AP Language and Composition

Course option: Asynchronous

Grades: 11th-12th | Prerequisite: Successfully completed Blue Tent Honors English Lit & Comp 2 or an equivalent rigorous 10th grade-level English class

Course dates: August 17, 2026 to May 2027 (AP exam)

Course length: Traditional, full year

Live session: NA

Course size: 15-20 students

Instructor: Christine Proctor

Cost: $895

More about Christine Proctor

Christine Proctor is an avid reader, lifelong supporter of the English language, and an enthusiastic writing coach. After sixteen years of homeschooling her three sons—now grown and pursuing college and careers—Christine transitioned fully into online teaching, where she brings literature and writing to life for students around the country.

Christine holds a degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina and has professional experience as both a news reporter and a copywriter for a national advertising agency. Teaching writing and analysis was a natural next step. Her years of raising three boys with wide-ranging interests expanded her world beyond reading and writing to include art, music, theater, and sports—experiences that continue to inform her teaching and deepen her perspective.

Before joining Blue Tent Online, Christine led poetry, dramatic writing, and storybook art classes through both the homeschool community and her church. Today, she teaches AP and Honors English to a global student base through Blue Tent, where she also facilitates enrichment offerings such as Creative Writing, Aspiring Authors, Journalism Club, and The Zenned Out Student, a course inspired by Yale professor Dr. Laurie Santos’s Happiness Lab.

From the first edits students receive on their work, Christine’s appreciation for clear, effective, and thoughtful communication is evident. Nothing brings her greater satisfaction than helping students discover their own voices and express complex ideas with confidence and precision.

Over a decade of online teaching experience in courses such as AP Language and AP Lit, Honors English 1 and 2, Creative Writing, Aspiring Authors, Journalism, and The Zenned Out Student.
Expert in both the course and the exam. She understands how the AP framework works in practice and how to prepare students strategically and calmly for test day.
A teacher who reads closely and responds thoughtfully. Students receive individualized feedback that helps them see exactly how to improve.
Warm, structured, and approachable. Christine creates a classroom culture where students feel comfortable taking intellectual risks and sharing their ideas.
Proven results. Her students consistently perform well on the AP exam while also leaving the course stronger, more confident writers.

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✨ New for 2026–27: Ideas in Argument, Second Edition

This brand-new edition is fully aligned to all nine units of the AP English Language and Composition Course and Exam Description and is intentionally scaffolded to build students’ confidence, skills, and independence as rhetorical readers and writers.
Key features of Ideas in Argument, Second Edition include:
- Step-by-step rhetorical reading and analytical writing workshops
- Extensive templates, graphic organizers, and annotated student models
- Practice AP multiple-choice and free-response questions embedded throughout each unit
- Expanded attention to visual rhetoric and contemporary cultural arguments
- A full-length AP practice exam included in the text
Students will encounter nearly 100 new readings, ranging from classic voices such as James Baldwin, Helen Keller, Arthur Miller, and Zora Neale Hurston to compelling contemporary writers including Robin Wall Kimmerer, Jesmyn Ward, and Tom Hanks, among others. The text balances intellectual rigor with accessibility and relevance, helping students engage deeply with real-world arguments.
Supplementary fiction and nonfiction readings will be selected to complement and enrich the core text.

Reading (any edition):

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, Malcolm Gladwell
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, Alfred Lansing
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, Nicholas Carr

Other Resources

EasyBib or BibMe | free online citation generator

No summer reading/writing assignment

"I've been so pleased with the content and quality of the class. I love the detailed feedback you give . . . and I know that [my daughter’s] learned and grown so much through this class. The course has certainly been a challenge for her, but I've been pleased with the effort she has put into her work. We really like the format of the class and the interaction with the other students. Thank you for being a dedicated and effective teacher!"

"Upon receiving your end school year report, I wanted to tell you how I feel thankful for having you as my son's English teacher. Your encouragement, patience, and hard work for the students was the key for my son success in English learning. He practiced a lot of writing, learned about important writing skills, and even discovered his new potential talent in poetry. English reading and writing has been challenging to him, but he has improved his speed, organization and style."

