Archive for the ‘Email’ Category

Email: Feedback on the Zipline

Brave WriterI sent yesterday’s blog to the Zipline (our free email newsletter for which you can sign up on the home page of the website). In response, I received emails sharing personal stories! Here are two that I thought you all would want to read for yourselves.

Dear Julie,

I just have to comment! The best thing I EVER did in our homeschooling adventure was to permanently shelve all the curricula that “teach real writing”. It happened when my incredibly verbose but extremely “grapho-phobic” (syn. “reluctant writer”) third-grade son just kept on staring at a blank page trying to come up with something to write about “Tom the Thanksgiving Turkey”.

“I don’t care about Tom the Turkey. It’s a stupid assignment.”

Well, do you blame him? Frankly, I didn’t care about Tom either! In fact, I was tired of the tense times associated with writing. So, we shelved it all. Instead, we concentrated on reading, and talking, and letter writing, and more talking, and more reading. At times, he dictated to me what needed to be recorded. I felt a bit negligent, and, on occasion, did look over my shoulder to make sure the Writing Gestapo wasn’t snooping around.

A breath of fresh air blew in when I attended your workshop on Helping the Reluctant Writer. Validation at last! I bought The Writer’s Jungle and have never looked at another writing curriculum since.

Fast-forward seven years…My reluctant writer is as competent with a pen as with his persuasive tongue! Last year, I did purchase the Help for High School, and he worked through it pretty much independently. Since the axiom “think before you speak” has always been important in our home, organizing thoughts on paper for academic writing has not been an issue. I do have to admit, he still doesn’t write for fun. However, what he puts on paper is fun to read (even essays).

Here’s the cherry on top from my now 16-year-old young man. “Mom, I’m glad we did all that Brave Writer stuff. I can just sit down and write whatever I need to write. It’s just no big deal anymore.”

Wonderful, because he is starting college courses this fall. 🙂

Here’s to REAL and ALIVE writing (even essays and reports)!

Victoria

And ironically, the other one I want to post is by another Vicky:

Julie,

I would just like to add my 2 cents in support of what you just wrote. I have 2 boys in college- one at MIT and one at UVa, both homeschooled the whole way. They are obviously very smart guys, and tested well. However, using every writing program under the sun, (except yours), I slowly taught them to hate writing.

My 10 year old was a natural writer, until I started teaching her writing. She was following the road of hating it too. Then I discovered you. For 2 years, I just used your blog and free suggestions. I just recently purchased The Writer’s Jungle and use it loosely. My girl has rediscovered the joy of writing. As a result, she wrote a 20 page research report (4th grade) on carnivorous plants, and a 30 page book utilizing as many words as she had never heard or learned the meaning of, incorporating them into a delightful saga of the adventures of her beloved pets. These were her own ideas, and she would beg to do them. I didn’t need a language arts, vocabulary, or spelling program, or even literature as she would teach all these things herself in her delight with her own writing creations.

I too feel a bit of fear that maybe she is not getting everything she needs but she tests at a college level in language art skills and I suspect the less I intrude upon her natural drive to learn at this point, the better off we all will be.

I cannot emphasize enough that writing programs, good ones, were killing her desire to write.
Thank you from the bottom of my weary 14 years of homeschooling heart.
Blessings,
Vicky

I want to pull out two quotes to highlight them:

I can just sit down and write whatever I need to write. It’s just no big deal anymore.

And:

I cannot emphasize enough that writing programs, good ones, were killing her desire to write.

I always love feedback so if you have more to add, please feel free to share.

Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, Email, General | 1 Comment »

From the Trenches: A Mom’s Experience

One mom's story

The following email was sent to one of our The Writer’s Jungle Online instructors. Both our manual, The Writer’s Jungle  and our online class, The Writer’s Jungle Online, offer the kind of instruction that moves you from writing task master to writing ally and coach. Your kids discover that writing is about conveying what they want to communicate and share with others, not what they are supposed to do to fulfill the demands of a curriculum. (Names have been changed for privacy.)

Dear Rachel,

As I began this class, I lamented how I had ruined my son’s creative process over the years by red penning him to death. That knee-jerk reaction to correct every small thing is a very hard one to overcome and I still need to freeze myself every now and again.

You have shown me your effective technique of “celebrate one small thing.”

And Malcolm has taken off and flourished over the past six weeks. And my sore lip from biting has healed. Thank you.

Over the weekend, Malcolm pulled up some of the long stream-of-consciousness stories he wrote when he was 6 and 7 years old. I showed him some of his assignments from the “dark days of writing” when he was 8 and 9 years old and Mom’s red pen ruled. It was an interesting process to see what he used to write and what he has now written for you.

He is amazed and proud of how much progress he has made.

Interestingly, Malcolm has begun to share his story with friends and one mom thanked me because he has inspired her son to begin writing. You may recall my 7 year-old daughter began her own long story in her journal. Midway through the class, I noticed Malcolm’s bedroom light on late into the evening. One night, I peeked in and he was sitting on his bed, writing in his journal. That used to be something I had to tell him to do. The floodgates have opened and words are rushing past.

