The Curriculum:
From first phrases to long-form research projects.
June Writers Academy’s program is a bridge between basic physical writing skills and the higher-level analysis skills essential for learning sophisticated ideas and content. In other words, we teach kids how to write and the fundamentals of writing to learn. Our unique curriculum teaches your child the mechanics of writing but also takes them much deeper. We teach kids why we use specific writing conventions and how to ground their writing in informed, complex arguments. Your child will learn how to reason from evidence, find the connections within ideas, and adapt their writing to different audiences—skills normally not taught until high school or college—even in our earliest levels. And we have fun!
✔10 Levels
✔10 lessons per level
✔5 writing practices per lesson
✔24 hrs for individualized feedback on each writing practice
✔1 weekly overall progress report per child
✔3 in-depth skill tests per level - See how we assess
✔1 self-reflection exercise per level
✔Schoolwork & application guidance on demand
What to Expect
Free to Explore: We unlock the next lesson in a level once your child completes their assigned lesson, but you can also unlock other practices and levels and skip around as you like.
Comprehensive Feedback: Our feedback on your child’s work—provided by highly-trained master teachers who specialize in working with bright children—covers both the quality of the ideas and the integrity of the mechanics of the writing. Most practices also include instant automated skill checks.
Pacing recommendations: Regular writing keeps skills and concepts fresh in your child’s head. Note that as your child moves into the more complex practices, they may need to take more than one day to complete an item. Once your child reaches Lesson 2.3, we will almost always ask them to make edits to their practices before considering them complete.
Level 1 & Lesson 2.1-2.2 in Level 2: We recommend completing two to five practices per week.
Lesson 2.3+ in Level 2+: We recommend completing at least one practice a week.
Levels
Goal
What kids learn
Sample practice
1: Complex Sentences
Available now!
Consistently write complex and compelling sentences with intellectual and physical ease
Concepts: Sentences, foundational grammatical, basic editing, poetry, audience
Skills:
Spacing: word, line, punctuation
Punctuation: Periods, question marks, commas, capitalization, apostrophes
Grammar: types of sentences, subjects, predicates, nouns, pronouns, verbs, common nouns, proper nouns, adjectives, proper adjectives, plurals, subject-verb agreement, possessives, clauses, dependent clauses, independent clauses, appositives, conjunctions
Morphology: Greek & Latin roots, other roots, prefixes, suffixes, formality, dialect, syllables, phonemes, contractions, spelling, vocabulary
Editing: editing marks, editing process
Form: phrases, complex sentences, memes, haiku
Critical Reading: poetry analysis
2: Arguments in Microcosm
Available now!
Consistently write compelling, three-layer paragraph-length+ arguments and narratives with intellectual and physical ease
Concepts: Arguments, ideas, connections, themes, pre-writing, organization, chronology, classical rhetoric, opinion, style, mood, tone, genre, beginning civics, poetry
Skills:
Argument Development: finding themes & connections across ideas, ideas, argument sentences, bubble webs, outlines, ethos, logos, pathos, kairos
Punctuation: clock and date time, formatting, paragraph breaks, addresses
Grammar: clauses, dependent clauses, independent clauses, sentence structure, conjunctions, connecting phrases, active voice, passive voice
Morphology: Greek & Latin roots, other roots, prefixes, suffixes, formality, dialect, syllables, phonemes, spelling, vocabulary
Editing: editing marks, editing process for paragraphs+
Form: lists, pre-writing, expository paragraphs+, narrative paragraphs+, persuasive paragraphs+, fiction, metaphor, simile, haiku
Critical Reading: non-fiction analysis, poetry analysis
3: Texts Under Scrutiny
Available now!
Consistently write compelling and fully-reasoned essays based on a critical reading of a text
Concepts: Essays, audience, inspectional reading, analytical reading, deep argument analysis, rhetorical analysis, debate vs. discussion, poetry, facts
Skills:
Argument Development & Dissection: finding themes & connections across ideas, ideas, argument sentences, bubble webs, outlines, ethos, logos, pathos, kairos, dissecting the logos of an argument, dissecting ethos, dissecting pathos, summaries, rhetorical role, developing an informed opinion, straw men, steel men, logical fallacies, logical extensions, counter-argument
Grammar: verb tense, dependent clauses, independent clauses, sentence structure, conjunctions
Morphology: Greek & Latin roots, other roots, prefixes, suffixes, spelling, vocabulary
Editing: adapting a text to an audience, editing marks, editing process for short texts
Form: expository essays, persuasive essays, narrative stories, sonnets, allegory, debate
Critical Reading: inspectional reading, analytical reading, defining critical terms, identifying assumptions, identifying the conversation, identifying genre, non-fiction analysis, poetry analysis, philosophy
4: Grammar & Punctuation for Life
Available now!
