“I received a free enrollment in this class through True North Homeschool Academy in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, not was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC regulations.”
The Writing Club is conducted via Zoom online conferencing. Students receive a link to join the meeting and once there can see and interact with one another under the direction of the teacher, who can also share his or her screen with them. Zoom also allows the teacher to put the students together for breakout sessions, during which they can see and interact with each other in a semi-private online "room" that is visible to the teacher but not to other students. This allows them to work together on a part of a writing project and then come back to the rest of the class to share their results.
My daughter has long dreamed of being a writer, so this club seemed a natural match. I had been told it was geared toward older students, with some younger ones in as well. What we found was that it was definitely more appropriate for high school students. Many of the students in the club were already prolific writers and were there to hone their art and to share what they wrote with others. My daughter is still at the point of writing simple stories and making them more interesting by adding details, so she was a little out of her league.
At the same time, these older students were amazing role models. They were patient and kind with her questions and suggestions, and they set the bar higher for her to reach. The writing prompts were open-ended enough for anyone to use, and she looked forward to the challenge every week.
I am excited that True North Homeschool Academy is offering a junior high Writing Club next fall, in addition to the high school Writing Club, as I think that will be a better setup for my daughter, but her experience this year was still a wonderful introduction not only to the skill of writing, but also to the craft. Seeing other students more committed to it than she is was a great way to challenge her and to whet her appetite for more in the future. If you have a child in middle school or senior high who loves writing, this structured teacher-led but student-driven writing club may be perfect for him or her, too!
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