Our catalog of courses is complete. We will occasionally adjust the course listing to reflect the addition of new courses and the retirement of others.
Make your writing strong & clear — and master the most critical foundations needed for excellent high school writing, including writing for an audience and purpose, perfecting word choice, strong sentences & paragraphs, linear writing, rhetoric, transitions, and more. Take the 9-1 course with this course to gain a full semester’s credit of writing.
Total classes: 8
Prerequisite: Required: Registered for Writing Essentials 1: Essential Punctuation and Grammar I (HS 9-1). Students will be held accountable for all of the punctuation and grammar taught in the previous course. The prerequisite can be taken either LIVE or through Unlimited Access (recorded course). An alternative to the prerequisite: a passing assessment from the Aquinas Writing Advantage Assessment service, https://homeschoolconnectionsonline.com/writing-evaluations.
Suggested grade level: 9th grade; however, all students are welcome
Suggested credit: ½ semester Writing or English. Combine with High School Writing Essentials 1 (HS 9-1) for a full semester
Description
In this key foundational writing course, you’ll gain the skills that make writing strong and clear, lacking nothing—to articulate ideas well in all high-school-level work. The most important foundations of high school writing are introduced and discussed, and students learn the keys to perfecting strong sentences and paragraphs; basic forms of rhetoric; linear academic writing for a purpose; transitions and connectives, parallelism, paraphrasing, and summary; punctuation as it influences excellence in writing (comma, semicolon, colon, and dash use); how to recognize and correct common grammar struggles; the characteristics of an effective introduction, body, and conclusion; prewriting, drafting, and editing skills; and what it takes to sculpt a piece of writing with direction. Students receive specific feedback from the instructor.
Outline
Class 1: Audience, purpose, and word choice
Class 2: Perfecting strong sentence and paragraph construction
Class 3: Nine forms of rhetoric (and what they have to do with great writing)
Class 4: Linear writing for a purpose; more how-to’s for crafting strong sentences and paragraphs
Class 5: How to use transitions, connectives, and parallelism to make writing cohesive
Class 6: Punctuation and excellent writing: the comma, colon, semicolon, and dash; conquering common punctuation struggles
Class 7: Key components of an essay/paper; the introduction, body, conclusion, hook, and thesis; prewriting for success
Class 8: Drafting for success; editing and polishing your writing
Materials and Homework
Course Materials: Top Secrets for College Success, by Erin Brown Conroy: Buy the hard copy of the book here: http://amzn.to/2FMCose OR, buy the Kindle version of the book here (Download the FREE Kindle app to easily read on your computer, tablet, or mobile device): www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00B7AB90W/catholictreas-20
Microsoft Word or the ability to convert a document to a Word-compatible document is required. If you do not own Microsoft Word, you can use a system such as Google Docs that converts to Word documents FREE.
Homework: Students will have weekly writing assignments with grading and direct feedback from the instructor. Expect an estimated three to five hours per week for homework outside of class time (depending on the student’s skill level) that includes reading, writing, and responding to feedback.
