The Brave Writer Staff is taking time to be with family over the holiday! There won’t be any email correspondence from us between now and the 26th.
Have a wonderful end of the year celebration with your family!
Author Archive
Pre-Order the Brave Learner for Friends!
If you want to give my new book THE BRAVE LEARNER to a friend for the holidays, you can!
Pre-order the book then print this adorable book ornament gift certificate. Your friend will know that your gift is on its way (Feb 5, 2019).
Print it on cardstock to make it stiff or use printer paper and glue it to one of your ornaments, if hanging on a tree. Otherwise pop it in an envelope as a gift + card.
Download your FREE Ornament Gift Certificate
Also when you order the book for a friend and provide her email address, we’ll send pre-order gifts to her directly! All you need to do is:
- enter the receipt number in the form on thebravelearner.com page
- make sure you include your friend’s email address and name (not your own)
We’ll send your friend(s) the two FREE gifts (“Hard Cases: Q&A with Julie” PDF available on publication day and an invitation to the “Brave Learner Book Club” Webinar on Feb 7, 2019) on February 5, 2019.
We’re less than 8 weeks out from publication! Thanks for your enthusiasm!
Brave Learner Conference Details
The Brave Learner Conference
Cincinnati Ohio
Friday, July 19, 2019
Join me for a Full Day of Treats and Deep Diving
into The Brave Learner!
This conference will be a CELEBRATION PARTY EXTRAVAGANZA you won’t want to miss!
I can’t wait to share with you loads of new content, plus surprise guests AND treats just for you. Every detail of this get-together is being planned with YOU in mind.
DETAILS
- BOOKMARK THE WEBSITE and check it regularly for conference details and updates.
- Capacity: 300 attendees
- All Day Conference: July 19, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- Event location: the GLORIOUS Renaissance Hotel in downtown Cincinnati (discounted rooms to stay on site will be available)
- Special brunch with Julie for Homeschool Alliance members on Saturday morning, July 20 at the hotel (additional registration fee includes brunch: $35.00) SOLD OUT
Come for the weekend WITH your family! Join them for the incredible Cincinnati fun you can have together on Saturday and Sunday after the conference!
Or come for the weekend with your two besties and haunt the art museum, take in a Shakespeare play, and view the river from a rooftop bar to celebrate the conference.
The point is: a Friday conference will be wonderful and leave you play and travel time on the weekend.
Register Here
Watch my Facebook LIVE replay for more information!
Psst: Join the Homeschool Alliance if you haven’t already. We’re discussing my book, The Brave Learner, there plus we’ve got special perks at the conference itself available to members only!
Brave Writer Podcast: Finding a Balance in High School with Karen Goldstein
Do you feel burdened by the weight of high school requirements? Do you miss the early days when homeschool felt more enchanted?
If so, then you need to hear this podcast episode! (Psst: and if you’re not there yet—tune in, gather ideas for your future self, and be ahead of the game!)
Today’s guest of honor, Karen, wrote to me saying: “I’m having a difficult time juggling rigorous high school level work and I miss the easy-going lifestyle we enjoyed when my son was younger. How do we find balance in high school?”
This episode covers:
- Helping your teen find the key that turns the lock for an irksome subject.
- Taking a crash course with a topic: high intensity, but finished in a flash!
- Look up from the textbooks: education can be delivered in any packaging.
- The moment your teen’s interest is caught is the moment they are taught.
Karen took my advice into practice & our follow-up conversation is truly inspiring—make sure to stay ‘til the end!
What about balance in high school?
There are four key ideas in the Brave Writer notion of Enchanted Education: Surprise, Mystery, Risk, and Adventure. The former appeal most to younger children, while the latter appeal most to teens.
Education taught by a mother sometimes loses the feeling of adventure for the child. They might not feel challenged, they don’t know how they “stack up,” so trying things like community college courses is a great way to introduce more risk and adventure!
Through adventure, you can allow your child to find the key that turns the lock for an irksome subject. Laser-focusing on one key area of interest will illuminate the educational subject. Don’t worry, the education will be delivered. It just won’t be in the packaging of a textbook.
It’s okay, and even encouraged, to let education through experiences nourish the hard parts of homeschool life. Our job isn’t just providing coursework. We are also helping our kids discover how to be in charge of their own learning odyssey, which will last for the rest of their lives!
Julie’s Advice
- Make lists of the most important things you want him to learn.
- Digest the list, then ignore it – follow what the child is interested in, then return to the list and see what overlapped. If you missed something, that’s the time you can address it.
- If there’s a subject your child isn’t interested in at all, consider doing a crash course. Quick, but with high intensity. In history, for example, study the trajectory of history through aviation, transportation, and telecommunication; ALL of the ways those inventions have affected history.
- Remember: All the stuff we’re teaching in high school they will get again in college, particularly if it’s in their chosen field.
Download the FREE Podcast Transcript
Please post a review on Apple Podcasts for us (here’s a handy guide)?
Help a homeschooler like you find more joy in the journey. Thanks!
January 2019 Movie Club Theme: Transformations
Getting cozy on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn watching movies and counting it as “school” is homeschool at its finest. Grab your teen and your favorite snacks and join us in our first Movie Discussion Club of 2019 (Jan 7—Feb 1). You won’t want to miss this special selection of films.
Discussing movies doesn’t feel like the chore of writing. When we get close to a teen’s passion, the words flow easier. For the teens who love movies, it’s not enough to watch them. They want to rehash the casting choices, the twist in the plot, the unsatisfying ending. Give them a chance to dive deep!
Kick off the new year with discussion about thought-provoking films on the theme of transformation. The big question asked in each of these films set in locations around the world: Given the constraints of the life we are living, is change possible? Join us in this club and discover the filmmakers’ fascinating answers.
Films:
The Breadwinner — Physical transformation. An animated tale set in Afghanistan where an 11-year-old girl takes on the appearance of a boy to support her family.
The Dhamma Brothers — Spiritual transformation. A documentary of what happens to a group of hardened criminals in an Alabama prison when they undertake the grueling 10-day challenge of Vipassana meditation.
Whale Rider — Cultural transformation. Set in New Zealand, an old chief searches desperately for the next leader of the community amongst the boys of the village. He refuses to see that his own granddaughter may be the best choice.
Please Vote for Me — Political transformation. This documentary follows a class of elementary school students in China as they participate in democratic elections to determine who will hold the coveted post of Class Monitor.
Here’s what our students say:
I love the way it doesn’t feel like writing, even though it is! And, instead of just watching the movie, I got to ponder deeper into the movie, versus skimming the surface. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!! —Brian N.
[About the Globetrotters—Iran Movie Club] To me, this was more than a movie club. Through these movies, I have learned not only how Iranian movies are made but also about Iranian history, culture, people, religion, geography, law, human rights issues, and much more. I am positive that I have learned a lot more than I could have ever learned in a geography or social studies class. It was an eye opening experience. I just love the club so much. —Meg I.
Sign Up for Our Online Movie Club
Register for Spring Classes before they’re gone!
Online classes for Spring Semester are filling up quickly—hop on over to our 2019 Spring Class Schedule and sign your kiddo(s) up for their favorite picks before we’re sold out!
Brave Writer classes are designed for the busy homeschooling parent:
- 3-6 weeks in length (accommodating your family calendar).
- Focused on a specific writing task—allowing a deep dive.
- Each coach is a published author AND homeschooler.
- Coaches offer positive, kind, instructive feedback that grows the writing.
