NaNoWriMo Begins

November 1st has come and gone . . . already!  I did none of the hoped-for NaNoWriMo writing exercises in October that I'd kinda-sorta thought about.  I, in fact, forgot completely about NaNoWriMo.

But my children did not.

The experience of last year must have been powerful because when the medium-sized girls saw the calendar, they immediately asked for a journal. 

I let them get their own.

They set their goals:  5,000 words each. 

It is not even close to the 50,000 NaNoWriMo encourages, but this is self-motivated activity.  Who am I to argue?

S11 and J9 opened their journals after their regular school was done and wrote all day long.  They both wrote more than 1,000 words their first day. 

I suggested they set their goals a little higher.

They declined.

Today they've written and written and written.  I forced them outside into the autumn sunshine for several hours, but they've still managed a healthy several hundred words each.

I asked M11 if she was writing.

She said she was thinking.

I asked E13 if she was writing.

She snorted.

I took that for a no.

I'm satisfied.  Last year I made them do it.  This year 2 out of 4 are writing . . . and writing hard.

Self-motivated education.

That's the best.