A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

Ask yourself: when was the last time you resisted someone’s invitation or expectation?

• What did that feel like?
• Why did you resist?
• What did you wish the other person understood that they didn’t?

Resistance has meaning.

It’s not a character flaw or defect to overcome. It’s meaningful information to understand and take into account as you devise next steps.

It takes patience and understanding to discover new ways to bring an education to your children that they value.

Declarations that your children are obstinate or would never stop playing if you let them are unfair to them. We all want to keep doing what gives us pleasure but we also want to grow! Kids are the same.

Get curious about your child. Over time, the lights will come on for both of you. Trust the process of knowing your child better. It does work…but requires faith and patience and an abundance of goodwill.

Rooting for you!

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

I’ve spent the last 30+ years in the homeschool space actively as a participant and then as a business owner and freelance writer.

Below are both my observations and my experiences within the home education space.

I invite you to reflect rather than respond. Thanks for taking the time to read, pause, and reflect.

• Trauma, historic oppression and the perception of persecution or marginalization of a viewpoint are reasons many parents homeschool.
• Most homeschool communities, as a result, are built from shared beliefs (often religious or decidedly secular). These groups create their sense of safety and purpose through exclusion—excluding those who don’t agree with them.
• Communities or individuals who declare they hold the “truth” rarely change the minds of those outside the group. “Truth declarations” serve the exclusionary practices of ideological communities.
• There are precious few homeschool spaces, conferences, businesses, and thought leaders whose focus is education and critical thinking. Pluralism (coexisting peacefully with those who disagree with you) is not a strong value in the homeschool population, I’m sorry to say.
• Thinking begins with curiosity and questions: How does speaking out bring benefit to my cause? How does it harm my cause? Who is brought in? Who is cast out?
• What would move someone to be open to my different take? What helps me be open to a perspective I don’t want to be true?
• What do I hope to gain if X influencer sides with my viewpoint? What do I lose if that influencer does not side with my viewpoint? Why do I value X person’s assessment?
• In Brave Writer, we welcome anyone dedicated to providing their children with an education. We aren‘t here to teach your family what to think, but how to think.

Ultimately, we must ask:

What is gained for education when we follow a model of agreement and exclusion? What, on the other hand, is lost?

We can’t create space for traditional school subjects to be loved by children until we help them to be meaningful to children.

My sweet friends: the terrifying adventure begins!

What kind of wild line of reasoning did you follow to choose THIS life? The full responsibility for your children’s education? The audacious (self-aggrandizing) belief that YOU were capable of providing this education? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

Homeschooling never matches the fantasy in your head. It’s so frustrating and scary!

That’s because learning at home JUST WON’T SIT STILL! It’s like life has this way of interfering with that Oh So Important Education you would give your darlings at the table in the workbooks if they would STOP LEARNING ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE!

A Meaningful Life Now

Your homeschool will be completely unique because it will be YOUR lives, braided together on an adventure to LEARN—not to get through and get done, not to check boxes (though by all means check some if you need to for your sanity). Our goal is a meaningful life now, not just one we prepare for at a future date.

Lean in, trust the process and know this: every so often, you hit a wall of entropy and have to reinvent your homeschool a little bit. It’ll be okay. That’s how it works!

Hang on to your hats! I’m rooting for you BIG TIME!

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

Education is not a “right or wrong way” proposition. Your drive to not make mistakes will ruin homeschooling for you. It’s totally fine to change your mind regularly about how you create learning opportunities for your kids! And you will—because you’re learning and growing too. Don’t wreck your homeschool trying to solve it. Get curious. Be brave. Try try again.

I met a mom at the National Association of Women’s Business Owners (NAWBO) conference. She’s interested in home education and asked an amazing question: “What was the hardest part of homeschooling?”

I told her it was not the long hours or the endless needs of my kids. What dogs most of us is the worry that there’s a better method, the one that will bring a quality education that our kids will love every day—no complaints, no mistakes.

Not Knowing

Learning to tolerate that feeling of “not knowing” how it will all turn out is the key to making it a good long while.

I told her that you know you’re getting the hang of it when you stop worrying so much about doing it right and lean into simply doing it.

Homeschooling is a grand experiment that allows us to:

• adapt,
• make changes,
• and pivot when needed.

Because of that, sometimes we live with too much uncertainty that feels unnerving.

Remember, home education is a process not a destination. It’s unpredictable and that’s both its beauty and its biggest challenge.

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

Brave Writer Fall Writing Classes

Registration is OPEN!

“In one course he has moved from being my most writing-resistant child
to publicly announcing his love of writing and choosing to do it
in his free time.” -Teresa, Brave Writer parent

Brave Writer® is the leader in online writing classes.

And we are unique in the world of writing instruction.

All of our classes:

• center the parent-child relationship
• last only 3-6 weeks—short deep dives ideal for writing
• operate asynchronously—no fixed time to be online
• feature deep instructor feedback that affirms writers and grows writing
• motivate writers to pursue topics of passion

We’ve taught thousands of students (home and traditionally schooled).

Our team of trained instructors can’t wait to coach your kids…and you!

You can trust us: we’ve worked with every possible kind of student from language-impaired to fluent storyteller to the “I hate writing” variety.

In each case, we unlock the riches of your child’s mind life, helping that particular genius make it to the page. 

Try a class this fall!