7/8 Grade Reading & Writing (Intermediate)

September 9th- December 9th, 2026

No Class October 21 (fall break) or November 25th (Thanksgiving Break)

This class is typically for students in 7th-8th grade, often ages 12-13.

This classic novel holds a marvelous story of love, courage, and persistence, from a shipwreck survival to the unlikely match between a teenager, Alec, and a wild stallion, Black, who trusts no one. With Alec’s patient kindness and reassurance, Black slowly begins to accept life in noisy New Your City, eventually training to run the race of his life. With adventure and hope on each page, students love this timeless must-read. Students will learn and develop the skills necessary to write high quality multi-paragraph compositions with The Write Journey’s methods. Whether in the first year of instruction, or more experienced, Ms. Snyder will challenge each student to progress his or her skills just a bit more each and every assignment.

Skills Needed to Succeed in this Class

• Prerequisite: Intermediate Writing Foundations for ALL new students. Students may take this class if they have been in a TWJ 5/6 Grade Reading and Writing class, or if they have already taken a 7/8 Grade class in the past as well.

• Able to read more complex novels with challenging vocabulary and slightly mature content

• Has become comfortable with annotating the novel and charting literary content, or is ready to learn this process

• Has a degree of mastery writing an expanded paragraph (understands how to write “chunks”)

• Ready to transition to multi-paragraph essay writing

• Familiar with literary analysis writing, including weaving quotes from novel into composition

• Shows evidence of time management skills

• Able to complete 3-4 hours of homework weekly

Skilled Learned in this Class

• Continuing to practice TWJ writing steps and strategies: brainstorm, outline, rough draft, final draft

• Developing multi-paragraph essays by developing three body paragraphs

• Mastering a thesis and transitional sentences

• Providing specific examples from the novel to support assertions

• Explaining examples with insightful commentary, including being introduced writing “chunks” using concrete details and commentary sentences

• Improving sentence structure through mastery of stylistic elements

Other Class Details

12 weeks

Class meets for 2 hours per week. 

Maximum class size 15 students.

Supplies: pencil, paper, class novel (see Study Book), TWJ Writing Foundations Handbook

Gmail account to access Google Classroom and communicate with instructor

The BLACK stallion

by Walter Farley

ISBN-13 : ‎ 979-8374010619

Click to order on Amazon: https://amzn.to/47ZUEO4

This classic novel holds a marvelous story of love, courage, and persistence, from a shipwreck survival to the unlikely match between a teenager, Alec, and a wild stallion, Black, who trusts no one. With Alec’s patient kindness and reassurance, Black slowly begins to accept life in noisy New Your City, eventually training to run the race of his life. With adventure and hope on each page, students love this timeless must-read.

For families that pay out-of-pocket for homeschooling classes, The Write Journey, LLC offers a discount of 10% for those classes. Use code “PRIVATEPAY” during check out to apply discount. This offer cannot be combined with any other discounts. The reduced rates for private-pay individuals may be used by students enrolled in charter schools, but only if the family chooses to pay for the goods or services out-of-pocket.

Venmo, PayPal, or Check? Use code “PERSONAL” during check out to change the class cost to $0. After you complete the registration process, please send us your payment. Venmo @TheWriteJourney-Cordell PayPal (Friends & Family) – info@thewritejourney.net

Paying with Charter School Funds? Use code “CHARTER” during check out to change the class cost to $0. After completing the registration process, contact your charter school to order vouchers/purchase orders in three one-month payments. Contact us for assistance if you plan to use charter funds and do not find The Write Journey (or Writing with Kris or Kris Cordell) on your charter school’s vendor list.

To pay with a check, contact us at 916.696.1759.

Cancellation Policy:

Due to the administrative costs and preparations of The Write Journey team to prepare classes and offer reasonable class sizes of 8-16 students, we must charge a cancellation fee. Teachers typically begin communication 2 weeks before classes begin, and class schedules must be finalized in order to offer the correct number of spots open for families. 

A $25 cancellation fee will be charged up to 2 weeks prior to the start of the ordered class. Any time after 2 weeks prior to the start of class, the cancellation fee is one full month’s charge. For private pay families with more than 2 children, a flat rate of $50 will be charged.