The 12-Paper Plunge
Homeschool Bundle
You can now utilize Ms. Finnigan’s methodology, which has been proven to work for hundreds of students, in your own homeschool and get the results for your student that you’ve always wanted!
-
The training you will receive will pay off for years, as your children move from middle school into high school.
-
Learn this tried-and-true method of assigning and grading papers. The bundle includes everything your student needs to get all the benefits of the 12-Paper Plunge, and you as a parent won’t have to go it alone! Meet with Ms. Finnigan monthly in group coaching sessions for extra support and guidance!
-
One good writing coach can often do more for a high school student than four years of expensive writing classes.
-
Writing is dying in schools, and most writing courses don’t even require that much actual writing. When students do write, they don’t write full essays. If outsourcing isn’t working, it might be time to bring things in house. You can do this. Whether you run your own homeschool or just want to supplement your child’s education, you can become your teen’s best writing coach.
-
“But my teen hates it when I critique his/her writing!” Maybe that’s because you were never on the same page. Now, your feedback might be welcome, even appreciated! Best of all, this bundle will facilitate conversations about Great Books and Big Ideas. The dinner table will never be the same.
Here’s what’s included…
#1 Time-Tested Writing Instruction
The 12-Paper Plunge takes a minimalist approach, giving students only four hours of video-based writing instruction to maximize student learning objectives. The skills are easy to learn, but difficult to master. So the focus is on writing 12 papers and practicing those skills. Ms. Finnigan’s writing instruction has helped hundreds of students over the years. For more information, click here.
Writing Instruction FAQ
-
Argumentative writing with literary analysis in the style of a classic, five-paragraph essay. Though in training, writing coaches are taught how to adjust assignments to make them easier or harder so the student is always challenged but never overwhelmed.
-
No, sorry. The writing instruction is only available through the homeschool bundle, the program for schools, or in Ms. Finnigan’s flagship course. This is a comprehensive writing and thinking program. This is about more than “writing.” It’s about studying, analyzing, reflecting, arguing. It’s about dialoguing with the students through their writing and getting them to use the old noggin’. Ms. Finnigan wouldn’t be able to promise the same results with just the videos. The reading, the writing, the thinking: It all works together.
-
Yeah, sorry. Honestly, there are a million writing classes out there — many of them free on YouTube. You can probably learn how to teach argumentative writing by looking at posts on Pinterest. And if it’s videos you want, other programs will offer you a lot more videos for a lot less money.
-
That’s fair! But this program is about more than just developing the student as a writer. This program is meant to foster the teacher-student relationship. This offer supports parents who want to become their child’s writing coach as a unique way to nurture the student’s growth and development as writers, thinkers, and human beings! If it’s really not for you, Ms. Finnigan would be more than happy (honored really!) to be your student’s teacher and coach in her flagship course.
#2 Teacher Training
As a parent, you are already a teacher. You are your child’s primary educator, whether you teach them formally through homeschooling or not. The teacher training will turn you from a teacher into a writing coach! It will teach you not only how to grade the essays, but how to assign them strategically to facilitate your student’s growth. (3-4 hours) See Teacher Testimonials here.
Not sure if this is for you? Take the Parent Quiz!
"Ms. Finnigan’s course bundle* was the best investment I have made for my daughter’s Language Arts instruction! We started homeschooling when she was in 6th grade, and I was concerned to find that she had not learned many of the things I considered to be 'the basics' of writing when in elementary school. As a confident writer myself, I was surprised that I was not at all confident in my ability to teach her to write or to assess her writing. As my daughter started 9th grade, I knew we needed some help to reach our goal - that she would become a competent and confident writer. I’m so grateful to have found Ms. Finnigan’s courses! Her friendly and engaging manner quickly put my daughter and I at ease. This step-by-step approach to essays and textual support is easy to understand, and it has given me the tools I need to help my daughter improve her writing. Since taking the course, I have found myself referring my daughter back to her notes …and she is becoming more confident and independent in applying the concepts to her writing. Ms. Finnigan’s How to Assign and Grade portion of the course for parents encouraged me and gave me confidence to evaluate essays for improvement and growth. Don’t try to go it alone; add [this bundle] into your homeschool Language Arts instruction and discover the joy of writing! Thanks, Ms. Finnigan!"
-- Vanessa Fleisher, January 2024
* Mrs. Fleisher purchased an earlier version of the 12PP Homeschool Bundle. Everything she utilized is still available in the 12PP Homeschool Bundle!
#3 Great Literature
Self-Paced Course #1
Video Lectures, Hard Copy Study Guide, QuizzesMs. Finnigan will walk your student through an in-depth study of the text, using a combination of study guides, lectures, and quizzes which will help students with close reading and analysis.
