Writing Resources for Homeschoolers: Courses, Contests, and Literature Programs

Strong writing is one of the clearest advantages homeschoolers can build before college. They have time for it. They aren't competing with thirty other students for a teacher's attention. And they can go deeper into texts than a class schedule typically allows. The challenge is structure — without an external curriculum or class, writing instruction can drift toward reading comprehension with a few paragraphs tacked on.

This post covers the main writing course options, how to access IEW classes, writing competitions worth entering, and how to pick a literature program that actually improves your student's ability to write.

Writing Courses and Co-op Classes

The two most-discussed structured writing programs in the homeschool community are Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) and Writing and Rhetoric (Classical Academic Press). They approach writing very differently, so it matters which one you pick.

IEW teaches a systematic approach using structural models — students learn to take notes, rewrite source content with stylistic additions, and gradually move toward original composition. The method is highly structured, which some families love and others find mechanical. IEW offers a self-paced online course for families who want to work independently, as well as a Teaching Writing Structure and Style (TWSS) DVD/streaming set that trains the parent to teach it. Prices vary by level, but co-op delivery is common and significantly reduces cost. Many homeschool co-ops run IEW classes one day per week — searching "[your city] homeschool co-op IEW" on Facebook is often the fastest way to find a live class near you.

Writing and Rhetoric takes a classical approach grounded in rhetoric and imitation of strong models. It's often used by families doing classical or Charlotte Mason homeschooling and pairs naturally with a literature-heavy curriculum.

For teens, Brave Writer is popular among secular homeschoolers for its voice-centered approach. It works well for students who resist formulaic writing but need encouragement to write more. The Arrow and Boomerang guides pair specific books with writing and grammar instruction at each level.

Literature Programs Worth Using

Literature and writing instruction are more effective when they're connected. A program that makes a student read carefully and then write about what they've read — rather than treating them as separate subjects — tends to produce stronger results.

Lightning Literature (Hewitt Homeschooling) and Excellence in Literature (Janice Campbell) are both designed to be student-directed in the upper grades. Excellence in Literature in particular is structured around college-prep essay writing using classic texts, which makes it useful preparation for AP English and college coursework.

For younger students, All About Reading transitions into All About Spelling and then into composition through the writing-instruction supplements many families layer on top. If your student is still developing reading fluency, fixing that first is more efficient than pushing composition instruction.

If you want an integrated program that handles literature, writing, grammar, and vocabulary in one package, Sonlight and My Father's World both bundle these together — though they're full curriculum packages rather than writing-specific supplements.

Writing Contests for Homeschoolers

Writing competitions serve two purposes: external accountability (a real deadline, real stakes) and documentation for a portfolio or college application. Most major writing competitions are open to homeschoolers on equal footing with public and private school students.

Competitions worth knowing:

• Scholastic Art & Writing Awards — One of the oldest and most respected youth writing competitions in the US. Open to students in grades 7–12. Categories include poetry, short story, flash fiction, personal essay, and more. Regional winners advance to national judging. Homeschoolers submit under the "homeschool" category.

• Writopia Lab Writing Competitions — Run by the nonprofit Writopia Lab, these include an annual national contest and several themed competitions throughout the year. Open to ages 6–18.

• Young Writers' Project — A Vermont-based nonprofit that runs weekly writing challenges online. Less formal than Scholastic, but provides regular prompts and a community of young writers. Good for building the habit of writing regularly.

• National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Young Writers Program — Every November, students set a personalized word-count goal and write toward it. There is no prize in the traditional sense, but the community and structure motivate a lot of students who struggle to finish longer projects.

• The Concord Review — If you have a high school student who writes strong historical essays, this quarterly journal publishes student history research papers. Being published is significant for college applications.

Entering a competition even once forces a student to produce a finished, polished piece of writing — which is often harder to achieve in a home environment where deadlines are flexible.

Connecting Writing to the Extracurricular Portfolio

For homeschoolers building toward college, writing credentials that show up outside the family context carry weight. A published piece in a student journal, a regional Scholastic award, or even documented participation in a writing co-op strengthens an application in ways that a parent-graded transcript cannot.

The US Socialization & Extracurricular Playbook covers how to build a portfolio that communicates extracurricular depth — including how to document writing work alongside academic and community activities.

Choosing What to Use

The most common mistake families make with writing instruction is switching programs too often before any one method has time to work. Writing improves slowly, and most good programs take at least a full academic year before you see the structural improvements in a student's output.

If your student is younger (grades 3–6), pick one program and stay with it. If your student is in middle or high school and hasn't had structured writing instruction, IEW's systematic approach tends to produce faster measurable gains than more open-ended approaches.

If the goal is college admissions, connecting the student to external feedback — a co-op class, a competition judge, a college writing professor through dual enrollment — provides perspective that even the best parent-as-teacher can't fully replicate.