Minimum Class Size: 10

Maximum Class Size: 16

Midterm Enrollment:  Yes

Class Time: 4th hour (12:20-1:15)

Prerequisite: None

Estimated homework hours: 1-2

Required Materials or Books:

• Writing Tales II by Amy Olsen.  $24.95.  Please order early.  http://www.olsenbooks.com/order.html
• Pencil
• 3-ringed binder
• Must have use of computer, e-mail, and word-processing software, preferably MS Word.  Other software may also work.
• Colored pencils
• 15 page protectors
  
  

Class Description: Panting and dripping with sweat, the hare collapsed into the dirt in shock as he realized that his slow reptilian opponent had beaten him across the finish line!

Everyone recognizes the famous fable of "The Tortoise and the Hare".  After students study that story, analyze its grammar, and study its vocabulary, they are ready to create a similar story of their own.  Maybe "The Tortoise and the Hare" becomes "The Corvette and the VW Bug".  Maybe in your child's story, they are "The Grasshopper and the Snail".  Perhaps they are a " The Duck and the Hawk".  Preteens continue to gain confidence in their writing abilities as they re-tell familiar stories. For each story, students spend one week analyzing and re-telling the original in their own words. The next week, they re-tell the same story in a creative way.  By following a model, students confidently learn to write while adding new concepts of grammar and practicing with principles learned in the past weeks.

For Scope and Sequence, see www.writing-tales.com/scope.html 

Author, Amy Olsen writes, "Based on the first level of the ancient progymnasmata writing exercises used by the Greeks, Writing Tales teaches grammar level students how to write by studying and re-writing classic tales and fables. Extremely user-friendly, the student workbooks take your child through in-depth studies of 15 different fables and fairy tales and guide him through the process of re-writing each story in his or her own words. Because of the nature of the classical approach and the thorough study and analysis done of each story, plenty of practice is included in grammar, copywork, spelling, and vocabulary, making Writing Tales a fully comprehensive writing curriculum." 

Teacher Information: Susan Price graduated from Baylor University in 1992.  She is the homeschooling mother of three children from fifth grade through high school .  This is her fifth year at the Brazos Valley Co-op. This will be her third year to teach Writing Tales.  With a commitment to providing children with a classical Christian education, Susan wants to prepare them to live out God's plans for their lives in the time and place He has put them.