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Archive for August, 2022
Podcast: One Thing
Let me know if this sounds familiar:
You’re trying to think about all of the things you need to accomplish, not just in a day, but over the course of your child’s life—from birth to adulthood? Eating, walking, reading, writing, riding a bike, instilling good morals… the list goes on! And homeschooling only adds more of that responsibility onto your plate. It can be so overwhelming.
So how do we plan a life that accounts for each child’s personal needs and gets them to the finish line of adulthood well-educated, behaved, kind, and ready to live life on their own?
We do it one thing at a time.
Show Notes
Research shows that multitasking, that thing so many of us love to do—it feels so efficient!—is actually a myth. It isn’t real. What we’re really doing while multitasking is rapidly switching between two tasks, not doing two things at once. The worst part is that each time we switch, we’re losing efficiency and focus. We’re doing two things poorly.
When you want to have success in parenting or homeschooling, you need your deep, attentive focus state.
We want our material to do the instructing for us, and we are just there for supervision. This is called “open and go” curriculum. The problem is that, just like a car, if you’re not paying attention to where you’re steering, you’re going to crash. If you’re not present to the content, you can’t guarantee that your child is going to end up at the right destination. So what do you do? You use The One Thing Principle.
The One Thing Principle says this: Use the deep attention focus state to accomplish your most important goals in parenting and educating.
Remember: we are home educators. We are not recreating school. One of the biggest advantages to being at home is the ability to go in-depth when studying or pursuing an interest. With this principle, we can do so guilt-free.
Resources
- Read my blog post on The One Thing Principle
- Join our text messaging service by texting the word POD to 833-947-3684
- Want help getting started with Brave Writer? Head over to bravewriter.com/getting-started
- Sign up for the Brave Writer newsletter to learn about all of the special offers we’re doing in 2022 and you’ll get a free seven-day Writing Blitz guide just for signing up: https://go.bravewriter.com/writing-blitz
Connect with Julie
- Instagram: instagram.com/juliebravewriter
- Twitter: twitter.com/bravewriter
- Facebook: facebook.com/bravewriter
Mechanics & Literature: August 2022
August is ripe with opportunities for adventure, enchantment, and discovery.
This month’s Quill reveals the wonders of wordless picture books. August’s Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang will transport you back in time.
Take a ride on the pages of this month’s stories to visit:
- a medieval setting,
- the mountains of Maine during the Great Depression,
- and boarding school in 1968.
Read all about it as you and your family explore writing mechanics and literary devices in meaningful new ways.
[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!]
Wordless Picture Books
In this Quill we’ll inquire about cover art and discover that books have anatomy; put words into action to develop vocabulary; play with pens and paper to engage with the symbols of writing; wallow in quantities to make numbers meaningful; and go on a shape hunt and have big juicy conversations about the shapes we see and what they mean.
NOTE: You can use any wordless picture books you have in your stacks or find at your library.
Some suggestions:
- Brave Molly by Brooke Boynton-Hughes
- The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee
- Field Trip to the Moon by John Hare
- Flashlight by Lizi Boyd
- The Girl and the Bicycle by Mark Pett
- Hike by Pete Oswald
- I Got it! by David Wiesner
- I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoët
Get the Quill.
The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo
In a time of war, a mysterious child appears at the monastery of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing. Gentle Brother Edik finds the girl, Beatryce, curled in a stall, wracked with fever, coated in dirt and blood, and holding fast to the ear of Answelica the goat. As the monk nurses Beatryce to health, he uncovers her dangerous secret, one that imperils them all—for the king of the land seeks just such a girl, and Brother Edik, who penned the prophecy himself, knows why.
The Literary Device in this Dart is Foreshadowing.
We’ll also:
- marvel at metaphors,
- launch an avalanche of adjectives,
- go on a proper noun scavenger hunt,
- time-travel with verb tense,
- imagine a world without nouns,
- ponder paragraphs, and so much more!
Get the Dart.
Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk
A story for dog lovers—and nature lovers. Our protagonist found more freedom, a new strength, and a love of the natural world after her family lost almost everything in the big financial crash, and moved to the mountains. An accident has left her father in a coma, and she is determined to try anything—even sting him with bees—to get him to wake up!
The Literary Device in this Arrow is Suspense.
We’ll also:
- announce: colons,
- cut to the chase with short paragraphs,
- look up, down, and all around for prepositions,
- have a good, good time playing with repetition,
- talk all about dialogue,
- notice nouns and all that they can do, and so much more!
Get the Arrow.
Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt
Following the death of her closest friend in the summer of 1968, our protagonist goes off to St. Elene’s Preparatory Academy for Girls, where she struggles to navigate the boarding school’s traditions. In a parallel story, a boy has wound up on the Maine coast near St. Elene’s with a pillowcase full of money and a past that has him constantly looking over his shoulder. Both young people gradually dispel their loneliness, finding a way to be hopeful and also finding each other.
In this Boomerang, we’ll:
- probe point of view,
- admire allusions,
- bask in bold writing choices,
- dig into dialogue,
- survey a script,
- wade into worldbuilding, and so much more!
Get the Boomerang.
For ages 15-18, check out the Slingshot.
