Last year I put together a home school writing course here at dear old Writing.com, trying to harness the power of my obsession with this site to my responsibility as a home school mom/teacher. It worked out nicely for organizing my own kids, but I got few ideas from readers to help me develop it. My well of creativity has run dry, and another school year looms, my 15th of home schooling this brood of mine.

          Then DragonBlue offered to bankroll a bunch of gift points for a home schooling contest if I’d put one together. That got me thinking: I need help. Why not make YOU do all the work planning my writing curriculum for the coming year???? You get to win some nifty points & merit badges, and I get some fresh ideas. The contest entries will become a resource for any teacher, home school or conventional school, plus anyone wanting writing exercises for their own use. Sound good? Ok, then here’s how it will work:

1) Go to "Home Schooling with Writing.com"  and read through the introduction and the 13+ assignments I gave my kids last year, to see the sort of thing I have in mind. Make yourself a pot of coffee & get comfortable; it’ll take a while.

2) Your job is to write an assignment that will either teach a writing skill or give kids an outlet for using writing skills in an interesting & enjoyable manner (I don’t ask for much, do I?). It can be for a single day, a week, a whole unit.... you decide that. I’m a home schooler- I’m flexible.

          POST IT DIRECTLY IN THE FORUM- do NOT post it in bitem format. I want the contest forum to be a usable list of writing activities, without people having to go a million places before they see the actual assignment. In the subject line, list “_______ assignment”, listing the subject of the writing assignment (poetry, essay, short story, rant & rave, etc.) I will give you credit should I use your idea in my own course (and send you a nice GP gift, too )

          I need something new, not a repeat of what I did last year. Unless it is significantly different than last year’s assignments, don’t do autobiography, letters to the editor, writing polls, dialogue, directions, haiku, alliteration, shape poems, thank you letters, research papers or impromptu speeches. Short story and other poetry assignments are fine, as long as they are specific & different from what I did.

RULE CHANGED! READ THIS! Ideally, your assignment should include adaptations for three different age groups: 1-3rd grade, 4-6th grade and 7-12th grade. Moms of Mobs can’t do a million separate units at once. (I have kids in all those age groups!) But in order to encourage more people to participate, I will allow you to submit a lesson plan for a single age group, if you can't think of adaptations for the other ages. BE SURE TO INDICATE THE TARGET AGE. You may also submit a creative adaptation for other ages of someone else's single-age group idea. If you do that, be sure to credit the original lesson planner, though.

          Your assignment CAN include bitem links or web addresses as part of the exercise, but be sure they are still up & running. I hate those “invalid item” things!

          Keep it E rated!


Educational merit badges (+ gift points dependent upon donations received) for 1st place-3rd place. All entries will receive appreciation from desperate home school moms and exposure to your portfolio.