I’ll be there. Will you?
April 8-10, 2010 at the Duke Energy Center. I’ll be speaking all days. Will post the schedule next week.
Archive for the ‘BW products’ Category
Friday Hodgepodge
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Freewrite prompt: What is the best birthday present you could receive?
I’m out of town for the weekend to go to the Indiana Homeschool Support Convention. I’ll be in New Paris, IN.
On Monday, we have our Spring Class Registration. Be sure to sign up early, if you are concerned about getting into a class. We filled every one in winter quarter and some were filled within days of registration opening. We’ll keep registration open until a class fills.
Last thing: keep trucking! I’m getting a lot of email lately from moms worried about teens who are late in developing their writing skills. Not to worry! If you start over (take me seriously on this - go back to the very beginning, a very good place to start), you’ll find that your smart teen who is simply a damaged writer, will rebound and develop at a much faster rate than your younger kids. You can start at age 16 and get all the way to college prep by 18 if you address the fact that your teen has been damaged by the programs you’ve used to date. If you take his or her writing voice seriously, you can re-boot the system and help your teen unclog the passage through which his or her words will flow.
Start with Kidswrite Basic. It will change how both of you see writing and will put you in the right space to be that coach and ally for the rest of your teen’s academic career at home.
I’ll check in over the weekend, if I can get some computer access. Have a great Spring Forward (clocks change on Saturday night!). Hurray for sunshine and temps over 60!
New to Brave Writer
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Brave Writer has three components to support your writing and language arts goals:
The Home Study Courses are divided into two. The Writer’s Jungle teaches you, the parent, how to be the most effective writing coach in your children’s lives. The principles, exercises, and guidelines apply to every level of writing from beginner to pro. If you like to work at your own pace, need a manual to which you can refer when you get overwhelmed, if you benefit from having your entire philosophy of writing stood on its head and recreated for you, then start with The Writer’s Jungle. It will work for all your kids.
Help for High School is our home study course for teens. It’s written to your student and is intended to be self-teaching. The course is organized around specific modules and in each module, there is an exercise or writing assignment to complete. These can be done multiple times if you swap topics. They are writing processes, not specific assignments geared toward a period in history or a work of literature. Help for High School provides models of how to write expository essays (both open and closed forms) as well as the steps necessary to understand the structure of argument, thesis and points and particulars.
The Online Classes provide moms and kids with instructor support and accountability. They cover a wider range of choices in terms of specific writing genres. If you prefer to be in a classroom style setting with an instructor, other students and the gentle accountability of due dates, start with Kidswrite Basic. This online course transforms your understanding of how to best facilitate writing in your home. It gives you the tools to know how to encourage and foster good writing habits rather than merely editing poor writing for mechanical errors.
Kidswrite Intermediate is the course to consider if you want to make the transition from parent-led writing to student-led. It’s designed for kids just on the cusp of essay writing. The processes in KWI make up the first half of Help for High School. The benefit to taking it as a class is that the online class offers instructor feedback and the opportunity to read other student writing. KWI prepares students for all levels of essay classes, as well.
The other online classes round out writing experiences. We offer fiction, literary analysis, poetry, grammar, freewriting, SAT/ACT preparation, Shakespeare, literary discussion (Boomerang Complete) and more. The courses help you and your kids to widen their writing experiences while giving you the support and modeling that make you a more and more effective writing coach. The courses also prevent a feeling of isolation in the homeschool, putting you in touch with other parents and students from around the world who are embarking on a similar journey.
The language arts portion of Brave Writer supports and enhances the writing programs. The Arrow, the Boomerang and the retired Slingshot are designed to provide you with easy-to-use tools that teach mechanics, spelling, grammar, handwriting and literary elements in the context of great literature. The Arrow works best for kids 3rd - 6th grades. The Boomerang is designed for 7th-9th grades (though some high school students do quite well with the Boomerang). The Slingshot (already published issues) catered to 10th-12th grades. We now offer literary analysis classes for 10th-12th grades instead.
You can either subscribe to the current year’s lists of the Arrow or Boomerang (paying monthly on your credit card), or you can purchase already published issues ala carte and design your own year’s program around books you and your kids want to read. These tools are meant to supplement your writing program, not replace it. When the Arrow or Boomerang are used in tandem with The Writer’s Jungle or Help for High School, or along with Kidswrite Basic or Kidswrite Intermediate, you will be offering your children a complete language arts/writing package.
Jump in. Try not to figure it all out or become overwhelmed at the choices. Pick one thing that you find fascinating. Purchase it or sign up for it. Use it, do it. Experience and enjoy it. See how it goes. Then do the next thing. As you take it one thing at a time, you will build momentum. You’re not in a rush. You don’t have to solve writing and language arts this week, this semester or even this year. You only need to take the next logical step toward the goal of becoming the best writing coach you can be. In turn, your kids will grow into more and more effective writers.
Special Announcement: Essay class openings
Friday, February 12th, 2010
We are opening up the Expository Essay class for a few more registrations. Due to demand, we are offering 8 more spaces to turn this into two classes. If you were one of the ones who wished you could take the essay class now, please feel free to sign up.
