Our Summer 2024 Writing Programs Have Arrived!
With new, indoor/outdoor writing camps and a range of other offerings, we are delighted to share these 2024 summer programs. Whether it's in-person or Zoom, group or individual, all programming is based on our unique approach to teaching writing, and all is aimed toward turning your children into stronger, more motivated, and more instinctive writers.
Our programs include:
- "The Core" Writing Camp (9th to 11th graders)
- "The Foundation" Writing Camp (7th and 8th graders)
- "The Scribble Room" Writing Camp (4th to 6th graders)
- Fiction Workshops (all grades)
- Zoom Groups (all grades)
We also offer custom groups (book us for your private writing camp at a location of your choice) and one-on-one Zoom coaching (individualized to your child's interests, needs, and schedule). Contact us to discuss directly.
"THE CORE" WRITING CAMP
Upping Your High School Writing Game
(for rising 9th to 11th graders)
The Core is a two-week camp that helps students develop their skills at more complex, sophisticated essay writing. The bar is higher in high school, and many schools (even good ones) leave students feeling lost or overwhelmed when it comes to writing. Plus, with a growing focus on in-class writing (as a result of ChatGPT fears), students must learn to be confident and self-reliant in their writing.
This course is designed to fill the gap that so many high schoolers feel around writing. By "isolating the muscles" around various aspects of writing (things like insight, organization, and flow), we help students ‘get’ writing in a deeper way.
We will also move outside for part of each session to weave in more open-ended and self-expressive writing, as a way to develop that place within where our ideas and words come from. Our students will write a lot – both during class and at home – as we balance building their analytical writing with deepening their comfort with and instincts around the overall writing process.
In person (mid-Wilshire):
July 29 to August 9, 2024
1:30pm-4pm
$1500
Register now!
Potential additional class:
July 15 to 26, 2024
Offered on demand – let us know if you're interested!
Zoom edition:
Click here to sign up!
"THE FOUNDATION" WRITING CAMP
Where Writing Gets REAL
(for rising 6th to 8th graders)
A half-day camp experience aimed at helping middle schoolers take a fundamental step forward in their writing. This means guiding them to find a personal way into their own writing; from that starting point of genuine interest, they can learn to embrace writing in all of its forms.
In this class, students will learn how to get the ball rolling when they're feeling stuck, how to think about depth and insight as goals in their writing, how to find order and structure in their initial chaos of ideas, and how to start hearing the 'music' in a good sentence. Most importantly, they will begin the life-long journey of assessing their own writing, being that 'first reader' of their work , who can think about what's working, what needs more thought, and how to get there.
Every day will include an outdoor "writing break," with a session of yoga, drama and movement activities, or physical games – to keep bodies flowing as well as minds.
In person (mid-Wilshire):
June 17 to 28, 2024
9am-12:30pm
$1650
Register now!
Potential additional class:
July 29 to August 9, 2024
Offered on demand – let us know if you're interested!
Zoom edition:
Click here to sign up!
"THE SCRIBBLE ROOM" WRITING CAMP
Where Kids Become Writers
(for rising 5th and 6th graders, plus mature 4th graders who can 'hang with the big kids')
A half-day camp experience that throws younger students into the experience of really being a writer, in a super-fun but also totally-serious way. Students will brainstorm topics they care about and then write pieces that they develop over time. They will be encouraged to write a mixture of stories and "creative non-fiction," which requires skills that will one day apply to their academic writing. We will share our work with each other, take each other's work seriously, and admire a beautiful sentence whenever we see one.
Students will also learn to respond to their own writing, answering questions like, "how is this coming along?", "what do you think is working?", and "what are you planning to work on next?" The ability to self-assess and take responsibility for a piece of writing work is the foundation for growth as a writer.
Every day will include an outdoor "writing break," with a session of yoga, drama and movement activities, or physical games – to keep bodies flowing as well as minds.
In person (mid-Wilshire):
July 15 to 26, 2024
9am-12:30pm
$1650
Register now!
Potential additional class:
July 29 to August 9, 2024
Offered on demand – let us know if you're interested!
Zoom edition:
Click here to sign up!
FICTION WORKSHOPS
For students of all grade levels who love to write stories. We will read them, talk about them, and (of course) write our own. As in our other classes, students will be expected to respond to their stories as they work on them, sharing how they feel their progress is going and where they thing they should go next.
For younger students, a big focus is on characters: taking the time to cook up characters that we love and find interesting and remain 'themselves' throughout, rather than using them as props moving through a plot.
For older students, we will explore the nuts and bolts of story conflict: the goals that drive our characters, the stakes that make those goals matters, and the opposition which make them hard to achieve.
In person (mid-Wilshire):
July 8 to 12, 2024
9:30am-12pm
$750
Register now!
Potential additional class:
August 12 to 16, 2024
Offered on demand – let us know if you're interested!
Zoom edition:
Click here to sign up!