“Excuse me, Athena. That sounds like a school activity, and the point of summer is that children are off school. Why would I want to inflict more compositions on my kids during their vacation?”

Thank you for that question! There are two main reasons homeschool parents may wish to require summer writing from their students.

1. Some homeschool students NEED the extra practice.

As Danielle pointed out in her “Summer Scaries” blog post, low-pressure, non-graded writing activities over the summer can help some students maintain their writing muscles. In some cases, these muscles atrophy over vacation, and students begin the next year having forgotten all they ever learned about composition.

Requiring summer writing not only provides homeschool students with practice, but it also demonstrates that writing is not exclusively an academic activity. Breaking that mental boundary may be the breakthrough your student needs to write well and freely.

(Check out Danielle’s blog post! Solid encouragement for homeschool parents entering the summer months.)

2. Some homeschool students WANT the extra practice.

Some of you may be blessed with a student who LOVES writing, and you should encourage that kind of expression and development! While these students may dive into writing on their own, a little guidance may benefit them—especially younger students.

With these two groups in mind, let’s dive into summer writing ideas! While I encourage you to develop your own ideas and prompts, here are some suggestions to get started.

(Check out the EIW textbooks for guidance about how to approach each of these compositions.)

Summer Writing Prompts

Expository Writing

Think about topics the student will want to write about or things you want them to think about. Writing about these important topics will help them put thoughts and/or feelings into words, which benefits their personal development and not just their academic performance.

Try some of these prompts:

• What kind of person do you want to be? Write a paragraph explaining at least two positive traits you want to see in yourself and why you want them.
• A goal is an idea that someone puts into action. What is one of your goals? Write a paragraph explaining what your goal is and how you plan to accomplish that goal.
• What is one of your favorite memories? Describe the memory and explain why you like it.

Journal Writing

Journaling is a way to record events, but it can also develop self-awareness. Writing journal entries will help students realize they can write for themselves, not just a teacher.

Here are some ideas for journal entries:

• Keep a daily journal of a trip you take this summer. Write 3-4 sentences about whatever you want to record about each day.

(Tip: When I was in elementary school, my mother purchased daily planners as “journals” for my sister and me. The planners provided a limited amount of space for each daily entry, which made the task seem less intimidating than endless empty pages.)

• Describe three things you want to do or be when you are a grown-up.
• Write a journal entry about ten of your favorite things, including items, activities, and foods.

Narrative Writing

Writing stories—original or reimagined—is a great way to foster imagination in homeschool students. Narrative writing can be entertaining and freeing, for there’s no right way to tell a story!

Let your student’s imagination run wild! But in case they need it, here are some suggested prompts:

• Is there a book, movie, or video game that has an ending you don’t like? How could the story have ended better? Rewrite the ending in the way you think is best.
• Write your own version of a fairy tale. Maybe Cinderella doesn’t want to go to the ball, but to the ball game! Maybe Puss in Boots isn’t just a clever cat, but a shapeshifter! Maybe St. George doesn’t want to kill the dragon, but learn to ride it! Rewrite a fairy tale in your own way.
• If you could go on a dream vacation this summer, where would you go? Write a narrative of your vacation—where you would go, who you would be with, and what you would do.

May these few writing ideas inspire you to come up with your own specialized prompts! Summer writing is a chance to shirk off the restrictions of academic prompts, which by necessity are general and impersonal. However, with summer writing, you can get personal with your kids!

For example, if I were coming up with summer prompts for my 13-year-old homeschooled brother, I would include:

• Write a paragraph explaining the best way to take care of the dozen baby chickens we just purchased.
• Journal about how you felt after seeing Avengers: Endgame on opening night.
• Imagine what it will be like to interview at the Lego Company when you are old enough. Write the story of that interview and how you get the job.

Happy summer, everyone! And happy writing

By Athena Lester
Head of Curriculum and Scoring

Let’s face it—not everyone is thoroughly invested in preparing a persuasive essay for living in the country or the city, or comparing and contrasting heat and cold. Sometimes, however, you are given the opportunity to write about something that personally applies to your life, and it’s thrilling! At the same time, this can be a tricky issue to handle in academic circles.

