Introduction to Literature & Composition : 8th Grade

Introduction to Literature & Composition is designed for advanced 8th grade homeschoolers (13+). In weekly text-based conversations students will share and compare their views and writing with fellow homeschooled classmates who live across the country (and maybe around the globe). Through active forum discussions and interaction with their peers, they’ll improve their understanding of the class reading and bolster their writing skills as a community.

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Class Details

• Intro to Lit is a full year class.

• This is an asynchronous class. While it is highly active, all interaction takes place in a text-based fashion on the class website.

• Dates: August 23, 2021 to May 7, 2022.

  • See our FAQ for a complete list of dates and breaks.

• For age/grade guidelines, prerequisites, and class-fit recommendations for all classes, please see our FAQ page.

• In addition to the tuition cost, there is a $75 registration fee.

Intro to Lit is designed for students who enjoy reading and writing and who have a sincere desire to improve their skillfulness. They may be confident in their abilities, or may feel that they need more work on brainstorming, outlining, and getting thoughts down on paper. We’ll work on all those things during the year in an incremental parts-to-whole approach.

• The class will be immersed a novel and writing something every week. They will converse in forums and complete short assignments regularly.

• They can expect to tackle a short story and four different types of essays during the year that relate to their reading.

• Students will plan, draft, outline (sometimes), write.–and then revise after they’ve received detailed feedback from the instructor and their peers.

• In the process, they’ll learn, reinforce, and ultimately nail MLA formatting and works cited citations.

Sharing writing on the class website throughout the year will offer modeling and gentle, friendly peer editing opportunities to help students grow and improve.

We’ll also tackle vocabulary. But hopefully in a fun way—with flashcards!

• Don’t be surprised when to see “SAT” on the flashcard box. While students might not be studying for the SAT quite yet, the flashcard approach will be an enjoyable break from vocab workbooks.

• And vocabulary and grammar practice will be woven into the year in a small, purposeful way.​

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