Is Copywork Enough to Teach Writing?
As a homeschool mom and writing teacher, I've seen copywork blowing up lately. Everyone is talking about it. But is it enough to teach writing?

Copywork is a method of teaching writing where a student copies really good literature in their own handwriting. Before we get into my personal issues with copywork, let's talk about what I (and many others) love about it.
  • It's Simple. You don't need an expensive curriculum to get started. Grab a pen, a notebook, and some great classic literature and you can do copywork.
  • It teaches them almost automatically. Practice handwriting, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and study real quality writing all without really even thinking about it. I love anything that makes learning happen almost on autopilot.
  • It doesn't take long. Compared to other Language Arts things we could do, copywork can be relatively quick. It's easy to tack on to your homeschool day without feeling like it's taking over.
  • You can customize it. Do fewer lines for younger kids. Do copywork to go along with other lessons you are doing. Copywork is endlessly customizable.
  • It creates something tangible. I love having a keepsake that is naturally created from my kids' homeschool lessons. Copywork naturally creates a keepsake of quotes that can be inspirational, spiritual, or otherwise valuable to your child.
Now let's get into what I don't love about copywork.

  • It doesn't leave much room for creativity. Children are naturally creative. They are often told to shove that aside and fit into a specific mold, and eventually they learn to do it quite well. But I think when we let them be creative, something magical happens. I think they can learn all the same things they learn through copywork and more when they are the ones coming up with what they are writing.
  • It can be too simple. My teaching philosophy boils down to this: we can expect a lot out of our kids.
    • That's why in our course, we don't just learn about writing. We don't just edit what we've written. We do it all. We write something that we can be proud of, and then we get it onto bookstore shelves. We learn entrepreneurship and marketing as we sell what we created.
    We don't do a kid-size version of writing: we do exactly what adults do. We write and sell books.

    And yes, it's more work. It's not simple, automatic, or quick. But it is very customizable, and it creates something that will last forever. Plus, it builds your child's confidence, gives them a sense of accomplishment, and asks them to try something that they didn't think was possible.

    And then they do it!

    We all know our own kids best, and I don't mean to say that copywork has no place in your homeschool classroom. But I believe we can expect more out of our kids: more in their ability to learn, more in their ability to create, and more in their ability to produce something that surprises us and even themselves.
Want to take this approach further?
At Storytellers Studio, I teach kids to take their ideas all the way from a blank page to a finished, published book.