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A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

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May Day Sale 2024!

Brave Writer May Day Sale

UPDATE: The sale has expired.

  • Do you have a resistant writer?
  • Have you struggled to teach writing this year? 
  • Do you want a fresh start in language arts next year?
  • Are you new to homeschooling and seeking a writing and language arts program?

Growing Brave Writers is the tool you need no matter where you are in your homeschool journey—kids ages 8–18!

You’ll use these foundational writing practices again and again across the curriculum to teach all of your children!

Brave Writer

It is the ONE purchase to teach them all!

In each chapter of Growing Brave Writers you’ll find:

  • a coaching guide in each chapter that will take you about 3–7 minutes to read
  • a corresponding activity written in a step-by-step format 
  • a checklist for your self-esteem (planners rejoice!)
  • sample narrative sketches to help you assess your child’s progress
  • word banks that provide you with academic language for those sketches and any reporting 
  • samples of the writing activities

Whew! Time savers! 

Brave Writer

May is a super time to jump in!

Either get ready for next year or wrap up this year. We’ve got you!

Need handholding? After purchase, we’ll send monthly emails walking you through the year with Growing Brave Writers! (Yay for support!) 

Need tips now? Check out our blog post on using Growing Brave Writers at the end of the year.

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[Podcast #234] Unfrazzling the Frazzled Homeschooling Mom

Brave Writer Podcast

Today on the Brave Writer podcast we answer a listener’s letter. An excerpt::

My kids craft. All. The. Time. They wake and craft. Hot glue and paper scraps everywhere. Markers and lost lids everywhere. Cardboard everywhere. Currently they’re making some kind of escape room with string strung everywhere like a spider’s web. 

I let them be and I read aloud for an hour or so, so that our morning starts fun. But then I can’t stop them. And the energy it takes me to try and get them to clean up and then refocus on some math or whatever drains me before I can even begin. I do short (no busywork) lessons but even that they balk at because they just wanna do their own thing that they are on a roll with. And they are ALWAYS on a roll!!

The mess stresses me out…I wonder if you have any caring ideas for the frazzled mom. I wish I loved artsy chaos. I am not my best self in it. I’m exhausted with the struggle of trying to keep some order and also do the lessons we need to do.

We’ve all been there: trying to wrangle wild, messy children away from what they’re engrossed in and towards a small lesson or two that needs to be done. It can become a daily grind that frazzles and exhausts you, maybe even making you doubt yourself.

So today we open the podcast listener mailbag and respond to “Molly,” a mom who is looking for ideas to unfrazzle her life.

While it’s natural to feel frazzled sometimes, you shouldn’t have to live in a constant state of frazzlement. We hope our conversation today helps “Molly” and all the other homeschooling families out there.

Show Notes

Big Picture: Your Voice Matters

First, let’s talk big picture: Your needs as a mother matter. While you’re finding the balance between letting the children engage in curiosity-based learning and making sure they’re doing what they need to do in order to keep future doors open, don’t forget your own needs for a functional home and life. 

If your kids are at an appropriate age, you can disclose to them that you are feeling frazzled and why. You can engage them in planning how to make a change. Keep in mind, this is not the same thing as dumping or manipulating their emotions. 

Specifics: The Tactics

There are tactics you can try to manage physical space.

  • Designate certain areas for certain activities.
  • Use bins (lots of bins).
  • Break up cleaning up activities into two separate parts: Picking up and putting away.

There are also tactics for smoother transitions between activities. Give your kids a roadmap of the day so they know ahead of time that there will be transitions. Play music, light a candle, or create some other ritual that shows one time period has ended and a new one is beginning. Use natural transitions like mealtimes to help the process.

Communication is another important tactic. Recognize your children’s emotions, but stay matter-of-fact about the transition. Speaking firmly but with a smile goes a long way. Remember, you are showing your child how to make transitions and changes, a skill they will need for the rest of their lives.

Resources

  • Be like “Molly” and send us your questions! Text us at +1 (833) 947-3684 or email us at [email protected].
  • Start a free trial of CTCmath.com to try the math program that’s sure to grab and keep your child’s attention!
  • Good news: There are enough weeks left to do a writing project with your kids that will leave you feeling confident and accomplished this school year. Sign up for a Brave Writer online writing class. Our classes start every Monday, and each one only lasts three to six weeks. Sign up today!
  • Pre-order a copy of Julie’s new workbook, Becoming a Critical Thinker. 
  • Sign up for our Text Message Pod Ring to get podcast updates and more!

