. Like, it's the writing process. Now I wanna ask you one thing because I think this is really important is some kids have if they may maybe been pulled from school, they have a little bit of trauma wanting maybe their spelling to be correct during the wrong stage, during the drafting stage.
• 34:58
  Can we talk about I wanna just give a mom a tip right now. What do you tell your grandkids? And I can tell you what I say to my kids regarding the spelling or hating to write because they they're slower because their brain's working faster than they can write because they're maybe perfectionist with their sentence structure or their grammar or their spelling. How do you help your grandkids with that?
• 35:22
  Sharon Fisher: Yeah. Well, I think too for the parent, knowing these stages is important. So the planning stage and I guess I didn't I didn't clarify this the way I wanted to. The planning stage is planning. There may not be a lot of writing at all in the planning stage.
• 35:37
  Right. This is conversational. Right? So there's not gonna be spelling checks in planning because you're talking. And by the way, this is why it takes two weeks to write or more.
• 35:49
  The other thing, just as a side note, don't plan so many writing projects that you can't do this well. It is better to do Mhmm. Two or three of these really well in a year. I used to say four. Now I'm cutting it way back depending on the age.
• 36:04
  It is better to take the time because homeschooling is relational. Right? That's the whole point of this. So don't lose out on the opportunity for for the planning stage. That's sitting down and talking and jotting down notes, and so there's no point in grading anything when you're planning anything.
• 36:23
  When you're drafting, you're literally just writing out. You're having some structure there, but when you're getting to the point where you've written what you think you wanna say and all that, that's when you're gonna start editing. So, you know, you're going to look at editing or proofreading. So I have an eye. In fact, I have it right behind me.
• 36:42
  I have a little thing that says, I'm silently correcting your grammar. No pressure. I know. There it is. It's on my desk.
• 36:51
  I'm oh,
• 36:51
  Christy-Faith: that's so funny.
• 36:52
  Sharon Fisher: I I have that eye for grammar. I'm looking for detail, but what I don't always have an eye for is the big picture. The revising?
• 37:03
  Christy-Faith: Let's talk about let's talk about difference between revising and editing because you say that in your experience that a lot of moms mash those two together and combine them, and they really do need to be separate stages. Can you just take a moment on that?
• 37:19
  Sharon Fisher: Sure. So once they have drafted, they've written out again, we don't care about the spelling right now. The spelling is part of the proofreading. Just like a person who writes a book or writes an article, no one's checking that. What we're looking for at the end of the day is a product communicated well.
• 37:36
  So I don't need to communicate everything well as I'm working through the process. The end product is what I'm trying to communicate well. Right? So I'm looking for grammar, and I'm also looking to revise. And I used to do these together in second grade and in third grade, because I could help them.
• 37:56
  I was working with them on it. Right. But as they've gotten older, I've had definitely separate them because what happens with revising, especially a child who's been creative, in the planning, is that they're looking for the clarity and the logic of what they're planning. So if we have something that is a step by step, we have to look at and go, okay. First first, this happened, then that happened.
• 38:22
  And sometimes kids, if they're doing a book report or they're working through their thoughts, they're just blurbing out a whole bunch of stuff, and it's not a logical progression of what happened. So, you know, if I were to bake a cake or something based on a recipe that my child wrote, and it wasn't in a logical progression, I would not be able to bake the cake. You know, they're thinking about, hey. Get the stuff out. Make it You have a cake.
• 38:44
  Well, wait a minute. And I have done this many times where I've read through a recipe online, and I'm looking for the ingredients, and I'm looking for how long to bake it. And then I miss the part in the middle that tells me it needs to marinate for an hour. Right? Or I need to let the it rise for an hour, and then what put it refrigerate it, and I miss that whole point.
• 39:08
  Well, then guess what? I can't bake the cake. I can't make the the chicken. It has to wait another day because I didn't take the time to read through those instructions. So for me as the writer then, I need to be able to be clear in communicating.
• 39:23
  I need those steps, or I need to be clear that if things aren't in the right order, I'm confusing the person who's reading it. So clarity, logic, I may need to rewrite something and go, that's not at all what I meant. You know, verbally, when we talk through things, I might say something to you. You make something say something to me, and I didn't communicate it well. I can come back and say to you, Christy, that's not what I meant, or I wish I had chosen another word.
