Archive for the ‘Writing about Writing’ Category

No More “Posed” Writing

Brave Writer

Would you rather believe that stiff, lifeless prose that matches a format, achieved through tears, tantrums, and trauma will result in better writing than tapping into your child’s quirky, insightful, natural personality?

I have a million photos of my kids. My 5 are forever hoisting one big kid sideways in celebration of a life event.

I love them, even when the faces are blurry.

But I have one well-posed photo that we all hate. The photo shows smiling faces. The family is arranged just so. And it’s lifeless. Cringe.

Something Worth Saying

When I think about writing that I love reading, it has vibrancy and surprise.

Can you imagine what would happen if you believed your child had something worth saying and that your only job is to capture it like a candid photograph—a snapshot of their inner life, at this moment in time?

Did you realize that the writing your child does (from their tender heart or their silly sense of humor or their fact-packed mind) IS the snapshot of their person that will preserve who they are for you even better than silly photographs and family portraits?

So if you’re tired of format-driven writing and tears and tantrums, unlock the beautiful minds of your children instead.

No more “posed” writing.

Time for powerful writing!

Brave Learner Home

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Preparing Your Child for Academic Writing: What about Structure?

What about Structure

Brave Writer sometimes gets accused of being a “creative writing” program, which is code for “Brave Writer doesn’t teach writing formats or structure.” Which, to be honest, is absurd. All writing is creative—even a Ph.D. dissertation!

To write means to draw on our insights and ideas to create (craft) a piece of writing that takes the appropriate shape for the intended audience, whether that’s a doctoral committee, online casinos, or a classroom of seven-year-olds. Sometimes that shape looks like freewriting or journaling or writing a tall tale. Other times that shape is a report or expository essay or a research paper.

Structure in writing is not confined to academic papers either. Graphic novels and comic strips have a kind of structure that is unique to those formats yet no less clear and defining than the structure of a Master’s thesis.

To have a better sense of how a child goes from freely expressing self in writing to the well-defined structure of academic writing later in life, here are some examples.

Early Elementary

Let the binding create the exo-skeleton (structure/format) of the writing.

  • Lapbooks
  • Captions on posters
  • stapled pages
  • three-ring binders
  • sticky notes
  • spiral notebook

Upper Elementary

Introduce simple formats that have an obvious structure.

  • freewrite
  • letter
  • list
  • invitation
  • graphic organizer
  • description
  • how to
  • poem
  • recipe

Junior High

Introduce internal structure, like transitions, subheadings, beginning, middle, and end.

  • mini report
  • research report
  • narratives
  • reviews
  • autobiographical piece
  • advertisement
  • journalism
  • compare and contrast

High School

Introduce academic forms including both exploratory and persuasive formats.

  • expository essays
  • timed essay writing
  • MLA research paper
  • autobiographical narrative
  • textual criticism
  • literary analysis
  • personal statement

Because Brave Writer aims to support writing at every stage of development, we begin with writing that appeals to a “pre-reader.” That means, the writing the youngest of our children do will be expressive of self and appealing to a child’s interests. Yet the process they engage is similar to what they will do when they are old enough and skilled enough to write long form essays for college.

Our writing project programs follow this path that leads to a natural aptitude for academic writing by the time your child is in high school and leaves for college.

Need more help? Check out writing projects my kids did at different stages:

Structure in Writing: Examples

If you’d like a downloadable PDF copy of the “What about Structure” slide deck to refer to again and again, grab yours here.

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The Challenge of Teaching Writing

The Challenge of Teaching Writing

No matter how many miles I travel, every group of home educators I meet can talk a noisy blue streak about how challenging it is to teach writing.

They say similar stuff:

  • it’s too subjective,
  • their kids’ hands hurt,
  • they lack confidence in their own writing so how can they teach it?
  • there are tears,
  • their kids can’t think of anything to write,
  • the parents feel appalled by messy handwriting or so many spelling errors.

On and on goes the list.

Often when I’m speaking, I invite parents to share with each other, and suddenly the room erupts in animated conversation, laughter, and commiseration!

It’s worth asking: why?! Why is this the case? Does it need to be? I say an emphatic “No” and then we talk about it.

If you find teaching writing difficult then you’re not alone, and you’re in the right place! Here are some suggestions:

Take advantage of the Brave Writer website, blog, and YouTube channel. They’re filled with helpful tips and resources. If you’re brand new start here.

Download our 7-Day Writing Blitz for an introduction to how painless teaching writing can be!

And feel free to email us (help@bravewriter.com) with any questions.

This post is originally from Instagram and @juliebogartwriter is my account there so come follow along for more conversations like this one!

For in depth coaching, join The Homeschool Alliance!

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