Author Archive

Homeschooling Teens: Essay Writing and Academic Standards

Brave Writer

Around here, we love snuggling up with blankets and books, building forts, pouring tea, and fingerpainting. But your teen needs more than homemade cookies and read-alouds to thrive academically. 

Scary thought?

Deep breath. 

Brave Writer online classes offer warm fuzzies and MORE. Each class is designed to meet Common Core and academic standards. And among those classes, we offer both Essay Prep and Essay Writing courses. Check them out below.

Essay Prep

Essay Writing: First Year

Essay Writing: Second Year

Essay Writing: Third Year

Brave Writer Online Classes

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[Podcast #330] Board Games: Let Them Do the Teaching!

Brave Writer Podcast

What if the best critical thinking curriculum is already in your closet?

This week on the Brave Writer podcast, we explore why board games and card games do more than pass the time. From Monopoly and Settlers of Catan to Quiddler, Pandemic, and even Operation, we unpack how games build patience, strategy, communication skills, resource management, and flexible thinking—all through play.

We share personal stories, favorite family games, and one powerful rule: when your child asks to play, say yes.

Ready to rethink learning? Pull out a game tonight and let it do the teaching.

Show Notes

When we think about education, we often picture curriculum guides, lesson plans, and carefully sequenced objectives. But what if one of the most powerful learning tools has been sitting on your shelf all along?

  • Board games.
  • Card games.
  • Dice games.

Games invite children into what philosopher Bernard Suits called “the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.” And that voluntary part matters. When a child chooses to play, they are already invested. They care. And caring is the gateway to thinking well.

Relaxed Alertness Is the Sweet Spot

In The Brave Learner, we talk about the brain state known as relaxed alertness—a combination of pleasure and meaningful risk. Games create exactly that condition. There’s enough challenge to matter. Enough uncertainty to spark curiosity. Enough safety to try again.

Children learn patience when they wait their turn. They learn deeper patience when they struggle through confusing rules. They learn resilience when they lose and try again.

And here’s the secret: they don’t experience it as “character training.” They experience it as play.

Academic Skills Hide in Plain Sight

Consider Monopoly. Yes, it can be long. Yes, feelings may flare. But it quietly teaches skip counting, making change, budgeting, and resource management.

  • Settlers of Catan introduces strategic allocation and trade.
  • Scrabble builds vocabulary and pattern recognition.
  • Quiddler strengthens spelling awareness.
  • Prime Climb makes prime numbers intuitive.
  • Operation develops fine motor control and body awareness.
  • Mousetrap introduces iteration and engineering logic—especially if you test each step as you build.

Even a simple score sheet in Yahtzee reinforces arithmetic and pencil fluency.

We search endlessly for engaging curriculum. Meanwhile, game designers have already done the hard work of making learning irresistible.

Explore, Explain, Experiment

When you bring home a new game, consider three phases:

  • Explore. Open the box. Examine the pieces. Look at the artwork. Estimate how long learning it will take.
  • Explain. Let one child read and interpret the rules. This builds communication skills and empathy. The explainer needs grace. The listeners need curiosity.
  • Experiment. Play a practice round. Break the rules on purpose. Test edge cases. See what happens. Lower the stakes so learning can rise.

That experimentation step is often skipped. Don’t skip it.

Competitive and Cooperative

Some games pit players against each other. Others, like Pandemic, unite players against the game itself. Both are valuable.

Competitive games teach strategy and sportsmanship. They also teach negotiation, shared problem-solving, and collective victory.

Your family can benefit from both.

The Most Important Rule

Years ago, we heard a simple piece of advice: Whenever a child asks to play a game, drop everything and play.

We tried it. It changed our families.

When children invite us into play, they are inviting connection. They are ready for the lesson. If we delay too often, they eventually stop asking.

Games teach content. They teach skills. But more than that, they build relationship. And relationship is where real learning thrives.

Tonight, instead of adding one more worksheet, pull out a deck of cards.

Let the game do the teaching.

Resources

Connect with Julie

Connect with Melissa

Produced by NOVA

Brave Writer Podcast

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The Kind of Writing AI Can Never Reproduce

Brave Writer

They say writing as a job will be eliminated by AI. Weirdly, I agree.

The kind of writing being replaced by AI is the kind of writing most writing curricula teach.

And that’s the problem.

When schools and homeschool programs teach writing by format, they admit that writing can be reproduced by a machine easily.

You know what kind of writing AI can never reproduce? Your:

  • original thinking,
  • ideas,
  • insights,
  • and beliefs.

Humanity First

Kids need help finding those words and thoughts that live inside them first! Their writing starts with their humanity, not structure.

AI is great at the machinery of writing.

But we humans will always be better at being our original selves.

We teach WRITERS, not writing. We would for love you to try the Brave Writer difference! Growing Brave Writers is our best program to grow a writer.

