Creative Writing | 2023-24

Our three live online creative writing classes are designed to delight 7th-12th grade homeschoolers who love to write their own stories and poems and who pine to have time to explore, refine, and share their creations. These small classes offer students a safe place to share, compare, and support each other.

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Class Details​

• Creative Writing classes are one-semester in length.

  • Classes are identical in the fall and spring, and they can be taken in any order.

  • If you're interested in a full year of creative writing, be sure to choose two different classes for the fall and spring.

• Semester Tuition:

  • Fantasy to Farce $425

  • Short Stories to Tall Tales $425

  • Cradle to Crypt $425

• Instructor: Christine Proctor

• Dates:

  • Fall Sessions | August 28-December 10, 2023

  • Spring Sessions | January 8-April 28, 2024

• Live Class Times: ​

  • Fantasy to Farce | Every other Friday | 12;30-1:30 p.m. Eastern

  • Short Stories to Tall Tales | Every other Friday | 12:30-1:30 p.m. Eastern

  • Cradle to Crypt | Every other Friday | 2-3 p.m. Eastern

  • Please see our FAQ for all dates/times/breaks for our classes.

• Grade level: 7th-12th (12+)

• Class size: 10-12

• Course materials are provided online by the instructor and are listed HERE.

• Format: Zoom and an online classroom.

  • Students will be actively discussing their writing and interacting with their classmates in live classes. 

  • Students should plan to keep their webcams on during live Friday meetings.

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​Foundational Elements

In all three classes, students will test drive four categories of imaginative writing:

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• Fantasy to Farce: fantasy/fairy tale, historical fiction, autobiography, satirical play

• Short Stories to Tall Tales: short story, animal tale, song lyrics/myth, tall tale

• Cradle to Crypt: children's book (think: Eric Carle), elementary educational fiction (think Magic Tree House), young adult/dystopian, ghost/mystery story

 

Each one-semester class can serve as half an English credit or as a separate elective. Our creative writing classes can be taken in any order.

 

• Every other Friday there will be a live one-hour class on ZOOM, where the teacher--Christine Proctor--will offer instruction and guidance. This will be a venue for students to enjoy sharing and discussing with webcams on!

• Attending live is recommended but not required. All live sessions will be recorded since we know preferences vary and "life happens."

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Once Upon a Time . . .

Any writing can be creative. But if a student has a penchant to push the limits of the written word and transport readers to a different time, place, and state of mind, these one-semester workshops might be just what is needed to get the creative juices flowing.

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• In these classes, students will peer into the intellects of renowned writers of fiction, poetry, philosophical essays, and even comic strips in order to inspect and dissect the tools and techniques of their trade.

• Assigned reading will include excerpts of lengthy works in addition to poems, short stories, speeches, and essays.

 

Mastering the Mechanics

The reading and writing that ensues will focus on identifying and employing elements such as fantasy, subtle symbolism, setting techniques that transform both mood and tone, seamless figurative language, and methods to turn one’s writer’s voice from serious to satirical as the art of mystery, persuasion, and delight is refined.

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Let's Collaborate!

Discussion of the class reading and the instructions for each writing assignment will be offered up in an active online classroom as well as in regular live meet-ups.

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• Live sessions will be a time for questions and answers as well as for the demonstration of techniques.

• Students will write, respond to edits, contemplate each others’ work, and tackle the reading for the following week’s assignment before the next live session occurs.

• In-depth feedback from the instructor will be both detailed and uplifting, and students will be "met" wherever they might be along the writer's journey.

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The instructor will be available for questions--both live and in the online classroom--and will always be a source of support and encouragement.

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Ready to take your writing to a happily-ever-after status?

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