Re: "Grammar Stinks."

[<cheek1 -at- sbcglobal -dot- net>]

'Fraid I don't know any of the books you mentioned, though I love the titles
(and yes, I know I left off the subject of the first clause of this
sentence). In college, I used a book called "Modern English Grammar" by
Bruce Lyle, which was competent enough, though humorless. My true favorite
is "Elements of Style," which I reread for pleasure sometimes (shows you
what kind tech-writer nerd I am).

What happened to my own son, who is now approaching nine, is that he had a
magnificent first and second grade teacher. She got the class turned on to
writing by requiring them to write one story a week:
- Monday, they would brainstorm on a topic and fill out what she called a
word web.
- Tuesday, they would outline the story--who is the story about? What is the
conflict?
- Wednesday, they would write the first draft and their parents were
required to edit it for homework that night.
- Thursday, they would write the final draft.
- Friday, a randomly selected few would read it to the class (which really
helped--he was no longer writing for his teacher and parents but for his
friends and cohorts).

Now he loves to write.

You probably are a great teacher, but you are also his Mom. A certain amount
of rebelliousness may be inevitable.

Suffering a case of ProudDadDisease,

Kevin Cheek

----- Original Message -----
> Thus quoth my 12 year old boy child, who is taking a writing course
(essays)
> at our local homeschool resource center.
>
> The course's recommended reference is "Elements of Style," which he
doesn't
> like, even though he really is the child of my very own body (at six he
was
> furious at E.B. White for killing off Charlotte; perhaps he never got over
> it), nor is he impressed with "Pinckert's Practical Grammar," something I
> bought years ago and still like. I have "On Writing Well" queued up next,
> but at this point I'm not holding out much hope that he'll find it as
> fascinating as I do. And no, I haven't ruled out sheer bloody-mindedness.
> :-)
>
> I've been looking at several books on Amazon:
...



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