(Spring 2024) SIMPLIFIED WRITING FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL 4: Writing Form and Style (MS 7/8-4)-Monday-4:00 PM ET with Reilly Starrett

Help your middle school student be fully prepared for high school writing by learning the forms of nonfiction, fiction, informational writing, journalism, descriptive writing, reviews, speeches, Biblical writing, & more. Your student will learn to write in all these forms and how to choose the exact, clear style needed for future writing success. Take the 7/8-3 course with this course to gain a full semester’s credit for writing.

 

 

How to get the most out of the SIMPLIFIED WRITING FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL 4: Writing Form and Style (MS 7/8-4)

  • Read the course details below.
  • Prepare a notebook for notetaking and homework. Students -- be sure to take notes during class!
  • Students, begin the course by:
    • LIVE CLASS Students - Coming to the first live Class session on the scheduled date and time.
    • Unlimited Access / Recorded Students - Clicking on the "Recording" and watching Professor Brown’s lecture for Class One.
  • Review any supplemental materials (videos or readings)
  • Complete the Quiz(zes). The computer will automatically grade the quiz. Students will review with a parent.
    • *Note* If taking the course in Recorded format, the quiz will reset if someone else in the family takes it, so make sure the grade is recorded by a parent.
  • If you need review, watch the recording and/or go over the PowerPoint again.
  • Repeat until all 8 classes are complete.
  • Once the course is completed to the parent's satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end of this page (to be filled in for your records). Homeschool Connections does not provide record keeping

Total Classes: 8

Prerequisite: Registration in Simplified Writing for Middle School 3: Writing the Excellent Essay (MS 7/8-3). If your student is unable to take the previous courses LIVE, then at a minimum, he or she can watch the recordings on Unlimited Access before taking this course. An alternative to the prerequisite: a passing assessment from the Aquinas Writing Advantage Assessment service. Please contact homeschoolconnections@gmail.com for any questions on permissions.

Suggested Grade Level: 7th and 8th grade

Suggested Credit: ½ semester Writing or English. Precede with 7/8-3 for a full semester’s credit for writing.

 

Instructor: Reilly Starrett

Instructors email: rstarrett.hsc@gmail.com

Course Description Did you know there is more than one way to write "right"? To be successful in high school and college, students must write in many different styles and tones, with different approaches. This critical writing course is the “launching point” for your student to be fully prepared for high school writing -- introducing your student to the many different rhetorical forms of non-fiction and fiction writing. You'll learn about descriptive writing, reviews, how-to articles and instructions, news articles and journalistic reporting, types of business writing, speeches, creative/expressive story writing (songs, plays, and other forms of story), and the kinds of writing found in the bible (epistles/letters, genealogical writing, historical narratives, laws and statutory writing, parables, poetry, and proverbial writing). Special emphasis is placed on knowing the characteristics of each kind of writing -- and how to identify the different types of writing. Your student will also practice writing within most of the forms, using all of the skills learned to this point in the Essentials and Simplified Writing courses for middle school students. Students completing the 6/7 and 7/8 Series courses (including this course) are fully prepared for high school writing!

 

Course Outline:

  • Class 1: Types of Writing Overview, Purpose and Audience, Nonfiction and Fiction Writing
  • Class 2: How-to Writing and Instructional Writing
  • Class 3: An introduction to Journalism and News Reporting
  • Class 4: Expressive Writing – Forms of Story and Expression
  • Class 5: Descriptive Writing
  • Class 6: Business Writing
  • Class 7: Writing Reviews and Speeches
  • Class 8: Forms of Writing in the Bible

 

Course Materials: All materials provided FREE within the course.

Homework: Weekly writing assignments, with grading and direct feedback from the instructor. Estimated three to five hours per week for homework outside of class time, depending on the student’s ability.