December 2018 - 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, 2018

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Friday Freewrite: New Home

Friday Freewrite New Home

Write from the point of view of a pet being adopted into a new home.

New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.

Tags: Writing prompts
Posted in Friday Freewrite | Comments Off on Friday Freewrite: New Home

Blog Roundup: December 2018

December 2018 Brave Writer Blog Roundup

Welcome to the latest Brave Writer blog roundup! See how other homeschooling families use Brave Writer products and practice the Brave Writer Lifestyle.

Becoming A Family Of Brave Writers  – Erin (Nourishing My Scholar)

“What do you do when your child hates writing? How do you instill a love of writing when it is something that brings nothing but tears and heartache to your child? I must admit I was at a loss when it came to writing in our homeschool. Writing had become an almost painful requirement for both myself and our son. Basic writing prompts only prompted one or two-word responses! That is, until the year I discovered Julie Bogart and Brave Writer!” Read more

How to Host a Winter Poetry Teatime – Dachelle (Hide the Chocolate)

“Snowflake cookies, hot cocoa, and winter concrete poems were some of the fun we had at our Winter Poetry Teatime.” Read more

Joyful and Easy Holiday Activities With Brave Writer  – Shawna (Not the Former Things)

“We only do the things that bring true joy to at least a majority of us, or we don’t do it.” Read more

Homeschool Language Arts: A Quiver of Arrows  – Ashley (Heart and Hand)

“When we finished reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins, we went to our friends’ house for a Penguin Party. We ate goldfish, made little penguins out of construction paper, did a science experiment about blubber, and then watched the movie together. It was such a fun way to finish our book and create a memorable experience of it.” Read more


Brave Writer Lifestyle

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Happy Holidays from Brave Writer

The Brave Writer Staff is taking time to be with family over the holiday! There won’t be any email correspondence from us between now and the 26th.

Have a wonderful end of the year celebration with your family!

Posted in Brave Writer Team | Comments Off on Happy Holidays from Brave Writer

Podcast: Cultivating Connection in a Large Family with Jardel Manalo

Brave Writer Podcast

I’m guessing you need to hear this episode of the Brave Writer podcast. Why?

Because I know you want to connect with your precious kiddos.

Our guest of honor, Jardel Manalo, wrote to me wondering how to achieve the “right” balance of connection with each child in her large family. Jardel would collapse into bed at the end of a busy day swirling with guilt—did she spend enough time with each child? Did her children know how much she loved them as individuals, not just as students?

Brave Writer Podcast S5E8 Jardel Manalo

We talked about:

  • Planning from Behind. This is a huge sanity-saver—find out why!
  • Placing value on what you’re already doing naturally—how to notice and “count” it.
  • A slew of ideas for establishing connection. Listen, make a list, try one!
  • Jardel’s realization about how her family of origin story impacted her as a mother.

Such a wonderful conversation!

In the midst of this holiday flurry, find moments to pause, breathe, and connect with your loved ones. You won’t regret it.

What about connecting with every kid?

If you have a large family, as many in the Brave Writer community do, connecting every day with each child is unrealistic and you’ll always feel behind. Large families will have separate homeschooling experiences with older children vs. younger. Make peace with the differences and trust that each child will connect with you in different stages and different ways.

It’s also important to acknowledge that your children are bottomless pits. There’s no possible way you can meet all their needs for connection as the sole person who offers them the experience of connection, and as they gain independence, they will seek connection with others. There will also be times when a child needs outside help, from a tutor, an online class, etc., and that is valuable connection, too.

The heart of connection is creating the context for your children to thrive. It’s you meeting their need, not necessarily being the person who undertakes or performs the need. You’re being an advocate for what your child needs at that moment in time.

A sense of well-being on a daily basis is the biggest gift that you can give.

Julie’s Advice

If you’re carrying a mountain of anxiety about this, you need to start chipping away at it. Start seeing how you can connect to your children in ways that are brief yet deeply meaningful:

  • A hug and kiss, physical touch as you walk by, email, instant messaging, texting, sending an emoji or a link to something you think they like, sticky notes on their door, a big heart on the mirror to see when they wake up, pancakes with a smiley face of chocolate chips, or eye contact.
  • Eye contact even changes the tone of voice, softening the interaction instantly. Connection can even happen through giving a directive. No one likes being yelled to from a separate room; tone of voice and eye contact will communicate that you’re on the same team.

Other ideas for connection:

  • Inside Jokes give you both the ability to wink or laugh about a shared understanding.
  • 3rd Party Connection, or bragging about a child in front of that child, lets that child know you’re aware of them even when they don’t realize it.
  • Don’t disqualify your progress by saying it should’ve happened sooner! You get to relax and enjoy the connection you’ve already built. It already exists and now you get to sink into what you’ve created.
  • You can alleviate your anxiety by planning from behind. Validate yourself for when you connect with a child.
  • Keep a calendar, or a weekly notebook, or a skatterbook. At the end of the day, pull it out and write the name of the child you remember connecting with. Trust the connection you’ve already established is holding for the other kids in the meantime.
  • If you have a 30 minute chat with each child over the course of a month, then you’re doing fantastic!
  • Over the weeks you’ll notice the child who hasn’t demanded anything and may need more one-on-one time. That’s your reminder to simply be more intentional with that child the next day. No guilt!
  • If a child is struggling, you’ll carve out time to address, support, and monitor.

That’s it! No big plan. No worrying, no overdoing it. Let the calendar give you visual comfort and reassurance. Live this way until you’re comfortable and reassured that you’re doing a good job.

Validation & Encouragement

  • Stay alert for when connection happens and write it down so you don’t forget.
  • Make a date for connection with one child. Just don’t turn it into a project. It can be simple. Let your child lead.
  • You’re already living and modeling that lifestyle for your children. They will carry the toolkit YOU made with them through life as they make new connections. The relationships they build will be based on your model.

Download the FREE Podcast Transcript


The Brave Learner

Tags: Ask Julie
Posted in Podcasts | Comments Off on Podcast: Cultivating Connection in a Large Family with Jardel Manalo

Pre-Order the Brave Learner for Friends!

The Brave Learner

If you want to give my new book THE BRAVE LEARNER to a friend for the holidays, you can!

Pre-order the book then print this adorable book ornament gift certificate. Your friend will know that your gift is on its way (Feb 5, 2019).

Print it on cardstock to make it stiff or use printer paper and glue it to one of your ornaments, if hanging on a tree. Otherwise pop it in an envelope as a gift + card.

The Brave Learner

Download your FREE Ornament Gift Certificate


Also when you order the book for a friend and provide her email address, we’ll send pre-order gifts to her directly! All you need to do is:

  • enter the receipt number in the form on thebravelearner.com page
  • make sure you include your friend’s email address and name (not your own)

We’ll send your friend(s) the two FREE gifts (“Hard Cases: Q&A with Julie” PDF available on publication day and an invitation to the “Brave Learner Book Club” Webinar on Feb 7, 2019) on February 5, 2019.


We’re less than 8 weeks out from publication! Thanks for your enthusiasm!

The Brave Learner

Posted in The Brave Learner | Comments Off on Pre-Order the Brave Learner for Friends!

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