Rain writes!
[email protected]
I posted some of this elsewhere last week, but now Rain wants to share
her writing with this group, so the background seemed appropriate..
Between ages 5 and her 10th birthday last January, I'd estimate Rain
created maybe 20 pieces of writing, total. I'm not including things like
signing in at dance class or adding an item to the shopping list, but
anything with more than 2 or 3 words. Most were notes and letters, a few
were poems, a few were comic strips, one or two were political
statements... but none were longer than a few sentences, except maybe the
character bio she had to write last summer. They were spread pretty
evenly over those 5 years, too. Her mechanical skills improved some over
that time, slowly (although the "gap" between her skills and the
expected-for-grade-level skills continued to grow), but there was very
little substance to what she wrote. The average schooled kid probably
writes much more in a month than she wrote in 5 years.
Last Spring she started to write a little more . She discovered the Bio
feature on The Sims and created bios for a couple dozen Sims, all
humorous in a 10 year old way, none more than 3 or 4 sentences long. She
started passing notes during some of the shows she was doing, sometimes
in character. She also made some friends who were into email, and got her
own email address and started sending and receiving emails. In the
beginning she asked me questions, mostly about spelling, but she figured
out how to set up her account so spellcheck would run automatically
whenever she sent something, and 99% of the time her spelling is close
enough for spellcheck to fix. One of her best friends spent a month in
Europe this summer, so they sent quite a few emails.
So, I wasn't seeing much of what she was writing, buhe quantity seemed to
be picking up a bit. The things I did see were very preteen-note style -
"Arrrghhhhh! I am soooooo frustrated!!!!!" - and so on. Then a week or
so ago, while we were walking our dogs, she was telling me about an idea
she had for a series of books. Ideas for books are nothing new for Rain;
she has lots of ideas and stories in her head, she just never wants to
write them down, or dictate them to me. I listened and said something
about how she had such interesting ideas and good descriptive skills, and
I was really looking forward to reading her stories some day. I've
occasionally said similar things to her before, for years, so it was just
sort of conversation... but then that evening she sat down and started
writing, and filled almost a page in a spiral notebook. I aksed to see it
but she wasn't ready yet, but after writing a little more the next day
she let me read it.
I was, and am, impressed. I had expected writing to be a process that
started with simple sentences and pieces and then slowly became more
complex and detailed. I didn't expect her to go from never writing a
piece of fiction to creating the piece below. I guess this was another of
my blind spots, since reading happened much the same way - a few years of
playing with words and letters and books, then a 6 month period of
slightly more intense reading experiences, then she could read almost
anything fluently and competently.
So, Rain wanted me to share the beginning of the first chapter of her
first story with an unschooling list, so people could see that "when kids
decide they want to write they can". She's written a little more but
isn't sure if she's keeping it, so she didn't want anyone to read it
(including me). I did correct the spelling and punctuation, at her
request, although there weren't a lot of errors (which also surprised
me).
Her next plan is for an unschooling kids zine... stay tuned!
Dar
Hank
On a cold November morning, the wind was blowing, snow was falling, and a
kindly old man was standing on the sidewalk, selling newspapers from a
stand he had built himself. He was in his late fifties, with gray hair
and a beard, with glasses and true blue eyes.
On this day, not many people were outside, so Hank just sat on his chair
and waited for the usuals. At 8:17, Mr. Briefcase came (Hank did not know
any of his usuals names, so he gave them new ones). Time magazine and
the newspaper, his usual. Then, at 9:03, Mrs. Mommy and Candy came. Mrs.
Mommy bought Redbook and some candy for her daughter, but this time, when
the mother left, the daughter stayed.
Hank only started to worry when the child sat down on the curb and
started to read Mad magazine. He stared for a minute or two, then Hank
loudly cleared his throat. She gave him a blank look, then went back to
reading. Hank had no idea what to do, since he and his wife had never had
a child, so with nothing to do Hank fell on is safety net: He asked about
the weather. So, some snow we got here, eh? She answered with a look of
annoyance and confusion.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
her writing with this group, so the background seemed appropriate..
Between ages 5 and her 10th birthday last January, I'd estimate Rain
created maybe 20 pieces of writing, total. I'm not including things like
signing in at dance class or adding an item to the shopping list, but
anything with more than 2 or 3 words. Most were notes and letters, a few
were poems, a few were comic strips, one or two were political
statements... but none were longer than a few sentences, except maybe the
character bio she had to write last summer. They were spread pretty
evenly over those 5 years, too. Her mechanical skills improved some over
that time, slowly (although the "gap" between her skills and the
expected-for-grade-level skills continued to grow), but there was very
little substance to what she wrote. The average schooled kid probably
writes much more in a month than she wrote in 5 years.
Last Spring she started to write a little more . She discovered the Bio
feature on The Sims and created bios for a couple dozen Sims, all
humorous in a 10 year old way, none more than 3 or 4 sentences long. She
started passing notes during some of the shows she was doing, sometimes
in character. She also made some friends who were into email, and got her
own email address and started sending and receiving emails. In the
beginning she asked me questions, mostly about spelling, but she figured
out how to set up her account so spellcheck would run automatically
whenever she sent something, and 99% of the time her spelling is close
enough for spellcheck to fix. One of her best friends spent a month in
Europe this summer, so they sent quite a few emails.
So, I wasn't seeing much of what she was writing, buhe quantity seemed to
be picking up a bit. The things I did see were very preteen-note style -
"Arrrghhhhh! I am soooooo frustrated!!!!!" - and so on. Then a week or
so ago, while we were walking our dogs, she was telling me about an idea
she had for a series of books. Ideas for books are nothing new for Rain;
she has lots of ideas and stories in her head, she just never wants to
write them down, or dictate them to me. I listened and said something
about how she had such interesting ideas and good descriptive skills, and
I was really looking forward to reading her stories some day. I've
occasionally said similar things to her before, for years, so it was just
sort of conversation... but then that evening she sat down and started
writing, and filled almost a page in a spiral notebook. I aksed to see it
but she wasn't ready yet, but after writing a little more the next day
she let me read it.
