Lost Tools of Writing in Classical Conversations’ Challenge Program

In Classical Conversations’ (CC’s) Challenge A, B, and 1, we use the Lost Tools of Writing (LTW) Level 1, by the CIRCE Institute. For anyone who just finished Essentials, where we used the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW), it’s an abrupt switch! I tutored Essentials for 4 years and I love the IEW curriculum, but it focuses on structure and style, not content.

This page is part of our series on how we homeschool with Classical Conversations. 
Check out a full list of all the resources on our main CC page here.

What is Lost Tools of Writing (LTW)?

LTW focuses on teaching students how to be logical and compelling when they write a persuasive essay, with a bit of structure and style thrown in.

LTW uses three of the Five Canons of Rhetoric, which are central to the classical model of education, to teach writing:

Invention: In this segment of LTW, students learn how to use the Five Common Topics to brainstorm ideas and generate the content of what they’ll write about.
Arrangement: In this segment, students learn about new elements they should include in their essays, like the thesis, enumeration, division, proof, and amplification. The helps them generate content, but also helps them structure what they’ll be saying.
Elocution: In this segment, students practice adding style to their essay (similar to IEW’s “dress-ups” and “decorations.”)

Five Common Topics- Circle Sticker

The curriculum starts out by having students write a painfully simple and redundant essay with only the bare bones. They call this “Essay 1.” All the parents and many of the students hate writing that first essay becaue it’s so blunt and ugly. However, I think it’s important to have them just do it. This process of starting simply helps students master the skill of writing a clear thesis and main points. It also helps them to understand the importance of having a clear thesis and points. Students are also writing for other strands/subjects, so let them practice their IEW writing in the other subjects and give the LTW method a real chance to work.

As time goes by, students progress through the Essays 1-9, which get more complicated. With each new essay, they add a new tool of Invention, Arrangement, and Elocution.

In Ch. A, students use LTW all year to work through Essays 1-6.
In Ch. B, students use LTW first semester to work through Essays 2-7. (They complete a short story unit during 2nd semester)
In Ch. 1, students use LTW all year to work through Essays 2-9.

The curriculum includes a nice worksheet for each new tool. If you’re going to use them, you’ll want to make copies since they reuse the same worksheets over and over.

What’s After LTW?

In Ch. 2 the students are writing based on prompts, but not using any specific writing curriculum. It’s pretty amazing how they “suddenly” know how to write organized, logical, compelling, and beautiful papers!

Things to Note:

One of the hardest things about LTW is all the weird terms they use for everything! Put a tab on the Glossary at the back of the Teacher’s Guide and the Student workbook!
The Teacher’s Guide AND the Student Workbook have super helpful appendices with stuff like Sample Essays and Lesson Summaries (which I like better than the main lesson)! The Teacher’s Guide also has an Essay Outlines section in the appendices (the outlines are in each chapter in the Student Notebook) Tab up those books!!
There are LTW videos from the publisher. (You should have a bright card/paper with the password that came with your Teacher’s Guide.) I found them to be boring and tedious, but I know many people LOVED them.
There is also a LTW teacher course you can take. I’ve heard great things about it.
CC Connected has videos for each book they read called “Literature Spotlight.” They seem to be about 10 minutes long and give some background on the author and book. They include a summary of the book (with spoilers), themes, and examples of Five Common Topic questions. (They aren’t really LTW related.)

How Our Family Does LTW

In my own quest to wrap my head around LTW, I created some tables and forms. Everyone I’ve shared them with has found them helpful, so I’ll leave them here with you! In this download, you’ll find:

LTW Overview: This is a breakdown of which tools of Invention, Arrangement, and Elocution they add for each essay. It’s all cumulative, so, for example, if they are working on essay 5, they’ll be using all the tools for essay 5 and all the previous essays.
LTW Complete Persuasive Essay Outline: This is the final “Essay 9” outline with all the tools they’re learned. I’ve also included short explanations fo each component, but LTW uses a LOT of new terms
LTW Essage Grading Rubric: This is really more of a checklist than a rubric, but it helps me keep track of which components should be in each essay. If the thing is there, they get the points. If it’s not, I make them re-do it. They have to keep re-doing it until I’m happy giving them 100%. It’s less work to do it right the first time, so they generally try to.
- Also, I often have them read their paper out loud to me or their dad or a grandparent, especially if they aren’t having to read their papers in class. I find this exercise helps them take pride in their work. Both kids read a LOT and I find exposure to quality writing keeps them striving to write well.
LTW Checklist & Outline: There’s one page for each of the 9 Essays.
- I print the appropriate one, depending on which essay # they are working on. Then I write the book title on the top and slide it in a high-capacity sheet protector. One for each book they’re writing a paper on that semester then goes in their big binder.
- The outline helps them know how to write their paper. The checklist shows them what other tools they’re supposed to use (and therefore, what else I expect them to turn in with their paper).
  - As they are using the tools, they put the proof they used the tools into the sheet protector. Normally the proof would be the worksheet but my sons aren’t crazy about the worksheets in the LTW book, so I let them write their notes on regular paper.
- When the essay is finished, they add their final paper to all the worksheets in the page protector and turn the whole packet in to me.
5 Common Topic Questions (not in photo below): This is just a handy list of some questions you can ask yourself for each of the Five Common Topics. It’s helpful for all of Challenge, not just LTW.

Free Download: Lost Tools of Writing Overview and Checklist /Outlines

(The little symbols in the bottom left mean that you can share this with anyone as long as you are giving attribution, giving it freely, and not trying to make any money off it!)

Should Students Backtrack?

According to the Challenge guide, students end Ch. A with Essay 6, but go back to Essay 2 when they start Ch. B. Then they end the first semester of Ch. B with Essay 7 but begin Ch 1 with Essay 2 again… (they write a short story for 2nd semester Ch. B)

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this and I’m tempted to have my younger son begin Ch. B and 1 with Essay 6… I’ve been giving my kids the choice. They have to do Essay 2 at a minimum but can jump up to a higher number if they want. I think the important thing is that they are prioritizing the skills taught in Essays 1 and 2.

Should Students Only Write Essays They Agree With?

I know there are some different opinions on this, so I’ll explain that I tell my kids that the purpose behind this assignment is to defend one position. It doesn’t have to be their own personal belief. This seems to give them the freedom to enjoy the writing process and not get paralysed trying to decide what their view point is on a certain issue.

Sample Papers

Here are a few sample papers from my kids. (Please remember, the paper does NOT necessarily reflect their personal opinion- see above.) I hope having the additional examples helps!

Ch. A, 1st semester, LTW Essay 2, written on Carry On, Mr Bowditch
Ch. A, 2nd semester, LTW Essay 6, written on The Bronze Bow
Ch. B, 1st semester, LTW Essay 6, written on Where the Red Fern Grows (warning- it’s a little silly!)
Ch. 1, 2nd semester, LTW Essay 9 written on Born Again.

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