My husband is a professional writer (on the side) and has one financial book published and is working on another. I can’t resist using another metaphor here, but taking KWB has had a trickle-down effect for him too. He is finding more time to write because he sees his kids writing instead of spending time on the internet or playing computer games.

Also, because of my husband’s status as the “published author,” I had become very tentative and worried about my efforts to lead our son through the process. How could I do this when I’m not the “professional” in the house?

I’m feeling more confident now, thanks to you.

I CAN be a writing coach and Malcolm is now bumping me off the computer so he can continue his story. I’d say this experience was an unqualified success.

With appreciation,

Jane
(and Malcolm)

The Writer's Jungle Online

Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, BW products, Email | Comments Off on From the Trenches: A Mom’s Experience

Oh no! It’s March and I haven’t taught writing!

I get these kinds of emails starting about now and they run until the end of the school year. Totally understandable. When a subject doesn’t fit your lifestyle or if it presents challenges to either you or your children, it’s much easier to let it slide in favor of the other subjects you tackle confidently and naturally.

Writing tends to be one of the most often dropped subjects. Even if your kids don’t like math, it’s easy to put the math book in front of them every day. But with writing, it doesn’t lend itself to that kind of hands-off routine. Instead you wonder when you will have a block of time without any distractions when you can finally sit down and work on writing.

Well, consider this blog entry the “ding” on your email calendar. It’s time to make time to write.

Don’t fret. This is Brave Writer, remember? I have a few tips to help make it easy on you.

First, block out time for writing (even drop something else you usually do to fit it in). In fact, drop the something you’ve done well all year. Now’s the time to turn the tables and focus on what you haven’t had time to do. There are eight weeks until June. If you can commit to doing the following practices for eight weeks (eight weeks isn’t that long!), you’ll have accomplished the goals you had and will finish with a flourish.

  • Start with copywork. Commit to one entry of copywork per week until June. You’ll have eight weeks of copywork, which means eight carefully copied texts. Much better than zero!
  • On a different day, do dictation. Pick short passages (back issues of the Arrow work great or grab the nearest novel and just pick the opening lines of four chapters… easy peasy).
  • Freewrite on Fridays. (I have many freewriting prompts on this blog.)
  • Pick one freewrite to revise. Take it through the writing process. What that means is, freewrite for, say, three or four weeks and pick one to revise. Block out time to go through the narrowing and expanding steps, the revision and the editing. It will take you a couple of weeks to do the steps so plan to have the revision process occur in May. Skip freewriting during the two revision weeks.

That’s it.

By the end of the year, you’ll have:

  • 8 passages of copywork
  • 8 dictation passages
  • 6 freewrites
  • 1 polished piece of writing that has gone through the writing process.

This schedule is do-able. So go for it! You’re investing in your summer vacation by putting in a bit more energy right at the end of the school year. You’ll go into summer guilt-free. That’s a worthwhile goal, isn’t it? This little writing program is the last sprint to the finish line.

For those who are unclear about the steps for revising/editing, The Writer’s Jungle details the process and supports you in achieving these goals. You may also find that it is the boost you need at the end of the year when new ideas and enthusiasm for homeschooling are waning.

Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, Email, General, Young Writers | Comments Off on Oh no! It’s March and I haven’t taught writing!

Boggle your writer

Anne said:

Julie:
I really appreciate your Brave Writer site. Your words have removed much of my fear and rigidity around teaching writing.

My ten year old daughter and I often play Boggle or Cribbage during mealtime. We sometimes play Boggle cooperatively, just seeing how many words we can jot down together. Lately we have been taking the word lists generated from one or two sessions of Boggle and then writing poems or snippets of a story. Starting with a word list is so much easier than starting with a blank page. When (and if) she grants me permission I will send you a sample of her writing. No guarantees.

Thanks for your site.
Anne

I said:

Thank you Anne!

I’d like to post your suggestion to the blog this week. Would that be all right with you?

Julie

She replied:

Julie-
Posting it would be fine.
Here is a sample of what my daughter, Natalie, wrote from this exercise. Words from the Boggle list are italicized:

“I seek a set of leeks,” said a rabbit.

“To eat?” questioned an ant.

“Yes,” replied the rabbit. “I will eat them to loosen my tooth.”

“Do you think a tooth fairy will take your tooth?” said the ant.

“Of course! But I will need to send a hint.”

“Who is the tooth fairy?” wondered the tiny ant.

“I am,” declared a small, smiling creature in a hood. The tooth fairy disappeared, however there was still a tune in the air.

Thanks.
Anne and Natali

Isn’t this a great idea?

