A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

Yeah, I get emails.

In the emails, I get questions like these:

• What do you think of X writing program?
• How does your program compare to X?
• When I finish with your program, what can I use to learn real writing? (!?!)

Because I like to speak with some intelligence on these matters (and not just tell the emailer what she wants to hear – that Brave Writer is better than them all :)), I spend time clicking around the Internet reading what other writing programs put out for consumption.

A few commonalities leap off the screen if you take the time to scroll through sample pages.

First of all, there is a lot of bad writing out there. It never fails to amaze me that the primary writing materials are poorly written. What do I mean by poor? Do I mean they can’t spell or they mis-punctuate? Not usually. I mean, my eyes glaze over and I itch to click out of the screen. If the writing used to persuade the customer to buy the writing product is lifeless, impersonal or written in the passive voice, how does that bode for the actual product?

Worse, if the samples of the writing program are tedious, unimaginative or stilted, why would I be expected to think the program will produce quality writing in my child? That’s when I sprint the other way no matter how neatly organized the daily lesson plan looks in the floral spiral binder.

The primary goal of any writing program ought to be the production of compelling writing.

That is, writing that is interesting to read. Just because the writing is clear or neat doesn’t make it good writing. If you don’t enjoy reading it, it isn’t good writing. Period. Trust yourself. You know good writing when you read it.

One other thing I noticed on my Internet sojourn:

Lots of programs believe in direct imitation of writing models. The program provides a model and then asks the child to put it into his or her own words. Imitation of quality writing is a long-heralded writing principle. Yet I can’t help but be uneasy about the present style of imitation common to homeschooling curricula. In one case, the model was so poorly written (condescending, unimaginative, vague, and riddled with passive voice), I shuddered to imagine children being taught to imitate that writing as though that would help them become quality writers themselves.

The truth is, writing benefits from two things:

1. Discovering one’s own voice.
2. Allowing other voices to color and enhance yours.

The way I see it: work on getting in touch with the power of having something to say first.

Read lots. Read widely. Read a variety.

Narrate, talk, imagine, freewrite. Then consider imitating a style or a genre, or allowing for phrases and formats to influence how you present your writing voice.

We do this in Brave Writer. We spend a lot of time cultivating writing voice first. Freewriting and narrating provide the primary ways kids get in touch with having something to say.

For example:

• We give them interesting questions that probe their imaginations and thoughts.
• We give them interesting ideas to consider.
• We give them opportunities to interact with those ideas without also worrying about how their writing is coming out in that delicate phase where they tentatively develop an insight but don’t yet have mastery over the language to explain it.

Simultaneous to encouraging voice, we read quality literature, we study it for its literary elements, we try our hand at short poems or creating metaphors or paraphrasing research materials. We use models such as The Just So Stories or expository essays when we learn a new format.

But all the while, the primacy of a child’s quirky, personal, unique, important voice is cultivated and celebrated.

The finished products of our students bear little resemblance to each other. Instead, they reveal individual persons engaged with interesting material, sharing it with an interested audience. Once a child knows what she wants to say, she can then determine how to say it. If that includes copying someone else’s style, then wonderful! But not a minute before.

Homeschool shoppers are vulnerable to being seduced into purchases that look slick but deliver little in terms of real writing instruction.

It’s a great title for a blog entry. It’s also true… except when my backpack mocks me sporting eight ungraded final essays from the co-op which ended two weeks ago. Between graduation and Brave Writer demands, my will to correct essays has floundered. But I pledge to tackle them as soon as I click “post” and this entry is up for view on the site.

So back to the original topic. Why do I love teaching writing? Because I love seeing kids transform into the writers they are meant to be.

In the seven and a half years of Brave Writer’s existence, we’ve had some notable writing successes. I celebrate with these kids and moms via email. I realized today that I ought to be celebrating with you too. Here are a few of them that stand out to me in my memory.

