WORDS OF WISDOM

WORDS OF WISDOM

Learning to write is a cornerstone of all higher learning. Helping a student become more proficient with writing is one of the most important steps that parents can take toward achieving academic success; and it’s not all that difficult.
When students understand the purpose and value of communicating through writing, they become motivated to write more often.

But if your child struggles with writing, now’s the time to identify skill gaps that when left uncorrected can quickly detour a student on the path to higher learning.

“All students will benefit from grammar and punctuation practice: the tools to help them express ideas more clearly,” states Michelle Scott, Owner/Director of Tutoring Club of McLean. “For many students, a single refresher course in the fundamentals of writing is all that’s needed to reinforce skills that have been missed.”

Start with a thesaurus and encourage your child to discover new words that express thoughts or feelings.

Involve your child in family activities like putting together weekly shopping lists or writing letters. Frequent writing builds vocabulary, strengthens spelling, and improves grammar.

Send emails to family and friends, also a good exercise for writing but only when you exercise caution. Email can actually work against a child who gets into the habit of abbreviating words or using improper spelling and grammar when communicating electronically.

Host a family story night, asking each member of the family to write an original story to be read aloud during story night. Visit CreativeWritingPrompts.com for suggested story ideas.

Create a family scrapbook, suggest your child write anecdotes about your family and include photos with captions to be recorded weekly in your scrapbook.

Expose your child to literature whenever possible, go to the library for a reading, or see a play. Exposure to literature inspires children to create their own stories.

Encourage creative writing exercise to help students improve skills and develop critical thinking, but ensure it’s a disciplined exercise to reinforce proper word usage, punctuation, and clear communication of a central point or idea.

“If your child is reluctant to write or you notice recurring grammatical and spelling errors, consider enrolling your child in TC Writing at Tutoring Club,” suggests Scott. “It’s a disciplined program guaranteed to give students a firm foundation of writing skills that takes the mystery out of how to write a paper or story.”

Michelle Scott
Owner/Director
Tutoring Club of McLean
703.237.TUTOR (8886)
Email:McLeanVA@tutoringclub.com