XPOST with Logic and Middle School board: Writing class for middle schooler question

[Alice]

I'm looking for a writing class for my rising 7th grader. She LOVES writing, which is a new thing in our house. She's a good natural writer and the one thing she wants to do more of next year is write. I can obviously give her writing assignments myself, and I'm fairly comfortable doing that. However, she also LOVES the few online classes she has taken and really thrives on feedback. (Because of that I've asked her if she would prefer to try public school next year and she wants to homeschool.) So I'd like to find an online class for her. 

I know what I'm not looking for more than what I am looking for: I'm not looking for something IEW like. We took one class using a local provider (who now runs an online very popular site) and it was horrible and about killed the small amount of tolerance for writing my oldest had. We have used a few Bravewriter classes and I like the idea but they have seemed very pricey for what you get. It's hard for me to justify it, and since they are so short it's hard to really have that be something where she gets to interact with a class/teacher. I've also thought about Lukeion. We used them for four years with my oldest and it was a great fit so I'm familiar with them. But she's both creative and a perfectionist. I worry that Lukeion will stress her out. But maybe they are different for the non-Latin classes? 

I am looking for something ideally year long, or at least a semester. Live would be better. A mix of creative writing and essays would be fabulous, but not essential. It would be fine to combine with literature, she's a strong reader. Mostly something where she can write a lot and get feedback from a teacher and also have a bit of interaction with a class. She's a kid who longs to have assignments to put in her planner and loves classes where she gets to chat with the other students a bit. 

[Lori D.]

Yea for having a natural writer! 😄 

I think Cover Story (gr. 6-8) would be the ideal program (if she isn't beyond it), as it is a mix of types of writing assignments -- but there are no live online classes that I am seeing anywhere. If you like the looks of Cover Story, would it be possible for either you to oversee a local co-op class using Cover Story, or to get someone else to do so?

Maybe alternate a few of the 8-week Lantern English Essay Writing series of classes with some of the short (anywhere from 1-3 weeks to up to 8 weeks) Outschool live classes on Creative Writing?

Edited March 5, 2021 by Lori D.

[Alice]

Thanks, Lori. Those are good thoughts! I’ll check them out. 

[Calizzy]

My dd sounds just like yours. She's in 7th now and we did Writing and Rhetoric class through Schole Academy. You read short stories from classic literature and then have to make arguments for or against the book/characters. It's geared towards writing in a persuasive way. Our teacher is Ash White and my dd absolutely loves the class and Ms. White. She had loved writing and did a lot of creative writing on her own, but this class has really helped her write thesis statements and support them with evidence from the text. 

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

Has she ever participated in NaNoWriMo? Obviously supplemental, but their Young Writer’s Program materials for middle school are solid & my DS has always loved the challenge.

You spend the month of October preparing & then write like crazy in November. In January you can circle back to edit & finish the story if desired, but it’s more about the journey than the destination.

Since it’s a big online movement she could get that sense of community - there are message boards, digital awards as she tracks her progress, etc. 

[PeterPan]

This is the age my dd started in writing competitions. She did fan fiction and found groups and got feedback that way. 

[Alice]

13 hours ago, Shoes+Ships+SealingWax said:

Has she ever participated in NaNoWriMo? Obviously supplemental, but their Young Writer’s Program materials for middle school are solid & my DS has always loved the challenge.

You spend the month of October preparing & then write like crazy in November. In January you can circle back to edit & finish the story if desired, but it’s more about the journey than the destination.

Since it’s a big online movement she could get that sense of community - there are message boards, digital awards as she tracks her progress, etc. 

That's a great idea! She did do it one year and actually wrote a whole story that we had bound as a book by Blurb. It was about her stuffed Bunny and adventures that her Bunny had. She loved doing that. It was a few years ago...so maybe she was 9  (or 8?) and the one month turned into about 4 months. But she was so into it that I just let it go and it was our LA for most of the year. But we didn’t really participate in the community, due to her age. That might make it more fun and interesting. 

 

10 hours ago, PeterPan said:

This is the age my dd started in writing competitions. She did fan fiction and found groups and got feedback that way. 

Interesting! @PeterPanWhat kind of writing competitions? 

[PeterPan]

54 minutes ago, Alice said:

What kind of writing competitions? 

They were specific to the fan fiction she was writing. 

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

12 hours ago, Alice said:

That's a great idea! She did do it one year and actually wrote a whole story that we had bound as a book by Blurb. It was about her stuffed Bunny and adventures that her Bunny had. She loved doing that. It was a few years ago...so maybe she was 9  (or 8?) and the one month turned into about 4 months. But she was so into it that I just let it go and it was our LA for most of the year. But we didn’t really participate in the community, due to her age. That might make it more fun and interesting. 

My DS8 has done it every year for the past 4yrs & still begs to do it each fall. The first two years I scribed for him, then the past two years he wrote it himself. He doesn’t mind writing in general but he writes far more, & with much more enthusiasm, for NaNoWriMo than he does in any other context!