A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

The third Brave Writer precept is: Our practice is flexible—guided by a child’s curiosity, a parent’s broader knowledge of the world, and the unique opportunities that come our way.

When I thought about what creates momemtum in a home oriented to learning, I realized there were core principles that are common to the families that are experiencing the most joy and peace. I’ve written them into 12 Precepts (a nod to the 12 steps).

Take a look at past precepts here.

Our kids have an insatiable curiosity as they come into the world. They can’t know all the possibilities that await them. That’s where your bigger view helps expand their world! Create the richness that keeps their curiosity blooming with things like:

• Quality books
• Introductions to experts (like astronomers or guitar players or farmers)
• Excursions to historic sites

And thinking of good books, we’ve got a slew of ideas to guide you in our literature handbooks. This is a completely original program meant to create a vibrant leaning experience for you and your kids.

Here’s to expanding your child’s curiosity with your broader knowledge of the world!

Brave Writer’s 12 Precepts

The second Brave Writer precept is: We are a family of learners—parents and children—making progress each at our own pace.

Our kids each learn at their own pace, in their own ways. Home accommodates their unique needs so easily, when we lean into it.

What many parents discover is what I call the “secret agenda” of homeschooling. As you teach your children, you discover the holes in your own education!

The family, then, becomes a learning community. We may start for our kids, but many times we continue because we fall in love with learning all over again (or maybe even for the first time!).

The Homeschool Journey

To begin a homeschool journey is simple:

• Let the authorities in your state know (if required) that you are withdrawing your children from school
• Find a supportive community (Brave Learner Home is one we offer—over 13K members!)
• Read The Brave Learner (to orient you)
• Pick one subject to learn how to teach (for instance, Growing Brave Writers)

Then with your kids (sprinkle these throughout the month):

• Read aloud a chapter book or picture books each day
• Visit the library and have your kids pick a variety of books (both fiction and nonfiction) to explore other subjects
• Have BIG, juicy conversations
• Play board games
• Walk in nature
• Make crafts
• Watch movies
• Sip tea and read poetry

This is all you need to do during the first month.

That’s it.

You can use the rest of the time you are free to do some research for curricula that satisfies some of the objectives you determine for your kids.

De-School First

You don’t have to spin all the plates on day one! In fact, please don’t! Enjoy your children and follow the rabbit trails that interest you.

If you are pondering whether or not to take the leap, it’s helpful to remember: you can always undo your choice.

Brave Writer’s 12 Precepts

I’ll be sharing Brave Writer’s 12 Precepts over the next weeks and will list them here as they’re posted individually on the blog.

These concepts enable homeschool parents to find their way to:

• joy,
• peace,
• and progress.

The 12 Precepts

Click on the precept number for more thoughts.

#1: Our home is a home—a place of loving and learning—not a school.

#2: We are a family of learners—parents and children—making progress each at our own pace.

#3: Our practice is flexible—guided by a child’s curiosity, a parent’s broader knowledge of the world, and the unique opportunities that come our way.

#4: We plan ahead or we plan from behind, whichever serves in the moment.

#5: We coordinate academics with our children’s delights, passions, and skills. We are the seekers and finders of everyday magic.

#6: We take risks and experiment with methods, knowing we can double back any time to sure footing.

#7: Our life together is protected by our commitment to honesty, to emotional safety, to loving each other, and to creative problem-solving.

#8: We acknowledge challenges and face them bravely. We reach out to others, knowing that help helps.

#9: Our allegiance is to what’s right for our family, not any one homeschool method, community, or model.

#10: We will come to know ourselves better as educators, parents, and awesome adults!

#11: Our children experience their achievements as personally meaningful.

#12: We affirm that a good enough homeschool is one where our family chooses to see all of life as an opportunity for an education—whether we homeschool to the end, or include traditional schooling in that journey.

The first Brave Writer precept is: Our home is a home—a place of loving and learning—not a school.

Lots of parents ask me how to leave school and embrace a life of learning with their children at home. My mission inside Brave Writer (my company that teaches writing, language arts, literature, and how to homeschool) is to support parents of any kind who choose to invest deeply in their children’s education.

Homeschoolers invest by staying home with their children and providing the primary instruction for the school subjects.

Some people see homeschooling as what I call “School to Table.” They take the textbooks and worksheets of school and implement a schedule that looks like a classroom.

Recast Learning

That said, homeschool offers an opportunity to recast learning into a vibrant, self-paced adventure that the family shares.

My book, The Brave Learner, is a great starting point for envisioning a different way of life for learning (whether you homeschool full time or simply invest deeply in your child’s education after school). Ironically, the brave learner in my book is YOU—the parent—learning how to provide the best context and most joyful approach to learning.

Becoming a Brave Learner requires a paradigm shift—

• to find your footing,
• to grow your practice,
• and to feel comfortable in your own skin as a home educator.

So I’ll be sharing Brave Writer’s 12 precepts over the next weeks. These concepts enable homeschool parents to find their way to joy, peace, and progress.

These are not merely pretty words. Save them in a file and read them over morning coffee or tea as a meditation.

Allow them to:

• ground,
• orient,
• and guide you.

Try them as personal copywork. And let your homeschool-curious friends know!

Brave Writer’s 12 Precepts

Homeschooling is more than an education for kids. It’s a life-practice. It’s a path, a way, a philosophy of living that guides, well, everything while you are living a homeschool life.

What would happen if we stopped seeing learning as confined to “school hours”? What if all of a child’s life could be celebrated as the laboratory for learning?

In fact, even if you don’t homeschool or aren’t any longer, education can continue to be a way of life rather than something “done to your kids” six hours a day away from home.

When I call homeschooling a life-practice, a path, a way—I mean that we, the adults, remain curious about who our kids are becoming. We keep bringing our attention to the whole person who is learning EVERYTHING all the time.

We don’t divide how they are doing into:

• “They’re fine academically, but socially awkward.”
• “She’s bad at math, but loves writing.”
• “He’s obsessed with video games so I’m going to put him in soccer.”
• “Homework always comes first.”
• “I wish my child would read better books, not comics.”

All of Life Teaches

Education as a whole life means that we’re as curious about a child’s fascination with cooking as we are supportive of their struggle with multiplication. Once we see the struggle and we identify the joy, we look for ways to bring those two together—where is this difficult lesson, concept, idea a part of this child’s real life? How can we bring them together to make meaning, to help connect the dots between abstract lessons and hands-on learning?

• We see helping a child learn to make friends as valuable—as important as learning to read.
• We take time off of a difficult subject in order to shore up the child’s confidence in their strengths before returning to it.
• We notice that tonight, our youngest child is whiny at bedtime—and then recall that this child got the least amount of conversation, eye contact, and attention today. So we come alongside this child to talk, to listen, to connect.

Homeschooling, education as a way of life means: ALL of life teaches. Our only task is to slide into that slipstream, notice where our kids are, and meet them there.

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