Here to Help Learning Writing Curriculum Review

Formal writing waxes and wanes in our learning environment. The girls do well to write in their journals a few times per week, but writing for a specific purpose and with structure didn’t make it to our schedule during the fall semester. Here to Help Learning was just the writing curriculum we needed to get back into the habit of structured writing assignments. Here to Help Learning is an online writing curriculum which focuses on paragraph and essay writing. Since the girls are in different stages of writing, we used Flight 1 Paragraph Writing and Flight 2 Essay Writing.

About Here to Help Learning:

The entire program is online and is offered as a monthly subscription.   We received a one year subscription.  The program includes video, downloadable worksheets, and a writing resource booklet.    There are six levels in the program.  Three levels focus on paragraph writing and three levels focus on essay writing.  The levels are named Flights which ties into the theme of the program.  Each Flight has 32 lessons which will cover one year of writing instruction if one lesson is completed each week.

The theme of Here to Help Learning models airplane trip from check-in to take off.  This was the winning piece for my girls.  They look forward to the weekly trips that they take with Miss Mora, the writing instructor.

The setup of the video lesson is the same for both of the Flights we use.  There are five sections in each video which I will discuss below.   

The video begins with a Pre-Flight Checklist which is one of the favorite parts of video for both girls.  Miss Mora reminds the learner about having a good attitude and doing her best.  I find this to be great reinforcement to the way I teach the girls. 

The Flight Check-in is next.  This is where the girls would organize their worksheets for the lesson.  The worksheet packet includes lesson plans, instructions for the assignment, and a checklist for the assignment.  My oldest daughter says that it is helpful when the parent guides the organization because it can get a bit confusing when first starting the program.  Once you have used it for a few lessons, it becomes easier because the worksheets follow the same pattern.

Take Off gives the learner the opportunity to turn in last week’s assignment and review the writing process.  We didn’t follow this section exactly since there is only one student.  By the way, this program can be used in a co-op setting.

Full Throttle is the meat of the lesson.  Miss Mora teaches small group of students during this time, and models the expectations for the writing assignment.  There are also discussions during this section.

Flying Solo sets the learner off to complete this week’s writing assignment. 

To keep all the worksheets and assignments from the program in order, each of the girls has a binder set up which includes a section for each part of the lesson including along with a section for the writing resource booklet which is a great addition to the program.  It has a wealth of information including grammar tips, editing tips, and vocabulary terms used in writing.

Grab your free writing reference chart and preview the program for one day.

How we used the online writing curriculum:

The girls worked on their structured writing assignments twice a week.  On the first day, they would watch the video for the specific lesson.  Although I do not have to teach the lesson, I loosely watch the videos with them so that I would know the expectations.  This also made it easier for me to answer any questions that they had.  

I am not a grader, but I do correct their work as needed.  Since each lesson focuses on a specific part of the writing process, there isn’t pressure to have everything done perfectly on the first day. The program truly teaches the writing process.  I am thankful that Here to Help Learning teaches writing using a gentle yet solid approach.

Our thoughts about Here to Help Learning:

The girls really enjoy the program. They look forward to completing their writing assignments. Miss Mora does well drawing the learner in with each video even though it follows a pattern. The pattern is one that actually keeps the learner engaged. When I asked the girls what their favorite parts of Here to Help Learning are they both agreed that the introduction was the highlight which in my opinion is awesome because they were engaged from the beginning to the end. The videos are about 40 minutes which is why we watched the lesson on one day and completed the assignment on a different day. Overall, Here to Help Learning is a hit in our learning environment. I am looking forward to continuing the program with my daughters.