A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

This is a pinch-me moment!

It took decades of researching, writing, and editing to be standing on the precipice of my book launch. RAISING CRITICAL THINKERS is now officially available to pre-order!

I am thrilled to unleash this project into the world and stimulate a conversation on how we read and discern information – a theme on top of everyone’s minds – and social media feeds. 

Tune in to the Brave Writer Podcast as I share why Raising Critical Thinkers will nourish future generations of worldly, passionate, and thoughtful learners. Plus: the key dates to put in your calendar to take this community and conversation further. 

Listen to the Podcast

Show Notes

The Era of Information Overload.

Discerning fact and fiction from information sources has become an exhausting, emotionally charged task for adults navigating an overstimulated world. For parents, there is an additional concern for their children, with a world of perspectives and voices in their hands (often unsupervised), and no concrete guidance on evaluating sources with a critical mind. In my book, I want to facilitate healthy conversations that encourage children to independently strengthen their moral and ethical compass to grow into educated adults who have solid foundations to interact with the world, both on and off-screen. 

Interpreting History 

Nowadays, history is different from what I read and studied in college. Most of what I’ve encountered while homeschooling my children have been books with thinly veiled perspectives. As a collective, we’ve shifted away from understanding history to mastering content (dates, times, people, places, and chronology) filtered through the writer’s lens to then regurgitate to our children. As I have sharpened my educational mindset, I could see why thinking is the fundamental pillar in education, and it’s our job as parents to endow children with the tools and insight to deconstruct, debate and question the validity of perspectives.

Help Promote Raising Critical Thinkers

• Visit raisingcriticalthinkers.com where you can pre-order your copy from your favorite retailer. Pre-ordering now ensures enough copies will be available in the first print and negate the pandemic’s supply-chain issues. 
• Pre-ordering the book allows me to share these ideas with a broader audience via podcasts and TV shows. 
• If you participate in pre-sales, you’ll gain access to exclusive bonus content.
• Join the launch team on facebook.com/groups/rctlauchparty where I’ll be doing giveaways, going live, discussing ideas that didn’t make the book and connecting with you all virtually to celebrate. 
• Note February 1st, 2022, on your calendars! I’ll be hosting a live reading on Instagram and Facebook and talking to you all about the book. 

Resources

• Want help getting started with Brave Writer? Head over to bravewriter.com/getting-started
• Sign up for the Brave Writer newsletter to learn about all of the special offers we’re doing in 2021 and you’ll get a free seven-day Writing Blitz guide just for signing up: http://go.bravewriter.com/writing-blitz

Connect with Julie

• Instagram: instagram.com/juliebravewriter
• Twitter: twitter.com/bravewriter
• Facebook: facebook.com/bravewriter

As we talk about critical thinking, the conversation tends to skew towards teenagers and high schoolers, but you’d be amazed at the powerful wheels turning in the minds of our little ones. We can prime the environment for them to be quality thinkers at as young as preschool or even toddlerhood.

Susie Allison has a lot of insight into this age group. She runs the popular Instagram account, Busy Toddler, and she’s created a wealth of experiences for her own children and other families. Busy Toddler has grown up to become a worldwide brand, with Susie authoring “The Busy Toddler’s Guide to Actual Parenting.” She has a degree in Elementary Education and is currently earning her master’s degree in Early Childhood Education.

Listen to the Podcast

Show Notes

Activities for Critical Thinking

Everything that toddlers do is designed to acquaint them with the world, so that they can discover, learn, and grow. That all requires critical thinking, which is something we can encourage through specially designed activities.

One of Susie’s favorites is “the pouring station.” You put out a large empty container and various cups of water – potentially in different colors – for kids to pour into. They learn pouring skills, they have the sensory experience of the water, and it requires barely any equipment to set up. They’re also learning hand-eye coordination, capacity, volume, and cause and effect.

Another great accessory for toddlers are pom-pom balls. Believe it or not, they actually survive being wet! Putting a kid in the bath with some wet pom-poms invites so much play and sensory exploration.

A couple of years ago, I was introduced to my next guest on the Brave Writer podcast through Instagram. I was taken in immediately by her sense of style and yes, her age. As someone heading into my senior years, she instantly gave me hope that I could find the next right thing to do with my life—and to do it looking fabulous! Clothes have always been self-expression for me (at least when I leave the house!). And my guest has that talent of using her personal fashion sense to express attitude, passion, and all sorts of personalities.

Suffice to say: I’m a huge fan! I see today’s guest as a role model for my future. She’s got nearly a million Instagram followers, and has even been featured in television commercials for GoDaddy.

Please welcome my new friend Lyn Slater, the Accidental Icon (@iconaccidental). She has multiple degrees and lives in New York where she taught social work at Fordham University for 20 years. She’s a fashion icon, true, but what really got me even more interested in her was her career in the field of social work and academics—a true critical thinker! Throughout her teaching career, she balances creativity with thoughtfulness for learning and education. She’s also a person of integrity and depth.

Lyn started Accidental Icon when she had trouble finding a fashion blog that offered an urban, modern, and intellectual aesthetic for women who live what she calls “interesting but ordinary” lives in cities. Women who – like her – aren’t celebrities, but are smart, creative, fashion-forward, thoughtful, engaged, and comfortable with who they are.

Listen to the Podcast

Show Notes

How Social Work Shaped Lyn’s Thinking and the Importance of Context

While working with young women from a criminal justice perspective, Lyn realized that, so often, their issues were not about crime, but trauma and abuse. These women weren’t criminals; they were victims. This led to her shifting into social work and taking a more clinical approach to the work she did. Being a social worker allowed Lyn to see glimpses into a world that people who come from privileged backgrounds, like her, never get to see.