January 2017 - Page 4 of 4 - 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 January, 2017

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Does Brave Writer Intimidate You?

Does Brave Writer Intimidate You?

by Stephanie Hoffmann Elms

I had The Writer’s Jungle for over a year or more and loved it but was frozen about implementing it. What helped me was taking The Writer’s Jungle Online (this was in the days before Jot it Down and the other stage of writing products). Seeing it implemented by the instructor made the light bulb go off.

Here is the thing…just start with One Thing. Pick something, anything.

  • Poetry Teatime
  • Freewriting
  • Copywork

Don’t feel like you have to have everything all worked out as far as how you think it will work. Brave Writer is more about giving you multiple tools and ideas to facilitate the process rather than telling you exactly how things should work.

And that is actually where the beauty and the magic lies. In the figuring it out. In the unfolding of both your understanding of your child and their relationship with writing.

Let go of feeling like you have to get it “right” and give yourself permission to discover things on the way.


Stephanie Elms has homeschooled her two boys for ten+ years and is a coach for Brave Writer’s The Homeschool Alliance. She blogs at Throwing Marshmallows.

Posted in BW products | Comments Off on Does Brave Writer Intimidate You?

Student Spotlight: Liam

Student Spotlight: Liam

Today’s Student Spotlight was inspired by a recent Food Fight Friday Freewrite:

Imagine that the different kinds of food on your plate are angry at each other. Write a scene with dialogue so we can hear them fight!

Here is how Brave Writer student, Liam, brilliantly played with that idea:

Food Fight

by Liam

The torches dimmed as the vikings left the grand hall, leaving half eaten food on the table. As the doors closed, the food stood up. They organized themselves into groups such as these: The Tomato Republic, allied with the United States of Bread and the Cheese Nation. On the other side, there was Red Meat allied with White Meat and Seasoning. On the third side of the battle, the Forests of Broccoli and the mazes of corn stood together, along with the Vegetable Empire. And so the battle commenced!

The cheese battled the white meat by shooting strings of cheesy webbing, but white meat flew away, too fast to be caught. Bread combated the Vegetable Empire’s Broth, and soaked it up with extreme prejudice. The Tomato Republic Sprayed seeds like a machine gun at the Vegetable Empire, for a tomato was a fruit!

Cheese was loosing his battle, so they stuck under the table and picked out a nice laser sword the viking had left (these were future vikings), and quickly regrouped themselves with Tomato and Bread. They made pizza! The great Pizza wielded the sword with ferocious ferocity and cooked a whole batch of brussel sprouts. This epic fight continued, with eggplants snaking around in the dark attempting a strike at the Pizza from behind.

Then a blazing light tore open the roof and a tornado of strands engulfed them. Bread recognized them! They were distant relatives of his, whole wheat noodles! And at the top of the tornado there floated a mysterious being with meatball knees, heels, hip joints, elbows, wrists, knuckles, shoulders, and neck. The places in between the meatballs were all spaghetti, and the only real human part of him were the eyes. They burned red with disgrace, at the idea that food could fight each other!

The Flying Spaghetti Monster ordered the tomato sauce and the vegetables together, making the kingdom of plants. The meats were ordered to aid the others when necessary, and trade with them. The cheese was ordered to show more respect to red meat, because cheese came mostly from cows. The bread would still be able to soak broth, but only with human’s permission. Then the Flying Spaghetti Monster lowered down himself and the others to the table. He congratulated them on making pizza and using eggplant as a ninja. He said it was very clever. He himself put the laser sword away, and then began to fly upwards, leaving this world.

Freewriting Prompts

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Podcast: The Complete Season One

Brave Writer Podcast Season One Recap

Here’s the complete first season of our “A Brave Writer’s Life in Brief” podcast!

We’re pleased as punch to have so many special guests join us, including acclaimed author, Jane Yolen (ep. 19).

In the episodes we discuss writing, home education, parenting, and poetry. Plus the season hosts the popular Natural Stages of Growth in Writing talks: Jot It Down, Partnership Writing, Faltering Ownership, Transition to Ownership (parts one and two), and Eavesdropping on the Great Conversation.

Tune in to the Brave Writer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher (or your app of choice), and here on the Brave Writer blog. Enjoy!

Season One Podcasts

S1E0: This is a Test: Be Gentle

S1E1: Manage the Damage

S1E2: Jot It Down

S1E3: Partnership Writing

S1E4: Faltering Ownership

S1E5: Transition to Ownership: Part One

S1E6: Transition to Ownership: Part Two

S1E7: The Role of the Brain in Writing with Rita Cevasco

S1E8: Interview with Author Melissa Wiley

S1E9: Eavesdropping on the Great Conversation

S1E10: One Thing Principle

S1E11: Englishes

S1E12: Big Juicy Conversations

S1E13: Homeschool Alumni Tell All: Noah and Johannah Bogart

S1E14: Interview with Poet Marilyn Singer

S1E15: Interview with Poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

S1E16: SAT Prep with Brave Writer Coach, Jean Hall

S1E17: Healthy Homeschooling and Happy Marriage with Leslie Gustafson

S1E18: Poetry with Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell

S1E19: Interview with Jane Yolen


Would you please post a review on Apple Podcasts for us?
Help a homeschooler like you find more joy in the journey. Thanks!

Posted in Podcast Season Recaps, Podcasts | Comments Off on Podcast: The Complete Season One

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