How It Works: Writing Sessions
2023-2024 Writing Sessions
Session 1
Aug 7-Sept 15
Register April 14-July 17
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Session 2
Oct 23-Dec.8
Register Sept 1-Oct 6
No classes Thanksgiving week
Session 3
Jan 7-Feb 16
Register Nov 16-Dec 15
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Session 4
Mar 18-Apr 26
Register Feb 2-Feb 23
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Lessons
Students download lessons from our password-protected website. These lessons count as the "textbook" for our classes, and they will introduce key concepts, provide examples, and walk students through practice sentences and ideas. Lessons typically cover a content-specific focus, a general writing focus, and a grammar focus. Students read one lesson each week.
Class Meetings
Once a week, our classes meet together for a live online chat with the teacher about the week's lesson. Students should read the lesson BEFORE attending the weekly meeting, as this is the students' opportunity to ask questions, share ideas, and work through examples. These live class meetings are text-based; teachers and students share their thoughts through typing. This ensures that families with all levels of technology can participate.
Weekly Assignments
Students complete assignments from the lesson each day of the week. Once students have submitted an assignment, the teacher will respond with edits, input, and revision suggestions. Students submit one assignment at a time and work through those revisions before moving on to the next assignment.
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Generally, students submit an assignment and receive feedback from their instructor every day (with the exception of weekends). All assignments are returned within 24 hours on weekdays.
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Most classes include three assignments each week, though the number of assignments varies based on the course.
Teacher Expectations
Our program is built with a growth mindset; our instructors tailor their expectations to each individual student and target the areas where they most need to grow. We believe that all students improve their writing and stretch their skills, and we work hard to make sure that all students are appropriately challenged. Therefore, students who come to us with greater technical mastery will receive revisions that encourage more advanced elements, and students who have more room to grow will receive more scaffolding to help them achieve mastery.
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The Home2Teach philosophy is built on the idea of learning through revision; with that in mind, we never take writing as "perfect," and students should expect to receive individualized revisions on the majority of assignments they submit. We want students to feel like assignments are a safe space to try new techniques, make mistakes, and grow in their writing mastery.
Time Expectations
Each of our courses requires one hour for our online class meetings, in addition to preparatory time for reading lessons, completing assignments, and responding to revisions.
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For our introductory and intermediary classes, most students complete their work in about 3 hours each week; our upper level courses (Paragraph and beyond) require an average of 4-5 hours a week, though this varies with each individual student. Because our instruction is so individualized, students are appropriately challenged, so their time working on assignments is designed to feel well-spent.
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A very key component to our program includes learning to follow a schedule and meet deadlines. We encourage students to become increasingly self-sufficient in this life skill, as it is crucial for success in all grades throughout high school, college, and beyond.
Parent Involvement
For our classes, parents do NOT help the student, other than perhaps to read over the lesson with your student to ensure understanding. All assignments must be completed by the student only, with no help, edits, revisions, or corrections by the parents. This is to ensure the students are mastering the concepts and applying them completely on their own. Additionally, this allows the instructor to evaluate student work properly and make sound recommendations about how students should progress through our program.
Grades and Credit
Our program is robust, so students will cover a great deal of material during our six-week session; it is very likely that students will see a great improvement in their writing skills after just one session! At the conclusion of the session, students receive a certificate of completion that will include the skills covered and dates for the session.
While we do not provide letter grade or percentages, we do provide feedback on student growth using in terms of developing skills, proficiency at course skills, and mastery of course skills.
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Each of our regular-session writing courses is designed to cover the Language Arts requirement for a six-week period. Each state and country has different requirements, but we suggest two writing courses along with at least one intersession literature course to round out a semester Language Arts credit.
Advancing Through Our Program
Students advance through our program based on teacher recommendations only. After students have completed their Week 4 assignments, teachers will send out recommendations for the next session's courses; often, these recommendations will include one of our amazing creative options or mastery courses, as well as the next step in our core courses.
Many of our core courses offer an entry and advanced level, to give students the chance to take a deep dive into the content presented. there.