Writing to Learn

I remember being at a writing workshop at the state homeschool conference one year. The leader was an unschooling dad and an English/writing prof at a university. One of the things he mentioned was that "writing lessons" from 100 years ago were to hand-copy a certain chapter from a piece of great literature. He told us that the great writers often learned to write by copying great books.

Last week, when I was sorting through Dr Korby's files, I noticed how many times he had copied out a passage from a book or the Confessions. Copied by hand, or maybe typed. Not photo-copied.

God told the Israelite kings that each one was to hand-copy the Torah. (Not like they actually did it....)

By writing them, we learn things in a deep way that cannot be replicated by another way of learning. That's one reason why so many language students make their own flashcards instead of purchasing them already made.

I haven't made my kids do this enough. On occasion I have them copy things, but then I feel guilty for assigning "busy work," giving them carpal-tunnel-inducing projects. But maybe I need to rethink the benefits of copying out other people's words.