Essay writing is an unassuming activity. But it is one of the most useful and general skills one can learn. Essays are an essential part of a study load in schools and colleges. You can and will bump into written assignments virtually at any point in your education journey. Essay writing is definitely something you want to include in your child’s home-schooling.
The main advantage of practising your writing skills through essays is, of course, flexibility. By carefully picking the format and topic, you tailor the experience to perfectly suit the level and interest of your child. It’s a pretty straightforward activity, but there is still room for manoeuvre. So here are some tips on how to make the learning process enjoyable and efficient for both the child and parent.
Provide Examples
It is very hard to produce something without knowing what is expected of you. Before you move onto more direct matters like structure or topic, find good essay examples. These will serve as a rough baseline. Something you and your child can refer to and get inspiration from. There are plenty of essay examples out there with varying levels of difficulty and topic.
Solid Structure
An essay is a type of academic writing. That means it is supposed to have a distinct structure. Just putting your thoughts on paper can be a beneficial exercise as well. But in this case, you’ll have to do some editing. It’s completely fine to trail off from time to time. Don’t pressure your kid into getting it right on their first try. Learning is a lengthy process.
After the first draft of the essay is finished, read it together. Preferably out loud. Looking at the whole picture at once gives you a better perspective. Check for breaches of structure, long sentences, off-topic paragraphs. Let your child cut everything they think doesn’t fit.
Repeat until you get a perfect essay. Sometimes it might be necessary to take a break between writing and editing.
Picking a Topic
Picking a topic is what can make your child love the learning process. Even though it’s called an essay, it doesn’t mean you have to write about rocket science or physics. Think of something that your young student likes. Choose a topic they are passionate about, something they can discuss for hours. You know the kind. If you can’t think of anything – let
them pick a topic themselves.
Once they are comfortable writing about the familiar topics, you can slowly move out to more technical and more of a challenge. Again, it doesn’t have to be boring. Find something they don’t know yet but would like to find out about. Step by step, you can move further and further from the comfort zone to practice different skills and subjects.
Picking a Type
Structure, topic, and type of essay are what defines the written piece. These three things put a writer in a certain framework. That’s why it’s important to define these three cornerstones from the very beginning. Work from the base up, not the other way around.
There are many types of essays. They all represent different styles of writing. Basically, the type sets a goal that you have to follow. Whether you try to sway the reader’s opinion or analyze some problem, it is decided at this stage. Here are some of the major types of essays.
● Narrative
● Persuasive
● Analytical
● Critical
The names are pretty self-explanatory. There are many more, but the classification itself is not as important as the meaning behind them. Writing an essay means following a certain guideline. Writing a narrative essay means telling a story. Writing an analytical essay is analyzing a subject in detail. Keeping to these specifications is an important part of learning.
Essay writing is an extremely handy thing to practice. It will help your child to formulate their thoughts better, improve their communication skills and teach them to research and structurize.
It is also a pretty easy thing to work with for students and teachers alike. This makes essays an invaluable tool when it comes to any forms of homeschooling.
The main thing you want to do is to make the learning process engaging and fun for your child. It shouldn’t be a chore. You can even try using it as a downtime activity – a hobby of sorts.
Developing a positive association with writing from the start will make your job much easier in the future. And the skills acquired in the process will help your kid in pretty much any aspect of their lives.
*A collaborative guest post.
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These tips are so helpful! My daughter is working on writing an essay now for Language Arts. She hates writing, but with these tips maybe it will become a little more enjoyable for her.
Great tips. Being able to communicate your ideas to others is always going to be a good skill. #mmbc
Please keep in fun . A good school will help all children catch up when they reopen x
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