December 2014 - Page 3 of 5 - A Brave Writer's Life in Brief A Brave Writer's Life in Brief
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A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

Thoughts from my home to yours

Archive for December, 2014

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Dread Turned into Joy!

Dread Turns to Joy

Brave Writer mom, Aimee, writes:

“Wow! This class [The Writer’s Jungle Online] took my dread for teaching writing into joy! My children and I relaxed and actually had fun with the exercises that Kirsten Merryman walked us through. She is an excellent coach. I don’t think of writing as a chore anymore now that I have some tools under my belt for getting the creative juices flowing.

“The first exercise we did on explaining how to draw something really clicked for my children and I. Following that up with the description of an object through the five senses solidified what it means to communicate with the reader for me, and I will always go back to that when helping my children with their writing.

“Freewriting was also a new experience for us, and I have to say…that is really ‘freeing’! The free write takes the edge off and allows writing to happen naturally. I loved that! Learning to go back and free write little sections that needed polishing was also great! So many little gems I will keep with me!

“Thank you so much! Oh, I also really liked Kirsten’s comments on how to tell the story without telling it. I’m not ever going to let my children write things like, “he is cute” again. They have to describe how he is cute so that the reader automatically knows he is cute! That is so great, and my children get it!”

—Aimee


The Writer's Jungle Online

Header image by Carissa Rogers (cc cropped)

Posted in Brave Writer Team | Comments Off on Dread Turned into Joy!

Poetry Teatime: A collective “ahhhh”

The Ultimate Poetry Teatime Post
Brave Writer has been encouraging Poetry Teatimes for well over a decade! Here’s a compilation of tips and inspiration shared throughout the years:

The Original Poetry Teatime Guide

Poetry Teatimes offer you and your children a break from the fast-paced demands of homeschooling, parenting, and household running. Everyone sighs a collective “ahhhh” as they settle into their chairs, tea cups or mugs in hand, poetry books scattered across the table.

How to Make a Pot of Tea

Plus muffin and scone recipes!

7 Teatime Tips

Some fresh advice for your teatimes!

The Value of Poetry

Poetry teaches us the beauty and potential of the English language. The innovative use of language—of diction (word choice), metaphor and simile, other figures of speech, punctuation and capitalization—encourages our fledgling writers to take a chance with language.

34 Poetry Books for Teatime

We share poetry titles on our Poetry Teatime Pinterest board. Suggested books often come from the featured teatimes of Brave Writer families. Here are the poetry books we shared in 2014.

More Poetry Teatime Titles

Features poetry books our family has enjoyed during our teatimes. Also, check out the recommendations from readers in the comments!

How to Read Poetry Aloud

“A poem will live or die depending on how it is read.” ~Billy Collins, former U.S. Poet Laureate

Our First Teatime of the Year

Over and over, they had to read the poems aloud and remember all the times we’ve read them before. At one point, I had to explain why other people didn’t read poetry the way we did: “It’s because a lot of people are intimidated by poetry. They don’t know that you can begin with rhymes and jokes, kids poems and limericks. If they started there, they’d ease into the adult stuff without noticing…like you have!”

No More Fantasy Teatime

Don’t fall victim to “Fantasy Teatime Syndrome.”

What If Your Kids Don’t Like Teatime?

The idea here is to keep experimenting with new venues, new options, trusting the overall thrust of your time with your children to be the good that they need. Remember how critical their own input is to a successful home education.

Sometimes Mom Needs a Teatime Just for Her

Find a private moment to sip, to observe, to take in a little written inspiration, to pause and enjoy the flavor of the hot brew on a cold day.

Then there are the many awesome Brave Writer families who have shared their teatimes with us.

And don’t forget our Poetry Teatime Pinterest board. It’s filled with ideas!

Poetry Teatime Pinterest board
Enjoy!

P.S. Thinking of poetry, our Playing with Poetry online workshop is the most fun you can have with your kids while working on writing. Taught by our own Susanne Barrett (MA in poetry), your family will not just learn to appreciate poetic forms, but will have the satisfying pleasure of writing them!

Also, Brave Writer’s Arrow Poetry Guide is a helpful tool! Four weeks’ worth of poetry lessons that use popular poems for children.

Still life image by cbransto (cc cropped, text added)

Visit our Poetry Teatime website!

Posted in Poetry Teatime | Comments Off on Poetry Teatime: A collective “ahhhh”

Jotting It Down in Action!

Jotting It Down Patty

Dear Julie,

I had to share this with you. My girls were having breakfast and having a nonsense conversation that was starting to wear on me. I suggested they talk about something else, like the books they’re currently reading perhaps. 😉

All on their own, they turned it into a full blown discussion with little sis narrating her story and big sis jotting it down. Big sis can get a little over zealous with her questions, but at least she’s passionate about it…gotta give her that much.

Thanks for continuing to inspire us every day!
Patty

Learn more about Jotting It Down!

Image (cc)

Posted in Email, Natural Stages of Growth in Writing | 1 Comment »

Friday Freewrite: Advice

TITLE

What is the best piece of advice someone has given you? Tell what happened when you followed (or ignored!) his or her wise words.

New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.

Image by shonna1968 (cc cropped)

Posted in Friday Freewrite | Comments Off on Friday Freewrite: Advice

Student Spotlight: Tomy!

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-santa-s-sleigh-image27793471

We love it when Brave Writer students share their writing with us! Tomy (age 8) wrote a holiday poem for an Arrow project. He says:

I would of never write this verse if wasn’t for the book Inside Out and Back Again and the Arrow project. I never read free verse before so Thanhha Lai inspired me to write in free verse, and I thought it was fun!

Thanhha Lai writes about what is important to her, so I wrote something important to me. Christmas is very important to me and I am always wondering how Santa travels since I don’t believe he travels by Reindeer.

I did really enjoy organizing my free verse with lots of one word lines.

Here is Tomy’s poem:

Everything is wrong

I like to hear
bells,
they have a
ringing
sound.

I like to see
decorations,
they are lited up
and
glittering.

But everything is
wrong,
because
Santa
travels every
year
in
something
different.

Image © Waupee | Dreamstime.com

Posted in Poetry, Students | Comments Off on Student Spotlight: Tomy!

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