Writing Links for Home Schoolers

WARNING:Check these out before you send kids to any of these. Some I have only skimmed. Check for appropriateness for your own students.

Here at Writing.com:

Reference:

How to use Writing.com:

ID: 560037   (Rated: ASR) The illustrated guide to linking  Confused about how to link? Exactly what to type? Click here! by Writing.Com Support

Nice concise list of poetry styles & how to write them:

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Writing.com-specific tips for getting the most out of features of the site- look especially at tips under "getting attention":

ID: 669366   (Rated: 13+) Tips for a Rainy Day  Things to do on a rainy day... by Jessiebelle™

Teach your kids not to plagiarize. Written at high school/advanced Jr. High level, but an essential thing for ALL students to understand up front:

ID: 677247   (Rated: E) Copyright Essentials  Before you call yourself a writer, understand and respect writers' rights! by Jessiebelle™

Help generating names for your characters. I think the links of names from particular historical eras would be especially helpful when writing historical fiction. Also nifty fantasy name generators (Including hobbits, dwarves & elves for all you Tolkien fanatics!):

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Writing activities

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follow up activities for the previous one:

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Not all appropriate for kids. This is a parent resource:

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ID: 973685   (Rated: 13+) Writer's Evolution Forum Assignments  Assignments written for Writer's Evolution Workshop by InkyShadows

ID: 310405   (Rated: E) Character Development Work Form  A working outline to examine and develope your characters. by Wannabe

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ID: 850090   (Rated: E) The Write Frame of Mind  Don't let lack of motivation get in the way of your writing. by RobiMediaExcellenceAwardWinner

On the World Wide Web

Reference:

For letter-writing!:
http://www.addresses.com/celebrity_email.php

Helps kids write their own crossword puzzles:
http://www.happychild.org.uk/wks/english/ssm/crosswords01.htm

Rhyming dictionary & thesaurus:
http://www.rhymezone.com/?loc=top

Word Frequency Counter: find out if you are over-using certain words! This sure would have come in handy with one of my kids- I hand counted 26 "their"'s in just one of her papers!:
http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/webtools/web_freqs.html

An incredibly huge list of articles on a myriad of aspects of creating your own world, for fantasy/sci.fi. writers. I've barely scratched the surface of these, but the ones I read would be excellent reading assignments for high schoolers interested in this genre. I suspect I'll be using these for ideas for a fantasy writing unit:
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/www/wwwfull.html

Not exactly a writing resource, but this is a Library of Congress listing of "Poetry 180": a poem to read a day, for high schoolers. You may get ideas here:
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/p180-list.html

Writing activities

This is my all-time favorite resource for high school or jr. high. A whole list of quality writing activites & lists of topics:
http://www.home.cogeco.ca/~rayser3/writing.htm#biogr

a great story generator for uninspired or younger kids:
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=storygen

from the same people: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=writechallenge

more good story starters:
http://www.tellingtales.com/Stufftodo/Starters/StoryStarters-Frame.htm

several styles of story starters:
http://www.stuartstories.com/activities.html

Biography maker- very thorough!:
http://www.bham.we.dnet.edu/bio/QUEST.HTM

Kind of wild, random story-starters:
http://www.lifeformz.com/cgi-bin/idea/idea.cgi

great Poetry Slam lesson
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june00/poetryboxlessonplanone.htm...
Poetry Lesson Plan 1: Using a Poetry Slam to Teach the Mechanics of Poetry: Link to lesson plan
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/17107