Register for the Expository Essay Class.
Last Chance Low Prices!
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
Prices for Help for High School and the Boomerang Complete go up on Sunday night. You have a few days left to get them at their lowest prices ever. Help for High School is currently priced $49.00 and will go up to $79.00. The Boomerang Complete subscription is currently $24.95 per month and will go up to $34.95 per month. If you are already subscribed or subscribe before Sunday, you are locked in at the lower price for the remaining months of the school year.
Help for High School is your home study manual of choice, written to your teen, to support the growth and development of rhetorical thinking, argument, powerful vocabulary and expository essay formats all in one resource. It is intended to be self-teaching for teens.
The Boomerang Complete is our language arts subscription plus the instructor led literature discussion that goes with the monthly issue of the Boomerang. You’ll get both the digital download which gives language arts (grammar, spelling, punctuation, literary style) notes using four passages from the selected novel and the literature discussion questions. These questions are then discussed with other 7th-9th grade students in the online class folder with a Brave Writer instructor.
The Brave Writer Home Study Package (which includes digital downloads of both The Writer’s Jungle and Help for High School) will go up from $124.99 to $149.99.
Take advantage of these low prices now!
Winter Class Registration opens today/December 1!
Monday, November 30th, 2009
10 Year Anniversary Special Offer!
Winter Class Registration opens TODAY (12/1) at noon eastern. All classes stay open for registration until they are full.
We have a special offer for this year’s classes for the month of December only. Our 10 year anniversary as a company is in January. To thank our faithful customers, all who register for a class for winter quarter during December will receive a 10% discount on total tuition. This discount will be a paypal refund calculated after registration is paid at full tuition price. This offer will expire at the end of 2009.
Many of our classes fill quickly so if you’re looking for that mid-year shot in the arm, now is the time to sign up!
Read how our online classes work here.
We look forward to serving you in 2010. Thanks for making Brave Writer such a great company!
Winter 2010 Class List
Black Friday Rebate Coupon
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Here are the details for the Black Friday Rebate Coupon. Understand this: for the 24 hours that are called Friday, November 27, we are offering you a chance to get a rebate on any Brave Writer product order.You place the order, send me the code and I rebate the appropriate amount to your Paypal account.
Here are the details:
Brave Writer Black Friday Rebate Coupon
Happy Thanksgiving!
I’m thankful for YOU, our Brave Writer families who work so hard to raise children who bravely share their insights and ideas with the world through powerful, connected writing.
As we gear up for 2010 (Brave Writer turns 10 in January!), please use this Black Friday Rebate Coupon to stock up on all your BW needs for the coming year. You don’t have to leave your house for this shopping trip. Simply boot up the computer and click. Add in a mug of hot cider and you’ll be ready for the most relaxing shopping you’ll do all season.
Here’s how it works:
Black Friday shopping for Brave Writer starts at midnight, November 27 (that means late Thursday night after you eat turkey) and ends midnight November 28 (Friday night). We’re in the eastern time zone so make the adjustment for your time zone.
The Black Friday Rebate Coupon is good for any Brave Writer product. That means you can use it for The Writer’s Jungle, or Help for High School, or any of The Writer’s Jungle packages; the Gold package which includes the Arrow and Slingshot Evaluation and Planning Tools, or the Platinum package which includes year-long Language Arts Subscriptions (Arrow and Boomerang). You can apply the coupon to Already Published isses of the Arrow, Boomerang or Slingshot. You can use it for any of the writing aids: Fairy Tales, Poetry, Myths and Legends, and so on. You may even apply this coupon to a semester order of the Boomerang Complete (whose price will go up in January). If you purchase the semester now, you lock in the current price.
For a limited time (until January) we’re offering The Writer’s Jungle and Help for High School together for $124.99 in a package we call the BW Home Study Package. Don’t miss this chance to get them for the lowest price possible.
The coupon is not applicable to online classes (registration for those is on Tuesday, December 1, 2009).
The coupon has two possible rebate amounts.
Spend $120.00 or more - $25.00 rebate.
Spend $200.00 or more - $50.00 rebate.
Simply place your order and put the following code on your Paypal order (if a note option is provided) or send it to me in an email: julie@bravewriter.com. If you send the code in an email, please include the name and email address of your Paypal order.
The code is: BLKFRIBW09
The coupon only works with online orders. We will not accept the coupon for check orders. If you have difficulties with Paypal, contact Julie at: julie@bravewriter.com.
You may share the Black Friday Rebate Coupon code on homeschooling forums, email lists and with your friends. When a friend uses it, we’ll add her to our email list in order to activate the code. If you share the code with a friend who makes a purchase, send me an email with her name and order and we’ll send you a FREE issue of the Arrow or Boomerang as a thank you.
Black Friday orders are not refundable so be sure you know what you want when you make your order.
Julie
P.S. Check out the new class schedule. Registration opens Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at noon EST
Use the Black Friday Rebate Coupon to order Brave Writer Products on Friday, November 27 for $25.00 or $50.00 off of your total purchase! See inside of this email for details.
