Many of our homeschooling friends have already jumped into their new school routine with gusto and enthusiasm, organized and ready to go!

We’re not quite there yet…

In many ways, we are just now soaking up the slower pace of summer, and this Mama is just now outlining plans for our next academic year.  Thankfully, I’m incredibly relaxed about this needed change and have no qualms about our ‘delay’.

That said, our children have participated in various opportunities this summer to strengthen all kinds of skills, academic and otherwise — it’s wonderful to find support in so many areas!

One such place for my high schooler entering her junior year has been an online writing course, Fortuigence.

We received free access to this writing course in exchange for our honest opinions and I was compensated for my time to review this product.

Sharpen and Improve Writing Skills

The primary goal for my upcoming 11th grade daughter was for Lily Latridis, founder and degreed teacher with Fortuigence, to evaluate her writing skills.

During our daughter’s high school years, I’ve gone back and forth with thinking we were either completely on track with a strong writing foundation (so highly important in life!)…

…or figuring that I had totally botched up the entire process. I didn’t seem to land in the middle very often. 🙂

So, we chose to work on persuasive essay skills, logged in and got started.  Surely, Lily could offer us some feedback and clues on how to improve our girl’s writing skills?

Fortuigence Writing Classes

Before I offer results of our experience, a little about Fortuigence:

• not exclusively for homeschoolers, but most Fortuigence students are homeschooled
• offers 5 self-paced writing courses for middle and high students (no classes to attend!)
• courses taught 100% online via videos and text (with plenty of extra resources)
• accommodation for special needs learners
• personal feedback & comments (not grades), writing instruction and guidance from the teacher via email
• focus on mastery of skills, not just ‘writing a paper’

The FIVE Writing Courses offered are:

• Essay Rock Star
• Essay Rock Star: The Personal Statement
• Essay Rock Star: The Persuasive Essay
• Essay Rock Star: The Expository Essay
• Essay Rock Star: The Textual Analysis

You can find detailed information and pricing on all courses HERE.

A Strong Writing Curriculum, A Great Experience

We chose the persuasive writing course, which offered bite-sized lessons on how to write a strong, compelling paper on a topic.  Again, my primary goal was for evaluation and for our daughter to gain insight into someone else’s perspective on her writing, grammar, content, etc.

Fortuigence teacher Lily offered us just what I was looking for!

The process was for my 11th grader to:

1. watch a video lesson and read the cooresponding lesson text
2. complete the work and submit to the teacher
3. then await feedback before progressing

In fact, a student can NOT move forward without sufficient mastery of the previous lesson’s skills.  I really appreciate this approach; it leaves me feeling confident that my student won’t simply sail through without understanding and correction of her work.

Email feedback was quick, and while my daughter is just wrapping up the essay course, Lily completely nailed what I had an inkling would be the strengths {strong writer with good content} and things to work {grammar & sentence structure}.

Both Mom and student appreciated affirmation of strong writing skills!

My girl did agree that her grammar could be tweaked and improved in certain ways.  Thank you Fortuigence for being a ‘second opinion’ (ahem). 🙂

Freebies, Discounts and A Giveaway

Right now, between August 4th – 18th, Domestic readers can use the coupon code at checkout: 505-0-1520893 and receive a 25% discount on any Fortuigence course.  They are already affordable for what is received, and this is a great deal.

Also, download this FREE ebook to encourage writing skills:

End Blank Page Terror Forever: 24 Pre-Writing Tools and Guidebook to Organize content.

Now for the giveaway:  

Winner receives choice of Essay Rock Star Course, contest ends 8/22/14 11:00 PM EST. NOTE: Entry in the contest means that you agree to be added to the Fortuigence mailing list.  You can unsubscribe at any time.

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