Archive for the ‘Email’ Category

Partnership Writing in Action!

Brave Writer Partnership Writing

Who, what, where, when, and why project!

Dear Julie,

I can’t thank you enough for the wonderful products you’ve created and for your continuous support and inspiration! I have learned so much from you!

We have been meeting once a month, since September, for our Brave Writer co-op with four other families. We have four girls doing Partnership Writing and six little ones doing Jot It Down. The main purpose of our gatherings is to provide an audience for one another, but we also play games or do some fun writing activities.

Brave Writer Partnership WritingSo far, all the kids have worked on the same projects every month (each with their own topics, styles, etc.). We’ve also discussed doing “open mic” so the kids can share any other writing they’ve been doing, but we tweak and learn as we go.

Last month our older girls worked on the 5 Ws project from Partnership Writing…who, what, where, when, and why. One of the moms thought it would be fun for them to create a newspaper using their 5 Ws projects. They all got together one afternoon with their completed projects and put together their first issue of “Brave News.” Yes, they came up with the name themselves!

I hope this is not their last issue.

I’ll be in touch soon with what our little ones have been up to!

Hugs!
Patty

Brave Writer Natural Stages of Growth

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A “Why” Child

Seeing the Point

Brave Writer Team:

We started using The Writer’s Jungle, Arrow, Boomerang, and following your blog in November. I thought teaching writing would be easy because I was a natural and prolific writer in school winning numerous contests some of which included publication in anthologies. Our oldest son is very talented with improvisation. He spontaneously conducted a very entertaining interview with our Vizsla.

During Tea Time, he would hold up one of our Shakespeare Sonnet collections and recite what we would believe is Shakespeare just to inform us in the end that he made it all up. However, when it comes to getting it down on paper, he shuts down, I scream, and we both cry. We tried Write Shop, using Dragon Naturally Speaking to eliminate “writing,” and Writing with Skill without success.

We haven’t shed a tear or had a screaming match since starting Brave Writer. He even comments on how much he likes it because he can see the point behind everything we do. He is very much a “why” child.

I believe there was a disconnect between writing for fun and writing for “school” which caused the barriers. We are making progress. [Below is] his first free write that was taken through the process. He is 13 and enjoyed doing this. He even read it to the family during dinner.

Lanika

The Walk

I charge out of the door, tail wagging franticly for my walk. I see new things, sniff new things, and pee on new things. I scurry down the drive way, nails clanking on the concrete, over to the mail box lift my left leg up and release. I walk back to the door and allow my owner to put my leash on my collar. The leash despises me and I despise it. It is like a game of dominance between me and the leash; it tugs while I stay in place trying to observe things.

As we’re walking approaching other dogs, I want to play with them; I run towards them; my leash pulls; my owner tells me to sit. Upset with my owner, I give him the “you’re no fun” look. The dog dashes towards me; his owner pulls him away too. We look at each other – a possible friend gone by.

I continue walking, sniffing, and peeing on where other dogs have been. Smelling the scent of the ducks and birds drives my natural instinct to chase and retrieve.

Tongue hanging, wind hitting my face, and ears waving I sprint after the ducks. They protest with loud quacks and feathers rain down from the fleeing ducks. I come to a screeching halt as my owner stops me – not trusting me to stop on my own. I wasn’t going to go in the water – geez! I turn away, annoyed, walking back head down snorting.

As the sun set, we walk back home glancing at the gleaming water thinking about the walk.

The Writer's Jungle

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“So much more than a Language Arts program”

So much more than a Language Arts program

Julie,

I just finished watching the webinar on Copywork and Dictation and I have to tell you the impact it had on me.

Brave Writer is so much more than a Language Arts program. It surpasses all the parenting coaching I’ve undertaken, all the advice looked to throughout my parenting life from psychologists, teachers, friends, all the workshops on teaching and learning in all areas.

It is indeed, as you say, a lifestyle in loving life and connecting with your children.

My little man is about to turn 11 and he has suffered greatly through the years. Last year he went through a depression, saying things like ‘What’s the point, I may as well kill myself,’ feeling so sad saying he had no friends, no-one liked him, etc. (he has life long friends scattered around but struggled to have everyday relationships with kids his age in educational settings). And he would face the world every day from the perspective that life was dangerous and acted accordingly.

