Athena's Fall Semester Open for Enrollment
Join us for fun, interactive online courses
The KidsLearn Substack is written by Suki Wessling, known as “Prof.” Suki to her students. Scroll to the bottom for links to Suki’s work and more information.
Dear Parents and Colleagues,
I’m happy to announce that my fall courses are open for enrollment! Because of this move to Substack, I’m going to start by giving my new subscribers some background about Athena’s and how we teach. Old hands, please scroll down for the course announcements.
What is Athena’s and what makes courses with Prof. Suki special?
I have been teaching online courses at Athena’s since 2013, so in online teaching terms, I’m an old-timer! (In the dark ages, I actually designed one of the early online asynchronous college classrooms.) I came to online teaching when I saw my child with undiagnosed special needs blossom in Dr. Kirsten’s Mythology course. I realized that although online courses can’t replicate an in-person classroom, they have benefits that in-person courses can’t offer.
My online courses are highly interactive (even the self-paced ones), fun, and community-based. My students often come to me because they have a special interest they can’t find locally (such as studying Etymology) or because their in-person school or homeschool experience doesn’t fulfill all their needs.
Athena’s is not your one-stop shop for dull, cookie-cutter courses
Each instructor at Athena’s is empowered to create high-quality, interactive courses geared toward gifted and avid learners. I teach the courses that I am passionate about. I develop them myself and they are literally unlike anything else that’s out there.
Athena’s is one of the few accredited online schools. We are not the amazon.com of online courses and we do not strive to be. At Athena’s, your student will find an engaged community of learners and instructors where students and teachers make real connections, despite being online.
What am I excited about for fall semester?
I’m always excited to teach, but this year I am bringing back two courses for younger students while continuing my teen courses. My Writer’s Lab course will integrate young writers of all ages and skill levels for a fun, supportive, and inspiring community. Teen Writer’s Lab offers writers 13 and up an environment where they bond and grow with their developmental peers. Both courses have an integrated Book Club, in which we learn to “read like a writer” and learn about writing through published work. The Writer’s Lab courses culminate in the publication of our literary journal, Athena’s Quill.
When it comes to my non-writing courses, I am all about multidisciplinary learning, and Etymology is the mother of all interdisciplinary subjects. Understanding the development of the English language leads us through pre-history, history, science, math, and technology. It explores how humans come together and exchange ideas. It is probably my top course for watching students have “aha moments” as they connect the dots between information and ideas that they’ve already learned. My self-paced Goal-Setting for Teens is a course teens never seem to want to take but [almost] always end up enjoying. (They are teens, after all!)
I hope your students join me this fall. Please feel free to pass on this email or post. Athena’s is proud to get almost all of our students through enthusiastic parent referrals.
FALL 2025 COURSES
Etymology: Building the English Language
All-ages multidisciplinary course
Why is the animal called a cow when it's standing in a field but beef when people serve it for dinner? Where did the word ketchup come from? Why do some Americans not pronounce their Rs like British people? (And why do some Brits pronounce their Rs like Americans?)
The English language is alone amongst all languages in the way it was built and still grows today. Unlike most languages, which grew organically amongst a single group of people, English was thrashed by Vikings, poked by Romans, and burned at the stake by the French. In the process, it became a unique repository of much of the modern history of human movement around the world.
In this fun, interactive course, students join Prof. Suki in lifting up the tablecloth to inspect Beowulf, peeking behind the curtain to understand Shakespeare, and then looking at their own use of the language through a meaning-searching magnifying glass. This is a fun romp through thousands of years of our most peculiar of human communication systems.
Tuesdays, 9-9:50 am Pacific, starting 8/26/25
Semester course with 16 50-minute live webinars
Forums, activities, and text chat all week long
Click here for information and enrollment: https://athenasacademy.com/courses/etymology/
Writer’s Lab
All ages, interactive creative writing course
This all-ages, live workshop is for avid writers of all levels who want to read and write in an interactive community. Our focus is on developing fluency, creativity, and depth in our writing. During our webinar, we focus on collaborative writing support and using writing prompts. In the classroom, students read and respond to examples of published writing, share more of their writing, and support each other. Video and text about writing offer food for thought and inspiration. This mixed-age course allows writers of all skill levels to encourage and inspire each other.
Wednesdays, 2-3 pm Pacific, starting 8/27/25
Semester course with 16 50-minute live webinars
Forums, activities, and exercises all week long
Click here for information and enrollment: https://athenasacademy.com/courses/writers-lab/
Teen Writer’s Lab
13+, interactive teen community
This live workshop is for avid writers 13 and over who want to read and write in an interactive community. Our focus is on developing fluency, creativity, and depth in our writing. During our webinar, we focus on collaborative writing support and using writing prompts. In the classroom, students read and respond to examples of published writing, share more of their writing, and respond to student work. Video and text about writing offer food for thought and inspiration. This teens-only section allows teens to interact and bond with their developmental peers. The low workload outside of class allows teens who are pursuing a rigorous high school curriculum to maintain a connection to their creative side.
Wednesdays, 3:30 to 5 pm Pacific, starting 8/27/25
Semester course with 16 90-minute live webinars
Forums, activities, and exercises all week long
Click here for information and enrollment: https://athenasacademy.com/courses/writers-lab-teens/
Goal-Setting for Teens
Recommended 12+, self-paced online course
Having goals helps teens thrive in a world full of competing options. In this course, we focus on learning how to use goals to improve our personal and academic lives. This description is going to sound dull and possibly a little suspicious to your teen, but teens actually enjoy this short and very interactive workshop. With fun, engaging videos and reading, the course serves to give teens the tools to take ownership of their education and their personal lives. The instructor responds to student work and provides real-time encouragement through forums and private messages. Parents and teens alike find that their relationships improve when teens feel empowered and in control.
Self-paced—start anytime! Navigate the course solo or as a group
Suggested length: 8-12 weeks
Please inquire about group enrollment options
Click here for information and enrollment: https://athenashomeschool.com/courses/goal-setting-for-teens/
