I'm struggling to know what to expect from my UG and LG kids as far as writing assignments. Does TOG have writing samples anywhere or does anyone have a good age appropriate site with samples?

10yodd is finishing her report on Jewish holidays tomorrow and it's been like pulling teeth to get through it. I am wondering if this is normal. She really needed a lot of hand holding and the opening and closing paragraphs I basically told her what to write... any help?

My kids have been resistant too, although less so as they get used to it.

I don't have time for a full answer, but what helped me a lot was to recognize that the purpose of all this is NOT to produce wonderful papers, but instead to produce a writer who knows a little more about writing than she did last week. The assignments are just a tool for accomplishing this. And if the assignments are too much for your daughter's skill level, you can change the assignment.

There are some student samples up (on the Loom, possibly?), but remember that people submit samples when their kids write at their best and they're extra proud. Looking at samples can be too discouraging. What did you learn about your daughter's knowledge of how to write from this experience? Looking at future writing assignments, do you see how to guide her - gently - to an improved skill level in one or two areas? Or does it move too fast, and you need to drop back to an earlier level? Dropping back is okay, as long as the assignments are useful in helping you develop her skills.

For me, it was hard to learn to require real pre-writing. I would accept a meager organizer and a, "See, this is what I'm going to write about - I know the rest, why do I have to write it down?" But I learned that that really led to hair-pulling when it came to the final product, which was generally as skimpy as the organizer. It's easier to push for content in the organizer stage rather than doing it when the student is also struggling with forming complete sentences and such.

I really have to go - wish I could say more, but it may be just as well, since what I have to say may not be relevant to your situation.

Thanks for your advice. I appreciate the insight. It does help to ask those questions of what their struggles are. I think I'm going to add more writing in other subjects. It seems that finding the main idea and creating it in a sentence was the hardest thing.
Also, my dd hates 'report' types of writing. Give her a story with a character and she pumps out a page easily. She's not good at writing for knowledge...
Thanks for helping me to realize these things!
Tiffany