Winter Class Schedule is up!
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Hi everyone!
We’ve got the winter class schedule. Registration opens at noon on December 1, 2009 (Tuesday). Registration STAYS open until the individual class is full.
Email: Reports from the front and a question!
Monday, October 19th, 2009
Julie,
I have been reading the Brave Writer Manual (The Writer’s Jungle) and LOVE IT. I really like the easy approach you give us to teach our kids. I’m still waiting for the October book to come into my library to start the Arrow program, so I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.
The charter requires everything that the state requires but my rep is also a college Language Arts teacher. She wants Daniel writing long book reports, essays, and paragraphs when completing school work. My son, up until Brave Writer “hated” anything that required writing. He would cringe when constantly reminded that he needed to be able to write an essay for the state tests in April. Even writing the answers to questions in our history book required my writing the answers he dictated to me and then he would copy them.
Yesterday, we went on a nature walk, in between the rain storms, and collected flowers he wanted to put in a vase and do a writing project on. We started with using the five senses and listing descriptive words. When he finished that I asked him to write one sentence (no worries about spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.) and to my surprise he wrote two very good sentences. He was so proud reading them to us when his dad came home from work. When he was done, I congratulated him and let him know that he could be done for the day. To my surprise he asked if he could write more. Of course I said yes.
Julie, thank you for this great easy to understand writing program. We are very blessed to have found you.
Ann
Thanks Ann! It’s always such good news to know that kids discover the power and pride of selecting words to represent their inner experience. You’re doing a great job!
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Julie,
It’s wonderful to see you up and blogging again. You’re blog has encouraged me greatly these past couple years. I started a blog a couple years ago, because of your encouragement. Writing in it occasionally, my essay like entries reflect upon what I am learning on my journey. Rereading my blog, I notice how much of your philosophy on life (not just writing) has helped me flesh out the things I struggled with through my 19years of home educating. You have also made me realize the importance of example in my life to inspire others. The purpose I have for my blog is to impart to my children as they go through their journey of parenting. Your blog is one of two I come back to, continually. I just want to say thank you for inspiring me to inspire others. : )
May God shower you with many blessings today!
Diane
Wonderful to hear from you Diane. I’m thrilled that my blog has encouraged you, but even more thrilled to know that you are writing your own! That’s what it’s all about.
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Hi Julie-
Thanks for sharing at PEACH tonight and for signing your “autograph” on Stefanie’s writing book. 
That will be inspiring for her! I have been using your TWJ (The Writer’s Jungle) electronic since Sept. and we ordered various older electronic Arrows to jive with our TOG readings this year,too. At any rate, as I told you, it has been going really well. Stef is happier and not as reluctant anymore. She likes the freewriting. Would you recommend our next step to be just keep doing what we are doing? [buy other Arrows as needed]. I wasn’t sure if doing the Kidswrite Basic would be doing more of the same but with a larger audience and seeing the other kids’ writing with the teacher interaction? Since she is 10, do we just keep going until she gets to middle/high school and use your other essay writing classes, etc? Just wondered your thoughts,
Cindy
Hi Cindy.
You’re doing all the right things. Glad she is growing and relaxing. Your understanding of KWB is accurate. It’s a great place to get feedback, to see other student writing and to ask your in-depth questions about becoming your daughter’s most effective writing coach and ally. If you want an experience that is similar in terms of level, but that uses the tools of TWJ for a different product, I suggest taking a look at the Just So Stories course. It starts on November 2 and gives your daughter a chance to apply her newly found enthusiasm and skills to a specific writing project. This course is not offered again this year and the instructor is our longest-term writing teacher. In other words, she’s fabulous.
In fact, I hope lots of families sign up for JSS as it will close soon. Your kids get to write stories about animals that make use of Rudyard Kipling’s delightful use of language. You’ll love the process and the results.
Copywork/Dictation class starts on Monday! Don’t miss it.
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
Brave Writer Fall Classes still OPEN for registration!
Don’t miss the Copywork and Dictation class! It’s our most popular, innovative class for moms looking for depth instruction in how to teach language arts naturally (spelling, grammar, handwriting, punctuation and literary elements). This course will revolutionize your understanding of how to use the natural practices of copywork and dictation to accomplish all your best intentions for language arts instruction. Don’t miss it!
“This has been an INCREDIBLE class! I learned SO MUCH and I am very thankful for your experience, encouragement and information. I love the fact that you just about buried us with advice & information. I was still able to keep on top of it even though we’re brand new to copywork.” Betsy R
“This makes copywork/dictation as a practise truly personalized, which I love. It grows with the learner and incorporates ownership. You’ve provided so many new and specific activities to explore, I feel prepared and confident to keep making this one of our major language arts activities.” Kara
- One Thing: Copywork/Dictation (begins Mon. Oct. 5)
- Kidswrite Basic (Nov. 2)
- Just So Stories (Nov. 2)
- Hand-Holders (Nov. 2)
Check out the class descriptions by clicking on the links above.
Julie
P.S. Registration for Fall Classes stays open as long as there is space in a class (any time from today until the start date of class, as long as there is space).