SO, WHEN ARE KIDS READY TO START WRITING ESSAYS?
I posted this on the Facebook Robinson Curriculum Group Page, but realized it fits in our group nicely:
OK…so…I’m not the standard person out there, so these are MY thoughts.
Basically, I accept that the maturity of the frontal lobes is not adequately developed for abstract thinking until 14-ish (finally matures around 25). Essays are discussions about one’s own thoughtful view.
So…in our homeschool writing curriculum we simply never had the kids start writing essays until they were 14 or 15. Our goal was to get them to master the sentence…and spelling…and punctuation…and how to get themselves to write…and how to come up with ideas.
I can say that all of our kids turned out to be really fine essayists (always excellent grades on essays in college).
Part of the trick is for them to build confidence…much easier when the brain is ready and when a homeschool writing curriculum encourages the right approach. In the classical model…12 to 14 is when kids work on logic (by arguing)…which is really what they need for essays.
Now…book reports are different, but our homeschool writing curriculum covers that too. Why? Well, because everything in writing is still about writing a good sentence!
FRL
Here’s Where Our Group Meets: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheWritingCourse/
What about narratives? Kids can and do tell stories MUCH sooner than 14. Or, definition essays? Or literary analysis? Kids shouldn’t respond to what they read until 14? And kids don’t argue until they’re 14/15? Your logic and methods are horribly flawed.
Josh,
You are going to have to use my methods before you can declare them horribly flawed on the basis of a single blog post.
While it’s OK for you to disagree here, I do think you are misunderstanding a number of things. In fact, I’m not sure you carefully read my post since I am ONLY talking about essay writing.
First of all, I love for kids to write A LOT before the age of 14 (especially stories/fictions/narratives). I completely agree with you about kids telling stories way before 14 years old.
I also am a fan of book reports for younger kids, especially if the reports interact with the material.
What I’m addressing is the fact that the brain of a child isn’t in great shape yet for a cognitive defense of abstract topics until around 14 (and upward).
Essays are a defense of one’s own view about a topic or issue. In my experience, parents are pushing kids to have views of things (as their own) a bit early in the developmental life.
Kids certainly argue before 14, but not well 😉 Actually, the Logic Stage (in the Classical Trivium) kicks in around the age of 12 (maybe 10) for real logical discussions.
I’m just suggesting that parents would do well to chill out on ESSAYS (NOT on lots of writing) until the child has a good shot at success. I hate to discourage kids because they just aren’t quite ready. Frankly, it has about the same effect as trying to get a kid to dunk a regulation basket before puberty.
That’s all I’m saying.
Peace,
Dr. Fred Ray Lybrand
P.S. Our 5 homeschooled children didn’t work on Essays until around 14 and they are all excellent at discussion / debate / essays. They wrote every day of school from 8 years old and onward.
I 100% agree with you. I was just contemplating this morning if I should have my just now 10 year old start an essay but I was not feeling right about it so I decided to see other people that homeschooled thought. I’m glad I did! I will keep having my son do his reading comprehension along with other writing but I will definitely wait until 14 on essays. Thanks for your input!