Archive for May, 2019

Boomerang Book Club: June 2019

Boomerang Book Club: To Kill a Mockingbird

We offer our Boomerang Book Club as a comfortable first step into the classics for wary teens.

[This post contains Amazon affiliate links. When you click on those links to make purchases, Brave Writer receives compensation at no extra cost to you. Thank you!]

Every student should read To Kill a Mockingbird!

Some books feel like a rite of passage.

I remember when I first read To Kill a Mockingbird. And when my kids read it!

Harper Lee’s classic continues to be a spark for countless conversations in schools, literary circles, and academia—still!

This controversial book has been both banned AND awarded the Pulitzer Prize. 

How’s THAT for impact on American culture? 

To Kill a Mockingbird is

  • Highly readable—iconic characters, a thrilling plot, and killer dialogue
  • Doesn’t skimp on substance—themes like integrity, relationships, and race
  • Timeless—a classic but also relevant to events today
  • A port of entry for story lovers—history, political science, and law
  • Present in our culture—this book is referenced in TV, movies, and other books

Our book clubs help teens learn to read books thoughtfully and then to put those thoughts into writing.

Remember—in Brave Writer, we move incrementally.

  • First, we expose kids to great literature.
  • Second, we talk about it.
  • Third, we write about it freely without structure.
  • Fourth, we learn to write about it with structure.

The Boomerang Book Club helps you with steps 1-3. Perfect way to go into summer!

I’ve seen it time and time again: this book turns students into fans of ‘assigned reading’!

See what students say about the book club:

This is definitely one of those books that I’ll read again in 20 years and probably love it even more. -Tiernan

The article you posted [in class]…opened my eyes to a perspective I hadn’t thought about while reading the book. -Sadie

I would definitely recommend this book discussion club to a friend! The questions asked in the discussion were very interesting and a little challenging, but the best part is that you are able to read different responses and maybe you would learn something (which I did!) -Jae

We’d love to be a part of this reading milestone with your kids!

The Boomerang Book Club for To Kill a Mockingbird opens June 1 and book discussion begins June 10. This is our last book club of the school year. Don’t miss it!

Boomerang Book Club

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When Should You Make a Change?

When Should You Make a Change

When watching your kid struggle is more painful than learning a new foreign-to-you strategy, you’ll change course.

When the fear of losing your intimate connection with your teen is scarier than accepting your teen’s scary interests, you’ll change course.

When swallowing the abuse hurled at you daily makes you sicker than setting boundaries and keeping them, you’ll change course.

When hiding what you actually believe is more damaging to your personal integrity than admitting your truth and losing your friends, you’ll change course.

When the way things are is too costly to your well-being than the way things could be if you blew up your life to expand your choices, you’ll change course.

When you discover that you’re not trapped and all options are on the table (even the taboo, unthinkable ones), you’ll bravely, slowly, crawl with a whispered voice…and change course.

No one changes course until the tipping point. It’s okay if the tipping point hasn’t yet tipped. Be patient. You’ll know when you know. You’ll move in the direction of your hope and release at the right time for you.

This post is originally from Instagram and @juliebravewriter is my account there so come follow along for more conversations like this one!

The Homeschool Alliance

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Friday Freewrite: Rules of the Air

Friday Freewrite

Everyone wakes up and suddenly can fly!

Now you’re in charge of writing the Flyer’s Manual with the rules of the air for flying people. What would the manual include?

New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.

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Extra! Extra! Write all about it!

The Scoop: The Art of Journalism

Let me tell you a story…

Once upon a time, your parents read the news over their morning coffee. Teens? Not so much.

Today, articles about celebrities, politics, human and animal rights, science, and the arts are at everyone’s fingertips. Most teens interact with a news source of some kind every single day. Countless Big Juicy Conversations live on their phones, and they’re reading them!

The bigger question: what’s the difference between an online screed or rant, versus a thoughtfully researched article? How do they know who to trust and what constitutes journalistic integrity?

High school is a great time to grow your teen’s writing skills through the art of journalism—a slam dunk for kids who find the typical sterile composition class too dull.

The Scoop: The Art of Journalism

The Scoop empowers your teen to join the ranks of journalists for four weeks! They get to:

  • Follow their curiosity
  • Contribute to an issue they care about
  • Mimic the actual job of being a journalist
  • Publish their writing in our online magazine
  • Practice their new skills in the real world!
  • Engage their craving for engagement (giving passionate teens an outlet!)

The Scoop is a perfect opportunity for teens who have academic essay fatigue (you know—end of the school year exhaustion).

You may be surprised how much journalism overlaps with academic writing skills.

  • Critical thinking and logic
  • Media literacy skills
  • Fact-checking and research experience
  • Learning how timeliness and proximity determine impact
  • Evaluating trends and finding the ‘hook’ in a piece
  • Developing writing voice appropriate to genre and audience

Meanwhile your kids have a blast seeing their voices “in print.”

See what our students have to say:

I am extremely happy with all that I learned throughout this class! I have grown immensely as a writer and gained so many valuable concepts that will carry me so far throughout my journey… 
– Maya A.

I used to think that journalism was just something you do if you have a publisher or a film crew, but now I view being a journalist as more of a mindset through which you interpret events. – Will K.

I had never asked to set up an interview before, but thankfully it went well, and I could and would do it again. – Lara B.

Check out our BW Gazette! Past students have written about stray animals, archery, school shootings, competitive eating—and more! 

The Scoop: The Art of Journalism

The Scoop online class runs May 20 – June 14. Don’t miss the chance to see your teen publish! Register today! 

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Hello Old and New Friends!

Julie Bogart

Glad you’re here. I’m Julie Bogart—a homeschool veteran (5 kids, 17 years), a writer, and an entrepreneur.

Early in adulthood (when I was 22!), a friend of my then-fiance asked me on a hillside in Spain: “So Julie, are you going to homeschool your kids?” “Um, what’s that?” I replied in 1984 having never heard the term in my life. Willie launched into his speech about subverting the soon-to-be-communist-take-over of America through home education, and tossed in as a follow up: the family closeness and bonding homeschooling promised. I wanted that (the closeness, not the communism). So I signed on Willie’s dotted line and never looked back!

My five kids are now adults: daring to live life on their own terms all over the USA and globe. While they were growing up into who they would choose to be, I became a writer (people paid me to do it—which was fun!). I eventually launched Brave Writer (January 2000), as a response to the wooden, lifeless writing programs my friends were using and hated. I wanted my homeschool mom friends to love coaching writing, as much as I did.

Brave Writer is my playground and mission tied together by one core belief—when you prioritize *power* (energy, surprise, voice) in writing, you get to accuracy and academic achievement much more effectively and happily!

The secret side effect? Power and closeness in your relationship—between parent and child. The commitment to READ your child’s writing as a revelation rather than a requirement, changes everything.

In Brave Writer, every product, class, and contact with us (my crack team of over 50 staff members!) is meant to deliver that experience—power to grow writers, not grade them.

Fine print: I love being a woman, I love French, I love watching sports, I love steaming cups of British tea, and I live for sunshine.

Pictured above: Gruyères Switzerland

This post is originally from Instagram and @juliebravewriter is my account there so come follow along for more conversations like this one!

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