Archive for the ‘General’ Category

The return of the Tuesday teatime!

Only this one happened on a Friday…
Dear Julie,

On Friday we spent a wonderful hour and a half delighting in poetry, Shakespeare and each other at our teatime. Thank you for encouraging us to do this!

Blessings, Linda

Recipe for a Friday Teatime

Ingredients:

  • Pot of hot tea
  • Cookies
  • Fresh fruit
  • Colorful flowers
  • Three happy children
  • Set the table with your favorite teacups and place treats on heart shaped platters.
  • Have Bach playing in the background.
  • Sip hot tea and read aloud from a vintage book of children’s poetry.
  • Let out loud guffaws at the dog and cat who ate each other up and sigh contentedly when the Owl and the Pussycat dance by the light of the moon.
  • Munch on cookies while you read Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.
  • Be amazed at the timeless character lessons buried in this classic treasure.
  • Pass around more fruit and delight in your son’s comment, “Mom, can we have a teatime every day? No? Then how about every week? We’ll have some music, cookies, tea, a little bit of poetry and a little bit of Shakespeare.”
  • Grin back at him and nod.
  • Serves as many as will come, until they are filled to overflowing.

Posted in General, Poetry Teatime | 3 Comments »

Registration is open: plenty of spaces available

As anticipated, summer session has lots of room so please feel free to sign up! It’s a great chance to get that class you can’t seem to get in during the school year.

One announcement: Paypal (our choice for payments) is down as of 12:37 est. We will accept check payments or you may check back to the link for payment options later this weekend.

To begin the registration process, start with the registration link. All pertinent information related to classes can be found at that link as well.
Hope to see you and your kids in a class this summer!

Posted in BW products, General | Comments Off on Registration is open: plenty of spaces available

Tomorrow is registration day!

I don’t anticipate the level of competition for spots that we have during the school year. We will have two full classes for Kidswrite Basic and the expository essay class can have two sessions if there is enough interest (up to 35 students). So if you want to enroll, I suggest registration tomorrow. I will post here on Saturday what spaces are left.

For more information on how registration will work, click here. Refresh the screen to see the latest information.

Also, for those who are in the southern hemisphere, your registrations will go to the head of the line if you register any time on Friday or Saturday. We want to ensure that you get in these classes while school is in session for you (unlike the north where we are in summer). I have a hunch, though, that everyone will get the classes they want. 🙂

Thanks for all the wonderful feedback on this blog this week. I tell you, I feel like we’ve had a little breakthrough. I’m hearing more from you and therefore can tailor my entires to your needs. Please suggest topics, ask questions, share needs. That’s how I can make Brave Writer a unique, personal and relevant service for your homeschool.

I’m feeling very warm and cuddly toward all of you today. 🙂
Julie

Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, BW products, General | 2 Comments »

From freewrite to finished writing

When I offer observations about other writing programs, I feel a little squishy. I don’t like to target competing curricula and then pass judgment. It makes me feel like Simon Cowell.

Yet every now and then, it must be done. I forget that moms reading this blog may not know about Brave Writer, don’t realize to expect something very different than scopes and sequences. My hope is that by unfolding how we do things around here, you’ll catch a vision of what writing can be when we give our children the gift of written self-expression. Let’s take a look at some Brave Writer writing, shall we? Enough “telling” – let’s do a little “showing.” 🙂

To start, let’s look at a ten year old girl’s writing: from freewrite to finished piece. I leave in all errors deliberately so you get a realistic picture of what a ten year old is capable of producing. What I want you to notice in this journey through freewriting to finished piece is the strength of the young writer’s voice. It grows in confidence and creativity as she revises. This is no “I love spaghetti” paragraph. Through paying attention to what she loves and knows, she discovers some powerful writing elements and these translate beautifully into a finished piece of work that very much reflects the age and stage of development of this ten-year-old girl. To read more, click here.

Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, BW products, General, Young Writers | 3 Comments »

First splashes of summer: the slides


Crazy good slides
Originally uploaded by juliecinci

I wrote about these bad girls last August. Brave daughter trotted up the stairs to be the first of our family to face the slides.

I, on the other hand, am hoping to do a little light reading.

Remember: Summer class registration is on Friday at noon eastern. We are adding one class to the list:

Write for Fun: August 27 – Sept. 14 (three weeks) Tuition: $79.00 per student. It’s perfect for junior or senior high kids who need to jump start their writing batteries with something creative and positive (rather than slogging into the year with academic reports and essays).

Rachel Ramer is the instructor. I’ll be adding these details to the website later today.

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