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Archive for May, 2023
Podcast: How to Have a Drama-Free Family Life with Nedra Tawwab
Are you struggling with family drama and looking for ways to create a more harmonious home environment? You’re not alone!
We recently sat down with Nedra Tawwab, a licensed therapist and New York Times bestselling author of “Set Boundaries, Find Peace” and “Drama Free,” who shared valuable insights and advice on:
- setting boundaries,
- navigating relationships,
- and maintaining a peaceful family life.
As a seasoned expert in managing personal and family relationships, Nedra offers practical guidance on dealing with personal pain, estrangement, and the importance of preserving the integrity of a child’s experience in a drama-free environment.
Show Notes
Embrace Boundaries and Assertiveness
Setting boundaries is essential in maintaining healthy relationships and achieving a drama-free life. Boundaries can be flexible and change over time, and it’s important to recognize the difference between a boundary and a punishment. When it comes to assertiveness, it’s crucial to communicate your needs and express your boundaries, even if it feels uncomfortable. Remember, being assertive is not the same as being rude.
Preserving the Integrity of Childhood
Parents often face challenges when dealing with their own emotional issues while trying to maintain a child’s sacred childhood. It’s important to allow children to enjoy their young years without burdening them with adult responsibilities or emotions. Furthermore, parents should acknowledge their mistakes and apologize to their children, modeling how to handle emotions and paving the way for better parenting. This practice, called “living amends,” helps parents demonstrate growth and change through their actions, which can heal past hurts.
Dealing with Personal Pain and Estrangement
Dr. Tawwab highlights the importance of allowing people to experience their pain for as long as they need to, without pressuring them to move on or forgive. Forgiveness is not a requirement for moving forward in life, and everyone’s experience and relationships are unique. When it comes to estrangement within families, it’s essential to respect and accept the boundaries others have set for themselves. Sometimes, people leave relationships not to punish others but to find peace.
To minimize drama in relationships, it’s crucial to consider one’s own role in creating or allowing it to persist. By changing how you engage with others, you can maintain healthy relationships with those who may not change themselves. Embracing boundaries, preserving the integrity of childhood, and dealing with personal pain and estrangement are key strategies to create a more fulfilling and drama-free homeschooling experience for both you and your children.
Resources
- Learn more at nedratawwab.com
- Follow @nedratawwab on Instagram
- Read: Drama Free
- Read: Set Boundaries, Find Peace
- The Set Boundaries Workbook
- Sign up for our Text Message Pod Ring to get podcast updates and more!
- Send us podcast topic ideas by texting us: +1 (833) 947-3684
- Want help getting started with Brave Writer? Go 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
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2023-2024 Book Reveal Dates!
Looking for our 2024-2025 Book Reveal?
Register HERE!
Each June, I announce the line ups for our wildly popular literature programs!
For the Quill (5-7), I reveal the themes that help us pick our picture books.
For the Dart (8-10), Arrow (11-12), Boomerang (13-14), and Slingshot (15-18), I announce the newly selected book titles for the coming academic year!
2023-2024 Book Reveal Replays!
For kids ages 5-10: Watch the REPLAY.
For kids ages 11-18: Watch the REPLAY
The Programs
Our Mechanics & Literature programs teach:
- grammar,
- punctuation,
- literary devices,
- and more through living literature!
The big reveal is also exciting for you because these are:
- books your family will read aloud together and treasure all year
- books that naturally teach all the stuff you worry about! (See above!)
Selecting the Books
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, poetry, nonfiction, historical fiction and the 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.
Mechanics & Literature: May 2023
May’s Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang selections feature imaginative plots and endearing protagonists embarking on big adventures. Enjoy cuddles on the couch while exploring the writing, mechanics, and literary devices that shine throughout these stories.
This month’s Quill will get your kids moving! The world of sports is the perfect place to play as your family:
- reads picture books,
- writes on a variety of surfaces,
- and explores numbers together!
[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!]
Spectacular Sports
Ready, set, go! It’s time to race on into a new issue of the Quill! The last of this school year!
In this Quill we’ll play a game of Name That Team; rack up vocabulary points with a look at sports-themed words and phrases; author the MVP of ABC books; discover dots, lines, and dashes—the building blocks of writing—all over the playing field; skip-count our way to a winning score; and take a second look (get it?) at the many ways time is tracked in athletic events!
Note: You can use any sports picture books you have in your stacks or find at your library.
Some suggestions:
- The Field by Baptiste Paul, illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara
- Good Sports: Rhymes About Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More by Jake Prelutsky, illustrated by Chris Raschka
- Take Me Out to the Yakyu by Aaron Meshon
- The Quickest Kid in Clarksville by Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Frank Morrison
- Anybody’s Game: Kathryn Johnston, the First Girl to Play Little League Baseball by Heather Lang, illustrated by Cecilia Puglesi
- Swish! The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Don Tate
Get the Quill.
Wilderlore: The Accidental Apprentice by Amanda Foody
Adventure, epic wordbuilding, and an endearing protagonist make for a light-hearted fantasy the whole family can enjoy.
This month’s literary device is setting. A good book transports us to wondrous new places. We’ll find out how when we delve into dynamic descriptions of landscapes, time, and habitats, to see how such details, woven together, carry readers to a whole new world!
We’ll also:
- take a look at a closing hook,
- wonder about word order,
- admire the awesome powers of adjectives,
- delight in descriptive language,
- hold a scavenger hunt for plural nouns,
- tickle our ears with assonance; and so much more!
Get the Dart.
Pages and Co.: The Bookwanderers by Anna James
Join Tilly, our spirited protagonist, and wander through the pages of beloved childhood classics, engaging with curious characters along the way!
May’s literary device is setting. We’ll step into Tilly’s wondrous world to experience the ways time and location provide vivid backdrops for spectacular scenes and stories.
We’ll also:
- linger over lists,
- see how similes make comparisons as easy as ABC,
- finesse fancy fonts and lines,
- organize with alphabetical order,
- parade with plurals,
- magnify meaning with metaphors; and so much more!
Content note: Parents may wish to preview this book before sharing it with their children. Although this lighthearted story features a happy ending, through fantastical circumstances, Tilly’s parents disappear and her dad is thought to have died. Additionally, this story references bookish magic.
Get the Arrow.
A Snake Falls to the Earth by Darcie Little Badger
Join Nina, our story’s protagonist. She believes in the old stories of the Lipan Apache storytellers, and she’s ready to share them with you!
In this Boomerang, we’ll:
- look at point of view and foreshadowing;
- get inspired by Indigenous Futurisms;
- tap into the art of writing about screens;
- learn about reading laterally for research;
- consider how an antagonist creates conflict;
- deal with dialogue and talk text exchanges;
- cross-fertilize fantasy with science;
- see how sci-fi keeps up with the times;
- read between the lines with symbolism;
- watch world collide with parallels; and so much more.
A note about content: A Snake Falls to Earth is a modern fantasy story that centers around family, friendship, loyalty, and courage. It also deals with potentially charged topics. You, as the parent, can decide if this book is right for your family and how you want to engage in the discourse this book might spark. We encourage parents to read ahead in order to be prepared for deep conversations with teens.
Get the Boomerang.
For ages 15-18, check out the Slingshot.
