Life As A Mom: Big Sister Blogs

So Big Sister's summer project is her own blog.  I set up a private blog for her that is only viewable by family and close friends.  She learned about story writing and titles in First Grade, and I wanted to encourage her to continue, AND it gives me some quiet time in my day.

How it works:
1.  Topics- She can pick a topic from my topic cards (I turn them over so she can't see) or she can choose to write a story- either fiction or non-fiction.
2.  Five Sentence Minimum- She must write complete sentences with correct capitalization and punctuation.
3.  Spelling- She writes her blog quietly in her room while Baby Brother is napping, so her spelling is how she believes things are spelled.  She must try to spell on her own, sounding things out.
4.  Pictures- She helps find/create a picture that illustrates her topic.  She has even started telling me- "Mommy, take a picture, I am going to blog about this today!"
5.  Posting the blog- She writes her blog on paper, and then I type it for her, adding pictures where she wants them, but I DO NOT correct any misspellings, or incorrect punctuation.  This will become a virtual record for us of her writing as she grows.

Why it works:
She loves to share her life/stories with friends and family and reading their comments on her blog keeps her energized and motivated.

Sample Topics:
- What I Learned in First Grade
- My Best Friend
- My Favorite Food
- My Favorite Color
- My Favorite Book
- My Loose Tooth
- Our Vacation
- My Baby Brother

I pick simple topics so she can easily write five sentences.  She will often write many more sentences, and I always encourage her to write as much as she can.


What do you do to encourage your children to write?