The Writing Conservatory

Not everyone becomes a great writer, but anyone can learn to write well.

Homeschooling high school can be daunting.

Many parents of home-schooled teenagers ask themselves: “Is my child missing out on science or math or even writing skills by not being in the ‘mainstream?’ Will they survive college?” Having been both a home-school dad and a public and private high school teacher, I know the questions.

I also know the answers. “NO! Your child is not missing out.” And: “They will make you proud.”

Now, however, as a college instructor of developmental writing, I see the lacks and the blockages that prevent incoming students from expressing themselves intelligently and creatively in written English at a college level. They are not stupid; they do have something worth saying, but written English is a formidable thing to them as they enter my course.

Yet how many times I hear them say, as they leave my classroom, “Thank you, Mr. Yordy, you have made writing clear to me; I now enjoy it.”

I always dreaded writing class, but Mr. Yordy has changed my thoughts on writing. Writing truly does help you to visualize and express who you are. It has become natural, and I do not dread it now. - Amanda

Do not make the mistake, though, of depending on any modern college, public or private, to impart to your teenagers the writing skills they need for success in college and in life.

Much of what passes for writing instruction in today’s world both confuses incoming students and leaves them vulnerable to some of the manipulative philosophies that pervade modern education. On the other hand, those who enter college fully equipped with the ability to think clearly through written English are much more able, not only to hold their own, but to excel.

For that reason I developed The Writing Conservatory, AND make this promise to your child.

Pass any college-entrance writing exam with flying colors

 – or your money back!*

What Students Really Want:

Modern education wants students to “feel good” about themselves, to learn from their peers, to express their “feelings” about the given topic. I find that students look for something entirely different. My students want three things. They want clarity of thought, they want to do for themselves what is being taught, and they want to leave a course convinced that their time spent has given them meaningful skills that bring immediate benefits.

The first thing I learned was writing with action. In high school, all the teachers assumed everyone knew how to write essays, but this person was bad at writing essays. Essays were the lowest grades I would get, but I would still try. In Mr. Yordy’s class, I learned why my writing was horrible. He introduced us to action writing and boy, that made a change. Therefore, my essays are better. Now I write. - Cynthia

First, the Writing Conservatory makes the skills of written English immediately clear to the Writer.

Second, the Writer will write and re-write and re-write his or her own work, and not waste time fixing programmed “mistakes” in someone else’s writing. I am always moved by the clarity and power of the final drafts my students hand in; I know they are amazed as well.

Third, the Writer will leave with the certain knowledge that he or she knows how to write well. Based on that knowledge, further creativity and expression come easily. When a student knows how to write well, every future writing task becomes a challenge to be won.

Proof?

“Mr. Yordy,” you might ask, “how can you be so certain that your writing course will accomplish these results for my child?” That is a question I often ask myself when I reject all the second drafts, making my students do it all over again, and even then still don’t see what the Paper must become for the final draft.

Two things convince me. One is the actual final drafts that always surprise and overwhelm me with their clarity and expression of the human experience. The second is the number of reports coming back to me from former students. “I didn’t understand writing – I was afraid of writing – I would not look at what I had written for fear of all the mistakes – until I took Mr. Yordy’s writing class. Now I love to write.” I respect my students enough to allow myself to believe them.

 The teaching philosophy, the approach to learning to write well embedded all through the various writing Units at The Writing Conservatory consists of three simple things. The first is to copy good writing. Second is to write freely without thought of rules – and then, re-write and re-write and re-write until the Paper is clear and powerful. And the third is to hit the brick wall of a hard-nosed editor (Your Editor) who refuses to accept mediocrity, ambiguity, or otherwise boring drivel passed off as written English. It is to deal with the need to change how one writes, and, in desperation almost, pull out of the insides, one’s very best.

I learned that writing can be fun. Your Editor allowed us to let go of all the rules and to "just write!" as he would say. I enjoy his teaching style. He fine-tunes us down to the wire to make sure we are are well-oiled writing machines, so that squishy muscle I call a brain can get a work out. It's given a challenge every time he gives an assignment. - Zach

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This Simple Formula Works:

Many approaches to learning to write well place reading in front of the learners. There's nothing wrong with reading, I recommend it heartily. The problem is that reading ideas about writing or even reading great writers does not teach anyone to write well. How then will your home-schooled teenager learn to write? There are three distinct things I am convinced are essential to any writing course.

1: Copy Great Writers:

To learn to write well copy great writers. Typically, those who read well do usually write better than those who read little. However, sitting down and actually copying great writers word for word implants the flow of word choice and sentence structure deep into the subconscious mind. Do not be concerned over "sounding like someone else." We each develop our own voice, drawing from many influences from many directions.

Copying a variety of different writing styles, however, means we have more to draw on to create our own unique and personal style. Copying great writers lifts us above the mediocre level of writing we might presently know and gives much larger avenues of expression.

