Writing is a skill that requires coaching and practice. During this course your student will learn how to conquer the three challenges every writer faces: what to write, how to arrange their thoughts, and how to express their thoughts well. Students will learn to overcome these challenges by using three canons of Classical Rhetoric: Invention, Arrangement, and Elocution. Your student will be equipped with tools, or the five common topics of invention, that they can utilize to gather information.

At the end of this course, your student will be able to write a persuasive essay that will include: thesis, counter thesis, proofs and sub-proofs, exordium, amplification, refutation, narratio, and schemes and tropes.

While Lost Tools of Writing is a writing program; it is also a thinking program. Your student will gain insight in how to think logically; therefore, gaining life skills in the process.
In Lost Tools of Writing 1: Short-ish Stories, scholars will read books and short stories that may appear easier to read and which allow them to focus their attention on learning the new thought processes for writing. Young scholars will learn to ask good questions about the choices of the characters in the books and stories we will read. The scholars will wrestle with the consequences of those character's choices to learn about the process of making good decisions. Through the tools of invention, arrangement, and elocution, scholars will learn to organize and communicate their thoughts well and begin to discover the beauty of discussing literature.

Course Prerequisites:

Students should:

• Have a basic knowledge of the eight parts of speech
• Be able to write a basic paragraph
• Be familiar with verb tenses.

Younger students can prepare for this course by using IEW and/or composing written narrations.
While this course is most suitable for ages 13 and above, it can be taken by as early as 12 years old. It is recommended that those taking the Lost Tools of Writing 1 in 8th grade move on to LTW 1 Advanced with Comparison Essay in 9th grade.

Books and Short Stories:

• Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers
• Where the Red Fern Grows
• The Hiding Place
• Tanglewood Tales
• "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"
• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
• "The Mansion"
• "The Red-Headed League"
• "The Hammer of God"

Course Objectives:

1. Learn to conquer three common challenges all writers face
2. Utilize the five Topics of Invention (Tools)
3. Recognize and use schemes and tropes
4. Write persuasive essays
5. Grow in their ability to think and write well
6. Learn how to read great books

Texts:

• Lost Tools of Writing Student Workbook, published by the CiRCE Institute
• Words Aptly Spoken: Short Stories published by Classical Conversations