3 Ways to Overcome Writer's Block

One of the best things about homeschooling is that I get to teach my kids how to write! But I have a hard time understanding my reluctant writers. How can they stare at a blank page for SO long without filling it with wonderful words?  But we’ve all been there.  Sometimes it’s hard to get the words on the page.  Here are 3 strategies that I use for my kids and myself when we’re struggling to write.

1. Write about something you LOVE.  I discovered this trick last year when I couldn’t get my 9 year to write anything.  Finally I said: “Write about chickens or Greek Mythology!”  And my little backyard chicken farmer and Greek mythology enthusiast  wrote quickly, and easily and from the heart.  When her daddy threatened to kill the roosters we had raised, Sydney was outraged.  So she wrote a five paragraph persuasive essay.  I’ve never seen her write so well.  She wrote it with so much passion, that she couldn’t even read it to her dad without crying.  Her words worked their magic and the roosters are now at a farm happily living out their lives.

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2. Write Stream of Consciousness.  Sometimes when we write what we are thinking, and let go of worrying about the perfect word combination, we come up with the most wonderful combination of words....or not.  I give my kids permission to write: “I don’t know what to write” over and over again if they want to and somehow, that’s never happened. Even if that does happen, there are words on the page.

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