Write from the Heart is an online composition and literature program designed primarily for homeschoolers in middle and high school. If you have any questions about our annual or semester classes or workshops please feel free to reach out!
info@writefromtheheart.org
Our annual classes run for 30 weeks September-April.
Workshop Intensives begin approximately every month throughout the year.
Semester classes run September-December and January-April.
The big difference between the workshops and our annual classes is deadlines and coach involvement as well as how they count for credit
Our annual classes, which are our most popular option, are 30 weeks long, and are designed to meet the requirements for a language arts or English credit. There is a schedule to help students daily, and the coaches interact with them after each assignment throughout the week, so they get much more step-by-step help.
Our four week Workshop Intensives are intended to help all students in a specific skill or genre of writing. While they cannot meet language arts credit requirements alone, several could be taken to be considered for a year’s worth of work. In the workshops, all work is independent over a full week and everything due on Friday at midnight EST. The coach gives feedback by Monday at noon. Workshops can be a great first step and for online learning while doing something fun.
All workshops are refundable until start of class.
All annual classes are refundable (or partially refundable) until October 1.
View refund policy for full details.
The technology fee is a flat fee for all classes to cover administrative and technology maintenance fees. The fee is the same no matter how many classes you sign up for in a single order.
Yes, we welcome adults in our Workshops and Independent Study classes. Coaching Reviews are also a perfect way to get professional feedback on a paper before you turn it in to a professor or boss.
All of our annual classes are intended for middle and high school students, though. Recently graduated students taking a gap year are welcome to contact us to ask for an enrollment exception.
No. There is no spiritual or religious content in our instructional materials, but we encourage our students to write about what is important to them, including their faith, identity, and life experiences.
One of Write from the Heart’s guiding principles is to help students become better written communicators. We encourage them to choose topics that are important to them and express themselves fully. Our hope is that they learn critical thinking skills so that they can interact with compassion and empathy.
Writing coaches will not use their personal beliefs to influence a student’s faith, politics, or worldview; instead, they work to encourage students to increase their writing skills to better articulate their beliefs.
Absolutely! We’re happy to accommodate students’ learning schedules during travel. We kindly ask that parents notify instructors at least two weeks in advance of any travel plans. This allows us to make necessary adjustments and ensure your student stays on track without any added stress.
Absolutely! Workshops and Coaching Reviews are perfect for these students. These are intended to supplement skills or work on extracurricular writing.
You are also welcome to take our annual classes. However, please be aware that these classes are intended to meet a full language arts credit and have a workload to match. We expect all students to put forth a full effort. If your child isn’t, we will notify you. In paired assignments and student-led discussions, other students rely on your child posting work on time. If they miss two of these activities, they will be removed from the activity list and be unable to participate in future assignments until the coach speaks with a parent.
Yes. The Composition classes all require our resource guide, Write from the Heart: A Resource Guide to Engage Writers. However, this book can be used for multiple classes and shared between siblings. It is also available as an ebook. Either version can be purchase in our online store.
Our Literature classes have specific book lists for each class. These books can be purchased though our online store. We offer packages with discounts for several of the resources.
Our Workshop Intensives do not require any books.
Students should plan to spend about 5-7 hours a week on the Composition classes, and 7-10 hours a week on the Literature & Composition classes (this includes reading assignments).
Workshops vary based on the subject matter, but are designed to take about 2-3 hours a week, and can be taken in addition to annual classes.
For our annual classes, students receive a weekly homework grade based on the completion of daily assignments. Additionally, a rubric filled with coach comments will be provided for each major writing assignment.
Before submitting papers for a final grade, students will receive feedback from a writing coach and peers and will have opportunity to make revisions and edit grammar mistakes. Additionally, at the end of the year, every student will receive a comprehensive coach evaluation that comments on the student’s growth areas throughout the year.
Our Workshop Intensives are set up as pass/fail. Students will receive a certificate if they pass the class. Some of them provide grade monitoring throughout the class (grammar classes, Successful Standardized Essays, for example). Others are writing intensive and don’t have smaller tasks that are scored (College Admissions Essays and Creative Writing for example). Evaluations on all writing assignments are provided.
