Registration Open: Summer and Fall Classes

Summer 2024

As usual, we are offering a few summer classes in July for your students. These include: Elementary Writing Foundations, Creative Writing, and Fun with Grammar for younger and older students.

Elementary Writing Foundations

This class is the prerequisite class for all 5th/6th grade students that want to take a Reading & Writing class in the fall semester, but do not yet have any experience with our writing process and program. This class will span 4 weeks, meeting Monday-Thursday each week, for a total of 12 hours of instruction. Students will learn the writing process and the technology skills needed to take the 5th/6th grade reading and writing class. This class will also serve as a refresher course for any students that need a bit more practice before the next school year begins.

Creative Writing

Do you have a writer on your hands? Do you have a child that cannot help but tell a story? Do you see the need to supply them with tools to develop their story-telling skills? This summer writing camp can help with that!

Young Writers (grades 3-7)

Older Writers (grades 8-12)

Fun With Grammar

If your students need some help with grammar skills, this 4-day camp will bring fun and games to the table! In order to help your student learn these concepts, we will teach the grammar rules in an active and enjoyable way. Laughter will lead the way!!

We have a time for younger grades, and a time for older grades. Check out the schedule for the details!

Young Writers (grades 3-7)

Older Writers (grades 8-12)

Fall 2024

Our fall class offerings are extensive, so be sure to use the filter to find the classes that are best for your children. We will be offering Writing Foundations at the Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced levels. In addition, for students who have already completed a Writing Foundations class, we will be offering our favorite: Reading and Writing classes. In these classes, students will continue practicing the writing methods they learned in Writing Foundations as they explore timeless literature.

Here are the fun novels our students will be studying:

1/2 Grade - My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

3/4 Grade - The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

5/6 Grade - (Wed) (Thurs) - The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois

7/8 Grade (Wed) (Thurs) - Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson

9-12 Grade -Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

NOTE: No Writing Foundations prerequisite class is required for our younger students. (1st/2nd grade and 3rd/4th grade.)

Click to view complete class catalog.

Summer Practice to Keep Skills Fresh!

I had a middle school student mention that he always feels as if he forgets everything over the summer, so the first week back in class seems as if he has to start all over again. I was not surprised to hear that–I experienced the same sensations over the years. I was surprised that the entire class agreed, and then asked for writing prompts so they could practice their writing skills over the summer. Imagine that! Students that LOVE keeping their writing skills fresh, with a hope to maintain the skills even after the summer break! My teacher’s heart just melted on the spot.

It reminds me that we do have some choices with the way we spend our time over the summer months. I HIGHLY encourage down-time for students and families. Summer allows the long anticipated break from the constant barrage of deadlines and demands. However, I hope we also anticipate the benefits in practicing the skills we need to keep fresh in order to prevent the dreaded “starting over” feelings that come from the rustiness of unuse. Continuing the skills of reading and asking solid questions can easily be accomplished, even with simpler stories or articles. Grammar skills can be maintained through fun games, like Mad Libs (remember those?) or Editor-in-Chief. Writing can remain in the mix through journaling, story writing, or silly prompts that keep the tone light and easy.

By and large, the decision to exert a bit of effort throughout the summer can prevent the dread and doom in early fall.

Summer Classes

We have summer classes during the last 3 weeks of July, just in time to ease back into the school year. Check out our class schedule for options in Elementary Writing Foundations, Creative Writing Camps, or Fun with Grammar camps. These classes are affordable and fun!

Looking for individual help with writing? Summer tutoring is a great option!

Summer tutoring is available for all ages. Whether one-on-one tutoring best fits your needs, or small group tutoring better suits your team, we can make arrangements to meet with your students.

Adult Training Seminars

We are excited to try something new! As we continue to search for a system that will work well to equip parents and leaders of educational communities with our writing methods, we are going back to where we started: we are now offering ATP Handbook Training Seminars. 