See the 2025 AP English Language & Composition exam scores our students earned HERE

Course Details

Our asynchronous online AP English Language and Composition course, which complies with the AP course audit and has been approved by the College Board, is designed for capable, motivated high school homeschoolers—typically juniors and seniors—who enjoy reading thoughtfully, writing purposefully, and engaging in meaningful academic discussion.

This AP course emphasizes nonfiction reading, rhetorical analysis, and persuasive writing, and is aligned with the College Board’s current AP English Language and Composition framework. Students move well beyond formulaic writing as they learn to analyze arguments, develop their own positions, and write with clarity, confidence, and intention.

At Blue Tent Online, we have been teaching AP Language for over a decade. We understand not only the structure and expectations of the AP course, but also how to help students grow steadily as thinkers and writers—and how to prepare them effectively for the AP exam.

Reading, Writing, and Discussion

Throughout the year, students analyze essays, articles, speeches, and visual texts that address social, political, psychological, and cultural issues, many of which connect directly to the world they inhabit.

Using a Socratic, discussion-driven approach, students consider multiple perspectives, compare arguments, and articulate their own positions in respectful, thoughtful forums. These discussions are both text-based and, at times, video supported to accommodate varied learning styles.

Writing instruction focuses on growth beyond the five-paragraph essay. Students practice and refine the three major AP essay modes:

Rhetorical Analysis
Argument
Synthesis

Students write frequently and receive detailed instructor feedback at every stage of the writing process. Peer feedback further reinforces revision skills and exposes students to diverse approaches and voices. Feedback from students scoring 5s on the exam the previous year is an extra boost during the last quarter. The goal is not a single “right” answer, but the development of each student’s analytical agility and authentic writer’s voice.

All writing follows the most current MLA guidelines, which are reinforced throughout the year.

AP Exam Preparation

Critical reading and rhetorical analysis are woven into the course from the very beginning. In the second semester, students gradually increase their exposure to timed reading and writing.

Approximately six weeks before the AP exam, the course shifts into focused exam preparation. Students complete weekly timed writing assignments modeled closely on released AP prompts, analyze scored student essays, and practice with both partial and full-length exams.

Students who choose not to sit for the AP exam are not required to participate in exam-specific preparation during the final quarter of the course—an option that works well for busy juniors and graduating seniors.

Format

Students share an interactive online classroom.
This is an asynchronous (text-based) class—there are no required live meetings—but it is not self-paced. Students interact with one another and the instructor throughout each week via guided discussions, peer review, and written feedback.
Average weekly time estimate: 8-12 hours
This course is NCAA-approved.
See our FAQs for:
- age/grade guidelines, prerequisites, and class fit recommendations
- a complete list of days, times, and breaks
- a list of CA charter schools where this course is a-g approved

Why This Course?

Designed for thinkers, not formula followers. Students move beyond the five-paragraph essay to develop flexible, college-ready rhetorical skills.
Deeply aligned to the AP framework. Readings, writing tasks, and assessments follow the College Board’s nine-unit structure, ensuring coherence and confidence.
Built for real engagement. Weekly discussions invite debate, comparison, and collaboration in a supportive academic community.
Strong writing support. Students receive consistent, detailed feedback and structured opportunities to revise and grow.
Balanced and humane. Rigorous expectations are paired with clear pacing, guidance, and flexibility—especially during exam season.

Course Goals

To focus on three modes of essay writing: synthesis, argument, and rhetorical analysis
To engage in formal and informal writing to practice and develop your writer's voice
To craft compositions that introduce a complex central idea, develop it with sufficient and appropriate evidence drawn from personal knowledge and experience, and utilize secondary sources
To identify and communicates a writer's target and purpose in an active, arguable manner, offering evidence of rhetorical tools and strategi
To successfully synthesize sources, while ensuring your voice stays in the lead as you develop an interweaving of experts and evidence
To correctly and consistently apply MLA 9th edition conventions, including page-formatting, parenthetical citation, and works cited constructions
To move beyond competent in essay construction, with compelling and original openings, succinct, arguable thesis statements and topic sentences, and robust, well-supported body paragraphs
To collaborate in pre-writing argument development
To revise and improve all essays following detailed writing feedback provided by the instructor
To develop and refine vocabulary, syntax, and mechanics