He absolutely refused to go to school in the end and I am finally letting go of the guilt I have carried by listening to the school rather than listening to him.

We have since moved to the Sunshine Coast, live on the beach, started homeschooling (including his little sister aged nearly 8) and with this new focus on connection, presence, time in nature, and ‘letting go’ we are hearing him laugh again, seeing him smile again, witnessing him choose happily his own company over the company of some of the unkind children in the street. And at the same time make new friends.

After watching this webinar, I am moved to tears as I watched you, with such a grounded and joyful energy remind us to follow the path of learning together with our children and seeing it as joyful rather than a task.

I was beginning to put myself under pressure again, thinking I wasn’t doing enough and I know very well when I do that, all the wonderful, whimsical interactions come to grinding halt and the learning stops anyway.

I wish to purchase that webinar to watch it again and again.

My heartfelt thanks to you for putting yourself out there for us all to gain the best perspective in life and parenting. To trust.

Bella

Watch the webinar:
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Copywork and Dictation

Image by Carissa Rogers (cc tinted)

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Creativity Is Contagious

Creativity_is_contagious_background

Hi Julie,

I attended your sessions at the Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers last March, and I came away very inspired. I wanted to drop you a quick note to say thanks for your encouragement in meeting my child where she is at in writing. We casually used (and are using) Jot It Down last year and this year. After the conference, I added into our program a 5 minute free-write once a week. As you talked about in your presentation, my daughter was very resistant. But, I offered to have her dictate to me, and she became more agreeable.

This morning she begged to start working on a story on our home computer, by herself. I’m attaching what she’s written so far. I’m so grateful for your advice in your presentation to not edit her creative work!!!! Thank you!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Her excitement about her creativity in her story is contagious, and, had I not heard you speak, I’m afraid I would have accidentally squashed it by editing her work or by being resistant to helping her spell words as she went.

Without further ado, here is her (un)edited story (she’s 8.5):

Chapter 1

Then I saw it the castle the hunted castle. I opened the doors and saw that frankenstein was down under me. I was scared. I tiptoed past where I can see him. Then there was many other doors in the room. I opened a door and there was ghost! I was scared. The next door I opened there was potions. I saw one potions that gave you a horse! I tried it out. It worked! I got a black painted horse. You can travel with it if you keep the glass bottle with it. I read it of the note by the way. I figure out how to put it in and out of the glass bottle. I put the horse in the glass bottle. Then I went to the next room. It was a jungle! I moved to the next room. It was where you can try your new horse! I got my horse out and went riding. It was so much fun! Once I put my horse back in the glass bottle then I went to the next room and it was a winter wonder land! I played for a while. The next room I went in there was chocolate chips! Big and small!

Thank you again for your guidance,
Renee

Image (cc)

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A tough season

Red tent

An email dialogue with a Brave Writer mom:

Julie,

I feel bad emailing you like this. I know you’re so busy with all of your Brave Writer things and your actual life. I just know that I find so much comfort in your wisdom. I’ve heard you at conferences and chatted with you and I love your book, A Gracious Space. You’re just so encouraging, and your words always make me feel like everything is going to be okay. So right now, when I feel like I want to cry about all of this—kids, homeschooling, mothering, LIFE—I find myself wanting to cry to a complete stranger via email.

Aw. So glad you reached out!

I have four kids—7, 4, 2, and 7 months. My husband works long hours and has a long commute. He travels overseas frequently and our families live on the other side of the country. Basically, I’m on full-fledged duty around the clock, which is fine. I mostly do just fine with making it through the day. But I feel like I’m not giving my kids what they need. For example, my oldest wants to sew ornaments and sell them to make money. She’s a good little sewer, and I want to be able to help her accomplish her goals. But it’s not something she can do entirely on her own (she needs me to thread the needle and fix little knots and other mishaps). That’s no big deal, except that my 4-year-old has things he’s interested in, too. He’s really bright and curious and wants to learn to read, among other things. My 2-year-old is the real trouble. She’s so stinking cute, but she’s a little tornado that doesn’t quit. Ever.

