Remember the last time someone told you, “Good job!” Describe that experience.
New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.
Podcast: Five Surprising Reasons to Homeschool
Today, we’re going back to the root of it all to ask – and answer – one incredibly vital question:
Why homeschool in the first place?
Everyone has their own personal reasons, but I thought we could explore the origins of why we began homeschooling in the first place, as well as five reasons we think homeschooling could benefit any child.
This episode will resonate with those already in the homeschooling trenches or those contemplating the idea. Whether you’re a seasoned homeschooler considering changes or someone contemplating this path for the first time, we hope our stories inspire you.
Remember, you don’t need to know everything to get started. All you need is the desire to be home with your kids and learn as you go.
Show Notes
Our Homeschooling Beginnings
Both of us embarked on our homeschooling adventures back in the 1990s, and our motivations were unique yet similar in many ways. I was drawn to the appealing lifestyle homeschooling offered – the relaxed pace, flexibility, and the chance to cultivate a joyful childhood for my kids. Melissa was introduced to the idea of a tailor-made education before she even tied the knot. She was inspired by the homeschooling families around her and the prospect of being actively involved in her future children’s educational journey.
Influencers and Resources That Shaped Our Journey
Several resources shaped our initial understanding of homeschooling. We were greatly influenced by the ‘Growing Without Schooling’ magazine, and books by Dorothy and Raymond Moore, John Holt, and John Taylor Gatto. These provided us with a paradigm of what education could look like beyond the conventional school system. We were also inspired by Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Men” and Jim Trelease’s “The Read Aloud Handbook” to create a rich, immersive learning environment in our homes.
Diving Deep into the Reasons to Homeschool
We’ve identified five major reasons to homeschool. They are as follows:
- Flexibility: Homeschooling gives us the freedom to adapt our schedules, learning styles, and methods according to our children’s needs and different seasons in life.
- Connection: We shared personal experiences of the profound relationships formed in a homeschooling environment, particularly the strong bonds between siblings and between children and adults.
- Kinesthetic Benefits: We emphasized the importance of integrating physical movement into learning, sharing how homeschooling creates ample opportunities for this.
- Joyfulness: We asserted the importance of creating a joyful and comfortable learning environment, likening it to the Danish concept of hygge.
- Academic Success: We posited that academic success should be a natural byproduct of a positive learning environment, rather than the primary goal. The focus should be on meaningful learning, not merely achieving high grades.
Learning Through Life Experiences
A significant part of our discussion centered on the spontaneous, real-world application of concepts. We shared personal anecdotes about how our children’s interests led to unplanned, immersive learning experiences. This joy of discovery and exploration is one of the reasons we love homeschooling.
Finding the Desire to Homeschool
In conclusion, we emphasized that the desire to homeschool is the most important requirement to start this journey. You don’t need to have everything figured out from day one; learning and adapting along the way is part of the process. After all, the opportunity of homeschooling lies in creating a rich context filled with connection, flexibility, joy, and active learning.
Whether you’re a seasoned homeschooler considering changes or someone contemplating this path for the first time, we hope our stories inspire you. Remember, you don’t need to know everything to get started. All you need is the desire to be home with your kids and learn as you go.
Until next time, keep learning and exploring!
Resources
- Join Julie for four FREE webinars in June to learn how to homeschool using literature!
- Sign up for our Text Message Pod Ring to get podcast updates and more!
- Send us podcast topic ideas by texting us: +1 (833) 947-3684
- Want help getting started with Brave Writer? Go to bravewriter.com/getting-started
- Sign up for the Brave Writer newsletter to learn about all of the special offers we’re doing in 2022 and you’ll get a free seven-day Writing Blitz guide just for signing up: https://go.bravewriter.com/writing-blitz
Connect with Julie
- Instagram: instagram.com/juliebogartwriter
- Twitter: twitter.com/bravewriter
- Facebook: facebook.com/bravewriter
Take Your Grammar and Literature Program on the Road
Traveling this summer? Airport layovers, long car rides, and train travel are ripe with opportunities to spotlight grammar and literary elements on the move!
- Put on an audiobook in the car that the whole family will enjoy. Follow up with a bookish Big Juicy Conversation.
- Make a travel log and record sights and sounds observed along the way.
- Draw maps of your route or final destination.
- Watch what letters do out in the wild. Read street signs, billboards, and airport departure boards.
