My child hates to write and I want them to love it!
First of all: there is no magic formula that will make every lesson a winner. Some will not work very well. Learn from these experiences and move on!
Write along with your child! This may just mean that you will write in journals together every few days. Go to a book store and find snazzy journals and enjoy sharing your writing attempts together. Your child can even pick the topics.
Assign short writing assignments like poems, word games, and super sentences.
What inhibitions are you putting on your child? Must they spell every word correctly? Are your grammar expectations appropriate? Must every paper be perfect? If you are, students will often only write words they can spell correctly rather than wonderful word choices that they are unsure of spelling. They may also continuously interrupt the writing process to ask for correct spelling. If they feel they must produce perfection, they may feel inhibited from writing longer writing pieces.
Are you rushing the writing process? I personally like having my daughter write before lunch or late in the school day. She can write for as long as she wants because she has completed other assignments.
Sometimes it is beneficial to assign a difficult subject early in the school day. The student is fresh and rested. You have to find what is the best time of day for your child.
Are you assigning high interest assignments? Is the subject matter of interest to your child? What would your daughter rather write about: horses or what they ate for dinner?
Do you publish your child's writing? Publication provides excitement, pride, and motivation. You can publish a student anthology to send to family. Send poems to the home school newsletter. Your student could publish a book report/review on a website like Amazon.com. Publishing can be as simple as sending a letter to a friend.
With younger children, sometimes simple solutions work well. My daughter responded in a very positive way to being allowed to sit at her father's desk during writing time. Just changing surroundings, or using a special pen/paper can be motivational.
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