I was, and am, impressed. I had expected writing to be a process that
started with simple sentences and pieces and then slowly became more
complex and detailed. I didn't expect her to go from never writing a
piece of fiction to creating the piece below. I guess this was another of
my blind spots, since reading happened much the same way - a few years of
playing with words and letters and books, then a 6 month period of
slightly more intense reading experiences, then she could read almost
anything fluently and competently.
So, Rain wanted me to share the beginning of the first chapter of her
first story with an unschooling list, so people could see that "when kids
decide they want to write they can". She's written a little more but
isn't sure if she's keeping it, so she didn't want anyone to read it
(including me). I did correct the spelling and punctuation, at her
request, although there weren't a lot of errors (which also surprised
me).
Her next plan is for an unschooling kids zine... stay tuned!
Dar
Hank
On a cold November morning, the wind was blowing, snow was falling, and a
kindly old man was standing on the sidewalk, selling newspapers from a
stand he had built himself. He was in his late fifties, with gray hair
and a beard, with glasses and true blue eyes.
On this day, not many people were outside, so Hank just sat on his chair
and waited for the usuals. At 8:17, Mr. Briefcase came (Hank did not know
any of his usuals names, so he gave them new ones). Time magazine and
the newspaper, his usual. Then, at 9:03, Mrs. Mommy and Candy came. Mrs.
Mommy bought Redbook and some candy for her daughter, but this time, when
the mother left, the daughter stayed.
Hank only started to worry when the child sat down on the curb and
started to read Mad magazine. He stared for a minute or two, then Hank
loudly cleared his throat. She gave him a blank look, then went back to
reading. Hank had no idea what to do, since he and his wife had never had
a child, so with nothing to do Hank fell on is safety net: He asked about
the weather. So, some snow we got here, eh? She answered with a look of
annoyance and confusion.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
Wow! I'm very impressed ... but I'm hanging here, I need the rest of the
story <bg>
diana,
The wackiest widow westriver...
"You can follow your book and your map of wars, but I'll go and follow my
kids." -- Woody Guthrie
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
story <bg>
diana,
The wackiest widow westriver...
"You can follow your book and your map of wars, but I'll go and follow my
kids." -- Woody Guthrie
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Shannon
-----Original Message-----
From: freeform
Hank
On a cold November morning, the wind was blowing, snow was falling, and a
kindly old man was standing on the sidewalk, selling newspapers from a
stand he had built himself. He was in his late fifties, with gray hair
and a beard, with glasses and true blue eyes.
On this day, not many people were outside, so Hank just sat on his chair
and waited for the usuals. At 8:17, Mr. Briefcase came (Hank did not know
any of his usuals names, so he gave them new ones). Time magazine and
the newspaper, his usual. Then, at 9:03, Mrs. Mommy and Candy came. Mrs.
Mommy bought Redbook and some candy for her daughter, but this time, when
the mother left, the daughter stayed.
Hank only started to worry when the child sat down on the curb and
started to read Mad magazine. He stared for a minute or two, then Hank
loudly cleared his throat. She gave him a blank look, then went back to
reading. Hank had no idea what to do, since he and his wife had never had
a child, so with nothing to do Hank fell on is safety net: He asked about
the weather. So, some snow we got here, eh? She answered with a look of
annoyance and confusion.
[Shan replies:] Great story! I cant wait to read the next parts as they
come. What a great imagination she has. Shell have a book published in no
time with the way shes writing. :o)
Shannon Buckley
Mom to Connor 3-15-97, Carsten born at home 4-27-99/5-19-00 and Quinn born
at home 8-08-02
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
From: freeform
Hank
On a cold November morning, the wind was blowing, snow was falling, and a
kindly old man was standing on the sidewalk, selling newspapers from a
stand he had built himself. He was in his late fifties, with gray hair
and a beard, with glasses and true blue eyes.
On this day, not many people were outside, so Hank just sat on his chair
and waited for the usuals. At 8:17, Mr. Briefcase came (Hank did not know
any of his usuals names, so he gave them new ones). Time magazine and
the newspaper, his usual. Then, at 9:03, Mrs. Mommy and Candy came. Mrs.
Mommy bought Redbook and some candy for her daughter, but this time, when
the mother left, the daughter stayed.
Hank only started to worry when the child sat down on the curb and
started to read Mad magazine. He stared for a minute or two, then Hank
loudly cleared his throat. She gave him a blank look, then went back to
reading. Hank had no idea what to do, since he and his wife had never had
a child, so with nothing to do Hank fell on is safety net: He asked about
the weather. So, some snow we got here, eh? She answered with a look of
annoyance and confusion.
[Shan replies:] Great story! I cant wait to read the next parts as they
come. What a great imagination she has. Shell have a book published in no
time with the way shes writing. :o)
Shannon Buckley
Mom to Connor 3-15-97, Carsten born at home 4-27-99/5-19-00 and Quinn born
at home 8-08-02
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 22:07:39 EDT HaHaMommy@... writes:
let me read more...
We have discussed possible plot twists :)
And she may decide not to write any more, I suppose..
Dar
> Wow! I'm very impressed ... but I'm hanging here, I need the rest ofMe too! It's hard not to bug her about wanting her to write more, or to
> the
> story <bg>
let me read more...
We have discussed possible plot twists :)
And she may decide not to write any more, I suppose..
Dar