• 39:50
  It wasn't clear enough. But in writing, you can do that. You can take that opportunity and go, let me read that out loud so I can hear it, or have someone else listen to it, or have someone else read it. And this is really important. So a lot of times when I'm writing an email or a text message, my husband, I will go to him and go, does this sound snarky?
• 40:12
  And or he'll say, well, that's really good, but you're not really communicating the point. You know, get to the point. And that's where he's gifted. My husband can see very clearly. I have all the words.
• 40:25
  I have all the thoughts. I have all the emotions. He can look at the main points and go, here's what you here's the end line. Here's the map you need to get to this point. What's the best way to get to that point?
• 40:36
  That's what revising does. It gets me from my topic sentence and my introduction to my conclusion. And so when I'm revising, I'm looking through it and going, I I don't need that. Or, you know, I said a whole lot about the colors of the flowers, and that had absolutely nothing to do with Yeah. Whatever.
• 40:56
  So that's the revising portion. The editing portion is gonna be your grammar. And I will tell you, if you do the editing first, that is a mistake. Because when you go to revise, you will probably have grammar errors. So what my recommendation to you is do your revising, look through it, and go, okay.
• 41:14
  That's not what I wanted to do. I think I wanna add that. I totally forgot this character over here. Or, mom, you know what? I I realize now that's not at all what I wanted to say.
• 41:26
  I was working on this argumentative paper, and I thought I wanted to say this. But now that I've read through all the material and I've done the research, that's not exactly what I wanted, or my opinion has changed. Okay. Then let's go back and redo. And, oh my goodness, this is gonna take another week.
• 41:43
  Christy-Faith: Yes. Okay.
• 41:44
  Sharon Fisher: Then that means I stop grammar, or I stop handwriting, or I stop whatever, literature, or I stop science, whatever it is I need to do. Because right now, we're getting it. We're cooking. So we're gonna do it. Right?
• 41:59
  And then when it's all where we think we want it to be, we check the grammar. We check to make sure our paragraphs look good. If we're doing it on Word or Grammarly or Copilot, however we're producing it or writing it all out, we gotta double check and make sure things look good, however we publish it, and then we publish it. And then when we grade, we're not just grading the final product. We are also grading the fact that we've done the planning, the drafting, the revising, the editing, because that took a long time.
• 42:30
  Right? Yes. That is all part of it. Or you know what? If you don't want to grade it, then don't.
• 42:36
  You you can choose. At the end of the day, what was your goal for that child? For me, the older they are, the more important it is to grade. Because at that point, we have done this is evidence of understanding grammar. This is evidence of understanding comprehension, whatever my goals are for that child.
• 42:52
  So I hope I answered that. That was a lot of information there.
• 42:55
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. No. That was fabulous. And what we get a lot in Thrive Homeschool Community actually, as you're talking, I'm like, oh, no. Sharon needs to come into Thrive Homeschool Community and teach a master class on each of the steps.
• 43:07
  Right? So ladies, comment. If you're in Thrive Homeschool Community, comment if you're like, Sharon needs to come and teach a master class on this Because there is so much, and we could go kinda like systematically. But there's one thing that I want to I think moms might find this really encouraging because what you were just saying, and no, you were not saying too much, is you were viewing, and I agree with you, you are viewing the writing, learning to write as a skills based approach rather than a content completion approach. Listen.
• 43:41
  Listen up, people listening. If you are viewing teaching your kid writing as finishing the curriculum and all the assignments in the curriculum, and you're just rushing through, they're not going to learn how to write well. They're not. Now there's a nuance to this because then if your kid is struggling, do you wanna spend six weeks on one paragraph? Also, no.
• 44:06
  There comes a point where you say, you really have to see the forest for the trees when it comes to teaching writing. You have to really say, you know what? They grew they grew a lot. Let's move on. It's kind of like with your piano teacher.
• 44:19
  I don't know if you guys have a good piano teacher or a bad piano teacher. But sometimes we had a piano teacher that I fired because he expected perfection before they could move on. And that is not I don't think that's healthy. He had a lot of other personal issues. I fired him.
• 44:34
  But my point is is that if your child grew a lot with that particular piece, praise them. Give them the the a. Whatever. If you grade, give them the a. Don't grade at all.
