Homeschool Writing Programs - The Writing Course Review

When looking for homeschool writing programs, you will find that there are quite a few programs to choose from. One that I reviewed recently is called The Writing Course. It is written by a homeschool dad and seems very thorough and comprehensive, yet easy to use and implement.

The Basics:

  • 21 lesssons
  • Workbook and ebook included
  • Audios for each lesson to help complete workbook
  • Fill in notes for each lesson
  • Based on the 12 Secrets of Writing

Pros:

  • Written especially for homeschoolers
  • LOTS of extra files besides the writing course to address issues like "How to Cure Your Bad Speller", "How to Write Correctly", "How to Remove Fear from Writing", "How to Write so People Like to Read Your Writing", and MUCH more.
  • Also includes The Essay Course
  • Audios help the student get good instruction from someone who knows how to teach writing. Frees up the parent to teach other children.

Cons:

  • If a student doesn't listen to the audios and do the exercises, this program will not work for you.

When you get all the downloads for this homeschool writing curriculum, you will want to open the "Read First" pdf file and look over that. Then you can look at the workbook and ebook which is just 65 pages. The workbooks contains 18 lessons based on the 12 secrets of writing.

This course is taken from years of home tutoring students and also from a transcript that was done on a half day writing seminar. It is written in a very readable manner and covers lots of topics from punctuation to how to review and correct writing. There are lots of bonuses included in this course too including the Insiders Guide to College Success. There are Bible references and homeschool references in this book but they are very well done.

Author suggestions for homeschool writing programs like The Writing Course

Here are some steps the author suggests you take when using this course:

  • Listen to the audios and take notes (fill in the workbook)
  • Do the exercises
  • Listen to some of the audios again and review your workbook and exercises after a few months.
  • Write lots of essays
  • Enter essay contests

Although I didn't get to listen to all the audios in this homeschool writing program, I feel this is a very good course that any high school (or motivated junior high) student can use with ease. If they wanted to spread it out over a year, then they could do one lesson every two weeks, or they could complete it in half a year. The parent can just check up on the student to make sure they are staying on track, but otherwise the parent doesn't have to teach writing. Dr. Lybrand takes care of all that for them!

There are also question and answer teleseminars that you will have access to if you purchase The Writing Course. You can listen to previous seminars or participate in current seminars. What a great way to follow up on a great writing course!

Right now you can get the first 3 lessons of this course for free at The Writing Course. Take advantage of this now because I don't know how much longer it will be available.

For homeschool writing programs for younger students you can check homeschool writing and homeschool writing curriculum for more information.