With all of the new changes to family schedules that happen at the start of a new semester, it can be helpful to have the dates on a calendar as reminders. This link will take you to a month-by-month schedule of our classes.
IN THE LOOP
Friends and families,
As the calendar year draws to a close, we want to make sure you are in the loop with important next steps:
For a couple months you get to enjoy a break from our class routine. Classes will begin again in two months, so for now, your children get to enjoy reading and writing books and stories that have been awaiting their attention.
You’ll find our new Student Lesson Guide is now available for purchase as a downloadable on our website. This might be a great option for your children during the holiday break. The lessons provide an excellent review of our writing methods, and they are appropriate for a wide range of ages. You’ll find more information about this new product on our website.
3. Registration for all spring classes has already opened! Make sure you head over to our website to see what the options are for your children. As always, contact our home office if you have any questions. And don’t forget to order your vouchers before the Christmas break if you are using charter funds.
4. Now is a great time to share our classes with your friends so they too can enjoy the benefits of quality language arts instruction with our excellent instructors next semester.
5. We are excited to offer two course options for our Adult Training Program (ATP):
Writing Foundations for ATP: Handbook Instruction
Blending Literature with Writing: Practical Suggestions for All Ages
Register for one or both of these courses now by contacting our home office. Based on the individuals attending these classes, days and timesare TBD.
If you are unfamiliar with our ATP course, you can find more details on our website. Then you will need to contact our home office for more information and details about these courses. Without doubt, these courses are extremely beneficial for equipping all parents to better assist their children with ALL writing assignments.
Great job getting through Fall 2022 with your amazing kiddos! Enjoy the holidays, and we’ll see you in 2023!! Remember: don’t hesitate to contact us if we can help you with ANYTHING - call or send us an email: 916-696-1759 or www.thewritejourney.net.
TWJ Classes Provide Instruction in Language Arts for All Ages & Stages
This semester, we offer several course options including our Writing-Only courses, Reading & Writing classes for each grade level & training for Adults that want to learn to teach our materials to their own children or their educational community. Here is a rundown of each writing class option, each grade level’s novel & the focus for the first semester for our Adult Training Program (ATP).
Writing Only:
Writing Foundations Levels 1, 2 and 3
This course teaches either paragraph writing for students grades 3-6, or multi-paragraph instruction for students grades 7-9. Students will work through the TWJ Writing Foundations Handbook under our instructors, learning the 4-step writing process used in every one of our classes. This is the starting point for many students that simply need to learn how to write an academic response paper.
Formal Academic Essay Writing
This course is for High School students that want or need to learn the essay writing process, a varilong with various types of essays written in the high school level prompts. This 12 week course will also teach the basics of the MLA writing format. This is the starting point for high schoolers that are joining our classes for the first time.
Reading & Writing Classes by Grade Level
Blending Great Literature with Writing
These classes are 12-week classes that study an age appropriate, award winning novel, and students write about prompts related to the class’ book. Students further practice and develop the skills learned in our writing-only classes. The end of each semester focuses on Enrichment Projects to enhance each novel’s genre or focus.
Remember that students in grades 5/6 and up must have completed either the previous grade Reading & Writing class, or the Writing Foundations levels 1&2 class to enroll. Students may join this Reading & Writing course in the spring semester after learning the Writing Foundations Handbook in classes or tutoring.
1/2 grade Reading & Writing
Fall Novel- My Father’s Dragon
Spring Novels- The Courage of Sarah Noble and The Bears of Hemlock Mountain
3/4 Grade Reading & Writing
Fall Novel- The Cricket in Times Square
Spring Novels- Ben and Me
5/6 Grade Reading & Writing
Fall Novel- My Side of the Mountain
Spring Novels- Amos Fortune- Free Man
7/8 Grade Reading & Writing
Fall Novel- The Bronze Bow
Spring Novels- Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
9-12 Grade Reading & Writing
Fall Novel- The Scarlet Pimpernel
Spring Novels- American Short Stories (Early American History)
11&12 Grade (College Prep)Reading & Writing
Fall Novel- Oliver Twist
Spring Novels- The Scarlet Letter
Adult Training Program:
This course teaches parents through the TWJ Writing Foundations Handbook, which is our writing process used in every single class we teach. Adults may want to grow in the skills to instruct their own children in writing and literature, or they may desire the training to offer writing classes in small groups, co-op classes, or pods. ATP students learn our teaching content, methods, and how to support students with encouraging evaluations that help them progress in this invaluable subject! Join us for this 12 week course. To learn more, use the link below.
