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A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

Thoughts from my home to yours

Archive for the ‘Brave Writer Lifestyle’ Category

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Calling All Stargirl Fans

Calling Stargirl Fans

Stargirl fans! Grab your ukuleles, Stargirl is coming to the silver screen!

Well, okay—the small screen in your living room, but that’s not nearly as dramatic.

The Stargirl movie will release on Disney+ March 13th!

Tip: Find a friend with Disney+ and have a watch party with your teens.


[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!]


Not a Stargirl fan yet?

Prepare for the movie by reading the book —and dig deeper into the book with the Stargirl Boomerang (literature-based language arts guide)!

Brave Writer mom Christyn shared her experience working through the Stargirl Boomerang with her daughter:

Stargirl was a book and Boomerang selected on a whim, a last-minute addition to our fall semester…and I’m so glad I made that choice. The story of this smart and whimsical homeschooled teenager fit perfectly with our overarching theme of “identity” this year and opened up some poignant conversations, especially when paired with the Think Piece Questions.

My daughter and I both enjoyed the “Try It!” sections: Week One’s playing with metaphors was a favorite.

The Boomerang guided us deep into the book, drawing our attention to figurative language, setting, and dialogue, and a discussion of how the author’s specific choices enhanced the story.

The “Inside Scoop” and “Beyond the Passage” sections added another layer of insight and discussion. To paraphrase from the Week One dictation passage, I was perpetually astonished at the depth of the story that the Boomerang unlocked for us, but I never had to wonder what we might be missing: the Boomerang’s attention to detail covered everything the story had to offer.

We <3 Stargirl — and immediately ordered the sequel, “Love, Stargirl”!

Note: The “Inside Scoop” and “Beyond the Passage” sections were added to the Boomerangs in August 2019. 

Stargirl is a quick read with lots of topics to inspire Big Juicy Conversations with teens!

Grab the Stargirl Boomerang! 


What’s a Boomerang? Read on to learn more!

The Boomerang is your boots-on-the-ground master tour guide, intrepidly leading you through the challenging terrain of high school literature.

Our language arts field guides:

  • Choose a powerful novel to read
  • Select four insightful passages for copywork and dictation
  • Offer expert, easy-to-understand language notes for you and your teen
  • Guide students in literary analysis
  • Plan book club parties so you don’t have to (select issues)!

Boomerangs are available as

  • single issues or
  • a discounted 10 month program which includes a skills tracker, a weekly planner, and access to a private Facebook group for support and training.

Psst: The Boomerang program is also available in our bundles for teens!


Brave Writer Arrow and Boomerang Programs

Posted in Boomerang, Brave Writer Lifestyle, Wednesday Movies | Comments Off on Calling All Stargirl Fans

Be a Light

Be a Light

At the end of my life, I wanted it not said upon my epitaph: “Lo, she successfully laundered thousands of loads of laundry.”

Friends: there’s more to life.

Change the checkboxes.

  • Showed compassion for struggle
  • Experimented with a new approach to learning
  • Discovered what doesn’t work for that one child
  • Gave out hugs like it’s my job
  • Enjoyed poetry
  • Expanded my worldview
  • Paid attention to this single amazing day
  • Folded undies like a Kon Mari folding expert (okay, I slipped one laundry item into the list, but at least try elevating the task just for today!)

You’re a blaze of energy and light in someone’s life. Live like it. Assign credit. Grow.


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


The Brave Learner

Posted in Brave Writer Lifestyle, Julie's Life | Comments Off on Be a Light

Training Tip: Wordplay

Training Tip: Wordplay

Words are the building blocks of our imaginative world.

Think of words like Lego bricks. Before our kids are building the Eiffel Tower out of Lego, they simply investigate the bricks through play. They:

  • take them apart,
  • attach them in new formations,
  • mix and match them. 

Words are the same!

Here’s a training tip to encourage wordplay in your homeschool.

Training Tip: Wordplay

Wordplay is also the perfect preparation for our Arrow (ages 9-12) and Boomerang (ages 13-18) Book Clubs. They offer a virtual living room space–where students gather to freely discuss the novels they read with you at home.

Brave Writer’s online Book Clubs are a great way to homeschool in a busy season. Try our low-intensity, warm and welcoming discussion clubs!


We also invite you to log in to a sample class. Click around, play with our text editor, and read real instructor responses to writing posted in class.


Brave Writer Arrow and Boomerang Book Clubs

Tags: Training Tip
Posted in Arrow, Boomerang, Brave Writer Lifestyle, Words! | Comments Off on Training Tip: Wordplay

Training Tip: Conversation Starters

Training Tip: Conversation Starters

Are your kids participating in a Brave Writer online book club or are you planning your next group Party School based on a recent read aloud?

When kids become used to sharing their ideas on engaging topics at home, they’ll feel more comfortable doing so with others.

So get warmed up for Big Juicy Conversations with this Brave Writer training tip!

If you still find yourself tongue-tied sometimes, use these additional tools for help and support.

More conversation tools:

  • Check out our Brave Writer Lifestyle page
  • Listen to the Big Juicy Conversations podcast
  • For easy reference, download our 2-page Conversation Starters PDF which includes the “Would You Rather?” game!

We provide meaningful and memorable reading experiences in our Brave Writer Book Clubs!

Brave Writer Arrow and Boomerang Book Clubs

Tags: Training Tip
Posted in Brave Writer Lifestyle, Online Classes | Comments Off on Training Tip: Conversation Starters

Get Outside

Get Outside

“Let them once get in touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life. We were meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.” —Charlotte Mason Vol 1, pg 61.

I read these words for the first time in a condo in Orange County CA and felt depressed. Oh, we could identify pill bugs and sparrows, but drought resistant plants and asphalt in every direction under the endless sunny skies did not a naturalist make (in me). Charlotte said to get outside no matter what weather—and all I wanted was one gray day as a reason to stay in—with a fire!

Her challenge stayed with me, though. We began walking in a dry creek bed, we visited horses that lived up the hill from us (discovered accidentally on a stroller outing). We drove in nightmarish LA traffic to the beach and tide pools. We named the trees, the shrubs, and the American crow.

Then we moved to Ohio. Oh. My. Now we had a creek, and more types of birds than we could name or count, trees taller than our house, and the ever-changing weather.

Good thing Charlotte’s words hung in my mind:

Get outside in every temperature,
with appropriate clothing.

So we did. And I still do. Changes how I see the day. Grounds me. Keeps me connected to an older wiser story—that was going on long before I got here and will continue long after I’m gone.

A day gone wrong can be rebooted with gloves, a hat, and a brisk walk.

Bundle ‘em up! Head outside!


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


Brave Writer Lifestyle

Posted in Brave Writer Lifestyle, Julie's Life | Comments Off on Get Outside

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