Nano & Homeschool: How we count it

NaNoWriMo is an inspirational motivator for writers and reluctant story creators. Teens and teachers can benefit from the experience. But adding any amount of extra words to your homeschool day can be rough. Every family will handle it differently. This is how we count it…

1. DON’T Go OVERBOARD- Refrain from adding NaNo to your already brimming high school schedule. It won’t do you or your teen much good to ladle a hefty serving of extra words atop of all your normal work.
2. CUT SOMETHING OUT- It won’t take much. Just a few nips and tucks to create space for writing. -What do we cut out? We cut out all other Language Arts assignments that involve writing. Reading is still a must. But all essays, reports, and freewriting time are paused for the month of November.
3. COUNT EACH STEP- In my, house NaNo is equaled to a midterm. If the word count is reached my student gets an A. The grade goes down for every thousand words short my student falls by December 1st. During October I count plotting time and planning sessions assignments in Language Arts. If it’s on top of everyday work, I count it as extra credit. (PS: I don’t grade the actual story… I only grade the effort. Revising is a whole different monster and I grade it as such.)
4. BE KIND- Don’t over challenge your kiddo. If your child is an avid writer they may be able to rock the 50,000-word challenge right alongside you. If they’re like the average student, they’ll need a much more gentle goal. For the first round, I recommend 10,000 words. That’s less than 400 words a day. Reachable but still requiring planning and focus. Escalate your count next year.
5. ACCOMMODATE – Do you have a struggling but passionate student? Don’t be afraid to be their scribe or allow them to use a voice to text app. Even typical students can benefit from using tech to help them get ahead or catch up on NaNo. It’s not cheating!
6. AVOID CRITIQUING- NaNo is about the word count and focused writing. It is not the time to argue over spelling or grammar. It’s purely creative time. Let it be a fun and free-flowing experience. Even seasoned published authors don’t NaNo in final draft mode.
7. HAVE FUN – Work side by side. Be silly. Be a wee bt reckless. Drink coffee together. Stay up late together. Write in weird locations. Make it not just an assignment… make it a memory.

How do you plan to use NaNoWriMo in your homeschool? Share your tips with me and others.

Write on my friends.

Next time we’ll talk about Planning and Plotting for Nano.

Catch ya Later

Sarah