As I worked on writing this curriculum, I discovered something that I hadn’t really known before: I have a philosophy of writing! I consider writing to be part of the Great Conversation–the discussion of ideas among people across time, culture, generations, languages, and distance. Conversation requires at least two–a speaker and a listener. When written communication enters the conversation, the speaker is the writer and the listener is the reader. In writing, you cannot ignore the reader. The reader is the whole point of writing–the reason for getting the words down on paper (even virtual “paper”) in the first place. Unless you are writing in a diary, you are writing for someone else.
Thinking about what your reader will experience when he or she reads what you’ve written is an important part of writing well. It’s a matter of courtesy to present your thoughts clearly (and correctly–without distracting errors), to introduce your topic, follow a clear train of ideas, and make sure your reader understands what you have to say. If you can delight your reader, that’s even better!
In Book 2 of the Art of Composition, your student will work on level 2 editing–improving individual sentences. Your student will learn to appreciate the sentence as the fundamental unit of language, in keeping with Charlotte Mason’s observation that a student “has learned nearly all the grammar that is necessary when he knows that when we speak we use sentences and that a sentence makes sense.” (A Philosophy of Education, p. 209)
In other modules, your student will learn the basic structure of a paragraph and will use existing narrations as the basis of writing full essays (building on what was learned about outlines in Book 1). Your student will be introduced to the idea of style in writing, and explore how to write with various styles, always keeping the reader–the other half of the conversation–in mind. This book also introduces writing assignments that are not strictly narrations, as well as offering suggestions for creative narration and commonplace-keeping.
A student who finishes Books 1 and 2 of the Art of Composition could be given a full Composition credit for high school. These books and lessons are flexible. If you are starting later with an older student who has only one or two years of high school left, it would be possible to complete both books in one year by doing two lessons per week instead of one. If you started Book 1 with an 8th grader, you could stretch Books 1 and 2 across three years, repeating some of the exercises with different schoolbooks. A student who finishes these two books will be prepared for college writing.
The Art of Composition can be purchased (or you can view a free sample) at Simply Charlotte Mason.