Writing with Homeschoolers

Meeting young readers/writers
is so much fun!

Last week it was my pleasure to work with a homeschool group at Homewood Public Library here in Birmingham. Homeschooling families are near and dear to my heart -- in part because I was a homeschool mom for several years!

What many don't know (this group didn't) is that even though our three sons have all graduated/will graduate from a public high school, I have homeschooled various kids or various reasons at the elementary, middle and high school levels. And I. Loved. It. I wouldn't trade that time learning together with my kids for anything. I'm so grateful to have had that opportunity and experience.

So what did I do with this homeschool group? Well, the library billed it as "local author will talk about what it takes to get started in the literary world." Only I didn't discover this verbiage until a day before our scheduled meeting -- after I had created a lesson on writing poems and stories after Pixar postcards.

So -- we did both!

First I gave them a handout with my tips for writing/publishing for kids. (If YOU want the handout, I am happy to share it! Simply email me: irene (at) irenelatham (dot) com.) Here are the young writers (and moms) selecting postcards:

And then we started writing.... using description, emotion, and imagination.

Writer-in-progress!

We had swamps and oceans and ants and loneliness and Star Wars references... we talked through ways to expand themes the that emerged... and it was completely inspiring. Thank you, writers!