• 44:44
  You grew so much. These are the areas that, wow. I've seen you improve so much with your brainstorming. You're just so much more free with your brainstorming. That's so cool.
• 44:53
  Or like you found last essay, you only found one thing you needed to revise. This time you found two. Awesome. Like, could there be five? Yes.
• 45:03
  But we don't need to talk about all of the things. Right? It's really, really hard, I think, for parents to not want perfection at every single stage because they're worried their kid won't be able to write. And and also, this is something very real is often our homeschooling is judged by what our kids produce, and writing is one of those things that other people can see. I also think this is kind of like a hot take theory.
• 45:28
  I I haven't proven it, but I think this is why parents get so homeschool moms in particular get so hung up on spelling. Now, is spelling important? Yeah. But they get really embarrassed like if their kids at Sunday school and they're not spelling well, because they're it's gonna be a reflection on them and their homeschool. It is okay to not finish the writing curriculum for that year.
• 45:49
  You really need that gap and gain thinking where rather than all the stuff we didn't do, turn around. Turn the head around and say, look at all we've done. Look at how much we've grown. Don't you agree?
• 46:01
  Sharon Fisher: I totally agree. And the other thing to think about, it's the big picture. And if you're new to homeschooling, it's hard to see the whole picture because you don't really know what the whole picture is. But there is a there is a whole picture. Right?
• 46:13
  Christy-Faith: Yes. Hey. Shout out to Summit HealthShare for sponsoring this episode today. I love Summit HealthShare partially because it's my husband's company. What I think they're doing over there is absolutely incredible and life changing for many families.
• 46:27
  What is Summit HealthShare? Well, first, let me start with one of my rants about health insurance. Need I say anything? Probably not. But the co pays, the denials, the in network, out of network nonsense, having to get permission to see your doctor, paying thousands a month, and then them still fighting with you every time you need just basic health care.
• 46:47
  I believe so much in the freedom that comes with leaving health insurance and moving to health sharing. Now it's not health insurance, but it does replace it. And it's been around for over a hundred years. With Summit HealthShare, most families and companies save 40 to 60%, and they have a 98 customer satisfaction. You get to see any doctor that you want, even holistic ones.
• 47:12
  No networks, no permission slips. You ladies know how I feel about freedom. I want medical freedom too. Summit HealthShare has different plan options depending on what your family needs. You might just need major medical, and that's great.
• 47:24
  On our plan, we get a little bit more, and we get free labs, free office visits, free prescriptions, and no co pays. Our family of six has saved a thousand dollars a month. And if it sounds too good to be true, it's not. It's actually how health care should work. We've just been accustomed to overpaying for our health care, and a lot of us don't need to do that.
• 47:43
  So if you are on traditional health insurance at all, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go to summithealthshare.com. When you get to the homepage, you'll see the savings calculator. Go ahead and click that. It takes only two minutes.
• 47:55
  And when you see those numbers, what you should be paying for the health care you need, you are going to be grabbing the phone so fast because health care is a serious thing, and you're gonna have really personalized questions, and they are used to answering all of them. Tell them all of your concerns, all of your questions, and they will tell you full stop if this is gonna be a fit for you or your family. And tell them that you listen to the show because I want you to have the VIP treatment. Go to summithealthshare.com today, and the link is in the show notes. This podcast is also brought to you by The Christy-Faith List.
• 48:25
  Now hold up because I want you to know what this is. I'm really proud of what The Christy-Faith List has become. It started really scrappy just compiling recommendations because I was fed up with guessing which businesses and providers and doctors weren't gonna give me a hard time when I walked through those doors. And I had tons of friends and family members with nightmare situations where they felt like they were walking into an ambush situation just when they were trying to get help for their families. And I was sick and tired of the discrimination that homeschool families were getting.
• 48:56
  But since then, it has grown into a massive directory of colleges, businesses, doctor's offices, reading specialists, occupational therapists, homeschool graduates that are in business themselves now. You name it all in one place. Because why wouldn't we wanna do business with the people who share our values and actually want to work with homeschool families and not give us a hard time? It is completely free for homeschool families to search. And if you are a business owner or part of an organization that loves homeschool families and wants to reach more homeschool families and grow your business in that way, please sign yourself up.
