Introducing….. MY Access!^® Home Edition, because writing matters!

Since I’m always looking for dynamic writing curriculum, especially for my reluctant writer, I was thrilled to be able to evaluate MY Access!^® Home Edition.  Getting organized, setting up students, and deciding on assignments was easily accomplished within just a few minutes.  I was excited to find that there are already over 90 pre-loaded writing topics to choose from, broken into age groupings of 8 – 10, 11 – 14, and 15 – 18.  If that’s not enough, you can also set up your own topics within the realm of Narrative, Informative, and Persuasive writing.  This makes it simple to implement a more “across the curriculum” approach if you so desire.         

The writing lessons are self-paced, interactive, and proficiently guide your student through the whole writing process.  The system follows the usual format: plan, organize, draft, revise, edit and publish.  Once the student has finished writing their draft, they can submit their essay for evaluation, which is completed immediately!   The product uses something called IntelliMetric® to score your child’s essay, so there is instant feedback.   (For more information about how that works, you may want to read this page on Vantage Learning.)  Using the detailed list provided, the child can then make revisions where needed.   

You can check their status and view their work anytime by simply logging into your account.    You are also provided with a Weekly or Monthly Progress report via email.   By clicking the link in the email, you can quickly see what they’ve been working on.  Here’s a sample of the report I received from my daughter’s first draft: 

Here’s what Vantage has to say about this exciting online product:       

“MY Access!^® Home Edition is an online writing application which fits neatly into any curriculum! Whether you’re homeschooling, tutoring students after school, or just trying to help a child improve his or her academic confidence, you’ll enjoy the time-saving technologies, valuable self-paced instruction, and motivating feedback in MY Access!®.  Watch your child improve his or her critical thinking skills and confidence in all subject areas as his or her writing skills grow.   MY Access!® is completely Web-based, so there’s no software to load and it’s accessible anywhere you have a computer and an Internet connection—at home, at school, or at the library. ”      

Our personal experience with MY Access!^® Home Edition:           

My daughter, age 15, chose her first topic as, “A Day in the Life of a Bird”!  She did a great job and really enjoyed doing her writing online.  (Background: She was born with a pencil in her hand, is an avid writer, and can usually be found writing or drawing.)  She got “advanced” scores, so naturally she was quite pleased!   (Caution:  She wondered why she needed to do a revision if it was already advanced!)   Even though the program gave her advanced scores, it still provided revision ideas to help improve the essay.   This will continue to be a good tool for her to use in developing other areas of her writing, especially writing Persuasive Essays, which we have yet to cover.     

While I was not asked to review this for younger levels, I was curious as to how it would work for my son, age 11, who is a more “reluctant” writer.  He jumped at the chance to write online instead of on paper!   He chose a topic we both were sure he would love, being a scientist and all; “A World Without Gravity”.   Somewhere between completing the lesson and moving on to the pre-writing exercises, my sweet, young scientist decided that a day without gravity is not possible,  as the earth would surely explode into bits and float off into space!  This made coming up with a story difficult for my small realist!  So I decided to take the opportunity to create my own topic.  Instead, he wrote about what he had learned that day about atoms.  He was happy to record the information, but sadly did not score well because he didn’t really use the proper elements for writing an Informative Essay.  (I was actually pleasantly surprised by his overall sentence structure and vocabulary usage, in spite of the results of the automated scoring.)   I plan to continue using the program with him, so that he will acquire a better understanding of the different styles of writing and their required elements.   I think I need to take a slower pace with him using MY Access!^® Home Edition, but I’m confident with continued practice, his scores will improve.  

Pros:    

• Pre-loaded topics
• Flexibility to add topics
• Separated into age groups
• Immediate feedback  
• Help with revisions 
• Maintains writing portfolio  
• Can access with any computer connected to the internet

Cons:    

• Because it is an Annual Subscription, could be cost prohibitive for some
• Potential for technical issues – e.g. computer problems, internet problems, server issues
• May be overwhelming for those new to formal writing

For more information on MY Access!^® Home Edition

Vendor Name:   Vantage Learning

 Purchase From: 

 Price:  Three Students/1 Parent – $99.95 per year 

Six Students/1 Parent – $129.95 per year

  Product Type: Internet Based Writing Tool  

Other Products Available:

 CorrectEnglish™ Academic Plus

GMAT Write™ 1 & 2 

MY Access!® Professional Edition

CorrectEnglish™ Personal

CorrectEnglish™ Business Plus 

Recommended for Ages 8 to Adult

Disclaimer:  Members of the TOS Crew were given free access to this product for their families’ use.  In return, they were asked to post  an informational review on this product. No monetary compensation was received.   For more reviews on this item, please visit:  The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew