It's estimated that about 80% of Americans want to write a book. Although it may seem otherwise due to the vast amount of self-published works glutting the marketplace, nowhere near that many Americans will ever write their novel. To actually finish a book is a big accomplishment. But is that a good enough reason to take a whole school year to write a six chapter story? Beth Mora certainly thinks so.
In this unit of Here To Help Learning's Essay Writing students take 32 weeks to write a six chapter book. Instead of doing six different projects they complete a chapter every five weeks. The video lessons introduce some assignments and then do 10-15 minute interviews with Christian authors, which students watch to gain inspiration for their own writing. The lessons take about an hour a day, two days a week.
Write-a-book curriculum is certainly not a new phenonemon. No doubt Flight 3 will be an inspiring unit for any aspiring authors. And the satisfaction of completing a large project like that will be great for a young writer's self esteem. We like the idea as an elective, but we aren't convinced that it's a universally good idea to take such a long time simply to work on one project. This would still fill the writing curricululm slot in your schedule, and there's no explicitly taught grammar. The Here To Help Learning program isn't heavy on essay writing so that's something that will need to be supplemented in later years, and this project is recommended for grades 4-6, or the end of middle school. Mora recommends it as a transition project between middle school and high school.
Of course, every child and family are different. You'll have to decide for yourself whether this a project you'd like to take on.
Featured Authors include:
Bill Myers, author of over a hundred Christian books including the McGee and Me and the Wally McDoogle series.
Brock Eastman, author of the Focus on the Family, Quest for Truth series, and Imagination Station books.
Nathan Hoobler, Focus on the Family writer and producer of The Adventures in Odyssey Radio program.
Pat and Sandy Roy, creators and writers of the Jonathan Park radio drama.
Also included are guest appearances from other professional editors and publishers.
The Write-a-Book Project is designed for multi-level teaching and recommended for students in grades 4-6+ and higher who have also completed at least one flight in Here to Help Learning’s Essay Writing Level. Perfect for homeschool co-ops!
Review by Lauren Shearer
Lauren Shearer writes words for fun and profit. She also makes films, but everyone knows you can't make a profit doing that. Her other hobby is consistently volunteering way too much of her time. You can read more of her reviews
here.
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