Consistently use grammar choices, punctuation, and rhetorical tools to communicate subtle meaning in analytical essays and fiction writing
Concepts: Descriptive grammar, prescriptive grammar, the fuzzies, emotional formatting, literary analysis, humor
Skills:
Grammar: Word class, phrase class, sentence roles, sentence word order, direct objects, indirect objects, preposition phrases, subject pronouns, object pronouns, active voice, passive voice, auxiliary verbs, prepositions, antecedents, antecedent-pronoun agreement, collective nouns, modal auxiliary verbs, restrictive versus nonrestrictive appositives, compound predicates, interrupters, interdependent clauses, run-on sentences, fused sentences, comma splices, polysyndeton, adverbs, transitional adverbs, coordinate adjectives, non-coordinate adjectives, direct address, dangling participles, the subjunctive, grammatical moods, conditional clauses, simple verb tenses, perfect verb tenses, continuous verb tenses, perfect continuous verb tenses, negatives, compound adjectives
Punctuation: dialogue commas, punctuation marks, font, hyphens, en dashes, em dashes, parentheses, ellipses, soft hyphens, hard hyphens, colons, semicolons
Rhetorical tools: alliteration, allusion, anaphora, assonance, conflict, epiphany, imagery, metaphor, onomatopoeia, sibilance, simile, emojis, euphemisms, caricature, hyperbole, lampoon, irony, parody, satire, rhetorical fallacies
Morphology: Greek & Latin roots, other roots, vocabulary, British versus American spelling
Editing: undoing the fuzzies, fluff statements, editing process for short texts
Form: analytical essays, fiction stories, plays, allegory, ads, rebuttal, odes, analogies, extended metaphor, synthesis essays
Critical Reading: speeches, civics, assumptions, defining terms, scientific writing, philosophical writing
5: Advanced Solo Editing
Available now!
Draft and consistently use a multi-step argument, line editing, and style editing process on essay-level texts from a wide variety of genres
Concepts: Drafting, argument editing, line editing, style, flow
Skills:
Grammar: infinitive, split infinitives
Morphology: Greek & Latin roots, other roots, vocabulary
Editing: line editing, deep argument editing, style editing, parallel construction, eliminating repetitive or unnecessary words, pacing, preposition placement
Form: analytical essays, fiction stories, synthesis essays, limerick, proverbs
Critical Reading: synthesis reading
6: Fiction & Literary Analysis
Consistently write compelling short fiction stories featuring well-developed characters, and fluently analyze other people’s fiction
Concepts: Character development, plot arc, fiction editing, storytelling in nonfiction writing, literary devices, literary analysis, critical reading
Skills: TBA
7-10: Portfolio Projects
Write compelling long-form research projects
Concepts: Research, source analysis, attribution
Skills: TBA
Which level is right for my kid?
All students begin at Level 1 or 2, even if they are already capable of writing clean, lengthy texts. Select Level 1: Complex Sentences if your child does not yet have the physical stamina to write five excellent sentences in a row. Select Level 2: Arguments in Microcosm for everyone else. We will adapt your child’s specific curriculum to meet their unique skill level and pacing. Learn more about why we do this and what this means for different types of students here.
How It Works
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Step 1: Log in
When you become a member, you’ll be able to log in to our private member area and access the lessons, practices, tips, and other resources your child needs to begin their writing journey. You’ll also get information on how to complete the practices in our SeeSaw classroom. Your child’s work will be private—visible only to your family and us. Learn more.
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Step 2: Write & get feedback
Complete the unlocked practices at your own pace. Our highly-trained master teachers will gve written (and verbal, as appropriate) feedback on each of your child’s assignments within 24 hours, and often ask them to edit their work. You’ll also receive weekly progress reports with scores and overall feedback. Need help? Use our custom tips or drop into our Live Help Hours as much or as little as you want. Learn more about our method.
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Step 3: Formal assessment
In addition to the immediate feedback on their writing assignments, your child will take three skill tests at the end of each level to check their progress and readiness for the next step in the June Writers program. We’ll score their tests and provide you with tailored written feedback within 24 hours. Learn more about assessment.
NEW: Schoolwork & Application Help
Does your child need help tackling a school assignment or application?
We won’t write or edit your child’s text, but we will help them do the work themselves. We offer support for planning & content development, translating pre-writing work into a draft, and editing. This is an optional service included in our standard membership program at no extra charge.
Become a member
1 child: $12/mo
2 children: $22/mo (8% discount)