Archive for the ‘Podcasts’ Category

[Podcast #267] Natural Learning and the Brain

Brave Writer Podcast

Learning is a natural function of the brain. As teachers, our job is to facilitate that natural function. In today’s Brave Writer podcast episode, we dive into the research around how brains perform learning and the ideal conditions for optimal learning.

We dig into Renata and Geoffrey Caine’s research on the topic, focusing on three key areas:

  1. orchestrated immersion,
  2. relaxed alertness,
  3. and active processing.

We explain how each one works and how to leverage them as homeschooling parents.

This episode is packed with information and ‘lipstick drops’ (you’ll understand after you listen). It will give you tools to create more ‘aha moments’ for you and your learners.

Show Notes

Orchestrated Immersion

Orchestrated Immersion is sometimes known best as the popular ‘strewing’ method. It is when you strategically invite children to approach learning through their own curiosity. For example, Julie leaves bird books and binoculars out when her grandchildren come to visit. She also has her granddaughter help her restock the bird feeders. These items pique her granddaughter’s curiosity and she naturally starts asking questions about birds and the environment. Learning is done best when it organically comes about from real-world contexts.

Relaxed Alertness

Relaxed alertness is the practice of maintaining a highly challenging environment with no pressure. The Caines describe it as ‘a state of mind that combines confidence, competence, and intrinsic motivation in the learner with a low degree of threat.’ It’s an ideal state for learning. In Brave Writer, we stimulate this state by providing motor- and sensory-rich exercises like Keen Observation of an Item. 

Active Processing

Kids (and adults) learn best when they consolidate and internalize information by actively processing it. Kids often get overwhelmed by abstract learning and shut down. The more you can literally put learning in their own hands, the better. For example, baking can be a great exercise in fractions– if something goes wrong, you can taste it! 

The more you can incorporate this research on how the brain works in your homeschooling, the more ‘aha moments’ you and your kids will enjoy. 

Resources

Connect with Julie

Connect with Melissa

Produced by NOVA

Brave Writer Podcast

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[Podcast #266] Julie’s Back!

Brave WRiter Podcast

You may have noticed that Melissa’s been hosting the podcast solo recently. Today we learn why Julie has been absent and what she’s learned while she’s been away.

We talk about Julie’s experience with her mother’s illness, leading Julie to reflect on how her mother created a homeschooling culture for her kids even though they were enrolled in traditional school.

Also, we review how the Brave Writer’s Day Off Conference went and discuss our favorite parts.

Join us as we celebrate Julie’s return!

Show Notes

Homeschooling is about intentional action as parents. That’s why parents of kids who attend traditional school can still provide a homeschooling culture at home for them. That’s also why we should focus on action when we do homeschooling parent development.

Homeschool Culture for Traditionally Schooled Kids

Growing up, Julie went to a traditional school, yet she still considers her mom a kind of “homeschooling parent.” Julie’s mom established a culture of reading in the household. She also put on parties for her kids and their friends to dive deep into enriching topics.

For any parent out there who wishes they were homeschooling, Julie’s mother is a great example that it’s possible, no matter where your kids spend the school day.

Brave Writer’s Day Off Conference

Most conferences are full of a lot of sitting and listening to talks. Not Brave Writer’s. The Brave Writer’s Day Off Conference this year was full of “doing the thing.” They had a snowball fight for narration, practiced reverse dictation, and visited a Shakespeare play.

We know kids learn best by doing, but sometimes we forget adults are the same! As you seek to grow as a parent, remember to pursue what brings you alive and join your kids in finding connections and passion in everything.

Resources

Connect with Julie

Connect with Melissa

Produced by NOVA

Brave Writer Podcast

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[Podcast #265] Celebrating Book Series with Dawn Smith

Brave Writer Podcast

Is there anything better than the warm, magical feeling you get from a good book series?

In today’s podcast episode, Dawn Smith, Brave Writer’s Director of Publishing, joins us to discuss the power of children’s book series.

Dawn Smith
Dawn Smith

We talk about the unique delight of reading a book series, getting immersed in the characters and the world they live in. We also dig into how series help build kids’ confidence through repeat exposure to an author’s writing patterns. 

Tune in to hear some of our favorite book series and the memories they helped us make with our kids.

Show Notes

If you’ve ever seen a kid fall in love with a book series, you’ve witnessed the power of the medium. Kids (and parents) form strong bonds with book series, often embracing them for life. What makes book series so lovable? And what can that teach us about kids’ reading and writing development?

Characters and Setting

Book series often feature a large cast of characters, making it possible for a child to find one they really identify with. Series then allow those characters to deeply develop over time. You can’t help but form relationships with them!

Book series also create detailed settings over time, establishing a familiar reality that readers can easily slip right back into as soon as they open the cover.

These characters and settings create a “joy of returning” that delights children.

Reading and Writing Confidence 

As kids devour a series, they’re exposed to repetitions of vocabulary, grammar, and storytelling patterns. With repetition, kids develop more confidence. Often kids get to a point where they can even identify the repetitions and apply those skills to their own writing. 

There’s an important parent hack when it comes to series: Read the first book in the series aloud with your kids so you can help them more build the characters and settings in their mind. Then unleash them to read the other books in the series on their own, reporting back to you what they’re learning. You’ll spare yourself having to read all 15 books in a series about dragons while still engaging with your kids’ development.

Resources

Connect with Julie

Connect with Melissa

Produced by NOVA

Brave Writer Podcast

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[Podcast #264] Rabbit Trails and Rabbit Holes

Brave Writer Podcast

How can you go beyond the daily grind of lessons to truly enliven your kids’ learning?

In this Brave Writer podcast episode, we go over two methods that you might have already observed pop up naturally in your kids’ lives: rabbit trials and rabbit holes.

  • Does your child jump from one topic to another?
  • Or is your kid super obsessed with one thing?

Both are great! Your child’s natural curiosity is something to be fed, not fought. Join them!

Show Notes

Rabbit Holes

Is your kid super obsessed with something at the moment? That’s great! Feed their “rabbit hole” deep-dive with as much material and curiosity as you can.

One of Melissa’s daughters got super into Ancient Egypt at one point. She could not get enough of it. So Melissa fed her intellectual fire with historical fiction, maps, music, and movies. Waldorf pedagogy and unit study-based curriculums are based on this kind of in-depth approach to learning.

Rabbit Trails

Does your child jump from one related topic to another? That’s great too! They are making connections between how things work via “rabbit trails.”

Melissa’s kids loved bouncing back and forth between viewing constellations with a telescope and reading about the Greek myths for which they are named. That then led them to exploring Google Sky and classic poetry.

As your kids chase what interests them, you can “plan from behind,” chronicling what they’ve discovered and helping them to put all the pieces together about what they are learning.

Resources

Connect with Julie

Connect with Melissa

Produced by NOVA

Brave Writer Podcast

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[Podcast #263] Appreciating Art with Bianca Bosker

Brave Writer Podcast

If you feel like an outsider when it comes to art, you aren’t alone. In fact, as Bianca Bosker explains, there’s a whole gatekeeping system built up around art: who you know, how you dress, what words you use, etc. 

Lucky for us, Bianca spent five years finding a way past the gatekeeping!

Bianca Bosker
Bianca Bosker

In her book, Get the Picture, and in today’s Brave Writer podcast episode, Bianca brings back her findings to the rest of us, teaching us how to better seek out and appreciate art.

If you want to find more beauty and meaning in the visual world around you, this episode will help. Bianca’s frank insightfulness is life-giving.

Show Notes

Gatekeeping System

First of all, Bianca points out, the gatekeeping system is real. It’s not just in your head. During the five years she immersed herself in the art scene, she saw the gatekeeping firsthand: the confusing lexicon, hidden galleries, expectations for clothing and hair, and above all, a disdain for enthusiasm.  

Museums

Paradoxically, there is a ton of great artwork that is free for anyone to see via museums. The only problem is that we might not know how to interact with art in a museum. Bianca says that on average a person only spends 4 to 17 seconds on each work of art at a museum, rushing through to see everything in one visit. She advises we slow down. She suggests spending extensive time with a few pieces, taking the time to notice how we feel in their presence.

Daily Life

Art, of course, doesn’t need to be confined to museums. Bianca speaks extensively about the art mindset that we carry with us. By improving our own visual literacy, learning how to “unsee” our visual assumptions, and creating our own art, we can more deeply engage in beauty and meaning. 

Pursue art boldly. Let it jostle you. Encourage your kids to see art as an adventure. If you need a guide, have Bianca’s book in hand.

Resources

Connect with Julie

Connect with Melissa

Produced by NOVA Media

Brave Writer Podcast

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