Growing Brave Writers

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Why Should You Include Your Child’s Misspelled Words in the Baby Book?

Brave Writer

When we teach kids to speak, we’re so nice. We take all their misspoken words and laugh delightedly and jot them down in the baby book. We treat thise words like sacred text and family lore— like the risky adorable self expression that they are!

Why don’t we do the same thing when our kids are first learning to write? Why aren’t we thrilled at their attempts to spell?

Your youngster is not a bad speller.

Your child is inventing written language to represent the firehose of words and ideas that they can say easily. Spelling lags behind oral speech because writing is harder. But it requires the same opportunity for risk and support.

What was your child’s first spoken word? Do you remember how proud you were?

Do you remember one of the first words your child tried to write that they misspelled? Can you see it now with delight?

For more support, Growing Brave Writers helps parents teach their kids to write following a natural developmental process.

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[Podcast #329] Accidental vs. On-Purpose Learning

Brave Writer Podcast

Are you wondering if you’ve done “enough” this year? What if the real question isn’t about subjects completed—but about the atmosphere you’re creating?

Melissa developed a simple framework to help her notice what was filling her children’s days. She called it the “Rule of Six”:

  1. Living Books
  2. Encounters with Beauty
  3. Meaningful Work
  4. Imaginative Play
  5. Big Ideas to Ponder and Discuss
  6. Reflection

This week on the Brave Writer podcast, we revisit this concept as a method of filling our children’s days with living books, beauty, meaningful work, imaginative play, big ideas, and reflection. From accidental learning to on-purpose instruction, we explore how to balance immersion with explicit teaching—so our kids gain both joy and skill.

If you’re feeling that mid-year wobble, this conversation will help you notice what’s thriving, what’s missing, and how to move forward with clarity.

Show Notes

In homeschooling, we often feel pulled between two extremes. On one side, there’s the belief that if children are immersed in rich experiences, learning will unfold naturally. On the other, there’s pressure to replicate school at home—complete with structured lessons and measurable outcomes. The tension between those poles can leave us wondering: Are we doing enough?

Over the years, we’ve come to appreciate a both/and approach.

The Rule of Six: A Framework for a Full Life

Melissa developed what she calls the “Rule of Six” as a way to notice what was shaping her children’s days. It wasn’t a schedule. It wasn’t a curriculum. It was a way of life.

Here are the six elements:

  1. Living Books: Books written by real authors with passion and depth—not dry, committee-written textbooks.
  2. Encounters with Beauty: Art on the walls. Music in the background. Time in nature. Beauty as a daily companion.
  3. Meaningful Work: Work that matters. Caring for the home. Building academic skills. Effort that carries purpose, not just activity.
  4. Imaginative Play: Forts. Backyard soccer. Dress-up. Creative immersion. Space to explore without constant direction.
  5. Big Ideas to Ponder and Discuss: Narration. Conversation. Reflecting on books, experiences, and questions. Talking through what we’re learning.
  6. Reflection: Ending the day with gratitude, prayer, or simple review. Noticing where those other five elements showed up.

This list isn’t meant to create pressure. It’s a tool for noticing. If something feels thin, we can lean into it. If something is thriving, we can celebrate it.

Children Are Always Learning

Children absorb math through board games. They build vocabulary through read-alouds. They develop historical understanding through novels and documentaries. This kind of accidental learning is powerful. It grows out of curiosity, connection, and lived experience.

But some skills do not reliably emerge on their own.

No child accidentally masters long division. Most don’t spontaneously understand revision in writing. Learning to play the cello—or to write a cohesive essay—requires intentional guidance.

The key is not rigid schooling. The key is appropriate support.

Immersion First, Then Instruction

We like to think of it this way: immersion first, then instruction.

When children are saturated in a subject—reading myths, visiting museums, watching films—they eventually want to create something of their own. That’s the moment to offer tools. Show them how structure works. Demonstrate revision. Model technique.

Instruction lands when it has somewhere to land.

Explicit Teaching Without Crushing Courage

Explicit instruction doesn’t have to feel harsh or evaluative.

In writing, we begin with free writing to build fluency. Later, we introduce revision as a craft—moving sentences around, experimenting with order, expanding ideas. These low-stakes strategies build skill without undermining confidence.

The same principle applies everywhere. Appetite makes effort meaningful.

What Is the Goal?

At the heart of this balance is a simple question: What is the goal?

If the goal is merely to check boxes, we miss the deeper opportunity. But if the goal is to build skill, understanding, and agency—so that children can continue growing independently—then both immersion and instruction have their place.

As you reflect on your year, consider this: Where has learning unfolded naturally? Where might a bit of intentional teaching unlock growth?

You don’t have to choose between freedom and focus. The real work of homeschooling lives in the rhythm between the two.

Resources

Connect with Julie

Connect with Melissa

Produced by NOVA

Brave Writer Podcast

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