These seminars will take place on one Saturday each month using the Zoom platform. We will meet together for 6 hours, which includes break times. Attendees will enjoy five hours of live instruction and relational learning. The first seminar is scheduled in late July, and a seminar will be offered each month through November. Check out the schedule (use the filter to find the “Adult” class offerings).

These seminars are very practical; they are certain to equip you to more effectively teach writing to your children and students. They are also affordable, so we encourage you to have some friends join you as you learn the foundations of teaching writing to students of all ages. Our goal is to encourage and empower you to teach writing effectively. The results will be felt by your children and students as they realize that they can learn to write, and they can even enjoy writing once they gain confidence by utilizing our writing methods.

This program will teach you how to instruct your student on:

• Gathering and organizing quality ideas 

• Creating quality sentences and paragraphs

• Understanding necessary grammar rules and how to apply them to writing

• Editing independently to create the BEST writing

• Developing critical thinking and verbal communication skills along the way

• Suggesting methods to evaluate your student’s writing

• and MUCH more!

Click to learn more about our ATP (Adult Training Program).

New Products

You may already own TWJ Writing Foundations Handbook and Student Lesson Guide, and very soon you will be able to add our Intermediate Writing Foundations Handbook AND Intermediate Student Lesson Guide to your family library! These products will be available as digital downloads on our website, just like all our other products.

The Intermediate level handbook and student lesson guide will teach a clear process for moving students from writing a single expanded paragraph to writing a multi-paragraph composition. Students will learn how to write the body paragraphs of a composition, even as they continue practicing all the writing skills they learned in the original handbook. At this next level, students will learn how to write a thesis statement, a transitional sentence, and an overall concluding sentence.

In addition, it will be necessary for students to write more comprehensively on a topic. They will need to dig deeper into the information and analysis of a writing prompt, while continuing to maintain quality ideas, clear organization, engaging style, and correct grammar. These new products are sure to challenge many writers as they grow in their writing skills and confidence.

Be on the lookout for our next newsletter introducing our new Intermediate level handbooks! In the meantime, check out our current handbooks and student lesson guide.

Follow Your Heart – Be a Boss

It goes without saying that every parent experiences moments of panic when it comes to raising our children. Perhaps they crawled behind a piece of furniture and we can’t find them, so we run to the bathroom praying they didn’t take a dive into the toilet. Or perhaps they became separated from us at the park or shopping mall, and our heart skips a few beats as we fight to take control of our thoughts so we can come up with a plan to find them. I remember that kind of panic! But there’s also the kind of panic that keeps us awake at night wondering:

• Am I loving my children enough?

• Am I disciplining them effectively?

• Am I playing with them and laughing with them enough?

• Am I cooking healthy food?

• Am I protecting them enough . . . or too much?

• Am I providing the best education?

I get it. The panic that comes from these questions (and so many more) is very real.

Now that I’ve really got your blood pressure soaring, let’s bring it down. As we begin this new year, I encourage you to remember that your children are a gift to YOU. That means YOU are the very best person to care for them. YOUR heart is your guide. Yes, we can find value in research and expert advice, but there is nothing like a mama’s heart to know what her little (and not so little) treasures need. YOU, not influencers, know when something is working and when it’s not. Trust YOUR heart. Friends and family may offer wise insights, but they don’t replace YOUR heart for your children and your deep longing to see them thrive.

Of course prayer and spiritual insight also enlighten YOU. Of course you will experience ups and downs, highs and lows, joys and sorrows, but that is simply real life. Learning to roll with reality is a challenge, and I think you’re up for that challenge. So let me encourage you to literally take a deep breath and let it out slowly as you remind yourself, “this will be a great year”, “eventually things will slow down and calm down”, “love will see us through”, “we will persevere”, “tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it” (Anne of Green Gables).

Finally, BE A BOSS. Take the lead. Make decisions. Speak life. Love well. Unplug and turn off. This IS going to be a great year! Believe it. Speak it.

Speaking life,

Kris