CLASS DESCRIPTIONS Registration for 2018-2019 will open April 15. Please see the REGISTRATION INFO tab for more information about how to register. Click on the link there to print registration forms and see tuition costs. For a chart of days and times each class is offered, please see the SCHEDULE tab. SCA = Saddleback Christian Academy in Mission Viejo. You must belong to SCA to register for one of their classes. ILA = Independent Learning Academy of Alison Viejo, You must register with ILA before registering for my classes there. San Clemente classes are in private residences and open to all. CLASSES FOR ELEMENTARY 4rd-6th Grade: All Things Fun and Fascinating (Friday SCA 12:15-1:15) Fun, fun, fun! This class covers most of the IEW units, including reports, stories, mini research reports, writing from pictures, and creative writing at an easy level for young students. Students will usually complete one paragraph per week. (More advanced students may opt to write more paragraphs.) Vocabulary words are also included. Themes focus on subjects intriguing to young children, such as fun facts from science, animals, men who changed the world, stories from around the world, and more.
HISTORY-BASED WRITING FOR 4TH-8TH GRADES The following history-based classes are all easily adaptable to a wide range of abilities. Each contains basic lessons plus challenges for more advanced students. No prior IEW experience is necessary, but those who have had IEW will find them to be a great review with added challenges to keep them progressing.
4th-6th Grade: Ancient History-Based Writing (Monday ILA 10:50-11:50) Lessons cover most of the IEW models of structure and elements of style. Students will write poems, stories, reports, critiques, essays, and a mini research paper. Vocabulary cards are included. Students will learn and be required to use these great words in their writing. Themes focus on Ancient civilizations: Sumer, Egypt, Israel, Babylon, Greece, and Rome.
Note: This is the easiest of the history-based books, but more challenging than All Things Fun & Fascinating. If your student is in 4th or 5th grade and has not had any IEW experience, I recommend beginning with All Things Fun & Fascinating or Bible Heroes.
5th- 8th Grade: Ancient History-Based Writing Older or experienced IEW students complete the basic Ancient lessons as described above, but add an e-book of Advanced Additions plus historical fiction literate set in ancient times: Gilgamesh the King by Geraldine McCaughrean, The Golden Goblet by Jarvis McGraw, D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, Who WAs Alexander the Great by Kathryn Waterfield, Detectives in Togos by Henry Winterfield, The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare, Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, and a biography of choice.
NEW 2018! 5th-6th Grade: Medieval History-Based Writing (Mon ILA, literature is optional, time 9:40-10:40) 6th – 8th grade (Tues 9:00-10:30 SCA, literature is required)
Lessons cover most of the IEW models of structure and elements of style. Students will write stories, reports, critiques, responses to literature, other types of essays, and a research paper. Vocabulary cards are included. Students will learn and be required to use these great words in their writing. Themes focus on major events and people of the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Literature includes Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo, 1001 Arabian Nights by Geraldine McCaughrean, The King’s Shadow by Elizabeth Alder or Wulf the Saxon by G.A. Henty, Robin Hood by J. Walker McSpadden, Winning His Spurs by G.A. Henty, Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray or The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean, Marco Polo by Emi, and Crispin of the Lead Cross by Avi. .
5th-8th US History-Based Writing Lessons with Literature (Thursday, San Clemente, 12:45-2:00) As they move through American history themes from explorers to present day, the lessons incrementally introduce and review the models of structure and elements of style found in the Institute for Excellence in Writing’s Teaching Writing: Structure and Style. In addition, the lessons incrementally teach 72 vocabulary words as well as important grammar rules of punctuation and usage.
Literature includes the following historical fiction novels: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes, The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare, and By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman, Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith, Hatie Big Sky by Kirby Larson, Journey to Topaz by Yoshiko Uchida
HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES 9th-10th Grade: C.S. Lewis-Based Writing Lessons (with Other Related Literature) (Thursday San Clemente 11:20-12:35) This is a challenging class and previous IEW experience is recommended. Using the first three books of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia collection as springboards (The Magician’s Nephew, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and The Horse and His Boy) and other classic books (Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Boy in Striped Pajamasby John Boyne, and Mere Christianity andThe Screwtape Lettersby C.S. Lewis) the lessons review the basics of IEW and then continue well beyond. Themes focus on people or places mentioned in the Narnia books and events and people contemporary with the setting of the books.
Students will write stories, reports, research papers, narrative and descriptive essays, response to literature essays, comparison essays, persuasive essays, and poems. Vocabulary words are included.
10th - 12th Grades High School Essay Intensive & Windows to the WorldLiterary Analysis (Monday SCA 10:45-12:15; Thursday San Clemente 2:30-3:45) The first semester focuses on refining several variations of the basic essay using principles from IEW's High School Essay Intensive and The Lively Art of Writing by Lucile Payne. These are excellent books that will help students write with more sophistication in structure, style, and content. Students will write expository, argumentative, narrative, descriptive, response to literature, compare/contrast, and persuasive essays. They will end the semester with a research paper (persuasive essay of at least 10 paragraphs) in MLA format.
The second semester will focus on literary analysis using the curriculum Windows to the World by Lesha Myers and Teaching the Classics by Adam Andrews. The work in these revolves around short stories included in the student texts as well as three classic novels. Novels and stories we will read and write about include, but may not be limited to, the following.
Literature First Semester: Night by Elie Wiesel Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, abridged Plus a novel of choice
Second Semester: Novels Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Student’s Abridged Edition The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (abridged) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (abridged)
Short Stories “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry “The Open Window: by Saki “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant “Fighting with a Cannon: by Victor Hugo
Vocabulary is taught using Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know, 6th edition. No IEW experience is required.
