Delaying Creative Writing in Language Arts for Young Children

Charlotte Mason: A Closer Look at Language Arts for Young Children

Charlotte Mason advocated a lively, balanced approach to language arts for young children. She encouraged poetry study, copywork, oral narration, Scripture memorization, studied spelling/dictation, reading, living book read-alouds, etc. One thing she did not advocate for young children is creative writing.

In Heart of Dakota’s (HOD’s) Bigger Hearts for His Glory (BHFHG) guide, for example, you will find Charlotte Mason’s influence in much of the language arts plans. Children do a poetry study complete with reading aloud classic poems along with an introduction to the various poetic devices. BHFHG also schedules daily copywork from various resources (including the Bible passages, history passages and quotes, and science passages). The Emerging Reader’s Set and Drawn into the Heart of Reading provide reading choices.

Oral Narration, Literature, and Memorization in Bigger Hearts for His Glory’s Language Arts

Children practice oral narration in BHFHG daily. BHFHG’s Appendix includes a guided list for both teacher and student of how narrating works. The “Storytime” part of the plans includes a mini-literature study. This study emphasizes reading with moral discernment, recognizing the various story elements, comprehending on a deeper level, and an introduction to the various genres in literature. The skill of memorization is taught through weekly memorization of Bible verses.

Spelling/Dictation and Grammar in Bigger Hearts for His Glory’s Language Arts

Spelling is covered through either spelling lists or dictation passages. BHFHG’s guide provides both of these, along with the methodology of how to study both. Rod and Staff grammar covers a introduction to creative writing and paragraph writing in the final unit of English 2. (Grammar is one thing students begin more quickly within HOD than they did with Charlotte Mason.)

Delaying a Formal Introduction to Creative Writing

We save a formal introduction to creative writing until Preparing Hearts, until kiddos have had plenty of copywork from excellent writers upon which to model their own writing. During my eleven years as a public school teacher, we did much creative writing with kiddos from very early ages. As the kiddos passed through the grades, we discovered that doing creative writing early often caused kiddos to form poor habits in punctuation and capitalization. Because kiddos were too young to know how to spell correctly yet, invented spelling was emphasized. Unfortunately, this led to poor spelling habits.

Over time it was tough to undo the habits of incorrect grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling just for the sake of getting the written word on paper from an early age. We also discovered that young kiddos often had trouble having any ideas about which to write. Even if they knew what they wanted to write, they couldn’t put it into words on paper. They hadn’t been exposed at that age to enough excellent writing to truly know what it looks like. We also found that those who had a God-given gift in the area of writing did well no matter how we taught writing.

Charlotte Mason’s Emphasis on Copywork Prior to Creative Writing in Language Arts for Young Children

When we moved into homeschooling and read more of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy, much of her thoughts on writing made sense to me. So, now at HOD we delay “creative writing.” We wait until kiddos have copied enough from excellent passages to know what good writing looks like and to have also begun forming the habit of correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Once the excellent foundation is laid in those areas, we move into formal lessons on writing written narrations. We also creatively write from poetry in Preparing Hearts. Then, we continue in that vein in Creation to Christ (adding a formal writing program at that point as well).

How Charlotte Mason’s Approach Inspires and Creates Strong Writers

My own kiddos are avid writers, pouring out “books”, letters, stories, and a love for the written word. They are inspired by the excellent writing that they have heard since they were young and automatically weave that into their writing. It is a stark difference to the struggling writers that I spent over an hour of my public school teaching day every day in a “Writer’s Workshop” session trying to get them to write anything of worth. An exposure to great literature and copywork of excellent passages eventually leads to good writing. We pray that you will find the same to be true for you!

Blessings,
Carrie