Connect with Julie

  • Instagram: @juliebravewriter
  • Threads: @juliebravewriter
  • Twitter: @bravewriter
  • Facebook: facebook.com/bravewriter

Connect with Melissa

  • Website: melissawiley.com
  • Substack: melissawiley.substack.com
  • Instagram: @melissawileybooks
  • Twitter: @melissawiley

Produced by NOVA Media

Brave Writer Podcast

Posted in Podcasts | Comments Off on [Podcast #234] Unfrazzling the Frazzled Homeschooling Mom

Try It: Concise Colors

Brave Writer Try It

Today’s Try It activity is from the A Rover’s Story Arrow by Jasmine Warga.

Concise Colors!

  1. Grab a big box of crayons, colored pencils, or markers. Or head online to find virtual paint chips!
  2. Walk around the house and search for colorful items. Green walls, a blue couch, a kaleidoscope mug, or even your brown dog would work!
  3. Using your color tools, zero in on the color that best matches your item. 

Perhaps that purple bedroom is violet. The gray cat might be manatee gray, while a red flower in the garden sports shades of vermillion.

Colors are a powerful descriptive writing tool!

Enjoy the color hunt alone, or play with the color words to create a poem or micro-story! 

P.S. Try it activities like this are found in each Dart (8-10), Arrow (11-12), Boomerang (13-14), and Slingshot (15-18)! Grab one of our Literature Singles and invite wordplay into your day! 


The Complete List of Try It Activities


Brave Writer

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Garden Variety Days

Brave Writer

If you have a great day, the temptation is to believe that you should only ever have great days. What makes a day great, however, is the fact that it gets compared to the garden variety days and wins! One key to a better experience of your life is to not overvalue the great days or undervalue the garden variety ones.

It’s not possible to have all great days as a homeschooler. Each time we have a great day, though, it’s as if the bar gets raised and suddenly they all need to be great.

Great days exist in contrast to our garden variety, every day days. That’s what makes them great. You only need a handful a year!

Oh and I should tell you: there will be some really, really rotten days.

They pass too!

So the rule of thumb is: garden variety days punctuated by great days (hurray!) and occasionally ruined by rotten ones. Rinse and repeat. That’s homeschool… it’s also life.


This post is originally from Instagram and @juliebravewriter is my account
so come follow along for more conversations like this one!


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[Podcast #233] Endgame Tips to Finish the Year Strong

Brave Writer Podcast

Springtime often pulls homeschoolers in what can feel like two different directions.

  1. The first is the concern of what needs to be done before the end of the school year.
  2. The second is wanting to play outside.

Today on the Brave Writer podcast, we cover how to unite the two!

We give ideas of how to incorporate formal education with being outside: Measuring the circumference of a tree, practicing spelling while tossing a lacrosse ball, figuring out change at the ice cream store, and more.

But we also cover how spring is a rich time to develop wonder and observational skills in your kids, beyond just formal standards. Field trips, “look for a color” strolls, and even baseball games can help your child appreciate the world around them and develop lifelong passions.

Show Notes

Learning Outside

Sometimes the problem with learning math or spelling is the environment. Especially in springtime, sitting at a table hunched over papers is not ideal for humans of any age. So head outside and do geometry on trees. Use a ball to pepper each other with spelling challenges. Go to the ice cream store and figure out the change owed at the cash register. And don’t forget the magic tool of homeschooling: the trampoline.

Developing Wonder and Passion

Even if you practice year-round homeschooling, spring can offer a natural transition. There are flowers blooming, birds singing, and so, so much to be observed and wondered about. Teaching your child to simply observe and wonder, without the need for immediate answers is critical to their development. Plus, it’s a great time to sneak in field trips while traditional schools are cramming for end-of-year testing!

Homeschooling is about connecting to ourselves so that we can build meaning for ourselves and actually have lives we enjoy living. We’re not just trying to train our children for a future job. We’re trying to build curiosity, depth, and interest in the whole range of wonder that we live around every day. Springtime is a wonderful season to do exactly that.

Resources

  • Check out the Brave Writer Bookshop 
  • Start a free trial of CTCmath.com to try the math program that’s sure to grab and keep your child’s attention!
  • Good news: There are enough weeks left to do a writing project with your kids that will leave you feeling confident and accomplished this school year. Sign up for a Brave Writer online writing class. Our classes start every Monday, and each one only lasts three to six weeks. Sign up today!
  • 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

Connect with Julie

  • Instagram: @juliebravewriter
  • Threads: @juliebravewriter
  • Twitter: @bravewriter
  • Facebook: facebook.com/bravewriter

Connect with Melissa

  • Website: melissawiley.com
  • Substack: melissawiley.substack.com
  • Instagram: @melissawileybooks
  • Twitter: @melissawiley

Produced by NOVA Media

Brave Writer Podcast

Posted in Podcasts | Comments Off on [Podcast #233] Endgame Tips to Finish the Year Strong

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