A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

You know how sometimes you just “foist” your homeschool plans on your kids and then they look “deer-in-the-headlights” instead of thrilled?

For instance, you might be considering a shift in your history program. You’re off stage, doing your research, chatting online, reviewing a variety of theories of instruction and materials. You finally make the agonizing, expensive decision to purchase.

Monday morning comes. You present this new, unfamiliar program over breakfast with a face of enthusiasm: “Ta da!” Your kids? They wilt. All they see is more schoolwork that they have to learn how to do that they don’t yet see as important or interesting.

So what happens?

Your bubble of enthusiasm is immediately popped! You grow a garden of hurt feelings that your children didn’t appreciate all that work you put into making sure they have the exact right, wonderful, interesting program you found for them.

The thing is, though: you didn’t bring them along. They don’t know the hours you spent combing through discussion board archives. They don’t know the sleepless nights wondering how to afford this program. They don’t know how much work it took to convince your partner that this change was going to be worth it.

If you want them to care, prepare them! Dribble it out over time: “I’m noticing that we’re all pretty bored with our history program. I started looking around a bit for a new one. If you were to say what might make history less boring, what would you want to have in a program?” Or you could say, “I found this free download and I wanted you to give me your opinion about how it strikes you.”

When you include your kids a bit in the journey, they are more likely to at least accept the choice you make if not look forward to it!

You can do all of these acts with your kids. There are no extra credit points for surprising them.

Need More Support?

Brave Writer’s Intuitive Homeschool Planning Tool helps you plan for the real child you have and love. You’ll explore your child’s joys, personality, passions, interests, and strengths. The exercises lead you through a unique planning process that keeps the child you love at the center, so your plans are more likely to be effective.

Imagine your child being excited about grammar lessons! Imagine them calling out when they see literary devices “in the wild.” Imagine delightfully playing with punctuation!

Brave Writer’s Dart Collections are designed for 8-10-year-olds, but our programs offers maximum flexibility and can be easily adapted for children ages 5-12 to meet your family’s needs.

Enjoy literature while learning grammar, spelling, punctuation, and reading comprehension with engaging lessons that stick.

Our year-long program is delivered in nine, month-long lesson plans.   

Each handbook features a novel and immerses your child in:

• stories
• literary devices
• grammar
• punctuation
• spelling
• and book club parties

Discover how easy it is to teach writing using literature!

Our program uses the time-tested practices of copywork and dictation as key tools to teach punctuation, spelling, and grammar naturally in context. Don’t worry—we’ll show you how. 

Each handbook contains:

• Notes to go with a selected read-aloud (books can be purchased separately here)
• Four passages taken from the novel for copywork and dictation, one per week
• Easy-to-follow instructions to teach writing elements found in the passages
• Playful and effective grammar and punctuation activities that kids love
• A delightful writing exercise to apply what they have learned 
• Nine comprehension questions
• Book club party ideas
• Copywork passages on separate printable pages
• Skills Tracker and Weekly Planning pages
• Four-color design that looks gorgeous on tablets or printed at home*

The Dart program comes with Guidelines to help you implement the practices of copywork and dictation.

*Brave Writer has entered a partnership with The Homeschool Printing Company! When you print with them, they give you a high-quality printed copy at a low price, and they put you at the front of the line for printing! (USA only) Here’s the special print form for Brave Writer products.

Have you ever been confounded by the way your child or teen sees the world? You have this clear idea: eat your meals, do your schoolwork, save play for once your responsibilities are complete.

Your kids, on the other hand, simply don’t. 

What do you do then?

There’s one school of thought that says kids owe their parents obedience—that they don’t have to like what the parent wants for them, they simply have to do it and learn to agree with it eventually.

There’s another school of thought that says parents shouldn’t force their children to do anything they don’t want to do. Keep your hands off and trust the child.

Did you know there’s a third way? It’s the one I write the most about. It’s possible to both have values and goals for your child while also honoring the unique perspective and needs of your offspring. In fact, this negotiation between what a child values and what you care about is the stuff of parenting. There’s no straight line or easy practice that accomplishes this delicate balance.

Rather, the only path forward in parenting is keeping your attention on having a responsive, warm relationship with your child. You know what that means to your kid? They feel connected when they feel:

• seen,
• heard,
• and known.

They trust you when they can tell you have not just their best interests at heart, but care about the interests they’ve chosen for themselves.

How does this apply to getting math homework done? Take your child seriously. Listen to the resistance or anxiety. Support your child in achieving the task by being that responsive, kind parent who makes facing math less daunting or worrying or upsetting.

Your child will teach you what they need if you have the ears to hear!