Request any of these classes for your learners and we’ll set up a custom time just for your group.

Remedy the Run-Ons!
ages 8-12
2 weeks, 1-hour each week
- 2-3 students = $60
- 4+ students = $50
Is it tricky to figure out where to put commas, periods, and other punctuation so that your complex sentences read grammatically correct? This workshop gives you tricks, tips, and practice composing complete sentences in isolation and within your written stories. We’ll play little games and have lots of fun during this fast-paced class. Yes, there’s homework — even though it’s just a two-week class. Practice leads to mastery!

Snapshot Poetry: Spooky Edition!
ages 8-12
2 weeks, 1-hour each week
- 2-3 students = $60
- 4+ students = $50

Writing snapshots are moments in time that we capture through descriptive detail, to make images in our readers' heads. They improve our stories by making our characters and settings come alive. But what about a snapshot poem? In this workshop, we'll explore several different ways of writing snapshot poetry, guaranteed to inspire your inner author to see things in novel ways … all with a spooky theme for Halloween! The new techniques you learn will help you create magnificent imagery in all of your writing.

Prerequisite: Learners will need to be able to write three-to-ten lines independently in about five-to-ten minutes. They are welcome to use voice recognition software or have someone at home scribe for them. Spelling and grammar need not be conventional, and limited one-on-one time with the instructor will be available.

Snapshot Poetry
ages 8-12
2 weeks, 1-hour each week
- 2-3 students = $60
- 4+ students = $50

Writing snapshots are moments in time that we capture through descriptive detail, to make images in our readers' heads. They improve our stories by making our characters and settings come alive. But what about a snapshot poem? In this workshop, we'll explore several different ways of writing snapshot poetry, guaranteed to inspire your inner author to see things in novel ways. The new techniques you learn will help you create magnificent imagery in all of your writing.

Prerequisite: Learners will need to be able to write three-to-ten lines independently in about five-to-ten minutes. They are welcome to use voice recognition software or have someone at home scribe for them. Spelling and grammar need not be conventional, and limited one-on-one time with the instructor will be available.

Ages 11+

30-Day Microfiction Challenge
ages 11+
6 weeks
- 2-3 students = $175
- 4+ student = $150

Are you up for writing a microfiction story every day for 30 days? It’s a fun and satisfying way to keep your writing skills and creativity fresh any time of year, and I can guarantee you’ll learn a thing or two about writing concisely! Here’s how it will work:
~ All stories will be 100 words or less.
~ We’ll meet for the first class, go over the guidelines, examine mentor texts, and explore some top tips for writing microfiction. The first seven prompts will be revealed and we’ll get started with our writing.
~ At each weekly class, we’ll learn a new writing skill, share our work, and write and revise together. At the end of every class, you’ll receive the next seven prompts.
~ I’ll comment on your stories in-between weekly classes so you can improve your stories as you go.
~ By the end of the six weeks, you will have written for 30 days, revised, and created your own anthology of finished stories. We’ll also create a class mini-anthology, which will include your five favorite stories.
~ I’m going to complete this challenge right along with you, so you’ll get to help me revise my writing, too!

Book Discussion Group: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
ages 14+
4 weeks
- 2-3 students = $105
- 4+ students = $99

+ $55 for the optional essay = (which includes extra weekly mini-lessons, suggestions and comments for revision, and guidance throughout all steps of writing the essay)

The Teen Book Discussion Group will meet on Mondays to discuss books and short stories. Teens will be guided on how to prepare for the discussion and they will determine the direction the discussion goes based on their own questions and observations as they are reading. I’ll be just another participant with my own questions and observations. This discussion group will always be about curiosity, author’s motives, digging deep into how literary elements are crafted, literary conventions we noticed, and questions we have (yes, the reading-writing connection is strong!). It will never be about answering leading questions posed by the instructor with an expected answer. All ideas are considered equally, and we’ll both agree and disagree with one another’s opinions in a respectful, curious fashion.

For this round, we'll be reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Common Sense Media rates this book appropriate for ages 14 and up, and you can read more about the content warnings here.

Even if the book or story doesn’t end up being our favorite, we’ll at least have a hearty discussion about what the author could have done differently to make us love it more, and what they did do that we appreciate in theory. :-)

Optional essay! No, you don't have to write an essay, but if you'd like to get some practice (and rumor has it you do ... or your parents want you to! ;-)), this is a great opportunity to write about a book you hopefully enjoyed with support from an instructor AND your peers. During our discussion, we'll flesh out some ideas together and "talk" our essays out. It's just a fun way to focus and organize our discussions around the big ideas that come to us when reading.

Content Area Writing: Science
ages 13+
4 times, one hour each
- 2-3 students = $105
- 4+ students = $99
Writing fiction is amazing; even writing essays isn’t half bad. But writing about scientific concepts? Ugh, right? Well, no — it doesn’t have to be! In this class, we’ll connect all we know and love about fiction writing to writing about science. We’ll investigate the scientific method, and how sensory details and life experiences enhance the process of writing about science topics and actually make your science writing stronger. You’ll find that by writing about the science topics you’re studying, you’ll gain a better understanding of them, too. From short answers to short essays to lab reports, we’ll do it all!

Remedy the Run-Ons — Teen Edition!
ages 13+
2 times, one hour each
- 2-3 students = $60
- 4+ students = $50
To really vanquish those run-on sentences, it helps to understand the difference between run-on sentences, comma splices, compound and complex sentences, and independent vs. dependent clauses. I won’t grammar you to death, but I will make sure you can take your understanding of these concepts and meld them with your sophisticated ideas so that your writing will sparkle AND be grammatically correct.

