What is the difference between “spooky” and “scary”? Share examples.
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Archive for October, 2015
Friday Freewrite: Spooky or Scary
“The beautiful art it truly is”
Becoming a Brave Writer
by Hannah Hayes
I remember my life in vivid blurbs of sensory details. The feelings of dark, light, hot, and cool are strong aspects of my memory. I can still feel the hot fire in the fireplace and the trapped feeling of my body pressed between my warm sweater and searing chest as I sat at the kitchen table staring down at the sheet of paper I needed to fill with the stuffy requirement of a five paragraph essay. Before switching to Brave Writer, we used a different writing program. Every Friday, in this curriculum, we were to write essays, but soon Friday became my least favorite day. I grasped the edges of the cool metal table and rubbed my sweaty palms on my jeans. Glancing at the clock, I hoped my dad would come home soon so we could eat dinner and I would be spared from banging my head against the table. I knew that with the ticking clock came an ending of one sort or the other, and I was hoping for rescue.
After suffering through many Fridays with this program, my mom finally found an alternative—Brave Writer! At first I was skeptical and dug in my heels. “I don’t like the idea of other people reading my work,” I moaned. But, once again, my mother was determined, and soon I was watching her post my work on a private online classroom. To my delightful surprise, it wasn’t scary! Instead I was writing about things that interested me, and was even praised by the teacher for what I wrote. “Wow,” I thought, “this is actually fun!”
The first complete paper I wrote was about my daydreams becoming realities. It was so much fun to write, because I could dream on paper, and then hold those dreams in my hand. Even my dad, who sort of brushed writing off as being an irrelevant skill, was impressed. “This is great!” he told me. I beamed.
I credit that first paper as being the turn-around to my writing education. After that, I wanted to take as many Brave Writer classes as I could manage. I loved the freedom I had—to imagine, to share my thoughts, and to have encouraging teachers who inspired me to do my best. My favorite classes were the literary analysis courses. I enjoyed them so much that they didn’t even seem like school work. Delving into timeless novels and uncovering the mysteries the authors left for their readers was a wonderful game to me. I would pour hours into writing the weekly posts, so much so that my mom would jokingly tell me to “just wrap it up.”
Brave Writer has motivated me to express myself well through words, and to love written words like individual people—two qualities I will forever be grateful for. Now when I think about writing, I think of cool breezes blowing through the lace curtains in my room, and sunlight dappling shadows of leafy trees upon the cement. Thank you for making writing come alive, and for exposing me to the beautiful art it truly is.
Poetry Teatime on Periscope
Join me for tea and verse! I made scones and read poems. There are poems for your kids too.
For any who are new to Brave Writer, I call Poetry Teatime the “gateway drug” to all things literary and language arts. You get “close connected relationship” thrown into the bargain! Plus: so much fun!
Also, whenever you share your Poetry Teatime on Instagram or Twitter, be sure to use the #poetryteatime hashtag.
Enjoy!
Brave Writer Reviews
Want to know how other homeschoolers implement the Brave Writer Lifestyle and use our products in their homes? Then check out these TEN reviews!
Fifth Grade Creative Writing: Brave Writer Review by Selena, Look We’re Learning
Creative writing is one of the most difficult subjects I’ve ever had to teach in our homeschool. I was an English major in college and I love the writing process, but letting go of what English “should” sound and look like has been a real issue for me personally, so it’s hard for me to teach my kids to write freely.
Teaching Writing with Brave Writer by Tonia, The Sunny Patch
Brave Writer is more than just a set of systematic lesson plans for teaching writing. It’s really a lifestyle – including so much more than just writing assignments. When you use the full program you’ll find art study, Shakespeare, poetry, literary discussions, and so much more.
Cultivating The Love Of Writing in Young Children by Marlene, A Diligent Heart
I favor a lot of structure, but this program is in no way like that, and after reading through it like three times before starting it with my kiddo – I’m so thankful for that. Because through it, with what I’ve learned as a parent, I know I’m going to build a wonderful writing foundation in my first grader.
Homeschool Writing With Brave Writer by Heidi, Starts at Eight
One of our favorite activities to do as part of our language arts with Brave Writer is the Poetry Teatimes. With my older children I did not incorporate poetry as much as I would have liked to. This once a week time with my daughter not only allows us to have some special one on one time, but it affords us time to read poetry and talk about the components of what we have read.
Writing is a Lifestyle with Brave Writer by Cait, My Little Poppies
I want my children to love writing. I want them to find their voice and to share it. I do not ever want for them to cringe when they see a pen and paper.
Learning to Love to Write by Alicia, Investing Love
Writing is a difficult area to teach because you want your child to be creative, you want them to write down those fabulous stories you hear them telling each other, but you also want them to be learning to write properly–not just creatively, but structurally correct too. So that means we need to be able to show them how to spew out their creativity in complete sentences with good structure, correct grammar, and spell things correctly. That’s a lot for a kid to handle! No wonder so many kids don’t like to write.
The Key to Enjoying Writing (and many other subjects) in Your Homeschool by Mackenzie, BOLDturquoise
Brave Writer, How I Love Thee! Let Me Count the Ways…
A Guide for Teaching Writing by Amy, Are We There Yet?
Writing is the hardest subject for me to teach. I had no problem writing when I was in school, but struggled with how to pass along those skills to my kids. I had a MAJOR light bulb moment while reading The Writer’s Jungle (the how-to guide for parents).
A Writing Program That Works for Us! by Jen, Forever For Always…no matter what
We just want our child to write a couple of sentences to a pen pal without us both dissolving into tears. I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be that way.
Transform Reluctant Writers with Brave Writer by Krista, Far From Normal
The brave writer lifestyle encourages intentional learning through all types of creative endeavors. It also looks for routine over schedule. Not needing to get certain things done at certain times but regularly working and building skills.
Podcast: A Conversation about Homeschool with Adult Kids!
My daughter, Johannah, was in town and my son, Noah, was downtown. I brought them together in my backyard for a live broadcast.
They share about
- their homeschool experiences growing up,
- what they are doing,
- and answer questions from parents.
I am hyper and too loud and talk too fast. I was proud and nervous and trying to manage an audio and Periscope recording simultaneously. Forgive me! But the kids sound great.
Noah provided the podcast recording production for me. I hope you enjoy it!
Would you please post a review on Apple Podcasts for us?
Help a homeschooler like you find more joy in the journey. Thanks!
