Help your middle school student gain must-have essay writing skills with personal help and feedback on their work, while understanding how to write an excellent introduction with a hook and thesis statement; how to brainstorm, order, and outline; and how to draft, revise, and edit for excellence. Students also learn upper-level paragraph structure. This course prepares your student for high school and helps your student write longer works with confidence. Take the 7/8-1 prerequisite course with this course to gain a full semester’s credit for writing.

Total Classes: 6

Class Dates and Starting Times:

Mondays, October 28 to December 2, 2024. 

10:00 AM Eastern (9:00 Central; 8:00 Mountain; 7:00 Pacific)

Prerequisite: Simplified Writing for Middle School 1: Foundations of Composition I (MS 7/8-1). If your student is unable to take the previous courses LIVE, then at a minimum, he or she can watch the recordings on Unlimited Access before taking this course. An alternative to the prerequisite: a passing assessment from the Aquinas Writing Advantage Assessment service. Please contact homeschoolconnections@gmail.com for any questions on permissions.

Suggested Grade Level: 8th and accelerated 7th grade

Suggested Credit: One-half (½ ) of a semester's credit for Writing or English. Precede with 7/8-1 for a full semester's credit for writing.

Instructors:

Natalie M. Schira, BA with Reilly Starrett grading

Course Description: Help your middle school student continue to master the critical writing skills learned in the Simplified Writing 1 (7/8-1) course -- and put your knowledge and skills into practice with specific feedback and coaching to help your writing improve. Learn the most powerful paragraph structure ("PEAS"), and work through the writing process for academic writing. Brainstorm and craft the outline of an essay and a short paper while learning how to write seven types of “hooks”; master the five parts of an advanced thesis statement; and learn more ways to connect sentences in an introduction. You'll understand how to smoothly create an essay or paper from start to finish; the most important steps of revising and editing; and how to connect sentences in an essay or paper with linear, focused writing. This course is excellent preparation for high school writing and gives students a jump-start on writing for high school.

Course Outline:

• Class 1: Writing structure and skill: practicing the introduction, hook, and thesis

• Class 2: Writing structure and skill: practicing outlines and the conclusion/concluding statements

• Class 3: Writing an essay: rough drafts

• Class 4: Writing a paper: five types of papers & practicing the introduction, hook, and thesis

• Class 5: Writing a paper: practicing outlines and concluding statements; revising an essay

• Class 6: Writing a paper: rough drafts; editing an essay

• Class 7: Revising a Paper

• Class 8: Editing and formatting final papers

Course Materials: Course materials are included for free. Microsoft Word or the ability to convert a document to a Word-compatible document is required, as all assignments are submitted in Word. If you do not own Microsoft Word, you can use a system such as Google Docs that converts to Word documents FREE.

Homework: Weekly writing assignments, with grading and direct feedback from the instructor. Estimated three (3) to four (4) hours per week for homework outside of class time, depending on the student's ability.

Note: Parents, please make sure that 100% of the student's work is his or her own writing. Help your student to understand not to copy content from online or another source unless told to do so on an assignment as a quote or evidence to support an idea. If using outside materials, always cite where the information came from. Students copying work without citation (and quotation marks) earn a zero on the assignment, and repeat or intentional plagiarism will result in not passing the course. Plagiarism is taken seriously, so please help your student understand plagiarism. Thank you. 

Fee: $157 if you register on or before July 15. $177 after July 15 for all 6 classes. (Registration closes one week before the first day of class. After that date, registrations are not guaranteed. There is a $20 surcharge for late enrollments after the course is closed.)