A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

Our five-minute weekly podcast for your kids is going strong on Substack!

There are new episodes available and they are FREE (they aren’t always).

The goal is to give your kids actionable steps to take control of their learning experience, to make it more meaningful and delightful to them.

So play a podcast for your kids then give them time to have fun with it.

Monday Morning Meetings

• D.E.A.R.
• Board Games
• The Alphabet
• Table Centerpiece
• Compare and Contrast
• Book Collage
• Holiday Helping

Check out all of the episodes HERE.

Subscribe to Brave Learning on Substack where we chat, discuss, problem-solve, and create together. Here’s what you can expect: weekly themed content, freewriting prompts, and a podcast for kiddos called Monday Morning Meeting! 

While you take a holiday break from homeschooling, your mind may wander to new education ideas for January.

You might:

• mull over a unit study approach for weather while you sip mulled wine.
• wrestle with whether to switch math programs while you slap, smack, and knead the sweet roll dough.
• wonder as you wander through a neighborhood of lights whether you should try that co-op even though you hate driving anywhere in the winter.

Be present for the holiday cheer, but allow your mind to take some of those flights of fancy. It’s OK to try something new in the new year and for it to even fail. You’re learning as much about learning as your kids are. That’s just all part of the ordinary natural process of being a home educating parent.

Also: take some time off from wondering as well. Be present to the giftgiving and the yummy foods and the board games and the puzzles

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!

Recently on Brave Learning…

We’ve been talking about homeschooling through the holidays on Substack!

• 10 Ways to Take Advantage of the Holidays: The holidays are upon us. The tendency is to brace oneself for the onslaught of spending, relatives, too much food, and the pressure to make “perfect memories for the children.” Pause. Appreciate the good you’ve already got going.
• Squeeze Writing into the Holidays: There are so many ways to make writing a natural part of life, but holidays take it up a notch! Here are six tips.
• When They Don’t Get It: All fall, you’ve blissfully gone along planning your days, teaching your children, enjoying the closeness of family learning unaware that anyone outside your four walls would suspect you of inflicting harm or undermining your children’s social skills or academic prowess.
• All They Want for the Holidays: Homeschooling parents are devoted beyond measure. We stay home year round to be with our kids. We do it out of love, out of a commitment to excellence, and relationship. Still, sometimes that commitment looks more like habit and a battle of the wills than the joy of interaction.

Subscribe to Brave Learning on Substack where we chat, discuss, problem-solve, and create together. Here’s what you can expect: weekly themed content, freewriting prompts, and a podcast for kiddos called Monday Morning Meeting (first 6 are free)! 

As you ramp up into holdiay spirit, you might be tempted to put your self esteem in your kids’ hands. If they don’t like the cookies you bake, or seem disappointed in the gift you purchase, or show no interest in a family movie night, you may feel like you’re failing them. Their reaction may bring your spirits down.

Shift the Focus

Concentrate on what makes this holiday season meaningful and twinkly for YOU. Each time you make a plan, make sure you enjoy it and inhabit fully. Let your children’s reactions ride side car. Sometimes they’ll be into it and sometimes they won’t, but it’s not because you didn’t put in enough effort.

Put your energy where it makes your life brighter and merrier. If your kids happen to appreciate the bright and merry with you, that’s a bonus!

By the way: they can also make the holiday bright and merry for themselves. Give them the twinkle lights and the glue gun and the evergreens to decorate as they wish. Turn them loose in the kitchen with your supervision. The more they participate, the more they will feel like the holiday is meaningful to them.

One of my favorite activities as a kid was to wrap each of the stairwell posts in red ribbon. This took a long time at my grandmother‘s house and I have such fond memories of it. Think about ways your children can turn this season into something special that requires their effort rather than just appreciating yours.

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