Podcast: How Brave Writer Does What It Does! with Dawn Smith
When the staff of Brave Writer get together, there is always one ingredient present that isn’t planned for but is nevertheless enjoyed: Laughter. In fact, our meetings often run long, to the annoyance of nobody. This is one of those secret ingredients that makes the work of Brave Writer shine, though you never get to see it—until now.
In my last meeting with Dawn Smith, our head of publishing, I asked out loud “Why aren’t we recording this?” And now, here we are! I want to give you an inside look at what goes on behind the scenes. All the:
- dedication,
- energy,
- philosophy,
- and craft.
Show Notes
How we create our products
A lot of the curricula out there follows a similar formula. Here at Brave Writer we still have benchmarks we want to hit, and we format things in a way that provides predictability and recognition, but it’s also unique among many of the other offerings out there.
For every literature guide, a tracker is used to make sure key concepts such as parts of speech and punctuation, are covered throughout the year. This way we can have a lot of freedom while also ensuring that we are meeting specific needs.
The workbook methodology many home school programs follow runs the danger of leaning too much into an information-oriented line of teaching. The problem with that is information does not lead to education; Experience does. Each program is designed to go walk students through conveying an idea through stories and characters they can connect with. Then we guide them to understanding why these techniques work.
At times, the approach can seem slow. Yet it builds a strong foundation that, over time, leads to competent writing and vocabulary skills.
Can someone who isn’t good at writing teach writing?
The goal is to create educators who feel confident enough to teach writing, not to simply supervise the curriculum that teaches writing. But what if you don’t feel confident as a writer?
We believe that anyone can teach writing. Our product is a communication with you. It gives you the tools to communicate naturally with your child about writing. In fact, many educators get such an understanding of the concepts that when they teach, our program is nowhere to be seen.
Now I hope it’s clear the amount of heart, imagination, care, and creativity that we put into our products. These are not just templates that anyone could throw together off of Wikipedia. These are personally-created products with a philosophy of teaching that leads to understanding that is as much for the parent or educator as it is for the student. If you are a parent that wants to be a part of your child’s education, this is the program for you.
Resources
- Sign up for Text Message Pod Ring: 1 (833) 947-3684 and text the word POD
- Want help getting started with Brave Writer? Head over to bravewriter.com/getting-started
- If you have any questions, reach out to [email protected] and our team will get back to you!
- 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: http://go.bravewriter.com/writing-blitz
Connect with Julie
- Instagram: instagram.com/juliebravewriter
- Twitter: twitter.com/bravewriter
- Facebook: facebook.com/bravewriter
