A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

You can’t indulge your children’s outrageous curiosity every day, but you can stay alert to those moments when it would change the entire dynamic of your homeschool.

Sometimes the tedium of a routine deserves to be disrupted by a child’s wild imagination and your participation in it!

“Pay attention to when a child’s ideas irritate you. Could it be that your child is exercising an outrageous imagination? Is the idea too complicated messy or expensive? Are the questions bigger than what you can easily explain?” (The Brave Learner)

I remember one of mine wanting to know the word origins for cuss words—like how did we get them? Why were they bad? Yeah: annoying! But he went on to major in linguistics!

So be on the lookout for your kids’ annoying curiosity, and be open to exploring it with them.

This post was originally shared on Instagram.
Watch the accompanying reel for more.

It’s okay if your child doesn’t love writing.

Kids need lots of freedom to make a slew of mistakes, to practice hooking up the mind with a hand—pencil (or hands—keyboard).

Pressure to produce a report or paragraph or poem is counterproductive when a child hates writing. It would be like teaching a kid to ride a bike by entering them in a biking race!

Start with freedom, support, and practice.

Write with your kids! Create time for practice that goes uncorrected or edited. Let them write freely and without criticism.

Catch your child in the act of narrating and jot down their words to enjoy, share, and celebrate!

And show understanding when they say it’s hard. It IS hard, especially at first. Some of you STILL think it’s hard and you’re in your thirties!

A little grace, lots of practice, freedom for mistakes, and snacking on cookies or apples can do the trick.

I believe in you!

This post was originally shared on Instagram.
Watch the accompanying reel for more.

Kids need to know that their efforts lead to a personally meaningful goal. –The Brave Learner

Not your goals. Not the meaning you ascribe to the topic. Not some distant destination (unless they want that destination).

Your children will invest themselves when they care.

Here are examples of personally meaningful goals in learning. Kids:

• like the subject—it’s intrinsically interesting to them. They may like a subject but hate how it’s taught. Tease that out.
• decide how many problems/sentences/pages to complete and challenge themselves to hit the mark.
• see learning the skill as adjacent to some other meaningful activity—“I want to spell correctly so I can be understood in the gamer chat group.”
• care about college admissions or qualifying for the next level of whatever it is.
• want to fulfill requirements set for them.
• are more interested when they’re in a class with other students.
• just want to know or do or understand the “thing.” They do just enough to satisfy that itch and no more.
• become obsessed with a topic or skill and it becomes a portal for all other learning.
• have a friend/YouTube creator/favorite celebrity who knows how so they want to know how too.

Jot down specific goals that are personally meaningful to your childen. Now support their journey! Provide resources and encouragement. You also might celebrate hitting a goal with a treat, a high five, or an entry into a record book they value.

Give your kids the chance to surprise you. The next time they ask you to look at what they are reading, doing, seeing, STOP—and read, watch, be interested.

Pay attention today.

Notice what your child is doing! Really notice.

Maybe:

• join,
• observe,
• admire,
• smile,
• sigh with relief.

They’ve got this—this growing up thing. How lucky you are in that front row seat! Relax and watch this amazing story (that is your child) unfold. Astonishing!

Go notice!

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

In case you needed reminding.

You’re allowed to change your mind. About anything.

• The plan for the day.
• The program that gave you hope, and fell flat.
• How you parent your kids.
• How you vote.
• The length of your hair.
• Whether or not to shave.
• How clean you keep the kitchen.
• Your diet.

The beauty of being you is that you can choose to become a wiser, more thoughtful, curious, quirky, risk-taking person.

One day you’ll cozy-up to the familiar routine and beliefs, mug of tea in hand. Another day, you’ll walk to the edge of idea-danger where you try on a belief that promises liberation from the old, wooden way of life—yet disrupts what you held onto tightly before.

It’ll be okay.

This is how you grow.

No one has purchase on your mind. It’s yours. It’s beautiful. Get to know it. It’s filled with fascinating thoughts that you deserve to think and explore.

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