Halcyon Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) My 16 yo 11th grader needs help with his writing. He excels in math and science but his writing skills are poor. I am working with him but he is at the age where a third party might work better. I woud like to find someone to work one-on-one via email and maybe phone with him, giving him assignments and also working with him to improve his writing for his mom-led history class. (For example, I assigned an essay to compare and contrast guinea worm and small pox and it was...not good. Each week he is expected to write a short one-page essay for history). He is doing a high school level course for Writing with Writeathome but I am not impressed or happy with the feedback he is getting on his work. Is there anyone who does this? Edited October 10, 2018 by Halcyon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 You might want to try Mr Lux - we used him when he was at Write Guide, which did just that, but Write Guide is no more, and he seems to have gone out on his own. I know he has a website but I don't remember the URL you might try Googling Christopher Lux. ( I think it was Christopher...). We thought he was a good writing tutor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 Thanks. I could even see a workbook that slowly works through different types of essays (compare and contrast etc). He needs hand holding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 10 minutes ago, Matryoshka said: You might want to try Mr Lux - we used him when he was at Write Guide, which did just that, but Write Guide is no more, and he seems to have gone out on his own. I know he has a website but I don't remember the URL you might try Googling Christopher Lux. ( I think it was Christopher...). We thought he was a good writing tutor. https://luxwritingcenter.com/course-description/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 okay thanks. it's a bit pricey for us but will definitely look into it. I am just so very frustrated (total vent here). We had done a lot of the WWS stuff and he still can't write well. And he has no patience or desire to work at it, which makes it so challenging. Vent over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin B. Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) I found a retired English teacher who has been delighted to work with my high school twins using the WWS curriculum. We live in different locations, but they communicate mostly via email (comments in Word) and occasional video chats. She has been perfect for us and has frequently commented how much joy she gets to teach again without the responsibility of dozens of students. Maybe there is someone out there like this for you? Best of luck! Edited October 10, 2018 by Erin B. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 55 minutes ago, Halcyon said: And he has no patience or desire to work at it, which makes it so challenging. Vent over. For DS13, writing has been a long standing problem since kindergarten. Mine has desire to improve but has anxiety + perfectionism over writing. I am looking for an in person tutor because DS13 does better face to face, if I can’t find a suitable one then we have to use online. Hugs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 has anyone tried time4writing courses? He really hates the idea of having a tutor and i told him we would explore other options first to see if he improved. Writeathome feedback has been lackadaisacal and unfocused--i feel like his writing needs A LOT of help and just saying "good job, try to use more details" is not sufficient. I almost think he needs to start with paragraph writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 And i know he puts very little effort into his writing because he dislikes writing. So while his writing is bad, it doesn't need to be THAT bad--he just needs to work a bit harder, re-read his work, etc. I dont know how to get him to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) 12 minutes ago, Halcyon said: has anyone tried time4writing courses? He really hates the idea of having a tutor and i told him we would explore other options first to see if he improved. Writeathome feedback has been lackadaisacal and unfocused--i feel like his writing needs A LOT of help and just saying "good job, try to use more details" is not sufficient. I almost think he needs to start with paragraph writing. We briefly tried time4writing and I thought it was absolutely awful. Atrocious even. I think it made dd's writing worse. I think the idea of someone who could email him back and forth 2-3x a week, like the PP with the retired English teacher, is a good one. WriteGuide worked well for us partly because my twins shared the account, so they each only had to submit something every other day (and I got tutoring for two students for the price of one). But the actual mechanism of having them work with someone (that wasn't me!!!) in small increments really worked well. I also gave the tutors (we had about 3 WriteGuide tutors over time) a lot of guidance in what I expected - I was looking for academic writing using sources and MLA formatting, but let my kids choose their topics freely. But you could also tell them to work on personal or persuasive essays or even creative writing - the nice thing about a tutor is it's flexible and personalized. Edited October 10, 2018 by Matryoshka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RenaInTexas Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 (edited) Classical Academic Press (Schole Academy) offers tutoring. You state the goals and they set up a plan. The tutoring is done just as a live class would be. Edited October 11, 2018 by RenaInTexas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 I do this with my students who I have in class. We only meet once a week in person so it is important for me to conference with them during the week as questions arise. I really like using Google Docs since it is free and easy to use. I can offer comments along the side like - remember to capitalize proper nouns, or what is the main idea of this paragraph or review your MLA quotes standard... I follow up with a Google Hangout video conference if needed. I have done this with my own daughter, and she seems to take my suggestions better when they are not made in person. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 43 minutes ago, lmrich said: I really like using Google Docs since it is free and easy to use. I can offer comments along the side like - remember to capitalize proper nouns, or what is the main idea of this paragraph or review your MLA quotes standard... I follow up with a Google Hangout video conference if needed. I have done this with my own daughter, and she seems to take my suggestions better when they are not made in person. Google Docs is the approach that worked best with my daughter as well. (In addition to a couple classes and time to mature a bit.) OP, I hope you find an approach that works for your son! Just be sure the tutor or instructor is actually giving specific, tough feedback. (Even if it's painful at times.) In some classes I have had to go over my dd's writing with her after instructor feedback because precious little meaningful feedback had been given. Frustrating and disappointing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 (edited) We used Mrs. Lange at Integritas (formerly with WHA) for certain writing assignments. It could be considered pricey, but it was very on point, actionable feedback. We don’t have writing “problems” but even so IME it’s been better from both a time/$ perspective to do the expensive 1:1 sessions than pay for a writing class, no matter how great the class. I’m his writing tutor now but I will use her again. Edited October 11, 2018 by madteaparty 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 (edited) No personal experience, but here are a few grading service providers who have worked with homeschoolers:Reasonable HomeschoolingSuzanne Barrett Some great suggestions from the above posters. A few more recommendations in this thread:"Research writing tutor service: am I just dreaming?" Edited October 11, 2018 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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