A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

Every so often, we’ll give you a peek into Brave Learner Home, our supportive online community. Today’s post features an encouraging message by Dawn Smith (President of Brave Writer) that she recently shared.

Many homeschoolers worry that they aren’t doing enough and that their child will have gaps when they graduate. Rest assured, everyone has gaps. Yes, schooled kids, too.

If a student changes schools, experiences a long illness, has a weak teacher, or attends a specialized school that emphasizes technology over the arts, they will have gaps. And beyond that, there are lifetimes upon lifetimes of human knowledge out there (history, science, literature, philosophy) that make learning a lifelong, perpetually unfinished pursuit. We are all continuously “filling in gaps!”

As long as your child is making progress and you have been diligent about tracking that progress and paying attention to their development, you’re doing enough. When it comes to the high school years, having a good sense of what they need, and yes, that can include checklists, is important. As parents, it’s our job to work with our teens to help open as many doors as possible after homeschooling is finished. 

As many of you approach the end of the year and look back on what this school year has held for you and your kids, I encourage you to spend time reflecting on growth and development, not just on pinpointing shortcomings. When you find something that you think indicates a “gap,” you can use it to help plan for next year, but remember, you’ll never fill all the gaps. 

It’s a lifelong process. And we want to nurture lifelong learners.

There’s nothing more powerful for a small child than to see their oral language turned into a book that can be read again and again.

But some kids find it intimidating to draw illustrations. Fabulous sticker books (like the one below) provide beautiful artwork for a child’s book. Then the child can decide what story those stickers tell. An adult then jots down their words.

I was amazed that my grandson told me a story for every single page of his book, and when he read it back to his mother and his father, he remembered every word. This is the power of original storytelling and capturing a child’s original voice.

My nearly 4-year-old grandson is bilingual in English and Spanish, and it was incredible to see him dictate to me in English and translate the story into Spanish for his dad.

Brave Writer calls this practice Jot It Down! And we provide ten helpful projects for parents. I also explain it in detail in my book, Help! My Kid Hates Writing.

Raising children puts us face-to-face with our memories of what we did or didn’t get as children, ourselves. Parenting your children is a chance to re-parent yourself, too.

Give yourself the same…

• kindness
• patience
• support
• enthusiasm
• and faith

…that you offer your children.

If You Need Help

One of the goals of Brave Writer (and our membership community, Brave Learner Home) is to help you heal your own uncomfortable relationship with your education. If you were the kind of person who struggled with grades or boredom at school or have memories of homeschool that were not positive, our work is dedicated to helping you reimagine your role in learning with your kids.

Also, my book, Help! My Kid Hates Writing, is my manifesto. Bad writing instruction causes lingering damage—yet everywhere I turn, the same tired, harmful practices are being adopted by many parents and teachers. There’s an entire chapter in my book called “Healing the Damaged Writer in You.” It will help.

My other books support the atmosphere and power of learning and critical thinking. I promise you. Your homeschool will feel completely different when you stop thinking in terms of schedule planning and curriculum and instead focus on the deeper experience of learning.