Spring 2024 Classes
The following classes are currently available for enrollment.
Please note that we also teach small private classes that are not listed here.
If the offerings below do not fit your schedule, feel free to email us, and perhaps we can find a class for your young writer.
To register, please send an email to [email protected].
Please provide:
- The title of the course
- Your child's name
- Your child's age as of March 15
- A daytime phone number for us to reach you.
Either Writing Coach Shu-Hsien Ho or Royd Hatta will respond as soon as possible.
For the safety of all, we recommend masks during our in-person sessions.
Ages 7-9
Story: Special Worlds & Silly Essays
An Online Story Workshop for Ages 7-9
Photo by Jetshoots on Unsplash
Taught by Writing Coach Royd Hatta
March 21 - May 23, 2024
Thursdays 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Pacific Time (9 lessons)
(No Session on 4/11)
Minimum 3 students
Maximum 8 students
Tuition:
3 Students: $425 per student
4-8 Students: $395 per student
(Includes lesson prep, 1:1 sessions, & detailed feedback on written assignments.)
The Special World or the Extraordinary World is that place where a hero enters a new setting with its own strange rules and laws. We experience this in real life. Sometimes, it's a fun place. Other times, like going to a new school, our hearts flutter.
When Harry Potter first enters Hogwarts for the first time, he is filled with awe and awkwardness. But it's these pressures from bullying classmates, tough professors, and strange creatures that transform Harry from a lonely boy to one that takes control of his destiny. Special Worlds do that, and that's why we encounter them in stories and in our lives. In this class, we'll draw our own maps and send our heroes to explore them. It won't be easy for the hero, but it will be fun!
Mid-way into the semester, we'll introduce a different kind of writing - Essays. We'll write intentionally silly essays like "Why corn dogs are terrible pets." Imagination and laugh-out-loud situations will be our go-to resource, but they have to be somewhat realistic too. Throughout, we'll discover a structure to all essays, articles, and debates. We'll frame essays as something to enjoy AND a tool to think. The best ones will be chosen for our website.
Join our course to
- dive deeper into our characters and see how they respond to a setting
- discover how a setting or place can be its own character
- draw and create Setting Maps to build new scenes
- have fun with hilarious essays
- see how essays help us to clarify what we really think.
Ages 9-12
Deep into the Lion's Lair
An In-Person Story Workshop for Ages 9-12
Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash
Taught by Writing Coach Shu-Hsien Ho
March 19 - May 21, 2024
Tuesdays 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM (9 lessons)
(No Session on 4/2)
Downtown Palo Alto CA
Hosted by Parent Roberta P.
Minimum 5 students
Maximum 10 students
Tuition:
4-5 Students: $425 per student
6-10 Students: $375 per student
(Includes lesson prep, 1:1 sessions, detailed feedback on written assignments & travel fee.)
"Jules should have waited for her brother Art to catch up before she entered the dark, damp cave. But she couldn't help it - the crystal seemed to be pulling her forward and she had to obey.
She stared at the strange diamond-shape in her hands. It was smaller than a ping pong ball, but heavy like a piece of granite.
Now it glowed blue, purple, and green all at the same time. A warm energy radiated out, traveled up her arms and into her chest! Jules's heart thumped fast.
Was this object speaking to her, or was that her wild imagination?"
Have you ever started full blast on a story in the beginning, only to lose steam after the first chapter? Believe it or not, this is what every writer faces, including professional, published authors!
In this workshop, we'll guide you through both the exciting beginnings as well as the messy middle of your story drafts.
Join our workshop to discover
- how to keep your enthusiasm
- how to use the structure of a Story Map to build new scenes
- how to grow your momentum for each chapter
- how to experiment with different plot directions
This course will focus in particular on tools and techniques for crafting scenes that build suspense, mystery, and rising conflict.
All genres are welcome.
Ages 10-12
(Includes lesson prep, 1:1 sessions, detailed feedback on written assignments)
Our theme is Time Travel where students will have a choice of writing about the past or the future.
We’ll research a particular place and community with its own set of issues.
We'll cover foundational story elements for crafting memorable characters that make us care, weaving various sentence types to keep us engaged, and, work with our Story Map to make us worried enough to keep turning the page.
Our focus is not just to write a story, but to study the craft so that our fiction AND essays pull on the right strings in our minds, hearts, and souls. When we do, our thematic message can be internalized in all three, and like the hero, we become transformed.
Join us to learn about the most powerful magic we know–Story.
We'll write our own stories and read from a novel.
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash
Students will
use character elements to craft compelling stories
explore core themes and embed symbols
do historical research and work on note-taking
use the WV Story Map as a framework
apply various Tools to keep us turning the page
build their writing stamina
Ages 11-13
(Includes lesson prep, 1:1 sessions, detailed feedback on written assignments, and travel fee.)
What if a pink unicorn lunchbox could be a portal into an alternate universe? And what if this other world were filled with giant warrior grasshoppers who threaten to take over the planet of Nemeth?
Imagine being pulled into this conflict because a special device has attached itself to your chest!
This surprising premise is the story of an action-packed, humorous novel, Finn and the Intergalactic Lunchbox by Michael Buckley. We'll read this epic tale to inspire our own story writing in this spring workshop. All genres are welcome.
Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash
Our course will walk through every step of the creative process:
- brainstorming unique, complex characters and unexpected plot twists
- understanding the structure and the power of a compelling story
- generating and organizing ideas
- writing with momentum
- revising for clarity and logic
- editing towards a final draft
Each student will be invited to present a reading on the last day of class.
To register, please contact:
[email protected]
Ages 13-15
A Midsummer Night's Dream
An In-Person Literary Analysis Course for Grades 8 & 9
(Ages 13-15)
Taught by Writing Coach Shu-Hsien Ho
Mountain View, CA: Hosted by Parent Jenny A.
Dalton Smith at unsplash
Ages 13-18
Gazing into the Frame: Movie Scripts & Film Analysis
An Online Screenwriting Course
for Ages 13-18 (Grades 9-12)
Taught by Writing Coach Royd Hatta
- read several film manuscripts
- write their own short scripts
- watch several movies & analyze them
- see how the Story Map works with each film
Katherine Carlyon at unsplash
Join us, and walk away with a first draft script!
We look forward to working with your family!