[ High School and Self-Education Board ]
Posted by Nan in Mass - who just got done explaining this to her son on 14:34 May 10
How can I help my son? His writing style is to use long sentences - clause after clause strung together with transitions words. I don't want to change that because once he has perfected it, it will lead to a very nice flowing style, the kind we prefer in our family. However, his ability to string lots of clauses together is working to his disadvantage at the moment. When he wants to write a paragraph (or paragraphs), he does it the way Writing Strands taught him; he makes a list of all his ideas and then numbers the list. So far, so good. The problem is that the list is of large ideas. Each idea is made of several bits. He strings the bits together in whatever order first occurs to him. Since he is good at this sort of stringing, he can get away with it. Sort of. The result sometimes looks like:
Main bit, cluase, clause, clause. On the other hand, clause, clause, clause, main bit. (This was an example from some of today's writing.)
The two main bits are too far apart for the "on the other hand" to work. It is sounds as if the wrong thing is on the other hand of the first bit. I'm sorry this explaination is so kludgy. By now I'm sure you can tell that writing is NOT my forte (except, for some odd reason, poetry).
His other problem is that sometimes his use of transition words isn't quite right.
I've been puzzling over what wasn't quite right about his writing for a few years now, and today I finally figured it out. If you've managed to follow me so far GRIN, here are my questions:
How can I help him to string the bits together in the right order? I can have him write down all the thoughts in a string and reorder them in a better order (fortunately he IS able to do this), but is writing will take absolutely forever. It is already very slow. He has good ideas, but he usually has to sit staring into space for a good long time before they materialize.
How can I help him use those transition words more exactly?
Is there a curriculum or book that will help us with this? Preferably something not too long?
Thanks for bearing with me through this convoluted explaination!
-Nan