• 49:29
  We wanna know who you are. It's the place where homeschool families support the people who support us. Go to the christyfaithlist.com today.
• 49:38
  Sharon Fisher: Using a spiral approach in writing is is is really helpful because we're gonna learn to do a letter. We're gonna learn to do an argumentative paper. We're gonna learn to do a book report. We're gonna learn to do a thank you note. We're gonna learn to do an opinion piece a lot of times between first grade and twelfth grader if you're
• 49:58
  Christy-Faith: starting And you're missing poetry, creative writing, stories, all those I love that's what I love about BJU Press homeschool curriculum is it's not the same ding dong five paragraph essay every week, and they get excited. They get excited about the new thing they're gonna write.
• 50:13
  Sharon Fisher: Well, and you need the break too. You know? Home is a great thing because it only takes it only takes one piece of paper. So every year as a parent, it's like, yay. It's a haiku.
• 50:23
  And it doesn't take five weeks to do a haiku too. So it it is true. But the point is if you if if if you're putting a lot of pressure on yourself, like, this is the one and only time if she doesn't get this argumentative paper right, her whole life is going to be ruined. No. It's not because you're gonna learn again, that's where having a structured writing problem program helps you because you're gonna learn to do fact and opinion here.
• 50:48
  You're gonna learn to do fact and opinion here. And, also, your reading program is really helpful too. Whatever you're reading and all that, for you, that means you need to bring those genres in. You need to expose them to poetry. You need to expose them to informative pieces and argumentative pieces and different types of literature so that you're talking about it in in your reading.
• 51:08
  You're talking about it in your everyday life. You're talking about it in what you're reading, you what you read and what you read aloud, what you watch on television, what you're reading on the computer. Mhmm. Those are all parts and pieces. So, this is very conversational.
• 51:24
  This is everyday stuff. It isn't isolated. You're we're going to write now. This is writing. Now let's focus on writing.
• 51:32
  And then, whew. Glad we're done with writing. Now we can move on. No. This is part of a big picture.
• 51:38
  This is part of their literacy. So writing, spelling, vocabulary. This is part of what you're doing all the time. So I think having the attitude of, look. This is not all one thing.
• 51:51
  It's a big picture for your child. You're reading aloud. You're getting different types of literature to read. You're talking about the spelling and the vocabulary in by the way, not just during language arts. It's also while you're doing history and while you're doing math and while you're doing science.
• 52:08
  So you're talking about those literary things. You're talking about how could we write something in this map writing a word problem or solving a word problem. Or when we're doing something in science and we're talking about how do we take we have journals. We write down things. We write down the the different phases of the moon and what it looks like or photos photosynthesis.
• 52:29
  Does it matter if I spell all the words correctly if I'm writing things down in science? Well, if I wanna quiz them on it, then we're gonna learn how to spell photosynthesis. Right? And I want them to explain what photosynthesis is, so we are gonna learn that. But I'm not gonna take a writing grade, a spelling grade, and a science grade on that project.
• 52:49
  Christy-Faith: Right? So I think
• 52:50
  Sharon Fisher: seeing big picture is important, and giving yourself a break in understanding this is all okay. And it's a process. Sure. It's a writing process, but it's also a process across their educational picture as well.
• 53:04
  Christy-Faith: Yes. And you mentioned something, and I think this is a really great last point of the day. The the reading aloud, exposing our kids to excellence of those versions of things, it's going to show them the model of
• 53:19
  Sharon Fisher: Yes.
• 53:19
  Christy-Faith: Of and I think it's important too reading aloud because often when our kids are reading silently to themselves or reading on grade level, I'm a huge believer in reading out loud, a grade level above even more if they can still understand it. What you just said is they're learning to write when they are hearing excellent writing. And I think that is such an important point. And also, you had mentioned, you know, the writing process is not it's not proprietary to any particular curriculum. Like, is just the writing process.
• 53:52
  But I do think that there are some curricula that are better than others at breaking it down in a manageable and engaging way. And, it's so funny. We well, maybe we shouldn't share the story, but or should we?
• 54:07
  Sharon Fisher: Should we? Share it. Okay.
• 54:08
  Christy-Faith: Well, remember when you invited me to BJU press? I forget what it was. And then we and then I was kind of a snobby because I was kind of a snob because here I am coming from the classical, more Charlotte Mason world, and I'm like, this is a traditional curriculum. You know? But but I went because I really I wanted to have an open mind.