Video Lectures, Hard Copy Study Guide, QuizzesSelf-Paced Course #2
Study guides include reading comprehension questions, close reading questions, spiritual reflections, literary devices, minor writing assignments, major writing assignments, discussion questions, and creative projects, so you can design your own unique “course within a course”.
Literature FAQ
-
Absolutely! But 12PP Bundle gets you started with The Iliad and The Odyssey. It’s up to you how many of the 12 papers your students write while reading these texts, and how many you “save” for later.
-
You could, but the quality of guidance and support Ms. Finnigan will be able to provide will be better if you start with her text studies. You’ll need more support in the beginning than you will at the end, so it’s recommended you start with her text studies.
-
Homer is the natural starting point for any serious study of literature, because he wrote the first books (actually poems) in the Western literary tradition. There are other reasons why these courses are included in the bundle which are explained in more depth in The Five Pillars of Writing Progress bonus video.
-
Even better! Students don’t usually read the epic poems in middle school. Your student most likely read a prose version adaptation more suited for younger readers. Being already familiar with the plot and characters will make it easier for your student to really sink his or her teeth into the language and appreciate the poetry on a higher level.
-
These works were written to be read (actually heard) more than once! It is a travesty that most students only get to read them once in their lives and have to “cover the material” very quickly in school, possibly reading only excerpts or an abbreviated version. The beauty of the Bundle is that if you do this at home, you are not beholden to a school calendar or a curriculum schedule. You have the unique ability to prioritize depth over breadth, for a change! There is more than enough here for a whole year of academic study, and some might even say more than enough for a lifetime. If your student will read them twice, that’s a good thing!
-
Fantastic! Ms. Finnigan has taught many high school freshmen who were in the same boat. That is why she wrote the study guides: to make these texts more accessible. The lectures will help, too!
-
It would be amazing if you did! But you don’t have to. Ms. Finnigan will be available to support you and she can guide you toward choosing certain paper topics over others, depending on how much reading you are able and willing to do.
-
Not recommended! We use the Richmond Lattimore translation, and the study guides only work with that translation, which is known as “the hard one.” It’s really college-level reading, but Ms. Finnigan knows that 14-year-olds are capable of doing it. But even if you have an advanced 8th grader, there is a level of maturity that is required, because it’s about more than “college prep.” Thanks to Homer, it’s life prep! This is about more than just “reading”. It’s about reading poetry, reading deeply, reading well. And there are some mature themes. Please reach out to Ms. Finnigan if you have concerns about the content.
-
The courses deal with moral, spiritual, and philosophical questions from a Christian perspective and draw on the 2,000-year-old intellectual tradition of the Catholic Church to articulate and present that perspective. However, this is not a theology course. The religious content is very general and should be acceptable to any Christian, whether Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant.
Not believers? Perhaps, you will find the religious content interesting from a cultural or historical perspective. After all, the pagans who told these stories for hundreds of years were religious people: They believed in divine beings; they engaged in religious ritual; they worshipped; they prayed. Most of them eventually converted to Christianity. This Study Guide will sometimes ask you to think about differing concepts of the divine, make connections with Sacred Scripture, or engage in introspection and spiritual reflection. If these exercises are not valuable to you, you can easily skip them, because they are clearly labeled, and you will still get a lot out of this study!
#4 The Sentence Tune-Up
Ninety-five percent of high school students need a review of grammar, but most don’t have time for a full grammar course. The Sentence Tune-Up is a self-paced, online program that will identify their areas of weakness and provide them with only the lessons and review that they need. It will expand or contract depending on the student’s level of grammar proficiency. Best of all, it correlates with grading methods. This means parent coaches can keep students accountable for demonstrating their grammar knowledge in their writing. Parent coaches will know exactly where to set the bar in terms of grammar — and when to raise it.
#5 Personal Support
Ms. Finnigan will be ”coaching the coaches”! Parent coaches who are “taking the plunge” will be able to attend live, online sessions on a monthly basis where they can get support, ask questions, and receive extra, personalized guidance directly from Ms. Finnigan. So you won’t be in this alone! If you can’t make the session, you can submit questions ahead of time, Ms. Finnigan will answer your question in the session, and you can watch the recording afterwards.
Before you invest…
There are no refunds offered for The 12-Paper Plunge Homeschool Bundle. Therefore, if you are interested in “taking the plunge” with your student, Ms. Finnigan strongly recommends that you start with The Five Pillars of Writing Progress, a mini workshop for homeschoolers and other educators, for only $19. This could be considered a “pre-requisite” to assure The 12-Paper Plunge Homeschool Bundle is the right investment for you and for your child, and at this particular time. It will familiarize you with Ms. Finnigan’s approach to writing and give you five frameworks you can use to assess any writing course, including the 12PP Homeschool Bundle.
Still too much commitment? Take the quiz instead. It’s free, has only ten questions, and Ms. Finnigan replies to each submission.