Developing Writing Skills Without Fear
Here’s the next installment of our ongoing series where we share testimonies of some who’ve been transformed by their online class experience with Brave Writer. Enjoy!
Brave Writer parent, Jennifer, writes:
What class(es) are you giving feedback on today?
Book/Movie Duo and Literary Analysis
Tell us a bit about your student.
Kellan – 18 – hiking, skiing, travel, outdoor adventure, watching movies.
Rosie – 14 – reading, martial arts, playing tuba, watching movies, arts and crafts.
Tell us a bit about you.
This is our 12th year of homeschooling – I love playing games, reading, movies, traveling, hiking, cycling, crafts, yoga, and anything that makes me laugh.
When your student entered our class, how would you describe your student as a writer? Were there ongoing writing challenges?
Kellan was a confident writer. He has incredible thoughts to share but still needs some guidance on how to do so in an academic setting. He had never done a literary analysis before his most recent class. He struggles with spelling, punctuation, and grammar so Brave Writer is such a wonderful place for him to develop his writing skills without fear of constant judgement and criticism about those technical areas.
Rosie is a very talented writer but has been crippled by a lack of self confidence prior to this class. Even in other Brave Writer classes she only minimally engaged and shared a fraction of what she had to say about a topic.
What prompted you to try a Brave Writer class?
My kids have been taking Brave Writer classes since we learned about them a few years ago because they are so incredibly supportive and rich with content. I also wanted my teens to get to have a high quality break from me with some subjects and Brave Writer is a resource that I trust 100% and I know will be worth every penny.
What was your experience with the class(es)?
Kellan’s literary analysis class on Born a Crime was incredible. He really dug into many aspects of the book that I’m not sure he would have noticed had he not been asked to look for them. He had fantastic insights and made amazing connections between things he has learned in his history class and the book. I was so impressed with the quality of the discussions and assignments. It all really pulled the best out of Kellan.
Rosie’s class was the Harry Potter book/movie duo. The class and instructor couldn’t have been more perfect for her. She has been such a reluctant (but talented) writer for several years now and this course/instructor helped to build her confidence A TON. The fact that she was able to take an academic class about one of her passions (Harry Potter) was so amazing. I know the Brave Writer training is impeccable but I really want to highlight what a kind and supportive instructor she had. She learned so much from her and the class and is excited (for the first time) to be taking several more writing classes in the winter and spring. Her only disappointment is that she is only on the upcoming schedule for Arrow Book Clubs (she is too old) but I promised her we would look for her again in the future. I’m pretty sure she will sign up for anything she is teaching, regardless of her interests.
Anything else you’d like to share with us?
I really liked that in both of their classes they were assigned to comment on another student’s writing. This is something that I know you have encouraged in the past but I could never get my kids to do it. Kellan was just being lazy – he isn’t going to do anything that he isn’t assigned unless it really lights a spark in him. Rosie was way too self-conscious to talk to another kid about their writing. So, for both of them, having it assigned was very beneficial. Neither complained at all about doing it and got the benefit of interacting with other students’ writing.
Finally, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate Brave Writer for the quality of classes and instructors you offer. And with 12 years of homeschooling under my belt, we’ve tried a lot of programs and resources. Brave Writer is the cream of the crop!
Tags: Testimonies
