Home School Resources
The
Writing Tutor offers a variety of resources for homeschoolers. Choose
from English/language
arts lesson plans, printable handouts,
writing promotion, reading promotion, word games, reference
tools, enrichment or
remediation courses, homeschool
links, or online discussions
via bulletin board.
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News
The Writing Tutor currently offers
feeds from three sections of The New York Times and two sections of USA
Today as well as feeds from Education Today and the Plagiarism Resource
Site. Teachers can research the newest information about the field of
education, while teachers and students alike can gather current
information about national and world news, as well as news relating to
science and the arts.
Promote
Writing
The Writing Tutor makes it easier to
promote writing by sponsoring several writing contests each year.
Individual contest entries are only accepted online, but teachers who
choose to enter two or more students in the contest can mail contest
entries in one envelope using one contest entry form per entry. Since
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires that
children 13 years of age or younger obtain parental permission before
submitting personal information online, parents of children under 13
years of age must also sign the entry form. Please read The Writing
Tutor Privacy Policy before submitting a contest entry. (Note: The
Writing Tutor also strongly suggests that all students under the age of
18 obtain parental approval before submitting personal information to
anyone, online or otherwise.)
Note: The Writing Tutor is not currently sponsoring a contest. See the contest page for link to other contests for young writers.
Promote
Reading
The Writing Tutor makes it easier to
promote reading by creating an interactive learning environment.
Students can participate in online book circle discussions, see what
their peers are reading, and make suggestions to other readers.
Book discussions can only be initiated by The Writing Tutor, but new topics will be opened at the request of any teacher. Teachers may choose to moderate the discussions themselves or leave the moderating to The Writing Tutor. Note: Once a topic has been initiated, it is open to anyone who wishes to participate. At this time, topics cannot be limited to a small group, but this is actually what makes the online book discussion beneficial. Since The Writing Tutor complies with The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), children under the age of 13 require parental permission to register for the bulletin board. When a child under the age of 13 registers for The Writing Tutor's bulletin board, an email containing a parent permission form will automatically be sent to the email address that the child enters. This form must be signed and returned to The Writing Tutor in order to complete the registration process. In order to facilitate the process, teachers may collect the forms and mail them to The Writing Tutor. Teachers who provide an email address will be notified by email when their classes have been activated. Email The Writing Tutor to request a topic. Please provide the title, author, and genre of the book, as well as a brief description. Also indicate if you would like to moderate the discussion yourself. Please type "book discussion request" in the subject line of your email.
Book discussions can only be initiated by The Writing Tutor, but new topics will be opened at the request of any teacher. Teachers may choose to moderate the discussions themselves or leave the moderating to The Writing Tutor. Note: Once a topic has been initiated, it is open to anyone who wishes to participate. At this time, topics cannot be limited to a small group, but this is actually what makes the online book discussion beneficial. Since The Writing Tutor complies with The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), children under the age of 13 require parental permission to register for the bulletin board. When a child under the age of 13 registers for The Writing Tutor's bulletin board, an email containing a parent permission form will automatically be sent to the email address that the child enters. This form must be signed and returned to The Writing Tutor in order to complete the registration process. In order to facilitate the process, teachers may collect the forms and mail them to The Writing Tutor. Teachers who provide an email address will be notified by email when their classes have been activated. Email The Writing Tutor to request a topic. Please provide the title, author, and genre of the book, as well as a brief description. Also indicate if you would like to moderate the discussion yourself. Please type "book discussion request" in the subject line of your email.
Fun with
Words
The strategy behind Hangman requires
that students understand how words work. The Writing Tutor's word list
is rich in suffixes and prefixes to help students learn to separate
root words from their prefixes and suffixes.
Word searches can be a fun way of working with vocabulary lists. Try some of The Writing Tutor's printable word searches, or email your comma-separated word lists in a .txt file and we will post your list as a printable word search. Make sure that you provide a title for the word search (i.e. Catcher in the Rye chap. 1-4, Spring, Soccer, etc.). Please type "word search word list" in the subject line of your email.
Word searches can be a fun way of working with vocabulary lists. Try some of The Writing Tutor's printable word searches, or email your comma-separated word lists in a .txt file and we will post your list as a printable word search. Make sure that you provide a title for the word search (i.e. Catcher in the Rye chap. 1-4, Spring, Soccer, etc.). Please type "word search word list" in the subject line of your email.
Reference
Tools
This section contains writing and
reference links, links for parents and homeschoolers, and also contains
searchable reference tools all in one place!!
The Writing
Tutor Writing Courses
Homeschoolers will find The Writing
Tutor Writing Courses to be a wonderful teaching resource. Either take
a course online or use the independent study version as a textbook.
Links
to Other Homeschool Resources
Homeschool
Tips & Talk
Participate in online discussions about
anything that homeschoolers face. Discussions take place in a bulletin
board format. This feature has
been temporarily discontinued.
The Writing Tutor would like to build a site according to the needs and specifications of the homeschoolers and students who visit. Please complete the survey below to tell The Writing Tutor what you would like to see us add next.
If this site is useful to you and/or to your students, please link to us from your website.