This is an essential writing course for all high school students, to solidify the use of upper-level punctuation and grammar—including mastering commas, tense, colons, semicolons, dashes, ellipses, and more. Keep your student from struggle with the foundations this course gives, to master punctuation and grammar details that may be holding your student back. Sentence constructions move from simple to complex, to prepare your student for upper high school and college courses.

Class 1: Mastering commas in a series and commas with conjunctions using complex sentences
Class 2: Mastering commas and clauses and tough constructions, including multiple ideas, connectors, and transitions
Class 3: Mastering tense, competing punctuation, quotations, dashes, and ellipses
Class 4: Sticky-pair sentence construction (if-then, not only-but also) and tough grammar in upper-level constructions
Class 5: Mastering colons and semicolons with leading sentence constructions
Class 6: Mastering tricky punctuation details, end punctuation, and the most common grammar challenges

Total Number of Classes: Six (6)
Prerequisites: None
Suggested Grade Level: 9th – 12th grade
Duration: 55 minutes
Suggested Credit: When combined with the 9-2 Course, this course is worth a full semester’s credit of writing.
Required Materials: 

• All documents are turned in as Microsoft Word documents. If you do not own Microsoft Word 2007 or a later version, you can use a system such as Google Docs that converts to Word documents FREE. Please email us if you need assistance.
• Purchase the book, Simplified Writing 101: Top Secrets for College Success, by Erin Brown Conroy
  • Buy the hard copy of the book here: http://amzn.to/2FMCose
  • OR, buy the Kindle version of the book here (Download the FREE Kindle app to easily read on your computer, tablet, or mobile device): https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/kcp

Homework: Weekly quizzes are graded automatically by the computer for immediate student feedback. There is an estimated two to four hours per week for homework outside of class time, depending on the student’s ability.

Live, Interactive Courses

During the week, multiple course sections, times, and instructors are offered for this course. Sign up for the time and the instructor that best meets your needs. Click here to see the days and instructors for the LIVE course offerings — and to sign up for a LIVE course.

Recorded, Independent-Learning Course

When you sign up for Unlimited Access and take this recorded course, your instructor is the designer and Director of Aquinas Writing Advantage, Erin M. Brown, MA, MFA (aka author EB Conroy/Erin Brown Conroy).

In this foundational course, you can gain the skills that make writing strong and clear, lacking nothing—to articulate ideas well in writing for all of high-school level work. The most important foundations of high school writing are introduced and discussed, and students learn the keys to perfecting strong sentences and paragraphs; learn nine basic forms of rhetoric; focus on linear academic writing for a purpose; practice transitions and connectives, parallelism, paraphrasing, and summary; review punctuation as it influences excellence in writing (comma, semicolon, colon, and dash use); learn how to recognize and correct common grammar struggles; understand the characteristics of an effective introduction, body, and conclusion; learn prewriting, drafting, and editing skills; and practice sculpting a piece of writing with direction, receiving specific feedback from the instructor.

Class 1: Audience, purpose, and word choice
Class 2: Perfecting strong sentence and paragraph construction
Class 3: Nine forms of rhetoric (and what they have to do with great writing)
Class 4: Linear writing for a purpose; more how-to’s for crafting strong sentences and paragraphs
Class 5: How to use transitions, connectives, and parallelism to make writing cohesive
Class 6: Punctuation and excellent writing: the comma, colon, semicolon, and dash; conquering common punctuation struggles
Class 7: Key components of an essay/paper; the introduction, body, conclusion, hook, and thesis; prewriting for success
Class 8: Drafting for success; editing and polishing your writing

Total Number of Classes: Eight (8)
Prerequisites: Because courses in the program are sequential, for your student’s success, it is required that your student take the 9-1 course before enrolling in this course. If your student is unable to take the previous courses LIVE, then at a minimum, he or she can watch the recordings on Unlimited Access before taking this course. Special permission may be granted for attending this course without prerequisites, and a passing score on the Aquinas Writing Advantage Writing Assessment allows you to begin high school writing courses with this course. Please contact homeschoolconnections@gmail.com for any questions on permissions.
Suggested Grade Level: 9th – 12th grade
Duration: 55 minutes
Suggested Credit: When combined with the 9-1 Course, this course is worth a full semester’s credit of writing.
Required Materials:

