March 2021 - 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 March, 2021

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It’s a Privilege

Brave Writer

We are the lucky ones. We live each day, conscious that our choices shape the next generation indelibly. These little people are with us for a short 18 years and we get to see it all unfold, right before our eyes.

I’m cleaning out my files and shelves, stumbling across handmade birthday cards and handcrafts from my children when they were still children.

It feels like such a big responsibility to raise them and hope they choose to be decent people with good values. 

There’s a lot I couldn’t control. There are mistakes I made. Sometimes I got it exactly right. And often: the difference between a mistake and a good decision were razor thin apart.

So much is the result of that word we don’t like: luck. Or serendipity. Or lack of foresight.

But I do know this. At the end of the day, I have never regretted being there for all of it. I hope you can hold onto that too—that being with your kids, now, as their parent-educator is a privilege, even when it’s hard.


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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Friday Freewrite: Nonverbal Conversation

Friday Freewrite

Imagine you and a friend are at an event that’s so noisy you can’t hear each other. Now describe a nonverbal conversation between the two of you using only facial expressions, hand gestures, or body movements.

Bonus: Read your scene to a family member and see if they can guess what you and your friend were saying.

New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.

Tags: Writing prompts
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The Best “Testing” Method is Not Testing

Best Testing Method is Not Testing

The idea of testing is so embedded in our imaginations as the best measure of learning, it’s difficult to “give it up.” Yet homeschooling invites us to do just that! Rather than examining your child like a patient in a doctor’s office looking for what’s wrong, try giving attention to the healthy growth your child has achieved in the last little while.

Kids LOVE to show what they know, to “show off” to impress their favorite adults (aka YOU!). Give them the chance to steal the show—invite them to:

  • give you detailed analysis of how to go up levels in Mario Kart,
  • explain to you the intricacies of their doll’s wardrobe, or
  • retell the details of that one battle in the Civil War that they have studied for months.

If you want to know what they know about language arts, ask them to explain a passage to you from a book they’re reading (let them pick the passage and ask them to tell you everything they notice about it).

If you want them to demonstrate skill in math, ask them to create the most challenging problem they have ever attempted to solve and then to solve it and show you how they did it.

Let’s move away from the style of education that says the teacher knows what you should know and it’s up to the student to guess what that is, in this amount of time, using this method.

Your best “testing” method isn’t testing it all. It’s a big juicy conversation that rambles and integrates what your child knows, has learned, and is still discovering.


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


Brave Learner Home

Posted in Homeschool Advice | Comments Off on The Best “Testing” Method is Not Testing

2021-2022 Book Reveal: Stay Tuned!

Brave Writer Book Reveal

Like the NFL Draft of Books!

It’s almost that time of year when our families get a little nutty enthusiastic.

They’re excited for good reason! 

Each spring, I announce the newly selected book titles for the coming academic year for our mechanics and literature programs—Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang.

This year, we’ve added a fourth level: Slingshot (for 15-18 year olds)!

These programs are designed to teach your kids the mechanics of writing through living literature!

The big reveal is exciting because these are:

  • books your family will read aloud together and treasure all year. 
  • books that naturally teach writing mechanics and introduce literary elements. 

Here at Brave Writer, we take the selection of these book titles Very Seriously!

All year, we read, discuss, and delight in the year’s latest fiction as well as relishing the classics.

  • We aim for diversity of authorship and protagonists.
  • We incorporate a variety of genres: fantasy to te classics.
  • We carefully orchestrate the sequence of the books.
  • We balance book length against the holiday demands of a given month.
  • We alternate moving, poignant books with silly, lighthearted books.
  • We launch the year with a sure-fire winner and end with a warmhearted one.

By the time we’ve settled on a book list, we’re chomping at the bit to share it with you! You can expect a lively, inspired reading journey.

Posted in BW products | Comments Off on 2021-2022 Book Reveal: Stay Tuned!

Friday Freewrite: To the Top

Friday Freewrite

Pick an object in your room and place it on the floor in front of you. Now imagine you are only one inch tall. Describe how you’d get from the bottom to the top of the object. 

New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.

Tags: Writing prompts
Posted in Friday Freewrite | Comments Off on Friday Freewrite: To the Top

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