My Access is a web based writing program like I had never come across before. Have you ever wanted a program that could actually show your child where to improve in the areas of focus, organization, content & development, language use and mechanics? This program actually does that!
Have you ever struggled with knowing what to suggest to help your child’s writing become better? This program helps you know where they need help the most.
Most other writing programs I’ve looked at focus mostly (or even exclusively) on mechanics; things like punctuation and grammar. This is the first I’ve looked at that is able to use a computer to measure some of those other area’s like language, focus, content etc…
Now let me just say that it obviously isn’t perfect but I’d say it’s pretty good. Any computer is going to sometimes give you suggestions that are not correct. Think of this like your spell check. It usually helps you out but sometimes it gives you a word suggestion that isn’t even the word you wanted. Just like you have to train you children to think when using spell check they do need to think when using this program.
But with that being said, I think this could truly take loads of time and instruction off of a busy mom and put some accountability to the computer instead of the teacher. I’m not saying it can replace the teacher but it covers a lot of ground and reiterates a lot so you don’t have to. At our house I know sometimes it’s hard for mom to always be the one saying rework that or fix this. When my children were working for a goal on this program they wanted to do the work without me telling them!
Each child has their own account they log into at myaccess.com. Once in they chose from a list of prompts to get them started. They start earning point by writing, revising and completing tutorials. You can set rewards (that you chose) for certain point levels which was hugely motivational for my girls (ages 9 and 11.) I will say somewhere in the site I read to set your first goal low as points take awhile get and I disagree. The lowest you can set is 250 which is what I chose since they wanted to watch the kick-off of a favorite TV show that was only a week away, they blew it away in one afternoon!
I do have to mention that my girls were thrilled with this but my boys (ages 14 and 16) were not quite as enthralled. My 14 year old prefers to write what he wants to write and not follow any prompts (this was a hurdle for him) and honestly my 16 year old was too busy with all of his other subjects to give it much time. I did have them each do 250 points worth and they did but not without prodding.
You can add your own writing prompts if you want to. I did put one in on Ben & Me that we were doing with our Total Language Plus curriculum but I found the more new ones I put in the kids would rather do first before they’d revise what they’ve already got there. If you were going to use this as a years curriculum I’m sure you’d get through their premade prompts and need some more (I would say there’s about 30-40 per level premade.) If you use Total Language Plus many of your personal thinking questions could easily be modified into these prompts.
There is not an assignment set up, like they log in and it says do this or that today, but you could easily set that up on paper. In fact they do have a sample calendar as a suggestion to follow or modify. You could also only assign them one prompt instead of letting them chose from the list and set up the expectation that they complete or do a certain amount of revising on that one before you assign the next one of your choosing for the next week.
The parent or teacher can go in and see the progress and view assignments as well as set new rewards (something I need to do!) We had not been doing it as curriculum but just for fun and when they hit their reward point level they tend to stop using the program. This is the area where I think parents could be tempted to just let the computer take over and never give feedback themselves. I really do think parents/teacher would still need to make a point of reading through assignments, seeing the progress themselves and make any corrections or comments. Like I said it’s a computer program so there will be things a live teacher may need to correct or notice that a computer won’t.
They do have video demo’s on their site so I encourage you to check them out if you're considering purchasing. This gives you some idea of the content and what the screens look like.
The program is available for 1 year for three students for $99.95 or 6 students for $129.95. This is a substantial cost but in my opinion it could be used for a good part of your writing curriculum so it’s worth considering especially if you’re a parent who struggles in how to coach your child in their writing.
*This program was provided to me free of charge for the purpose of my review as part of the Old Schoolhouse Crew. | 
