Archive for February, 2017

Movie Night! Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Movie Night Pirate of the Caribbean

Captain Jack Sparrow arrives in Port Royal with nothing but the clothes on his back and a legendary reputation. He’s hoping to commandeer a ship, but when he saves the life of Elizabeth, the Governor’s daughter, he’s imprisoned and sentenced to death. But more pirates attack Port Royal that night—the cursed crew of a mysterious ship called The Black Pearl!

Pirates! Three hundred years ago they were the terror of the waves. To most westerners these days, pirates are the terror of the big screen where they entertain audiences worldwide.

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The Pirates of the Caribbean film series is one of the most successful in history, and it’s somewhat unique in that it’s based on previously existing material, but the source material is not a book or a comic. Pirates of the Caribbean began as a theme park ride. It was the last attraction to be overseen by Walt Disney himself and opened in 1967 at Disneyland. The movie does, however, have a junior novelization…which, I suppose, would be an adaptation of an adaptation of a theme park? Argh, my head hurts!

The Curse of the Black Pearl is a marvelous swashbuckling adventure for the whole family. Give it a go!

Discussion Questions

  • Captain Jack is a classic antihero, a main character who lacks traditionally heroic characteristics. Do you still root for him or do you think he deserves to face justice? Explain your answer.
  • Which characters change most throughout the story? Give examples.
  • Captain Jack says that Will’s father was “a pirate and a good man.” Do you think that’s possible? What does it mean to be a good man?
  • Which genre would you class the film as? Adventure? Fantasy? Neither? Both? Share your reasons.

Additional Resources

Pirate Birthday Party – How to create a pirate party for kids with recycled materials.

The Great Illustrated Encyclopedia – Life aboard a pirate ship.

Goodreads – Books about pirates.

Movie Discussion Club

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Is Brave Writer a Complete Writing Program?

Is Brave Writer a Complete Writing Program?

Brave Writer is a complete writing and language arts program, not supplemental. The goal of what we do is to prepare kids to be competent, confident writers in a variety of settings, including academic contexts like college and beyond. We get there by beginning with writing voice and nurturing it so that a child discovers what it feels like to have something to say, something worth preserving on paper or on a computer. That self expression puts a child in touch with the part of self that generates original thought, accesses his or her vocabulary, and selects the best “container” for their writing (does this material suit a poem or a report, a letter or an academic essay?).

Where we differ from other programs is that we are not organized by grade level, but by developmental stages of growth in writing. We see writing in three categories:

  1. original writing (the process of generating original thought and putting that into the written word),
  2. the mechanics of writing (which we explore using living literature and the practices of copywork and dictation),
  3. and writing projects (bringing mechanics and thoughts together to create something—lapbook, mini report, a poster, textual criticism in an essay, research papers, and so on…).

The Writer’s Jungle is the primary manual that teaches both philosophy and process using a variety of activities and writing excursions. It is written to the homeschooling parent and is not a text book. Each chapter has a writing process to do with your child with samples and explanations about its application to the writing process.

The Wand, Arrow, and Boomerang offer a monthly literature guide focused on a single novel that is age appropriate. In these month-long guides you will find 4 weeks worth of copywork and dictation with detailed, user-friendly descriptions of the

  • literary elements,
  • grammar,
  • spelling,
  • and punctuation found in the passages.

The products like Jot it Down, Partnership Writing, Faltering Ownership and Help for High School are focused on writing products/projects. This is where we introduce forms for writing—but we get there differently than most writing programs. We focus first on

  • immersion in material,
  • developing original thought,
  • examining one’s own perspective against others,
  • and creating space for creativity (btw, creativity is just as necessary for a persuasive essay as it is for a poem).

Then we explore the convention of the form for writing and look at ways to apply it to the content generated by the student.

We take revision seriously—it is not just a process of correcting a few typos or spelling errors, or hunting in a thesaurus for a better term. Revision in Brave Writer is about giving new vision to the writing—engaging in a process of re-imagining the content—deepening and expanding it.

Our online classes cover all three aspects of writing: original thought, mechanics and literature, and writing forms.

It is possible to do only Brave Writer materials and classes for the entirety of your child’s childhood. That said, it’s also wise to give your kids the chance to write in additional contexts as well so that they experience how other people teach writing. I usually recommend including some other writing opportunities in high school (co-op, local junior college, working with another writing instructor) once the writing voice is strong and well formed. We do have a wide variety of writing coaches in Brave Writer, though, and that provides its own variety too.

I come from professional writing. What we do when we work with people aspiring to be writers is we stir up the writing life first.

We say: What do you have to say? Then we help them get that out.

Schools tend to say to students: Writing is difficult so I’m going to tell you exactly what to write and how.

In the school context, kids lose touch with having something to say and keep trying to figure out what the teacher wants to read.

In the professional context, the writer gets more and more in touch with having something to offer. That makes learning the various forms not only more interesting, but more powerful. The writing then sounds like them!

Adding one last thought about academic writing: I teach at the university level. What most professors complain about with college writing is that students know the formulas for writing but don’t have much skill with original thought or critical inquiry of texts. There’s a hunger among academics for students to break free of the rigid formulas and to connect with the discipline or the field.

In our high school writing classes, we do teach the academic forms, but we do so with a view to ensuring that our students generate insight first and that they learn how to do the rhetorical work of examining sources for credibility, understanding point of view, and learning to hold positions dispassionately.

