Teach Your Teen Writing

Homeschooling middle and high school doesn’t need to be scary! If you ask me, it’s actually really fun. :) But you don’t need to feel guilty for outsourcing some of it. There are many resources, online programs, and curricula that you could use to help you teach any subject that you don’t feel confident in – including writing! So let’s talk about how to teach your teen writing.

Do I need to be an expert to teach writing?

No!

You don’t have to be an expert at all. You just need to give your kids the opportunities and provide the resources. If you don’t know how to teach your child to write a biography, you can find a curriculum or a printable pack to help you. Everyone can support their child as they learn how to write. You definitely don’t need to be an expert –

What type of writing should my teen learn?

There are many types of writing that your teen can – and should – learn. These are just a few:

• persuasive
• fiction
• biographies
• poetry
• expository (informative)

While your teen should learn all types of writing, it’s important that your child writes things they enjoy too! If all you do in your homeschool is have your child write non-fiction essays and reports, but they aren’t interested in that writing at all, you are doing your child a huge disservice. Kids learn so much more when they actually enjoy what they’re studying. So make sure that you balance the things you have to do with the things they want to do.

The type of writing your teen learns may also depend on their career goals. If your child wants to go to college, they will need to learn to write research papers. If they want to be an engineer, they will need to learn technical writing. If your child wants to be an author, they can explore whatever type of writing they like. ;)

Best resources to teach your teen writing

Young Writer’s Workshop

My two oldest boys (who are currently 15 and 13) have been going through the YWW program and it has been incredibly impactful! My oldest has gone from a basic enjoyment of writing to spending nearly all his free time writing novels, researching plot lines, and studying the art of writing. This program has definitely made him into a writer!

The Young Writer’s Workshop program has monthly courses to teach new skills, gives kids opportunities to get their writing questions answered, and provides lessons from experts – published authors! They have a fiction or non-fiction track, and you can upgrade to the academic track for high school creative writing credit. They even a program that takes the place of college or as a gap year program for young adults who are interested in pursuing writing as a profession!

The Young Writer’s Workshop is a subscription based program. We were gifted access to this program originally, but have paid for continued access, because my older boys have enjoyed it and learned so much. I have been so impressed with this program, and can confidently and highly recommend it!

Write Your Own book series

My middle schoolers love the Write Your Own book series:

• Write and Draw Your Own Comic Books
• Write Your Own Poems
• Write Your Own Scripts
• Write and Design Your Own Magazines

Masterbooks Writing Strands

There are many resources teaching writing, but this is one we have used in our homeschool to learn different writing types, grammar, and formats. Masterbooks also has an expository writing course Jensen’s format writing series (including an online course) to prepare students for college-level writing.

Other writing programs:

Brave Writer – there are online and at-home options, and we’ve tried and enjoyed a couple programs

Institute for Excellence in Writing

Printable resources for writing:

These resources in my shop are not all geared toward teens, but many of these can be adapted to your child’s ability level: