Excellence in Writing

I have heard great things about the Institute for Excellence in Writing, and I finally got around to visiting their website and checking out their stuff. I am already feeling inspired by the *free* download of Andrew Puweda's lecture "Reaching the Reluctant Writer". It's about an hour long, but really worth it! I already have in mind a great writing exercise to try with Maymuna next week. He provides an entire outline of how to get your kid taking notes, transferring information, re-writing a story in his/her own words, and encouraging public speaking skills, increasing vocabulary and active listening as well. He also makes a great argument for abolishing PENCILS in your child's school work... (to listen to that, skip to the last twenty-four minutes or so of the lecture linked above).