Why This Class
As your student prepares for high school, you want them to feel confident in their critical thinking and writing skills. This course helps by guiding your student through a series of fun analysis exercises and essay projects.

Students in this course focus on writing thesis-driven five-paragraph essays. They start by exploring Aristotle’s concepts of logos, ethos, and pathos. Then, students conduct research, develop opinions, and compose an essay on a topic of their choice. From there, they think critically about the development of a character from their favorite book and analyze how the events of the story impacted that character. Then, they compose a second research essay on a topic of their choice and focus on the importance of distinguishing between credible and non-credible sources.

The course concludes with a final portfolio presentation that lets students reflect on the growth they’ve experienced throughout the semester. They now know how to appeal to logic, emotion, and reason through writing—and they’re ready to take those skills to high school.

Why This Class
As a parent, it’s exciting to see your student discover who they are and communicate with the world in more mature and meaningful ways. This course helps your student further explore who they are, what they value, and find their voice as a person and writer.

Students in this course read classic stories and write a personal narrative about the experiences that have shaped them into who they are today. They read feature articles to learn the techniques of informative writing. Students also interview and study their family members or ancestors, then compose their own feature articles to highlight meaningful aspects of their relatives’ lives. Finally, students shift their focus to the world at large, reading literature that inspires critical thinking about today’s society.

By the end of this course, students have a writing portfolio that demonstrates their growth throughout the semester. They can successfully form arguments in response to current events and write persuasive essays about the society in which they live.

Why This Class
There’s something special about seeing your student express themselves with confidence and conviction—and you want to give them the tools to do so throughout their life. This course helps by taking your student’s grasp of the English language to the next level.

In this course, students use writing to explore the relationship between cause and effect, draft a personal memoir, and define and write about personal responsibility. Mentors continue to guide students through daily practice activities that expand vocabulary, improve style, and refine sentence structure. Students also receive feedback that helps them better leverage their strengths and address weaknesses, becoming more comfortable with handling complex ideas in writing.

By the end of this course, students have established their writing voice and applied it to a wide range of topics and genres. They now have a well-rounded skill set that will enable them to tackle thesis-driven essays in future courses with confidence.

Why This Class
As a parent, you want your student to know they have a voice that matters—but only they can do the work of finding and refining that perspective. With writing as their vehicle, this course is designed to help your student discover and improve their voice.

Students in this course read a variety of stories and informational texts while also completing exercises that boost their sentence structure, style, vocabulary, and organizational skills. As students continue their daily practice in writing, mentors guide them to break down and describe more complex and sophisticated ideas than what they have done before. Students apply their rapidly-improving skills to real-world genre projects including a report on current events, rewriting endings to classic stories, and writing formal essays. By the end of this course, students have increased clarity about their strengths and weaknesses in reading skills and writing and an expanded toolbox to enhance both. They are more confident than ever in using the written word to describe their experiences.

Why This Class
As a parent, you know as well as anyone that kids don’t like rules—and also that there are some rules your student needs to follow to be successful in school and life beyond. In a fun and engaging format, this course helps your student learn the rules for success in writing while continuing to build reading skills.

Mentors in this course continue to guide students toward mastering the fundamentals of spelling, punctuation, grammar, and organizing their thoughts in writing. Through live class sessions and in-depth feedback on assignments, mentors help students improve their skills in both technical and creative writing and also introduce them to new literary concepts and genres. In larger projects, students get to invent their own tall-tale and continue to build essay writing skills.

By the end of this course, students have reached a new level of comfort with the writing process and are technically competent enough to begin shifting their focus to strengthening and clarifying their writing voice.

Why This Class
As a parent, you know that writing is one of the most valuable life skills your student can develop—but teaching them how to write is easier said than done, especially in the early stages. Students in this course read classic stories and build their writing skills through a variety of assignment styles, including essays, creative writing, and a poetry portfolio.

Students will learn how to apply reading skills to analyze literature, use and apply vocabulary, and practice grammar and punctuation skills. Students practice these skills four days per week, making rapid progress in clarity and technical skills. Most importantly, students feel free to express themselves and begin to tap into their unique “voice.”

By the end of this course, students have overcome foundational struggles with the technical aspects of writing and gained confidence in their ability to communicate well. They are also excited by a new awareness of how thinking like a writer can enrich their lives.

Why This Class
As your student gets closer and closer to starting high school, they’re approaching the doors to a new phase of life. Times like this can feel daunting and uncertain, and you want your student to be confident that many exciting and promising opportunities lie ahead. This course is designed to help your student prepare for their next chapter in life by cultivating an abundance mindset.

Throughout this course, mentors guide students to practice and express gratitude and to experience the inherent joy of serving others. Students learn to recognize the far-reaching effects of their actions on both themselves and others. They find out what it means to “plant seeds” that will yield positive results in their personal, social and financial lives.

By completing this course, students gain a strong sense of the abundance of possibilities around them. They are ready to enter the next phase of life with a new sense of comfort in the face of uncertainty and to share their positivity with others.

Why This Class
As your student progresses through adolescence and prepares for new challenges and adventures in high school and beyond, you want to know that they have the resilience to thrive amidst change. This course helps students develop that resilience.

Students in this course learn and practice skills including mindfulness, humor, and visualization. They observe great examples of resilience around them and explore different mindsets for learning, gaining awareness of the value of a growth mindset for persistently pursuing their educational and life goals.

By completing the projects in this course, students become better able to maintain composure in difficult times and see the opportunities in adversity. At the end of the course, students feel more confident moving forward as resilient stewards of their lives.

Why This Class
Small choices, made consistently, impact everything. Your student’s health, prosperity, meaningful relationships will be significantly influenced by their self-discipline to take important, daily steps moving them towards their goals

In this course, students will learn the value of self-discipline and courage in order to reach breathtaking goals. Students will learn how being flexible, persistent, and optimistic can help them develop these characteristics. They will become more aware of their thoughts, words, and actions. They will also come to understand how self-discipline and courage can help them improve their happiness and productivity by impacting their rest, nutrition and exercise.

By the end of this course, students will gain confidence they can turn weaknesses into strengths through the proper application of self-discipline. Students will come to face challenges with more optimism. In addition, they will increase loyalty to their core values through being reliable and faithful in small things.

Why This Class
Your student is preparing to enter a world filled with different causes, values, and adventures vying for their attention. This course is designed to help students learn to identify core values in their lives and to build a life of commitment to the values and people most important in their lives.

Throughout this course, mentors will guide students to learn what commitments are and how to effectively make and keep commitments. Students will explore how building a life on strong core values will enable them to think innovatively and explore solutions “outside the box”. Students will come to understand the value of stretching themselves a little every day–coming to live a life of continuous improvement.

By the end of this course, students will have a better understanding of what values are most important to them personally and how to stand up for those values, even when unpopular. Students will experience incredible growth as they take small steps to consistently expand their comfort zone.