Writing Co-op ..... Trying to Choose Topics that Would Please Shayna

We participate in a writing coop. To be more specific, I am the "organizer" of the coop. It is based on the curriculum of Andrew Pudewa's called Institute of Excellence in Writing. Shayna has used this curriculum since 2nd grade and is a good writer. She loves to write. When she was younger "back in the 'good ole days'" as she puts it.... writing coop was much more relaxed and we did about four units a year. Now that she is at the "ripe old age of nine" we have moved onto a few unit that certainly challenged her. This month we are working on research writing from three different sources.


We have already gone through this process once. For the first research paper's topic, Shayna choose Nathan Hale since she is being him for a "Living Wax Museum". Now, we are going to practice this new skill again.


You would not beleive the struggle we had choosing a topic. We went directly to the library to discuss this because she would NEVER think of "speaking in an inappropriate tone at the library -which is our favorite house of worship."


First struggle: Getting Shayna to NARROW DOWN her big topic. She started with "Cats". I told her that was too general. She then decided on the behavior of cats. Great ! Off we to go the computer card catalog.


Side note: Do you remember those "index card - card catalogs" that we used in school ! WOW ! I feel old now !


So we are at the computer and come up with a list of books and they are simply way, way to simplistic for her. We go to the encyclopedias. Everything is written for a four year old to understand how to take care of a kitten. I encourage her to get a new topic.


Second Struggle: Her second and third topics are.... deers and then reindeers. I encourage her to move AWAY from the animal research topic. Everything we were finding was way below her level. She knew most of the information and unless she did something totally unique like some snake from South America there might not be anything for her to learn.


Third Struggle: I get her to look at magazines (kids) such as Cobblestone, ASK, Discover, National Geographic for Kids to see if a topic sparks her interest. She looks at me with the sweetest smile and says "I think I can really learn something new about cats." We are back to the cat issue. I told her "Mom is pulling a 'mom moment' and using her veto power on this one. Find a topic or I will find one for you."


We are back in the magazines. We talk about the topics we are finishing up the year with. Might as well "kill two birds with one stone" and make the best use of our time. She finally decides on her topic...... Women's Roles in the American Revolutionary War. Awesome topic ! I am beyond impressed. She came up with this on her own. But can you seriously believe this child went ON HER OWN from CATS to Woman's Roles in the American Revolutionary War. No wonder some days I have the WORST headache. I can't keep up with this kid's mind !


We picked out three resources (nonfiction book, magazine article from Cobblestone and Encyclopedia Entry), photocopy them and put them aside until today. I am seriously scared that when I pull them out in fifteen minutes she will say - "I thought I was doing CATS".


Ahhhhh ! What we go through to homeschool our kids !