When your tweens or teens begin to protest: “But I like it this way!” or “It looks okay to me,” it’s time to make the concept of writing conventions part of your homeschool teaching time.
What Are Writing Conventions?
We can define conventions as a set of generally accepted standards for written English. We use conventions to make our writing more readable. In other words, we do things in a certain way so the reader can figure out what we’re trying to say.
Conventions include spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and sentence structure. As students progress through middle and high school, they should:
- Apply spelling rules correctly.
- Use correct punctuation to smoothly guide the reader through the paper.
- Use verb tenses correctly.
- Write sentences that express complete thoughts.
- Demonstrate paragraph organization and use smooth transitions.
In addition, each kind of writing has its own conventions. For instance:
- Narrative writing must have characters, setting, and plot.
- Descriptive writing must appeal to the senses through use of vivid, colorful, precise vocabulary.
- Expository writing must inform, clarify, explain, define, or instruct.
- Persuasive writing must present an argument based on facts and logic, and attempt to sway the reader’s opinion.
Teaching Writing Conventions in Your Homeschool
As a rule, you probably won’t teach a lesson on “conventions,” per se. There are just too many conventions, so it’s wiser to deal with them individually. Besides, individual concepts stick better when students can apply them in a practical way.
It’s All About Real-life Application
For example, it’s just natural to introduce character, setting, plot, and conflict when you’re teaching your kids to plan and write a story. You wouldn’t teach these as isolated elements and not have your children actually write a narrative; the instruction and application makes sense because they’re including these elements in their story.
Similarly, instead of teaching grammar in isolation, make sure you’re providing an immediate way for students to apply their grammar lessons to a writing assignment. If your grammar program is introducing appositives, for instance, require your child to include an appositive in the history report he’s working on.
Reinforcing Writing Conventions
Diligently reinforce concepts by making sure your children are following conventions in their writing.
As they get older, there should be no more excuse for things like comma splices, incomplete sentences, and homophone confusion.
These are the problems to nip in the bud now, because they’re the very issues that will identify your students as poor writers later on—both in college and on the job. So, give recurring problems focused attention, and watch bad habits become good ones!
Here on the blog, you’ll find lots of help with teaching writing conventions, including grammar and punctuation.
✏️ A favorite grammar handbook is The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation, which can help you teach and reinforce basic but important grammar and spelling conventions.
✏️ For additional grammar instruction, a curriculum like Analytical Grammar will round out language arts for your tweens and teens.
