Archive for September, 2014

You are not alone

Tired

Homeschooling is emotionally taxing. No matter how many practices you put into place, no matter how much you “let go” or unschool or relax, no matter how well you love your children—homeschooling is demanding. It requires a level of daily investment that for most people depletes them.

You are not alone if you feel that way. You are not doing it wrong, necessarily. It’s important to get relief and to keep working to expand how you homeschool into ways that rejuvenate and support you, so that you don’t end up bored, depressed, or temperamental. But the feelings of significance and investment that you hold in your heart every day are real and carry an emotional toll. I think it’s right and just to acknowledge that.

Just knowing that this is part of the journey of home education sometimes helps. It’s at least a good place to start.

Cross-posted on facebook. Image by Leo Hildago (cc cropped)

Posted in Homeschool Advice | 1 Comment »

“The funniest way to do dictation EVER”

Barnyard Buzzer Dictation board - Wendy blog

Hi Julie,

I enjoyed your talk on the Not Back to School program and just had to write because I came up with the funniest idea for dictation yesterday with my 10 year old.

Barnyard Buzzer Dictation - Wendy _blog

I was reading a passage from Peter Rabbit to her, and she was trying to write it on our big wipe board. Well, I had found these Barnyard Answer Buzzers* at a teacher store while traveling, and I wanted to find fun ways to use them. So we decided to assign one animal to the following:

Cow Mooing: meant you missed a capital letter

Dog Barking: you have a punctuation mistake

Horse Neighing: you spelled a word wrong

Rooster Crowing: that word is RIGHT!

Well, it was the funniest way to do dictation EVER. I was hitting the ROOSTER on almost every word, but when she’d pass up a place for a comma, the DOG would bark and she’d start laughing and go back to figure it out. And the HORSE was hilarious because the neighing was really loud, so I’d hit it and hit it again at each attempt to change letters for spelling, until finally she’d get a ROOSTER crowing and she’d crack up.

I couldn’t think of anyone who would appreciate this home education triumph….except YOU!

Barnyard Answer Buzzers: Every Brave Writer family should have a set.

Love,
Wendy

*If you’d like to purchase you’re own set of Barnyard Answer Buzzers, they are available here. -BW Staff

Brave Writer Mechanics Literature

Posted in Dictation and copywork, Email, Students | 4 Comments »

Poetry Teatime meets Jot It Down

Poetry Teatime

Inspired by our reading of Rapunzel for the fairy tale project, we started off the new year with a fun teatime treat.

A stack of apple cider donuts on a dowel, a frosted muffin and an inverted cake cone…then green frosting in a tube with sugar flowers and a twist of yellow yarn…made in 5 minutes.

Julie

Image (cc)

Visit our Poetry Teatime website!

Posted in Poetry Teatime | 2 Comments »

Happy Birthday, Agatha Christie!

Day 192: PoirotScreenshot from an adaptation of “Murder on the Orient Express”

In celebration of Agatha Christie’s birthday (born September 15, 1890), we’re making a special offer! The Boomerang for her novel, Murder on the Orient Express, is:

HALF PRICE for one day only! ($4.95) OFFER HAS EXPIRED

Agatha Christie is known as the queen of mystery novels. In the course of her lifetime, she penned sixty-six detective novels, twenty-two collections of short stories, eighteen plays, and multiple non-fiction works. Her beloved characters Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple have been honored with many television and film adaptations.

Here are some fascinating tidbits about Agatha Christie:

Until age twelve, Agatha Christie was homeschooled by her mother and a succession of governesses.

Christie’s first book, A Mysterious Affair at Styles, was rejected by six publishers over the course of five years before it was finally accepted for publication.

Her favorite writers were Elizabeth Bowen and Graham Greene.

Agatha Christie’s plays have been performed continuously for the last 53 years in London’s West End theaters.

Christie’s books rank immediately behind the Bible and Shakespeare for the highest number of copies sold worldwide. Her works have also been translated into more languages than any other literary work in history.

So, celebrate Agatha Christie’s birthday and take advantage of this special offer today!

Also, if you’d like to buy a copy of the novel, it’s available through Amazon: Murder on the Orient Express (affiliate link).

The Boomerang is a monthly digital downloadable product that features copywork and dictation passages from a specific read aloud novel. It is geared toward 7th to 10th graders (ages 12—advanced, 13-15) and is the indispensable tool for Brave Writer parents who want to teach language arts in a natural, literature-bathed context.

Image by crimsong19 (cc)

Posted in Boomerang, BW products | 1 Comment »

Compliment one of your kids today

Good Job Smiley Face

Quality affirmation given in a natural, intentional manner yields great results—trust, openness, self-confidence, and a willingness to take more risks. Affirmation need not only focus on a child’s successes, but also a child’s fierce engagement with struggle.

Here are a few models of friendly feedback you can use to help you enhance that parent-child bond:

  • Your voice is loud! I can hear it all the way across a room! That’s fabulous.
  • You were careful coming through that door with the folding chair. I noticed! Thank you.
  • It’s hard to nap. Thanks for trying to get to sleep on your own for ten minutes before getting up to ask me when the nap would be over. Let’s try ten more, shall we?
  • Wow. When you get deeply involved in your game, you can’t even hear me call for lunch. You really know how to focus when you are absorbed.
  • I appreciate your offer to help. That’s really nice of you.
  • You sure know a lot about __________. Must take real concentration to hold onto all those details.
  • That smile of yours? It always makes me a little happier. Thank you.
  • I can tell you are hurting. It’s okay to cry. Strong people cry—it’s a way to let go and recover from sadness.

You get to help define how your kids interpret their experiences. You can do that using positive reinforcements of their natural reactions, and also their attempts to be helpful or to be heard or to caretake themselves.

Affirm one of your kids today—look for opportunities to enhance your child’s self-understanding.

And then make sure you follow up and compliment each of the other ones, each of the remaining days this week and into next week if you need it! Put it on the calendar to remind yourself.

Cross-posted on facebook. Image by Steven Depolo (cc)

Posted in Parenting | Comments Off on Compliment one of your kids today