How easily could your year 7 write 4 pages of A4?

[amaryl]

A chapter in a story ?

Ds just can't do it

In school? No problem. Just had a look at books on parents evening. Gobsmacked.

At home? Good luck. A sentence? After pleading/bribery/threats and a tantrum.? (Joking but only slightly) . Homework is a battle.

Mine couldn't.

Y8 here. At home, no way. Screaming meltdown. It would take him hours of moaning.

He's fine at school.

Both my kids were, according to their teachers, fairly accomplished story writers at primary. Neither of them could have written 4 pages of A4 at age 7 if we're talking actual lined paper like you'd use in school.

Mine could, but it would take him a while. He regularly has homework that's a page or two of writing in his exercise book (A4).

I hate homework
I can't deal with this much longer.

He's actually way behind
He's only done chapter 1 and this is chapter 4. So he's just given up
He's recently been diagnosed with dyslexia, I don't think he's ever written more than 2 pages

I think it's a bit much

Could he dictate the story to you and you type/write it down for him. Therefore his ideas are being put on paper at least.

No chance. I don’t think he would manage it at school either. I think I would be impressed with a page or so double spaced!

There's no way mine could even come up with 4 A4 pages of original content.

What on earth are they expecting them to write about?

Does he have a choice in the type of story? My daughter will happily write pages and pages of fan tiction style Five Nights at Freddy's!
Is he struggling with ideas for the actual plot?

Amaryl
Ds is dyslexic, year7 no way could he even write a page it would literally take him forever.
It’s not just spelling with a child with dyslexia
They get tired, loose concentration, thirsty
and some children have dyspraxia into the mix (ds has) which is a another problem to add into the mix

I too hated homework, I remember in yr 5 spellings
He would learn them, be able to spell some of them
Then if you asked him again 5 mins later
He’d forgotten them😱
Short term memory!

My year 6 could because he likes to write, my year 9 absolutely could not; I don't think he's ever filled a single side of A4. He wouldn't even cope with telling me his ideas, me writing it down and him copying it in his own hand... but could that maybe work for your poor ds?

Mine couldn't. He's high achieving in school and gets very good reports but he would struggle with that, massively! And so would I!

Sorry, I've got mixed up between age 7 and year 7. Ignore my previous reply.

It sounds like it's too much for Year 7?

ds year 3 use to compete with friends about writing long stories - his teacher (who was lovely) begged me to ask him to (a) use bigger writing because it was giving her eye strain (b) could I persuade him to write shorter stories

What sort of writing and how long for it?
Are we talking about typed or handwritten?
And is it for homework overnight, or are they being given several lessons plus homework?

DD1 would have struggled to write that much in a short period of time because she takes a long time and her handwriting is neat and tiny. If she'd been typing it then it would be better because she could put down some notes and alter it later.
DD2 not a problem. She writes in a stream of consciousness and has written her own stories since she was younger than that in her own time. Better if handwritten although her handwriting is rather large so far fewer words than dd1 would need.
Ds it would depend. Handwritten? Never if he could help it. Typed... well if it caught his interest then easily. He wrote that and a bit in year 6 when they were meant to be writing a diary entry about being evacuated. He wrote about watched a dogfight on the way to the station, and described every Spitfire and ME109 in intimate detail. The emotional elements of separating from his family were sadly lacking.

My son could have handwritten it but moaned all the way through, typing it no problem though. We’d have argued. 🙄
My daughter is year 6, loves writing and would do it no problem.
Your son is dyslexic though so I imagine this makes it so much harder for him. Get him to do what he can, maybe 15 minutes at a time and speak to the school to see what they suggest. He should be supported.

Ds couldn’t do that

Definitely not for homework and I doubt at school either

Sorry I got confused with year 7 and 7 year old but I still think it is a big ask

Secondary school teacher here (though not English) - I wouldnt expect any of my ks3 classesnto be able to write 4 A4 sides unless I gave them I guess a week's worth of lessons and 2 homeworks to do it in. In a silent assessment in a 40 min lesson I find most year 7s can write anywhere between 2/3 of a page and maybe a page and a half if they have big handwriting, but that's with them almost knowing exactly what they are going to write beforehand.

I'm dsylexic and still can't write 4 pages of A4.

Has he done a mind map yet so he knows what will be in the story and where he wants it to go?

I'm on yr7 #4 nowadays. For each DC...
#1 easy if he wanted (probably wouldn't want)
#2 would write 6+ pgs
#3 would scrape 1.5 pgs with a lot of complaining
#4 would start with enthusiasm but fade on pg 3

As with some PPs this would be fine in school but not fine at home, there would be much moaning, angst and procrastination. DC is good at english, no SEN.