Posted in Activities, Email, General, Writing Exercises, Young Writers | 1 Comment »

The art of narration in learning

The Art of Narration in Learning

My aunt and uncle live in Italy. She’s American; he’s Italian. They have two kids. Their daughter took her exams to complete junior high in June. My aunt sent me the following email that described what exams for that age group look like:

Lara [my cousin] spent between 2 and 4 hours each day for 4 straight days on her essay tests (not multiple choice) in Italian (Composition), English, French and Math (no essay there, obviously!). That was last week. This afternoon she had her orals in Italian (Literature), History, Geography, Art History, Science, Technical Studies, English, French, Music and Physical Education. (No, I’m not kidding around, they actually had to prepare a several-page report on a sport! She chose figure skating.)

She was in the room (with all the teachers for the above subjects and the Exam Committee Officer, who is a teacher from another school, to prevent partiality) for about 30 minutes, but the first 5 were spent discussing the results of the written tests. In addition to separate presentations on specific topics for Art History, P.E., French and English (she brought pictures of our trip to California last year and talked about most of you guys [the relatives]!), she had to prepare one of the topics covered during the last school year from a multi-disciplinary perspective.

She chose the Cold War and its consequences, and trekked through History (dates, people, policies, causes, effects), Geography (characteristics of the Western and Eastern blocks), Literature (passages dealing with the Cold War, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and the Viet Nam War) and Science (the atomic bomb and nuclear energy in general) during her presentation. She wasn’t allowed to read any of this. She could look at an outline, but the content all had to be from memory.

I read this litany of objectives and exams, and headed straight for the bottle of Nyquil (drug of choice when I want to knock myself out and sleep through the pain). Argh! The Cold War?! The freaking Cold War in Italian? Okay, I was a bit loopy from the meds, but it sounds harder to do in Italian… doesn’t it?

I clicked out of that screen, mopped the sweat off my forehead, hyperventilated, and then, in a frenzy of irrationality, yanked children off computers, away from TVs and magazines. I hustled my English-speaking chicks to the kitchen table and downloaded as much Cold War info as I could remember directly into their spongy brains, quizzing them every seven seconds to be sure they were retaining my pearls of educational lecture.

We got through it… that momentary panic, the fear of orange-jumpsuits and police locking me up for scholastic neglect. Once I’d ignored the email for about three months, made a cup of tea and spent more than a panicky fifteen minutes castigating myself in my imagination, I did happen to notice some commonalities between our homeschool and Lara’s more organized, traditional school.

In fact we may be achieving similar results and you may too, without having an exam period. And it may be that our kids are not necessarily versed in the Cold War (though mine are now, thankyouverymuch), but they may be able to give this kind of integration to any number of other interests and studies.

Notice, for instance, how important the art of narration is to the Italian system of evaluation. The examiners are looking for the ability to do the following:

  • to orally retell what the student has learned, as well as to write it. Both of these are forms of narration.
  • to form connections between subject areas. Lara (my niece) had to be able to relate the history of the Cold War to geography, science, technology, and literature.
  • to prepare a field of study. Rather than the examiners creating a test that the student must study for blindly (hoping to guess what material is of most interest to the examiner), the student was expected to use materials read and studied during the year to prepare a narrative that wove together what she had learned. Certainly the examiners may have asked questions that would reveal ignorance, but because the exam was oral, she would have a chance to fill in incomplete detail, to add support to a weak assertion, to follow a trail of questions determined by the examiner in dialog (rather than having to guess it).

Whose style of education does this remind you of? (Now that you can breathe again.)

Charlotte Mason, of course! (She’s the British educator who placed great emphasis on the art of narration through oral and written exams.) Charlotte says that narration ought to be a pleasure to the child and that exams ought to be a chance to reveal what the student knows rather than to expose what a child has not yet mastered.

How can we apply this idea of narrating and mastery to the way our kids learn? In the Brave Writer Lifestyle, we take each area of interest and explore it as far as a child’s interest and enthusiasm carry us. As we do, we provide opportunities to talk and write about those interests (using freewriting, conversations, even presentations if appropriate) to give language to those interests and fields of study.

Narration lets us know that the child is learning, that he or she has taken in information and can now make connections. Some children thrive on conversation while others gear up for a more formal examination. We’ve done both. One year, for fun, I used a tape recorder and in December, right before Christmas, I prepared some open-ended exam questions in four areas: literature, history, math and poetry. The kids got to sit alone with me and tell me in their own words as much as they could about the things we’d studied together while I recorded their answers. To a child, they loved this. It was very gratifying to me at the time as well to listen to them formulate answers, to put things together in a narrative whole. I was repeatedly surprised at which aspects of the topic they retained and how those fit with their overall schema of life.

We’ve also used freewriting as a kind of narration exam. After studying a period of history or a novel, I’ll suggest freewriting all that can be remembered (perhaps with a question to help focus the writing) about that historical period or book. Sometimes that little bit of closure gives both mom and child a lift!

The Homeschool Alliance

Image of girl by EdenPictures (cc flipped, cropped, text added)

Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, Email, Homeschool Advice | 4 Comments »