• 54:30
  And can you share with the audience? We will get to the point on writing in just a second. But share with everybody how we actually met, like, our first conversation.
• 54:39
  Sharon Fisher: Yes. So I did not know you at all. Zan Tyler actually was the one who had introduced or had invited you to this foundation summit, and this is an event for just for homeschool influencers and also national leaders or people that we really wanna get to know and we glean from as well. So, you know, the attitude for me is one, we want to get to know you. We wanna be part of what you do.
• 55:06
  We want but we also want you to to know us as well. So I did not really know you at all. She would she would tell me background stuff. Oh, she's just amazing. And then I'm like, okay.
• 55:16
  Cool. And so we get on this big bus, and we from the hotel, we stay at the hotel. And then we ride over to BJU Press, and we do tours, and we do all this great amazing stuff. And I love our foundation summit. So, by the way, now since that time, I do this every time.
• 55:35
  Is now my new job. And, so sometimes people don't make it onto the bus. So now this is what I do every time. I always have my own car. Things happen, and I don't remember what happened, but somehow you didn't make it onto the bus.
• 55:54
  Christy-Faith: So Yes. I missed the bus. It was the Lord. It was God because
• 56:00
  Sharon Fisher: Oh gosh. I am so grateful, Christy. So we were talking, and you were telling me all about your book and about your approach to homeschooling and mostly just what you and your husband what? It was a really short ride. We got a lot covered in that period of time.
• 56:14
  But what your what your experience had been in the homeschool world where God had taken you, you know, for the different things that that you have done and the organizations that you had planned and all that, and what your vision was becoming and tweaking. And, actually, I've watched it even tweak more. In fact, every time I talk to you, it keeps tweaking. Yeah. Which is which is delightful.
• 56:38
  And anyway. And I just thought, wow. That's that's really a lot. And I tried to process, like, what does this mean? What does this look like?
• 56:50
  What can I glean from this? What am I missing in my life that I'm not catching here? What can I learn from her? And how can I how can I help her understand a biblical worldview so that whatever it is you're doing in the places that God has put you, you can be more effective in that? And so it's been really cool how we have both strengthened each other Yeah.
• 57:14
  Spiritually, but also friendship wise. But I'm constantly reminded by your group when you do a live or you're doing an event. I'm watching because I'm learning from you. I'm learning your, ability to talk to other people, but also who's new to homeschooling, what is the need. You're doing a lot of research, so that helps me, to understand what I need to do to help my understanding of things.
• 57:41
  I'm not just in my office here and just at a couple places where I'm focused on what I know, but it's broadening my horizons, but it also gives me an opportunity to put a little input where you're doing your big thing. So I am really grateful.
• 57:57
  Christy-Faith: Oh my goodness. Well, I'm gonna cut all of that out because this is not about me. No. Yeah. So but we met because I missed the bus.
• 58:07
  Yes. I missed the bus. It was unbelievable. And I was up in my hotel room. My girls were home, and they were there was a little bit of a crisis at home, and I got down, like, three minutes late.
• 58:19
  But I am so thankful that I missed the bus because I really got to get to know you and the heart of what you do and why you do it. And here, listen, BJU Press homeschool was not curriculum that I would have ever considered if I didn't really get an up close look at what they're doing, why they're doing it, the heart of it, but also the academic excellence behind it. And it absolutely has never contradicted my more classical Charlotte Mason leanings. In fact, I would argue, and maybe this is a hill I should die on, that it gives me the scaffolding to do that approach better.
• 58:53
  Sharon Fisher: You know? And I appreciate that because that is something that I knew that. Yeah. But having not taught Charlotte Mason style, I mean Yeah. I knew those things and you did, but it wasn't intentional.
• 59:04
  When you started telling me that
• 59:05
  Christy-Faith: Yeah.
• 59:06
  Sharon Fisher: I thought, thank you because it helps me to understand that better. Yeah.
• 59:11
  Christy-Faith: Because, you know
• 59:12
  Sharon Fisher: Explain it better.
• 59:13
  Christy-Faith: Right. Because classical and Charlotte Mason, it's not a curriculum. It's a it's a posture, and it's an approach. So but here's one thing that I will say is that, I've taught writing for since I was in graduate school. Since my early twenties, I have taught writing.
