Help your middle school student be fully prepared for high school writing by learning the forms of nonfiction, fiction, informational writing, journalism, descriptive writing, reviews, speeches, Biblical writing, & more. Your student will learn to write in all these forms and how to choose the exact, clear style needed for future writing success. Take the 7/8-3 course with this course to gain a full semester’s credit for writing.

Total Classes: 8

Class Dates and Starting Times:

Tuesdays, March 11 to May 6, 2025. No class April 15 (Holy Week)

11:30 AM Eastern (10:30 Central; 9:30 Mountain; 8:30 Pacific)

Prerequisite: Registration in Simplified Writing for Middle School 3: Writing the Excellent Essay (MS 7/8-3). 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: 7th and 8th grade

Suggested Credit: One-half (½ ) of a semester's credit for Writing or English. Precede with 7/8-3 for a full semester’s credit for writing.

Instructor:  Natalie M. Schira, BA with Ryan Starrett

Course Description Did you know there is more than one way to write "right"? To be successful in high school and college, students must write in many different styles and tones, with different approaches. This critical writing course is the “launching point” for your student to be fully prepared for high school writing -- introducing your student to the many different rhetorical forms of non-fiction and fiction writing. You'll learn about descriptive writing, reviews, how-to articles and instructions, news articles and journalistic reporting, types of business writing, speeches, creative/expressive story writing (songs, plays, and other forms of story), and the kinds of writing found in the bible (epistles/letters, genealogical writing, historical narratives, laws and statutory writing, parables, poetry, and proverbial writing). Special emphasis is placed on knowing the characteristics of each kind of writing -- and how to identify the different types of writing. Your student will also practice writing within most of the forms, using all of the skills learned to this point in the Essentials and Simplified Writing courses for middle school students. Students completing the 6/7 and 7/8 Series courses (including this course) are fully prepared for high school writing!

Course Outline:

• Class 1: Types of Writing Overview, Purpose and Audience, Nonfiction and Fiction Writing

• Class 2: How-to Writing and Instructional Writing

• Class 3: An Introduction to Journalism and News Reporting

• Class 4: Expressive Writing – Forms of Story and Expression

• Class 5: Descriptive Writing

• Class 6: Business Writing

• Class 7: Writing Reviews and Speeches

• Class 8: Forms of Writing in the Bible

Course Materials: All materials provided FREE within the course.

Homework: Weekly writing assignments, with grading and direct feedback from the instructor. Estimated three (3) to five (5) hours per week for homework outside of class time, depending on the student’s ability.

Note: All student work needs to be 100% the student's own work and the student's own writing. Nothing can be copied from anywhere else unless a source for the text is given on the assignment. Any students who copy work from elsewhere will receive a zero on the assignment. Repeated copying will result in failure of the course.

  Fee: $187 if you register on or before November 15. $207 after November 15 for all 8 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.)