Writing Tips By Lorraine Curry The two most important daily activities for the Christian youth or adult are Bible reading and Journaling. In my books I stress the importance of Bible time for all. Journaling is also very important. My children who journaled seemed to have much more pleasure in, and success at, writing. (See examples in Easy Homeschooling Companion.) Let your young child see you journaling, even before that child writes. Here are some ideas for journaling. 1) Always date your writing. 2) Write daily. 3) Fiction becomes nonfiction. 4) Write the solution, not the problem. 5) Do Rapidwriting - no need to think, edit or rewrite. 6) Don't think any dream is too big. 7) Be specific. 8) Make lists, including lists of questions about your life. 9) Sometimes list the negatives and then turn them into positives. 10) Keep on writing, don't stop too soon - the solution will come! 11) Always carry a tiny pocket size notebook. 12) Pray on paper - write letters to God. 13) Write His answers. When your child sees you writing regularly, he will want to begin his own journal. A sentence or two is sufficient until fluency in handwriting is achieved. However, do not limit - let him write as much as he wants. Suggest your child write prayers, answers, daily activities (diary), goals,and dreams in his notebook or journal. Provide thought-provoking questions, such as "What is God telling you?" With many different types of writing, I have found it easiest to use one big spiral notebook, dating each entry and also giving each a title, such as Journal, Reviews, Goals, Questions, Answers, Letters to God and so on. Your children could use some of the above titles as well as subject titles, such as Current Events, in which section they would write their thoughts on a news event, election or candidate. When your children are writing sentences, teach them about paragraphs. Paragraphs Paragraphs are a key to organized writing and each paragraph contains one idea or thought and a topic sentence that sums up that thought in a nutshell. That paragraph also contains supporting sentences that explain or supplement the main idea in the topic sentence. (My first sentence in this paragraph was my topic sentence.) Here is how you could do this with your children: 1) Tell your students to write a rough draft composition (about one or two pages long). Emphasize that their work will be rewritten after they learn a new writing technique. This composition can be about a book read, an experience, trip or could even be an original story. 2) Next-perhaps the next day-have your children circle, highlight, underline or bold, if using a word processor, the sentences that are most important. These are the topic sentences. In a handwritten one page essay, there should be approximately 2-5. 3) Then, all the supporting sentences need to be gathered together with each topic sentence. You could use a different colored highlighter or pencil for each paragraph. Have your students highlight or circle the supporting sentences and then draw arrows to the circled topic sentence, which may also be highlighted. Change colors for each paragraph. 4) Rewrite into paragraphs, placing each topic sentence with its supporting sentences. 5) Organize the paragraphs by thinking what topic should come first, second and so on. Lorraine Curry is the author of 5 Star Easy Homeschooling books. See and link to more articles, FREE copywork, subscriptions, ebooks and more at http://www.easyhomeschooling.com