© 2009 Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.
I guess you’d call me a veteran. After 15 years of homeschooling my three kids through the hills and valleys of childhood and adolescence, I took down my shingle when our youngest graduated from high school in 2003.
During those 15 years, I attended my share of homeschool conferences. I walked the aisles convinced somehow that those venerable exhibitors and speakers were my superiors, and I stood in awe of them. After all, they were the experts, the models, the ones with all the answers. Certainly they never hid stacks of schoolwork in the oven when company arrived nor locked themselves on the roof while washing windows. Surely…surely their kids mastered Latin and read the classics with ease by age ten. And in their homes (I was convinced) a nutritious home-cooked meal graced a lovely table without fail every night.
Funny—as it turns out, I discovered these “experts” were as human as I. Like me, they sometimes ran out of year before the math book was finished. Like me, they locked their keys in the car, left their wallet at home, forgot to throw the wet clothes into the dryer, and ate out of a paper bag a bit more often than they liked. But also like me, these ordinary homeschoolers developed something that worked, whether an educational philosophy, a method of instruction, or a successful curriculum. For my friend Debbie and me, an idea grew from seed, changing two regular moms into authors and publishers.
The question is: How did all this happen when we weren’t looking?
Necessity Is the Mother of Invention
If anyone had bothered to ask me twelve years ago what I planned to “do” with my life when I was done homeschooling, I may have rolled out a long list of unfinished projects I’d finally have time to complete. Perhaps I would have spoken with longing of the stack of books I meant to read or the conversational Spanish class I yearned to take. Or the desire to venture overseas with my husband on a short-term mission trip. Or the need to overhaul our 24-year-old house.
I would certainly never have said, “I think I’ll write a curriculum for homeschoolers.” Nor would I have dared to say, “I see myself speaking at conventions and equipping parents to teach writing at home.”
My dreams failed to transport me to kitchen tables, co-ops, and conferences across the country. They didn’t allow for the possibility that something I put my hand to would become a topic of conversation on Internet discussion boards and blogs, nor that homeschool retailers would one day stock their shelves with books whose byline read “Kim Kautzer and Debra Oldar.”
As they say, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” And for Debbie and me, necessity came in the shape of two twelve-year-old boys who simply could not write.
Debbie and I had used unit studies with our families because, while academics came easily to our girls, Ben and Brian struggled terribly. The unit approach was an ideal way for them to explore the world more concretely, offering opportunities to develop their interests through projects, field trips, and literature. From there we bravely entered the co-op scene, teaching California history in a unit study fashion. After a successful semester we taught geography, followed by world history the next year.
As the boys approached seventh grade, Debbie began talking earnestly of a writing class. Believe me, I balked. What did I know about teaching writing? Sure, I considered myself a decent writer, but I had no idea how to communicate that skill to others. Still, I was desperate to teach Ben to write. Finally convinced that enough materials existed in the marketplace to assist us with our task, I gave in. Our writing class launched in September 1997.
Enthusiastic and expectant, we greeted our class that Tuesday morning with their first assignment, a five-sentence paragraph. But our high hopes met reality face-to-face when we sat down with those compositions. “Oh, man!” we squeaked. “What have we gotten ourselves into?” And it wasn’t just our own boys whose efforts cried out for help—every student in the group struggled at some level. So we canceled class for two weeks, scrapped the lesson plans we had so carefully crafted over the summer, and started from scratch. We had made a commitment to these parents, but clearly we needed to take a detour.
An Idea Takes Shape
In need of new resources, we pulled out every writing program we’d ever used (and believe me, between us we had them all!). We drafted a wish list detailing the components of our “ideal” writing class:
- Prewriting games to stimulate creativity
- A way to introduce and help students develop new skills
- Creative, varied writing exercises with clearly defined expectations
- Incremental lessons that built upon previously learned material
- Writing checklists to help students edit their own work
- A simple evaluation tool to help us grade final drafts objectively
We didn’t think we were asking much! While each of the programs on our shelves had merit, not one of them provided everything we needed or wanted to help us feel successful at teaching writing. In that moment of clarity, WriteShop was born.
With a new plan in place, class began afresh. We prepared lesson plans and activities as well as homework assignments, and designed checklists and grading keys to suit our needs.
But we hadn’t set out to write a curriculum. On the contrary, after spending hours together in person and on the phone, Deb and I were relieved just to hammer out one lesson at a time by Monday at midnight! But within weeks we knew we’d struck pay dirt—writing finally began to “click” for every student in the class. Finally after two years, as our class waiting list soared to 50, parents started asking us to write a teacher’s guide and turn our ideas into a curriculum so they could teach it at home.
“Ha!” we scoffed, “That’s for ‘real’ authors.”
But the seeds had been planted. And when a trusted friend with much experience as a curriculum counselor gave our materials her stamp of approval, we set to work on a Teacher’s Manual. Eventually we published WriteShop I (for grades 7-10) and WriteShop II (grades 8-12).