• Do you remember eight-year-old Gabrielle (who wrote “Adventuring Maid” on page 114 of The Writer’s Jungle)? At fifteen, she has just recently published her tenth magazine article. She also started her own online magazine as the editor-in-chief and has been the means to publishing other kids’ writing.
• How about Anne (whose essays are featured in Help for High School)? She lives in Thailand and taught a writing co-op (using Help for High School) to homeschooled missionary kids last year. One of her essays earned her a scholarship to Wheaton College.
• Another student (Paul) received such high praise for his junior college English placement test essay, the department asked if they may use it as a model for future applicants.
• Sarah, a local student, completed a full length novel manuscript (fantasy) during her senior year of high school that she asked me to edit. She went on to college as an art student and wowed her professor with her writing skills.
• Do you remember David (whose writing collage is featured in Help for High School)? He’s now writing song lyrics for his band which will tour this summer and recently commented in an article for our homeschool co-op that he intends to write a book because (as he said) he’s a “really good writer.”
• One of my students (Bennett, who I share about anonymously in The Writer’s Jungle) is now an adult, married and about to become a father. At sixteen, he couldn’t write a paragraph. He began in the “Jot it Down” stage and by the time he left high school, could write an entire essay without help. Imagine my complete joy and surprise to find out that he earned A’s in all his college English courses.
• Johannah (my 17 year old daughter, natural writer) earned a $500.00 scholarship at her high school for an essay she wrote about Pride and Prejudice how Elizabeth Bennett served as a role model for standing up for your convictions against the prevailing cultural norms. What makes this all the more rewarding is that she is a part time student competing against the top students in the local school. (This one is particularly gratifying, naturally. :))
• Noah (my 19 year old son, ”reluctant writer”) received his first A on a timed essay exam in linguistics. His professor wrote in the margin of his timed essay “Now that’s an essay.”

I could go on and on telling you about kids who hated writing, who now love it; kids who discovered their writing voices, who found out that what they had to say mattered, who broke through in written self-expression in meaningful ways. I remember last year when I spoke at a conference, a mother brought her son with her to hear me speak because, as she told me later, he was “a fan.” He told me I had changed his writing life and consequently made his schooling that much more enjoyable. But what I saw in him was not a reflection of my efforts, rather, the confident triumph of having transformed his writing experience into a valuable tool for his future.

It is the writing itself that produces these great rewards and feelings of accomplishment, not anyone’s praise. Publishing, A’s, affirmation: these all merely reinforce what is experienced when a writer succeeds in writing. The writer knows before anyone else that the writing “worked.” The rest is confirmation.

Brave Writer courses and discussion groups, tools and resources are the catalyst for helping both reluctant and talented writers flourish. In the end, though, what satisfies these kids is “having written.” They come to trust their own voices, their insights and passions, their beliefs and convictions. They know that given a pen (or keyboard) and time, they can convey what they need to in order to achieve their goals. They have a host of formats to choose from and they feel comfortable making the choices. In short, they communicate their vision to readers who appreciate them. No wonder they’re happy.

I invite you to share any of your own success stories. No matter how great or small, they all reflect the joy of discovery when a child goes from seeing writing as a school subject to writing as the successful expression of self to interested readers.

The blur
Originally uploaded by juliecinci.

Yes, that’s me in cap and gown. The weekend was a blur and I’m already trying to see ahead to what comes next now that graduate school is over. I promised to share some of the insights that whole four year process generated in me. I’m still sifting and sorting through the various impressions and thoughts that keep bubbling up as I go about my days.

One thing that is abundantly clear: keeping a basement organized and neat while homeschooling, running a business and going to grad school is impossible.

There are others, too, though. The subtler ones.

It’s important to read, to think, to spend time with an idea. It’s equally important to have someone critique your thinking, to provide you with insight into how you think, to offer you alternatives to the ideas you naturally conclude.

As home educators, we’ve often majored on the importance of reading as the key to self-education. I’m a believer. I’ve been to the church, recited the creed and shouted the ‘amens’ to that sermon.

Graduate school reminded me, though, that sometimes we can’t see our own thinking until someone else helps us to look at it again. Sometimes reading alone means staying stuck in a habit of thought or belief that deserves to be challenged. There is power in having a companion (a knowledgeable companion) act as counter-point. It’s valuable to come to a well-prepared lesson by someone for whom the topic is her passion as well as her area of expertise.

So when I apply that insight to my own home, I find myself looking for ways to put my kids in contact with those who would offer them another way of seeing, passion for the subject area and whose leadership will challenge them to think more deeply than they could on their own.

At Brave Writer, we offer online classes and literature/movie discussion groups with that idea in mind – giving you and/or your kids someone to act as counterpoint, as knowledgeable companion who prepares lessons for your enjoyment and growth.

We’ve made use of local public school’s part time enrollment option in high school, the zoo academy classes for junior high kids, library book groups, math and music tutors, co-op courses, and literature discussion groups in our home.

If you are worn out wondering how you can be all things to your kids in their home education, take a tip from me. Don’t be. Find those opportunities that allow your children to be both inspired and challenged to grow at a whole new level. You’ll grow along with them, too.

Please post the kinds of ways you’ve given your children a chance to learn from others in the comments section of this entry.