Fall Semester - TWJ Handbook Training for Expanded Paragraph Writing
Spring Semester - Blending Literature and Writing or Multi-Paragraph Writing Instruction
CALLING BOLD ADVENTURERS (THAT'S YOU!)
By Mikaela Bagdanov
Every calendar year has two New Years. Everybody knows the one in January, where we look back at how we’ve changed in the past twelve months and look forward to how we’ll grow in the next twelve. The second New Year goes by another name: Summer Break. We celebrate our students’ maturity and achievements during the school year and anticipate their next growth journey. For many parents this year, Summer Break prepares a new adventure into the homeschooling realm. Thanks to recent pandemics, politics, and policies, the homeschool community now welcomes many public school parents into its guild of bold adventurers. Do not be mistaken, dear parent-educators, it is an adventure - the likes of which you’ve barely seen.
I worked as a classroom aide in a mainstream school during the distance learning years, and I witnessed teachers’ valiant efforts to maintain the familiar system. To the defense of my former colleagues, the familiar has its place and its purpose. However, the public school system seemed to me like a train track, where students follow a single, inflexible path to arrive at certain standards. My job was to help those students who learned outside the box to learn according to expectations. As a homeschooled student myself, let me tell you - we all learn outside the box. That is the beauty and the challenge of homeschooling.
If public schooling compares to a train track, then homeschooling relates to an all-terrain vehicle. It’s not the same method or experience as following a system. You are embarking on a journey, through murky forests and across scenic mountaintops. Before you lies the quest for your student’s education that will lead to places you never thought to explore. Like all adventurers, you need tools of flexibility and creativity as you uncover the hidden treasure in your students. Here in the homeschooling realm, you have the opportunity to teach outside the box - to follow your child’s pace, to seek out fun assignments, and to re-chart your curriculum as needed. What’s more, you have the resources of your fellow adventurers who have traversed this journey before you and of those who trek beside you.
Bold adventurer, this is a New Year. Look back at what you’ve learned about yourself and your child in public school. Take those lessons, yet also invite new approaches and novel perspectives. Enlist the help of guides to navigate those forests and the companionship of friends to climb those mountains with you. Watch your students grow into the expert life-adventurers you know they can become. Lastly...remember to enjoy the journey!
FALL CLASSES: CHECK OUT OUR LIST FOR ALL CLASS NOVELS
This year, during the fall semester, we will study award winning novels and stories. These stories stand the test of time by offering quality literature that accomplishes much more than simply entertaining the reader. Our class instructors will help students identify all the richness that earned the authors their awards.
During the second semester, we will revisit the early American era, and study novels, stories, and short stories that help readers connect to the struggles, triumphs, and daily life for America’s early citizens. The literary selections are tried and true choices, and they will leave students with lasting memories.
Tk Class
Fall Semester: Various Award Winning Stories read by the instructor each week. Spring Semester: Various Stories about Early American History read by the instructor each week.
Kindergarten Class Fall Semester: Various Award Winning Stories read by the instructor each week. Spring Semester: Various Stories about Early American History read by the instructor each week.
1&2 Grade Reading and Writing
Fall Semester: My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannettt
Spring Semester: The Courage of Sarah Noble and The Bears of Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dalgliesh
3&4 Grade Reading and Writing
Fall Semester: The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden Spring Semester: Ben and Me by Robert Lawson
5&6 Grade Reading and Writing
Fall Semester: My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George Spring Semester: Amos Fortune- Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
7&8 Grade Reading and Writing
Fall Semester: The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare Spring Semester: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
High School Reading and Writing
Fall Semester: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy Spring Semester: Various Short Stories by American Authors
College Prep Reading and Writing
Fall Semester: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Spring Semester: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne