Sharing Your Writing

Perhaps the most important step for a writing product is finding an audience with whom to share it. Don’t feel obligated to go for literal publication (like a magazine, or newspaper, though those are wonderful if the opportunity arises or your child is so motivated). The goal is to find readers. Most important is that you select your readers based on their ability to be affirming and supportive of your child’s efforts. Be clear with them that you want them to respond to the content of the writing rather than the form or mechanics.

Readers can be any of the following:

  • Either parent (if mom is the homeschooling parent, then dad is a great reader; if dad is the home educator, read the piece to mom!)
  • Grandparents can be among the most enthusiastic and supportive of your emerging writers. Be sure they resist the temptation to be editors.
  • A writing group of peers. Some kids thrive if they are in a little “read-around” group of peers who all share their writing.
  • Siblings can be an informal reading group as well, particularly is the child reads his or her own work aloud.
  • Long distance friends (via email or Facebook) can offer a way to give feedback as well.
  • A blog can be a way to “get the writing out into the world” even if the readership is limited to the few family and friends that know it exists. There’s something about seeing your writing on the Internet that feels like it becomes more real, more important.

There are endless ways to find sympathetic readers. Be sure that the writing your child produces finds at least one reader that is not you. Please don’t sentence the completed product to the homeschool writing folder (aka, writing tomb) before your child has celebrated and shared it with someone else. (There are some kids who want to keep their writing private, though, and that’s okay too. Just make sure that you respect his or her authorial control at that point.)