Last year my husband and 10-year-old daughter participated in NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month. Throughout the month of November, they both wrote a novel from scratch. It was a great learning experience for both of them.
This year my 13-year-old and 11-year-old are planning to participate. (EDIT: My 8-year-old has decided to participate this year as well. She's set her goal at 12,000 words.)
So do your kids like to write? Do you? NaNoWriMo is definitely a unique way to exercise those writing muscles.
What's NaNoWriMo?
If you're not familiar with National Novel Writing Month, here's a quick rundown of what it's all about and how it works.
1. Participants 18 and over register at NaNoWriMo.com to participate; participants 17 and under register at the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program.
2. Participants in the Young Writers Program choose their word count goal. Children 13 and up are allowed to register at the adult NaNoWriMo site, but they won't be able to choose their word count goal because all adult participants must meet a 50K word count goal.
3. Then beginning November 1, each Wrimo (as participants are called) starts writing!
4. Each day throughout the month, Wrimos log in to their accounts to update their current word count as well as to use the numerous NaNo resources. (Check out the Young Writers Program resources here.)
5. When participants reach their word count goal, they upload the text of their novel to verify their word count — and then they're declared an official NaNoWriMo winner.
6. Winners can get a free printed proof copy of their novel. And of course, all winners get bragging rights that are good for life!
If your kids are interested in participating in NaNoWriMo, you might want to check out these free NaNoWriMo writing workbooks available on the Young Writers Program website. They will help your kids prepare to write their novel.
I'd love to hear if you or your kids plan to participate in NaNoWriMo.
This looks incredible. I will be doing this with my 11 and 15 year old daughters. Can you tell me a little more about how you handled it while homeschooling? Did you give her a set time a day to write or did you put other school on hood and work on this? I've downloaded the workbook and hope to get through a good amount of it before November hits. Thanks for the info!
I'm going to be doing NaNoWriMo again this year. It's a crazy experience but well worth it.
Thanks for the information. I will show it to my daughter who likes to write and see if she wants to participate.
I've done NaNoWriMo for several years, but this year my 7 yr old will be writing along with me. I am so excited!
My daughter participated last year and is planning to again this year. She really struggled getting it done w/in the November time frame last year. So, we decided instead of having her "fail", we would encourage her to finish the book. It didn't matter how long it took as long as she finished. She did finally finish, though it wasn't until February, I think?
But….this year, she's already thinking about her characters and feeling pumped to give it another try. She doesn't feel like she failed last time, she was just a little delayed in her success. I think, as painful as it was to draw it out over so many months, that making her finish was the right thing to do last year. It was better for her self-esteem and work ethic. This year, we're hoping for more "timely" results. 🙂
Thank you for this post! I think authorship in the young (and old) is so important!
Thanks for cluing us in to this. My 6th, 4th, and 2nd graders all participated and won! I participated, but have to claim a moral victory at 26,000 words. I'll excuses myself by saying I'm a mom of 7, the youngest turned 3mo during NaNoWriMo. What fun!