Our students who have gone off to college and return to tell us about it have said that their professors often praise them for their original thought or that their writing sounds like them—not a formula. We use college composition principles and teach the MLA citation structures, but not at the expense of cultivating a writer’s rhetorical imagination. We do both. We just save that academic specificity for high school when the mind is more mature and ready to do that kind of work.

Curious about Brave Writer?

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Friday Freewrite: The Real You?

Friday Freewrite: The Real You?

Do you interact differently with different people? Imagine bumping into these folks (individually) in a bookstore:

  • your dentist,
  • your grandmother,
  • your good friend,
  • your nemesis (rival).

Now write how the encounters might go. Would your behavior and way of speaking change? Are you still “the real you” with each person? Explain your answer.

New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.

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“It’s Mom’s fault”

It's All Mom's Fault

Kids blame.

So do adults, by the way.

When a shoe goes missing, the first thought is: “Who moved my shoe?” not “I wonder what I did with my shoe?” At least, that seems to be how it worked in my house unless it was me. I am ALWAYS assuming that I was the one to lose everyone’s shoes, including mine and the neighbor’s six houses down.

That’s because everyone in this family always thinks I know absolutely everything about everything that ever happens in our square footage. They believe I am magically capable of forming them into super humans who never make mistakes, miss deadlines, suffer illness, or are less qualified than another applicant.

In other words: when our kids fail—when homeschooled kids meet their own limitations—the finger they point is at the homeschooling parent—the architect of every detail of their lives.

Know what I’m saying? That means it is mom’s fault that the milk carton is empty, the cutest jacket ever somehow wound up in the Goodwill bag,or that the kids:

  • never learned to be more organized,
  • got cavities,
  • were late,
  • lost their place in line,
  • felt neglected,
  • got gum in their hair,
  • couldn’t stay awake,
  • missed the best party ever for a family wedding,
  • weren’t prepared for advanced math,
  • gave up the flute,
  • and don’t like salad!

They can look back on their flawed childhoods and assign you blame with ease because wherever they look IN their childhoods, there you are! Next to them, guiding them, empowering them, restricting them, living your own flawed version of humanity right next to them for them to absorb adopt or reject.

It must be YOU! It must be ME!

And if you ARE me, you are adept at piling on the blame to self. In my case, I am quite happy to merge with the criticism. “Dang. I’m so disorganized. It’s no wonder she doesn’t keep track of her passport easily.” Or I might think, “I should never have trusted that book that said delaying math would be okay. Look how upset he is about it now that he’s older.”

I jump right into the seat of judgment with my child and give myself a stern talking to. Together, we determine that I am the cause of all that went poorly in that child’s life.

Until… until! I remember my own childhood. I mean, I want to blame my parents for my failings. For example, I could say that I am messy because my parents were so obsessively neat. But how does that make sense? They gave me the models I needed and were gentle and kind about it. I never adopted that style of living—I did that. Not them.

I could blame them that I didn’t go to college out of state. Why didn’t my dad show more enthusiasm for his alma mater and get me to apply there? But if I flip it over: I wanted to go to UCLA. That was my choice.

I might blame my parents for not requiring me to continue piano lessons or for getting a divorce and ship-wrecking what I thought was my happy home.

And yet today: I know better. I KNOW better. Every life has a share of unhappiness. I know adults make mistakes, are making it up as they go, that they are not able to protect themselves from pain, let alone their children.

In the end, each one of us is responsible to become the best adult version of self as we grow into adulthood.

So what do we do with all this blame that assails us? I have a few ideas that have helped me.

1. Take it.

You’re the adult. This is a temporary thrashing about of an emerging young adult or teen or even middler. This child in front of you knows you are the safe repository for their loss, disappointment in self, and failure. Allow them to vent and consider how you might have prevented this terrible fate. Affirm the feeling: “It must feel awful to think that I failed you” and validate the possible interpretation: “It seems to you I could have prepared you better.” You can apologize if there is something to apologize for: “I’m sorry I couldn’t see around the corners to how you might feel limited later by the choice I made.”

2. Gently hand it back.

After you take it, offer a reframe that empowers your child to grow. “Since you are now dealing with the feeling of x, how do you imagine addressing this challenge?” Create the opportunity for your child to be an overcomer! You don’t need to give advice (they already don’t trust you, right?). Simply create space for self reflection.

3. Shut up and wait.

Don’t ask multiple questions in a row, don’t offer suggestions to consider. Leave space for a moment of struggle. If you are quiet, they will have to say something to fill that void. If the child goes back to blame…

4. Reframe the frustration.

Help your child understand that no matter what the cause, they have the resources (inside and at hand) to create good in this circumstance. They can get skills they don’t have, they can create new habits to support them, they can ask for help now.

Example: Your child blames you for not helping them get the skills to study for tests. They are now in a co-op class that requires test-taking and they get a D on the first test.

  • Take it: “I didn’t think about doing mock tests with you. Sorry about that.”
  • Hand it back: “How do you imagine you can prepare yourself for test-taking now?”
  • Wait. Listen.
  • Reframe: “I get that it really upset you to earn a D on your first test. Fortunately test-taking is a skill you can learn at any stage in life! The good news is you can easily improve your score since you started at the bottom! I’m happy to support you in getting what you need. What do you think that is?”

There’s a balance between accepting blame and then reframing for self-empowerment. That’s the sweet spot! As a home educator, it’s easy to be the target. You want to resist the temptation to argue or to wallow in self-deprecation.

Your kids are resilient and always learning! This moment will pass.

The Homeschool Alliance

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