Blogging- Teaching Writing 21st Century Style

This week I introduced blogging to my  Little Renaissance Man  with a book called “Bridget and Bo Build aBlog” by Amanda St John.  I am teaching my son how to blog because I feel like in the 21^st century it is a relevant thing to do.  My Little Renaissance Man’s blog is called Adventures of an Alaskan Boy  and he has was really excited to write it!  

  I personally had wanted to write a book, but in my research I realized that blogging was the future and that writing has forever changed!  New writers start with blogging to build a following and they even sometimes write a book one blog at a time.  

Why blogging?

Every day we work on writing and  I realized that writing a blog could be a part of his learning experience.  Let us take a book report for example.  How different is a book report from a book review?  I would have my son review books, to tell readers why he liked or disliked a book.  Then why not let him link that book to a link on Amazon and if a mom says “Hey this 8 year old boy loves this book and I think that my son will too.   So I am going to buy the book.”   Why not let my son benefit from influencing a reader and profit a little.  It helps to make writing real, beneficial, purposeful,  and meaningful to a young person.

Blogging will develop my son’s skills for working on a computer and with the internet.   What better way to learn about the internet and computers than hands on writing a blog!  There are so very many experiences to be gained.  First, his typing, he has to spend a lot of time working on his typing skills that he has acquired from his typing program TYPING INSTRUCTOR FOR KIDS.  He is still working on his regular writing skills, but he has to learn to link, spell check and add on photographs.   While writing he also had to work on copying and pasting, which takes a little time to master when you are 8, but it is a skill we all will need to know.  Blogging makes learning relevant.  There is a reason for his work.  He wants to be noticed and appreciated, so he knows that he will have to give it his best.

We often talk  as educators  that having a child teach what they already know  will enhance their learning experience.  It will help the child understand better what they already know.   When my son realizes his talent, his passion and begins to write about it, it will help him learn at a deeper level what he knows.  Teaching amplifies their learning.  It will strengthen his knowledge base.  It will help him to become an “expert” in an area.  I would like to have a tool available for my son when he finally realizes his talents and wants to pursue them.  I want him to have something that he can show that he is the expert.  It is very empowering to young learners.  I want him to have control over his destiny.

I have always thought of myself as an out of the box thinker, and I hope that you might look at introducing blogging to your children’s writing too.   Make sure that you protect your child’s identity,  we used our sons nickname and a general location. 

If you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to leave a comment.  I would greatly appreciate it!  Please like my page on Facebook  “Raising a Renaissance Man.”