• 59:30
  And I can definitively say this, I have never seen a better writing curriculum than BJU Press Homeschool's writing curriculum in terms of the breakdown, the, the process that is totally digestible and encouraging for kids. It gives the teaching parent this absolute scaffolding, every single piece that he or she needs. The it separates the writing process into very small manageable chunks. And let me tell you, and here's where I kinda wanna end today. When my kiddos so not everyone does the writing program.
• 1:00:03
  You know, the way I use BJU Press homeschool is I kind of I don't use it for every subject. I don't use it as an all in one, though it's excellent at that, but I use it for certain subjects. But one thing that's super exciting is they have owned their writing process so much that when they get to the published stage, my daughter is running all over the house to read her her piece, whatever it is, whether it's friendly a letter or whether it's a haiku or whether it's an essay or a narrative. She's running all over the and then when the grandparents come over, she's bringing it down to read it to them because she owns it. She owns it, and she's very inspired by it.
• 1:00:38
  So you probably would have sound salesy if you said that. But I'll go ahead and say it because that's why I wanted you on in particular when I was doing a writing episode because I really think it is an excellent writing curriculum. So mamas, if you're looking for something that really makes your job a lot easier and also inspires your kiddo and is grade level, it is accurately grade level for where they are, please look no further than BJU Press homeschool curriculum. Now, Sharon, do you have any, like, parting? One, now you need to come in and teach a master class on the, the writing process because we there was look at all my notes, and we did not even touch the surface, but we're out of time.
• 1:01:17
  So but I I know for a fact that there were amazing nuggets and takeaways from today. But if you had one word to end with an encouraging note for the parents listening today, what would that be?
• 1:01:29
  Sharon Fisher: The word I'm thinking of right now is just joy. Because when we think of writing, joy is not the word. Yeah. It's it isn't the word we think of. When we think of planning, I could see some joy in that.
• 1:01:41
  Drafting doesn't seem very joyful. Revising and editing, you know, proofing doesn't sound very joyful. But when you talked about your daughter running around the house with what she produced, there is joy in that. And it's just like anything else that's hard and requires tedious work sometimes, you know, exercise, cleaning, you know, just to gear up to clean. You gotta think, oh, man.
• 1:02:04
  I'm gonna have to do this project, and I'm gonna know, you're thinking through it in your mind. But when you're done and you're in it, you're like, this is amazing. Look how clean my kitchen floor looks, or I'm so glad we took this vacation. It took me two weeks to plan, or I'm feeling so much better because I took the time. So for your child, you need to keep that big picture in their mind of what this is gonna be when they're done, like and the praise along the way.
• 1:02:29
  Watch your expectations. And remember, it isn't about all the tedium. The tedium is important. It's a process, but that's not what this is really about. It's their creativity.
• 1:02:40
  It's the joy of learning. And then when they're done, these are the memorable things. Right? At the end of the day, they're not gonna remember the grammar lessons. Even when you're an adult, I don't remember all the grammar I learned.
• 1:02:53
  I'm gonna remember the experiences that I had Mhmm. And the relationship. And if that relationship is strained because I'm over frustrated with my child, they're gonna remember that. But if they remember that my mom helped me through a hard thing and we were able to do it together and I have something to show for it, I was able to express myself and I was able to give my opinion, and I was able to make a difference in something I did, well, that's that's joy and that is success in homeschooling. So, mom, that's where I want you to keep your mind when you're going through all the parts and pieces on all that.
• 1:03:25
  Look at that big picture, and that's what you'll end up with when you're done.
• 1:03:29
  Christy-Faith: Man, can't think of a better way to end the show today. Ladies and gentlemen, I will put a link in the show notes for BJU Press homeschool curriculum, so you can check out everything that they offer. I use them for writing. I use them for bible. I use them for science.
• 1:03:45
  You know, I have four kids, so it really depends on the year and what we have going on with co op and all the things. But I will put a link so you can check it out in the show notes. Sharon, thank you so much for coming on today. This was great.
• 1:03:55
  Sharon Fisher: Oh, I'm so grateful. Thank you so much.
• 1:03:57
  Christy-Faith: Alright. We'll see you next week.