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 fittingly. 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, they can utilize to gather information. They will learn to recognize figures of speech and use them in their essays.
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, 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 and therefore gain life skills in the process. The Lost Tools of Writing is not a literary analysis program, but we will use literature to practice utilizing the tools. This allows the student the freedom to exercise the tools of thought without a personal stake in the outcome.

In Lost Tools of Writing I - Children's Literature, scholars will read books 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 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, Cottage Press’ Fable & Song, and/or composing written narrations.
While this course is most suitable for ages 12 and above, it can be taken by as early as 11 years old. It is recommended that those taking the Lost Tools PreCourse as 7th graders move on to Lost Tools of Writing 1 in 8th grade.

What Books are Used:

• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
• Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
• The Magician's Nephew
• Number the Stars
• Amos Fortune, Free Man
• The Secret Garden
• The Door in the Wall
• Crispin: The Cross of Lead

Course Objectives:

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

Texts:

• Lost Tools of Writing, Level 1 Student Workbook, published by the CiRCE Institute
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
• Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
• The Magician's Nephew
• Number the Stars
• Amos Fortune, Free Man
• The Secret Garden
• The Door in the Wall
• Crispin: The Cross of Lead