Episode 25 - The Art of Language with Andrew Pudewa

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If you don’t already know and love Andrew Pudewa, and, honestly, even if you do, this podcast is a must-hear!

He is the creator of the Institute for Excellence in Writing program and is a well-known advocate for and beloved speaker in the homeschool conference world. Andrew shares his knowledge of writing and all things related to it with humor and joy. In today’s podcast, you’ll learn how Andrew discovered many of the techniques and ideas that led him to create his IEW writing program. You’ll discover why he hates the term “Language Arts.” You’ll hear how turning the writing process upside down is the best way to teach students the “Art of Language.”

In this podcast, Andrew gives unit-by-unit summaries of his IEW program so you can see the beauty and structure that will likely lead you to become a fan of his method. He shares about the many free resources available on his website and why the information is useful for those who use his programs as well as those who do not.

If you are a homeschooling parent who is struggling to interest your students in writing, you’ll benefit from Andrew’s useful and practical information. If you have a student who feels pressured to write creatively but feels ill-equipped to do so, you’ll love learning about the simplicity of the IEW program. And if you’re curious about the most intelligent thing Andrew ever heard said in public school, you’ll definitely want to tune in!

Meet The Guest

In today’s podcast, you’ll learn how Andrew Pudewa discovered many of the techniques and ideas that led him to create his IEW writing program.

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Andrew Pudewa is the founder and director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing and a father of seven. Traveling and speaking around the world, he addresses issues related to teaching, writing, thinking, spelling, and music with clarity, insight, practical experience, and humor. His seminars for parents, students, and teachers have helped transform many a reluctant writer and have equipped educators with powerful tools to dramatically improve students’ skills.

Although he is a graduate of the Talent Education Institute in Japan and holds a Certificate of Child Brain Development from the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his best endorsement is from a young Alaskan boy who called him “the funny man with the wonderful words.” He and his heroic wife, Robin, have homeschooled their seven children and are now proud grandparents of fifteen, making their home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Show notes are below

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Quotes from Andrew Pudewa

I never make a guarantee that anyone can be brought to love writing. I do know ways to make it less painful!

The primary goal is “Lets get the moms feeling like they understand a system that they can practice a little bit, and then they can teach it so much better.”

I wish I had a quarter for every time someone said “Oh, if I had only learned this in high school I would have done so much better!”

We secretly know one of the reasons that we continue homeschooling is because it is so much fun learning all that stuff that we didn’t really learn very well, or at all, when we were young.

Children read a lot less than they used to…that was the default thing. Homeschool kids would always have a book and they would always be reading. Now, of course, it’s much rarer…overall literacy, vocabulary, and exposure to beautiful language is really a lot lower today.

Some parents are aware and they fight against this trend of technology and entertainment eclipsing literacy but it’s a hard battle for any mom today.

[Homeschool conventions] have this incredible value that I think is not well understood by so many….I would encourage you to get yourself to a convention! And bring a friend.

Writing is a skill. It’s not something where you can just learn a bunch of information and do it. It is more like art or music or a sport. You have to do it in order to learn it…You have to practice it.

No child ever walks out of a class or turns off a video of mine and says “I don’t know what to write.” We’ve fixed the biggest problem.

[Writing] is very much a game and when you have all the pieces and know all the rules, the games are a lot more fun.

You cannot have creativity of any sort if you don’t have a foundation of basic skills, and those basic skills must be learned through imitation. There is no other way.

If you live long enough and are lucky, you may have an original idea to express.

I often say that I teach the same thing to everyone whether they are in second grade or graduate school. The difference is the sophistication of the source material and the ideas and then the speed of going through the units and the speed of introducing the stylistic techniques.

Our greatest handicap as teachers of our children is our own education. it is hard not to do to our kids what was done to us whether it was a good thing or not.