2: Write Freely - then Re-Write:

Writing and re-writing our own words and ideas must follow our copying of great writers. It's a great idea to go back and forth between copying a short passage from some accomplished writer and then writing a short piece in a similar style. But as we write and write, expressing our own thoughts and ideas, then finding the best words and flow of sentences will come more readily. We write often about every topic we enjoy.

However, any first draft we may write on any topic will not be what people will read. We must re-write and re-write until it is our very best. In addition an essential element for improving any draft is to have a clear outline or rubric showing the changes that we must make.

3: Lean into Your Editor

Finally, to learn to write well requires the eye and ear of a person who knows good writing and how to edit the not-so-good. No writer can know what any reader might think in response to what we have written. What sounds okay to the writer may make no sense to the reader. None of us can see our own mistakes - or even know what those mistakes are.

As a teacher of writing, I find that the more I reject mediocre writing, marking and requiring my students to come back with something well-written, the more they realize the need to dig in and do it. When they deal with the changes I require, they internalize their own voice. The most amazing thing happens: they come back with really great papers. There is no better teacher than the free-flowing pen of a good critic.

I would like to learn how to better express myself in writing, so that the way I see things or describe scenes in my mind would be clearer on the page. Taking this course also helps me to better understand other people's writing and how to incorporate different styles and methods into my own including ways of describing characters and lots of action and dialogue. - Jo

Where to Begin:

The Writing Conservatory starts all Writers with Unit I: Personal Narrative for three specific reasons.

1. If we write well only what we know, there is nothing we know more than our own story.
2. More than that, people and their stories are interesting. Seeing one’s own story written powerfully, and knowing, “I wrote that,” does more for one’s self-esteem than all the “feel-good” sessions put together.
3. The third reason I have learned from years of experience teaching writing skills to teenagers. Narrative writing is the best place to learn what exactly makes the difference between boring writing that is read only by those paid to read it versus writing that moves its readers, making them eager to read more.

I do not need to “sell” you on Unit I: Personal Narrative. The Unit sells itself. All of it is online for you to see. You owe it to yourself and the budding Writers in your home to take the time to look through Unit I. It begins with Skill Set A: Write What You Know and progresses through four more Skill Sets to completion. Feel free to look through Personal Narrative at any time. You will see a link – College Entrance – in the top of the left column that takes you back to our great money-back offer for all prospective college students.

I will continue here, however, with more explanation of the Units offered by The Writing Conservatory and the advantage they hold for the homeschooled teenager.

The Writing Conservatory Units:

Each Writing Course Unit is the equivalent of a college credit in length and quality of work. Three Units are the equivalent of one semester high school or college course. We do not offer recognized college credit; it is writing skills with which we benefit Writers. However, these Units first began in the junior high and high school classrooms, both public and private, and then were fine-tuned in the in-coming college classroom, Developmental Writing II.

Each Unit costs only $75. Three Units can be purchased together for just $195, a savings of $30. These prices compare with the real costs of college credits ranging between $300-700 (when you remove state subsidies). The learning gained from each Unit of the Writing Course is vigorous and substantial. And we offer various generous terms of satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.

All Writers begin with Unit I: Personal Narrative and then proceed to C-II: The Informative Essay. A complete range of writing skills that can be applied to all types of writing are covered in those two Units. Once they are completed, the Writer can take any Unit in any Strand at will. However, progressing down each Strand in the order in which they are laid out makes more sense, since each Unit builds on the previous ones.

The first Strand is college-entrance writing skills (C); the second is story-telling and creative writing skills (S); and the third is business writing skills (B).  Each strand contains a number of different Units developing a variety of writing skills and genres. Once Unit I: Personal Narrative is completed, there are many exciting writing projects ahead.

The Writing Conservatory Units will transform the way you write. You will learn to write well.

Order Now:

Unit I: Personal Narrative

College-Entry: Three Units

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* Our money-back guarantee on passing any college-entrance writing exam requires four simple things.

1. The individual who was unable to pass a particular college-entrance writing exam must have completed all three Units: Unit I: Personal Narrative, Unit C-II: The Informative Essay, and Unit C-III: More College Essays in a satisfactory manner.

2. The student must have completed any Writing Conservatory Unit within one year before failing the college-entrance writing exam. (If a student completes the three Units listed in #1 a couple of years before taking the exam, the guarantee holds if that student completes an additional Unit within 1 year of the exam.)

3. A valid copy of the student's failing scores received from the college must be mailed to The Writing Conservatory – Contact Page.

4.  The guarantee covers the purchase of all three Units at once. If the Units are purchased separately, the warranty remains, albeit at the three-Unit purchase amount of $195.

Should your student be unable to pass a college-entrance writing exam following these terms, we will (sadly, but cheerfully) return the purchase price of the three Units.

We are confident that failures will be quite unlikely events!