High School Writing Plan

During the summer before my son's junior year, I struggled with choosing a writing curriculum. When my husband forwarded my older son information on a chess scholarship, I had an idea. Using the internet, I spent months doing an extensive search for essay contests and scholarship opportunities for both my boys. The results were both an awakening and an answer to prayer. To put it bluntly, there are a lot of people and organizations out there that want to give your kids money for college...LOTS OF MONEY!

While most scholarships are highly competitive, some of them actually go unclaimed because no one applies. Never the type of family to refuse free money, we discovered that we could build an entire year's writing plan around scholarship essays.

Most contests required a 50 to 1000 word essay on the topic of the sponsor's choosing. Because there are so many available, we were able to select just the ones that were of great interest to my boys: history, science and economics. Because these topics were in my boy's "wheelhouse", it was much less of a chore to inspire them to write. The first $400 check didn't hurt either! This benefited our family in two ways. First, my boys learned the fine art of writing an essay (perhaps the single most practical skill for the college bound student). Second, we saved hundreds of dollars in curriculum purchases, in addition to the thousands of dollars the boys earned with their winning essays!

What is The HomeScholar Advantage and how can it work for you?

Fortunately, my experience in this area has made me very skilled in quickly searching out "tailor-made" scholarship opportunities for your students. In just one or two hours I can interview your child on the phone, and begin a complete web search for scholarships. I will produce an easy to use, well-organized document with 15 to 35 contests arranged by due date. For the cost of a high school writing curriculum, your students will have the opportunity to hone their writing skills with topics that interest them, and have the possibility of earning money at the same time!