• All documents are turned in as Microsoft Word documents. If you do not own Microsoft Word 2007 or a later version, you can use a system such as Google Docs that converts to Word documents FREE. Please email us if you need assistance.
• Purchase the book, Simplified Writing 101: Top Secrets for College Success, by Erin Brown Conroy
  • Buy the hard copy of the book here: http://amzn.to/2FMCose
  • OR, buy the Kindle version of the book here (Download the FREE Kindle app to easily read on your computer, tablet, or mobile device): https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/kcp

Homework: There is an estimated one to four hours per week for homework outside of class time, depending on the student’s ability.

Live, Interactive Courses

During the week, multiple course sections, times, and instructors are offered for this course. Sign up for the time and the instructor that best meets your needs. Click here to see the days and instructors for the LIVE course offerings — and to sign up for a LIVE course.

Recorded, Independent-Learning Course

When you sign up for Unlimited Access and take this recorded course, your instructor is the designer and Director of Aquinas Writing Advantage, Erin M. Brown, MA, MFA (aka author EB Conroy/Erin Brown Conroy).

In this course (the first of two successive courses), your student will learn to use the upper-level vocabulary words related to writing that are needed for high school advanced writing, Advanced Placement (AP) English Language and Composition courses, the ACT and SAT, advanced writing courses, and all of college writing—and an introduction to the concepts associated with the terms. Over 350 words will be learned and practiced this semester. Coursework will be simple yet critical to your student’s future success. Because vocabulary is the #1 indicator of success on college entrance testing, if you want your student to not only score well on testing but also be able to be prepared for college writing and vocabulary, this course is for you.

Class 1: Writing for a Purpose and Audience
Class 2: Worldview, Critical Thinking, & Passive/Active Voice
Class 3: Writing Effective Sentences; Diction & Syntax
Class 4: Writing Effective Paragraphs: Structure; Linear Writing; Active writing; Transitions and Connectives
Class 5: Punctuation and its Effect on Writing
Class 6: Grammar, Usage, & Mechanics for Clarity
Class 7: Types of Writing
Class 8: Point of View, Tone, & Voice
Class 9: Style
Class 10: Techniques & Devices of Organization for Coherence
Class 11: More Techniques & Devices of Organization
Class 12: Composing Methods
Class 13: Characteristics of an Effective Argument
Class 14: Research Methods

Total Number of Classes: Fourteen (14)
Prerequisites: Required: WRITING ESSENTIALS 1: Essential Punctuation and Grammar I (HS 9-1). Recommended: HIGH SCHOOL SIMPLIFIED WRITING 1: Strong Foundational Writing Skills (HS 9-2) and the 9-3 and 9-4 Essay Writing courses. Prerequisites can be taken either LIVE or through Unlimited Access. Your student will also need Word 2007 or later version or the ability to convert a document to a Word-compatible document. If the student is unable to take the previous courses LIVE, then it is acceptable to (at a minimum) watch the recordings on Unlimited Access. Special permission may be granted for attending this course without prerequisites. Please contact homeschoolconnections@gmail.com to discuss permissions.
Required Materials:

• All documents are turned in as Microsoft Word documents. If you do not own
  Microsoft Word 2007 or a later version, you can use a system such as Google Docs that converts to Word documents FREE.
• Required Book: EB Conroy’s Simplified Vocabulary Guide may be ordered at
  http://bookstore.authorhouse.com/Products/SKU-000430970/EB-Conroys-Simplified-Vocabulary-Guide.aspx
  or
  http://amzn.to/2FKGXDC

Suggested Credit: One (1) full semester of Vocabulary & Writing, Writing, or English.

Live, Interactive Courses

During the week, multiple course sections, times, and instructors are offered for this course. Sign up for the time and the instructor that best meets your needs. Click here to see the days and instructors for the LIVE course offerings — and to sign up for a LIVE course.

Recorded, Independent-Learning Course

When you sign up for Unlimited Access and take this recorded course, your instructor is the designer and Director of Aquinas Writing Advantage, Erin M. Brown, MA, MFA (aka author EB Conroy/Erin Brown Conroy).