This is a tough, tough season in your life. There are no easy answers because EVERYONE who has children the ages of your kids finds it impossible to come up with any system that actually works. You are in a kind of “happy-survival” mode and must make peace with the fact that the primary way you will overcome this stage is to wait it out (your kids will get older). Two year olds and three year olds have a way of undermining the space because who they are is in this enormous developmental Hurrah! They want what they want and they don’t have the tools yet to do for themselves. So you are all caught in the vortex of the two year old quite legitimately.

She WILL quit eventually but right now it seems like forever.

Confession: I hate reading to my kids. And it’s because when I do, I feel like I’m always yelling over someone (usually the 2-year-old). She wants on my lap, she wants off my lap, back and forth. She doesn’t nap much anymore, and when she does, she ends up staying awake in her room (coming out frequently, of course) until 9:00-10:00 at night, which is a problem on several other levels. The 7-month-old is…well, a baby. She’s super sweet, but she needs a lot from me, too. On top of it all, there’s the house and the laundry and the meals.

Try audio books. They saved my life when I had babies who nursed and hated hearing me read at the same time. You can even ONLY listen in the car when you are driving somewhere and then you don’t even have to read or calm anyone. They will be trapped in the car!

I just feel like there are so many things that I want to do to help my kids grow, but I can’t do any of them, because I’m so busy just keeping our house (barely) functioning. There are so many books I want to read to my older kids, but I only read a teeny tiny fraction of them, because of everything else. We manage to get the absolutely critical things done almost every day (math, copy work, independent reading),

WOW! Good for you. This is exceptional. Be proud of this.

but beyond that, it’s all about survival. My kids love poetry tea time, but we hardly ever do it. We don’t do free writes. We do history sporadically. I long ago decided that lots of outside play and watching Wild Kratts would have to suffice for science.

There you go! Rather than think you “rarely” do freewriting. Think: Yay! We got to freewriting twice this year! Yay! We had one poetry teatime! Yay! We took one field trip! Change your expectations and celebrate your tiny triumphs. Over a childhood, these will grow and repeat and become meaningful in new ways. Right now it seems you will never do any of these big activities with any regularity. But you will… eventually.

What were your days like when your kids were really little? You seem to have done this parenting/homeschooling thing really well—you seem to have enjoyed it, your kids seem to be successful, and you all seem to really like each other, which is what I’m going for over here, so I kind of look to you as my homeschool beacon.

Because they are full grown. I remember so many “squandered” days where all I could do was survive. I have five kids, all two years apart. I was pregnant or nursing for 12 years. Absolutely know your feelings. There were years where we hardly did dictation (for instance). But when I look at the notebooks from those years, we actually got it done 10 times. Ten is a lot! It’s more than I realized at the time, thinking I should have done it every other week for the whole year.

I realized that some years we were more into history than others. That’s just the way the cookie crumbled.

We had weeks where washing diapers and shopping at the store and laundering clothes and cleaning up toys felt like the only things we did. Yet when I looked back I could see that we built with Legos or I helped one learn to knit or I did manage to get to the library or we learned all the words to the songs on the Rafi album or we enjoyed watching Arthur on TV every night before dinner.

Remember that you are also on a learning curve about what works for you. Be good to yourself and trust that all of it will work together to create a vivid happy family life where learning also occurs.

For the older one who needs special help, help her. Keep her up after the baby goes to bed, or get her up extra early before the baby wakes, or promise her the next time the baby naps you’ll help her. You might consider hiring a mother’s helper (since your husband is gone a lot). She could be another homeschool girl or boy who comes for two hours to the house to play with the little ones so you can focus on the older one. This worked for me when I was working freelance as a ghost-writer. I just worked while the helper was downstairs. If they really needed me, I was available. But I didn’t have to supervise so closely.

Thanks for your time,
Adrienne

P.S. Because I feel like a bit of a mooch, emailing you directly for advice, I have to tell you that I am a paying member of the Homeschool Alliance. I don’t go there much, because I don’t have a lot of time, but I aspire to. Anyway, I’ve always thought you were amazing for being so available to so many people, so I’m happy to pay for my access to you. It’s worth it.

You are quite all right writing to me and I’m so glad you are in the Homeschool Alliance. Keep reading there. It will help you! Keep your chin up. You’re doing far more right than you realize.

((((Adrienne))))

Julie

Email is shared with permission

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