Topics like analyzing a favorite novel, explaining a religious stance, or persuading a reader to agree with a political opinion are all fabulous for essays, and students are often highly invested in them, but these can also lead to pitfalls in writing.

Because you have a personal connection to the subject matter, approaching it in an academically appropriate manner may be difficult.

As a scorer for EIW’s Scoring Service, I have received dozens of essays about topics like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, gun control laws, environmentalism, origins of the universe theories, and even uncontroversial topics like beloved family members and favorite hobbies. These can be the best essays—and they can also be the worst. Not because I do or don’t agree with the student, but because they don’t know how to write academically about the subject matter. While it’s wonderful to see my students so passionate and invested in various aspects of their cultures and countries and families, their voice could be better heard if they knew how to communicate personal viewpoints well.

This applies to other issues as well, such as mental health and opinions about art, films, and literature.

Let’s say, for example, a student is writing an expository essay about an art piece. Which of the following excerpts is more appropriate for an academic paper?

       The vibrant colors applied in thick coats across the canvas captivated me. Once I was paying attention, I saw the smaller details, like the abstract figures interlaced throughout the swirling colors. To me, the piece was about the beautiful mess of humanity, intertwined yet distinct.

       The painting was amazing and beautiful; people simply can’t see this work and not be changed by it. It speaks to the soul with a powerful message about humanity. I was inexplicably joyful after my visit to the museum. Truly, it was a life-changing experience.

Both passages are first person accounts of an impactful artwork, but only the first one uses concrete details and explanations; the second uses only vague terms like “amazing,” “powerful,” and “life-changing.” While these may be accurate, they are not informative. The first sample is much better fit for an academic paper.

How are you, a homeschool student, supposed to write academic essays about things that are personal to you?

About faiths you do or do not adhere to, political topics you do or do not agree with, health struggles you may or may not experience firsthand? Here are three basic guidelines:

1) Be informed.

Just because you have personal knowledge of the matter does not mean you have all the knowledge. Several of the essays I have graded in the past contained no information about the topic beyond the writer’s limited personal experience; therefore, the student came across as uninformed. This will discredit the writer very quickly in high school and college circles. You must be informed about an issue to approach it convincingly, especially if you are required to write about something you don’t believe in or don’t agree with—which is almost a certainty if you go to college.

2) Be specific.

Like I said earlier, “amazing” and “life-changing”—or, in the negative, “ridiculous” and “awful”—are not informative adjectives, and they often make your writing seem elementary. Even if you have had a life-changing experience with the matter at hand, describe that experience specifically, not vaguely. This is true for all academic papers; just because you have a personal connection to the topic doesn’t mean you should be less specific. In fact, you should be more so. Using a thesaurus to find fresh and elevated vocabulary will help bring clarity to your writing, but remember that an effective description is more than fancy adjectives and verbs. Find words and craft phrases that pinpoint exactly what you want to communicate.

3) Be academic.

Obviously, right? When writing an academic paper, be academic! But what does that mean? It means that you aren’t writing a blog post or a memoir; you aren’t writing a devotional or propaganda; you aren’t writing a journal entry or a personal letter. You’re writing an academic paper. Be formal. Be respectful. Be more focused on mind than on heart, more focused on facts than on feelings. This can be difficult when writing about a topic that really means something to you, but it is very important.

In other forms of writing—blogs, fiction, journals, devotionals, memoirs, etc.—feel free to throw #3 out the window! The first two points will help your writing be stronger in any circumstance, but the third is just for school settings. It is important, though! When writing for academics, write for academics!

On a final note, I want to say, YES! Write about topics you are personally invested in!

Do it! I don’t want to scare anyone off from writing about such things. I only want to help you write about such topics properly. The goal, as always, is to write well and communicate clearly.

By Athena Lester

Curriculum Development and Scoring Services