Yes, we do.
However, we focus on practical grammar rather than what is called “artificial grammar learning” (using worksheets and similar methods). Studies have consistently shown that students retain grammar rules far better when used practically.
At Write from the Heart, we believe that content and expressing your voice is the gateway to good grammar. If a student can write clearly and with confidence, then the grammar pieces will eventually fall into place—when a child is particularly invested in a piece of writing, they usually want everything to be perfect! Get a student excited about writing something, and better grammar generally follows.
With that said, it is important to learn the rules before we practice these skills. We offer several Workshop Intensives focused on grammar, a Grammar Workbook to accompany our Resource Guide (available in our online store), and our first few weeks of our annual classes include a review of grammar rules with some worksheets.
For the rest of the year, we get our practice through practical grammar. On every major writing assignment, students practice identifying common sentence errors and checking for spelling, capitalization, usage, and punctuation errors in one another’s work. Coaches tutor each student throughout the year on their specific grammar struggles, and a year-end evaluation is provided to discuss grammar growth.
Usually, this is not possible.
Our classes are designed to build in learning throughout the year. Assignment topics in our Composition classes are usually broad enough to accommodate all students. Assignments in our Literature classes are tied to the literature we read as a class.
However, we offer an Independent Study option for creation of a class designed around your objectives. We also provide Coaching Reviews for individual papers that you would like to have professionally evaluated—and these do not need to be for English class!
We are happy to review papers in other subject areas or for submission into contests or for scholarships. Check out our Coaching & Review page for details.
This depends on your preference.
Write from the Heart is designed to teach your child composition and literature completely: you can pass off all the assignments, discussion, and grading to us. We will provide you with feedback rubrics for every major assignment, a comprehensive gradebook, and a final evaluation of your child’s growth. All you need to do is print out these documents and present them to your evaluator to receive credit for the class!
However, some parents want to be more involved in their child’s progress through the class. That’s great, too! Coaches are available to parents and respond to emails within 24 hours. We also provide parents of Composition students with a Parent Handbook in ebook form free of charge. This handbook gives you tips and suggestions for what to ask your child regarding their work. The Composition classes also feature a “Parent’s Guide” sidebar on all weekly instructions with color-coded guidance suggestions.
We do ask that parents hold their children accountable for turning work in on time and communicate with coaches if problems arise.
Write from the Heart is designed to reach every kind of students: from the completely inexperienced to the mildly experienced to the gifted student, from the reluctant writer to the eager one. Often, students who start out hating writing end up with a newfound sense of confidence and independence. Those who do best are those who come with a pliable attitude, willing to apply what they are taught. Students who struggle with processing written information might find the course to be difficult because of the volume of written directions. This doesn’t mean they can’t benefit from the program; they just might need more parental involvement to verbally explain the content.
We offer several services to help you!
● You can get help using our Course Placement Questionnaire
● You can submit a paper your child wrote in the last year for a free evaluation by emailing it to us at info@writefromtheheart.org.
Our goal is to challenge your child without overwhelming them. We can move your child to a different class at any time, but that rarely happens. We do regularly offer advanced students the option to slide up to a higher level partway through the year. Additionally, our coaches work closely with their students to challenge them in an individual way within every one of our classes.
In the annual classes, the students are given instructions that lists their tasks for the week. All tasks are due by midnight, EST. Some tasks last several days, while others require the students to finish in one day. Following the due dates is important—a variety of daily and weekly assignments are given to help students grow in time management. Our coaches are available daily for questions and support.
Our Workshop Intensives have weekly assignment lists that are due every Friday at midnight, EST. Coaches respond over the weekend so that students are prepared to being the next week. However, our coaches are available daily for questions and support.
Our annual classes are designed to meet the standards of language arts credits in all fifty states, and many of them meet the requirements for an honors class. However, every state (and district) has its own standards, so be sure to check with your diploma program for specifics. If you need official documentation for any requirement, please contact us for help.