New Ventures
We never expected to write or publish any more books, yet in 2008 we spread our wings again and introduced not one, but two new product lines: WriteShop Primary and StoryBuilders! WriteShop Primary Book A, the first book in a series for K-3, debuted in July. It was our first experience collaborating with another author (the amazing Nancy Sanders). We also enjoyed the opportunity to work with other professionals, namely a graphic artist and an illustrator. I must say that Deb and I learned a lot about collaborating across the miles, from Southern California to Grand Rapids to Toronto. In the end, we were thrilled to produce a fun, eye-catching curriculum that helps parents introduce the writing process to little ones gently and effectively.
In addition to WriteShop Primary, we also entered the growing E-book market for the very first time. Expanding a little-used supplemental activity from the WriteShop Teacher’s Manual, we created and released a line of StoryBuilders: printable card decks featuring dozens of characters, character traits, settings, and plots to mix, match, and use as writing prompts for fun creative fiction. Our StoryBuilders include World of People, World of Animals, World of Sports, and a half-size Christmas Mini-Builder, and they’ve become a popular, inexpensive, and entertaining addition to our line of writing products.
Adventures in Advertising
Many times we’ve felt like we were barreling down the rapids, but God has remained faithfully in control of our little boat. Along the way, encouragement has come by way of families who use WriteShop. We have files filled with testimonials that we’ve gathered over the years, and there’s nothing so satisfying or fulfilling as knowing that somehow we’ve had a hand in inspiring successful writers! It’s also been rewarding to receive awards from magazines whose readership voted WriteShop among the top homeschool writing programs.
The Old Schoolhouse® has been a great support as well, opening doors for us to reach an amazing number of homeschoolers through various promotions, such as their “Free Gifts to New Subscribers” and invitations to write articles for the magazine and other publications (most recently, the Schoolhouse Planner).
TOS wants nothing more than to help our business succeed, and they’re always coming up with creative new ways for free or inexpensive advertising opportunities. One of my favorites is the Freebie Directory that TOS introduced in 2008. We can get sample materials and lessons into the hands of prospective customers at no cost to us, and the results have translated to new customers and newsletter subscribers.
Viral marketing is all the buzz these days. Because the homeschool blogging community is so active, word about a favorite new product or method can spread like wildfire as bloggers link to curriculum websites or reviews. TOS saw the potential of viral marketing for their advertisers, and launched the TOS Crew Reviews, which we’ve just become involved with. For our first review, we sent StoryBuilders to 100 crew members and are awaiting the reviews they’ll post on their blogs and websites. This is such an innovative idea, and is a great way to stretch advertising dollars.
A small but growing publishing business like WriteShop has limited resources for advertising, so we try to think of different ways to get the most for our money. In addition to the free gift promos, Freebie Directory, and viral marketing opportunities through TOS, here are some of the other ways we advertise:
- Magazine ads: These ads don’t produce a lot of visible results, but by advertising year in, year out with three carefully chosen homeschool magazines—including TOS—we know we’re building familiarity through visibility, which helps make WriteShop a household name. And when customers see our ad in issue after issue, they begin to identify us as dependable and reliable, which in turn builds a sense of trust.
- Email newsletters and E-blasts: We usually get pretty good results from advertising in email newsletters because we’re not competing with lots of other businesses. And with E-blasts, we get to send a dedicated WriteShop-only email that lets us advertise a special deal to a new audience and tell a bit more about our products. These are fun to do once or twice a year, whether through TOS or another E-blast with a large readership.
- Postcards: Now and then we like to introduce a new item or offer a promo of some sort. A fun way to do this has been with inexpensive postcards we order from VistaPrint.com. We send them to small conferences looking for a few items to stuff into goodie bags. They’re also great for cross-promotions. Occasionally, one of our fellow self-publishers asks for samples, bookmarks, or other tokens to slip into customers’ orders. Postcards fit the bill nicely.
- Card decks: We’ve tried these a couple of times and found them a bit expensive for the results. But we might do this again some day—you never know!
Looking to the Future
Now that we have writing materials for early elementary ages, junior high, and high school, it only makes sense to fill the gap by beginning to develop products for children in upper elementary school. We have other ideas in mind as well, and it’s comforting to know that we have a partner in The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine to help us spread the word in ways we haven’t even thought of yet!
These days, with WriteShop users in all 50 states as well as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and beyond, we still pinch ourselves now and then to make sure this is real. We don’t have all the answers, but we can offer tools to teach and evaluate writing in a parent-friendly, step-by-step manner. And while we may appear to be “writing gurus” to some, in truth we’re ordinary homeschool moms who stumbled out of obscurity because our children had a need. Desperation yielded to creativity, creativity gave way to potential, and potential became reality—WriteShop.
Kim Kautzer
WriteShop: An Incremental Writing Program
www.writeshop.com
kim@writeshop.com
Kim Kautzer loves to help parents feel more confident about teaching writing. She is the co-author of WriteShop I and II, honored among Cathy Duffy’s 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. In addition to the many hats she wears, Kim serves as director of product development and marketing for WriteShop, Inc. Kim and her husband Jim enjoy their empty nest in Alta Loma, California, where they began homeschooling in 1988. All three of their children are homeschool graduates, and their son, the once-struggling writer, recently received his master’s degree. Both daughters are married and have blessed the Kautzers with six amazing grandchildren.
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