Short Story Discussion: Humor, Irony, and Satire
ages 13+
4 weeks
- 2-3 students = $105
- 4+ students = $99
optional essay = $55 (which includes extra weekly mini-lessons, suggestions and comments for revision, and guidance throughout all steps of writing the essay)

The Teen Book Discussion Group will meet on Mondays to discuss books and short stories. Teens will be guided on how to prepare for the discussion and they will determine the direction the discussion goes based on their own questions and observations as they are reading. I’ll be just another participant with my own questions and observations. This discussion group will always be about curiosity, author’s motives, digging deep into how literary elements are crafted, literary conventions we noticed, and questions we have (yes, the reading-writing connection is strong!). It will never be about answering leading questions posed by the instructor with an expected answer. All ideas are considered equally, and we’ll both agree and disagree with one another’s opinions in a respectful, curious fashion.

For this round, we'll be reading one or two humorous stories each week. Possible authors are Shirley Jackson, O'Henry, James Thurber, Langston Hughes (can I make it through a session without Ray Bradbury? Time will tell …). I love the opportunity short stories give us to really think about who has the power: the reader or the writer? This question becomes more complex when we're dealing with irony, satire, and other inferential ideas.

Even if the book or story doesn’t end up being our favorite, we’ll at least have a hearty discussion about what the author could have done differently to make us love it more, and what they did do that we appreciate in theory. :-)

New! With optional essay! No, you don't have to write an essay, but if you'd like to get some practice (and rumor has it you do ... or your parents want you to! ;-)), this is a great opportunity to write about a story you enjoyed with support from an instructor AND your peers. During our discussion, we'll flesh out some ideas together and "talk" our essays out. It's just a fun way to focus and organize our discussions around the big ideas that come to us when reading.

Teen Book Discussion Group: Short Stories Sampler
ages 13+
Meets five times, approximately every other week
- 2-3 students = $125
- 4+ students = $105

The Teen Book Discussion Group will meet every-other(ish)-Monday to discuss books and short stories. Teens will be guided on how to prepare for the discussion and they will determine the direction the discussion goes based on their own questions and observations as they are reading. I’ll be just another participant with my own questions and observations. This discussion group will always be about curiosity, author’s motives, digging deep into how literary elements are crafted, literary conventions we noticed, and questions we have. It will never be about answering leading questions posed by the instructor with an expected answer. All ideas are considered equally, and we’ll both agree and disagree with one another’s opinions in a respectful, curious fashion.

For this round, the general consensus was to tackle a new short story each meeting. I’m thinking Ray Bradbury, Edgar Allen Poe, Shirley Jackson, Neil Gaiman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, H.G. Wells … and now I have more authors than weeks! If the stories are very short, we may read two and compare and contrast them. I love the opportunity short stories give us to really think about who has the power: the reader or the writer?

We won’t read what we find onerous, because that’s a fabulous way to squelch a love for reading and a passion for literature! Even if the book or story doesn’t end up being our favorite, we’ll at least have a hearty discussion about what the author could have done differently to make us love it more, and what they did do that we appreciate in theory. :-)

Book Discussion Group: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
ages 13+
meets 3 times
- 2-3 students = $79
- 4+ students = $65
+ $55 for the optional essay = (which includes extra weekly mini-lessons, suggestions and comments for revision, and guidance throughout all steps of writing the essay)

The Teen Book Discussion Group will meet on Mondays to discuss books and short stories. Teens will be guided on how to prepare for the discussion and they will determine the direction the discussion goes based on their own questions and observations as they are reading. I’ll be just another participant with my own questions and observations. This discussion group will always be about curiosity, author’s motives, digging deep into how literary elements are crafted, literary conventions we noticed, and questions we have (yes, the reading-writing connection is strong!). It will never be about answering leading questions posed by the instructor with an expected answer. All ideas are considered equally, and we’ll both agree and disagree with one another’s opinions in a respectful, curious fashion.

For this round, we'll be reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Compass Book Ratings rates this book ages 14+, and you can read more about the content warnings here.

Even if the book or story doesn’t end up being our favorite, we’ll at least have a hearty discussion about what the author could have done differently to make us love it more, and what they did do that we appreciate in theory. :-)

Optional essay! No, you don't have to write an essay, but if you'd like to get some practice (and rumor has it you do ... or your parents want you to! ;-)), this is a great opportunity to write about a book you hopefully enjoyed with support from an instructor AND your peers. During our discussion, we'll flesh out some ideas together and "talk" our essays out. It's just a fun way to focus and organize our discussions around the big ideas that come to us when reading.

Blind Contour Drawing
ages 13+
3 weeks, 1-hour each week
- 2-3 students = $79
- 4+ students = $65

Blind contour drawing, in which you draw without looking at your hand or the paper, is a gratifying form of art, whether you are a beginner or a long-time artist. It's both precise and freeing, loose and graphic. In this workshop, we'll explore blind contour drawing through botanicals, still lifes, and figures (hands and faces). Each week, we'll learn different techniques that match our subject, as well as embellishments to turn our blind contour drawings into true works of art. When you register for this class, I'll send along a materials list of what you will need for each class, along with links to purchase (although you may already have just about everything you need at home ... wait until you see the beautiful art we can create with basic materials!).