Writing Software for Kids

I came across this writing software for kids online one night. (I do most of my shopping online because I have a crazy schedule and I'm not really all that much for the mall.) I prefer the flexibility buying online affords me. I finally found some software that might work in getting my son interested in writing at about 1am in the morning. Online store? Perfect!

Story Wizard acts as a guide to help kids write as much or as little as they want. The cool applications within the software help them choose character names, gives instructions for connecting to Microsoft so the book can be read back to kids out loud, and even helps them understand how to put an outline in order. They can save their work, building on it as the ideas come and see how their real, self-written, book starts to come to life. There's even an application within the software to help them design their own book cover.

Rich set of software features:

- Built in dictionary, thesaurus, and spell checker

- Name creation tools

- Options for small, medium, and large sized projects

- Book cover design

- Ability to save project

- Character and plot development tools

According to the 2009 Condition of Education report produced by the US Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (that's a mouthful), state participation in writing and and science surveys is voluntary, while participation in writing and math is required, at least for all states receiving Title I funding. I'd like to know why writing has been deemed less important!

The last Nation's Report Card on writing was conducted in 2007. While they measured a couple of points increase in performance of 8th graders between the 2002 and 2007 assessments, only 33% of children in the test were writing at a level classified as Proficient. Girls outperformed boys by 20 points - as was the case in the previous assessment - and private school students in total outperformed public school by 19 points. Writing is an important skill in adulthood and necessary for:

College Applications
College Papers
Job Resumes
Job Skills

Since the focus in schools is obviously on measuring reading and mathematical skills, as parents we need to ensure that we're doing what we can to foster strong writing skills to help our children become successful adults.

My son is 11 years old - twelve the end of this month, he'll remind me - and officially gifted. I mean officially, tested, hands down a smart kid. However, he does NOT (underscore, underscore) enjoy writing at all. (This boggles my mind - not enjoy writing? Is there such a thing? And, if so, how did it happen to one of MY children? I LOVE to write!)

This caused an increasing flurry of issues for us to deal with. Missing assignments, falling grades, lying about homework, additional parent/teacher conferences, Saturday school - and then the granddaddy of them all - summer school. All because he hated to write.

Compare my son to my friend's daughter who is around the same age. She's a nose-in-a-book 24/7, going-to-be-an-author, no two-ways about it kind of girl. She scrawls out these wonderful stories and enjoys writing about anything at all. A trip to the zoo turns into new fodder for an expanding collection of writing material about monkeys and how they gathered in force to charge the local library, demanding more Curious George books (I know, cute huh?).

Whether or not she ever becomes a professional writer some day is really not the point.

The point is, she writes and as a result,
she's likely to have an easier future.

My friend's daughter had a chance to see the software when she and her mom came to visit one day and she immediately took to the idea of writing her own book (which did not surprise me) but she was also able to work the software with ease.

This is the only kids writing software my son has shown any interest in whatsoever. In fact, he's started to get ideas for his writing from daily events and is beginning to understand how writing comes from the inspiration of events in which we participate and the sights we see and the people we meet. I find his creativity has grown but also his willingness to voice his ideas and thoughts about his story have increased. As a result, my guess is this would be a great resource for parents who homeschool their kids, since that's in essence what I was doing with my son over the summer.

As a mom, I couldn't ask for more.

Well, maybe one thing....school starts up for us next week
and I'm really hoping to see a lot less Saturday school on our agenda.