- Play the license plate game—how many states can you find and write down before you reach your destination?
- Enliven weary travelers with riddles and jokes!
Brave Writer’s Mechanics and Literature programs feature opportunities for learning wherever you go!
Let’s see how!
Quill (ages 5–7)
Ride, fly, or sail your way into nurturing pre-literacy skills! The Quill introduces young learners to reading, writing, and math with engaging activities you can do over and over again.
Wherever you’re headed and however you get there, small trips and long journeys provide opportunities to learn as you go! Use these handbooks to spice up your travel time!
Keep Track with Counting!
This activity from the Transportation Quill benefits from spontaneity. For instance, as you are driving, say out loud, “That’s the third silver car we’ve seen since we left the house. I wonder how many more we will see before we make it to practice.” If your child joins in, great. If not, try again another time.
Category ideas
- color of vehicle
- type of vehicle: car, freight truck, pick-up truck, van, bus
- number of people in vehicle
- vehicles with signs on them
- vehicles with something on the roof
- pickup trucks with something in the back
Depending on where you live and where you are driving or riding the bus or train, these numbers could vary widely. If you are in the city, do you see more buses? On a highway, do you spy more freight trucks?
Hash it out!
Once your child has experienced counting using various categories, work with your child to set up sets.
- How many silver cars versus red cars?
- How many cars versus pickup trucks?
- How many cars with one person versus cars with more than one person?
Set up a clipboard to help keep track of how many you and your child spy in each category. Your child will add a hash mark each time one of you sees a vehicle that falls into the category. If necessary, draw a picture to represent each category for your pre-reader.
Count the number in each category to see which had the most and which had the least.
Explore literature, grammar, and punctuation on the road the Bravewriter way!
Our Dart, Arrow, Boomerang, and Slingshot literature handbooks feature one novel per month and use weekly passages for copywork and dictation. They explore punctuation, grammar, spelling, literary devices, and literary analysis.
Try it prompts
Try It prompts, featured in every handbook, engage kids and teens with concepts through simple movement, discussion, and hands-on activities. Many of these activities travel well!
Explore the sampling of Try It activities below—take them on your next travel adventure!
Dart (ages 8–10)
This Try It from the Dragons in a Bag Dart is a perfect way to pass the time in airports, train stations, and parking lots!
Shrug, stomp, sigh.
Get playful with body language! Have your child act out gestures from the list below and discuss what emotion or characteristic the action conveys.
- shrugging your shoulders
- waving a hand in the air
- furrowing your brow
- stamping a foot
- covering your mouth with your hands
- putting both hands on your hips
Now reverse the game: what physical gesture might you use:
- when you see the cutest puppy ever?
- when you find out you’ve won a contest?
- when you bite into an apple and see a worm inside?
- when you bite an apple and see half a worm?
- when you open a box and discover baby dragons inside?
Act out the body language and then describe it in words!
Arrow (ages 11–12)
This Try It from The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden Arrow will have your child hearing words in wondrous new ways!
Listen up!
Use your powers of keen observation during a family meal or car ride. Notice how real-life dialogue happens. Does everyone follow the “rules” of written dialogue, speaking in orderly statements, one at a time? Or do they interrupt, blurt things out in unison, and finish each other’s sentences?
Boomerang (age 13–14)
The Ruins of Gorlan Boomerang gives teens an opportunity to contemplate dialogue unfolding naturally around them:
Writing vivid, descriptive dialogue
It takes time to develop dialogue-writing skills. To practice, tune into conversations around you—yes, eavesdrop—and hone your ear to “real” dialogue. You’ll find that back-and-forth speech often does not play by the same “rules” as formal written expression.
After listening, transcribe the conversation, adding attribution tags and narrative to fill out the scene.
Try incorporating a couple elements such as facial expressions, tone of voice, actions, emotions, or sensory details, and then read the scene aloud. Can the reader follow along? Do the tags offer character- or scene-building details?
The benefits of learning in a new environment
Learning opportunities follow wherever we go. Revisiting familiar concepts in new surroundings is the perfect way to cement ideas. Introducing new information in a fresh relaxing setting is a low-pressure way to make exciting learning connections.
Bonus: You might have so much fun with these new activities that the next traffic jam or overbooked flight becomes a fond travel memory! Enjoy!
Looking for books to take on your travels?
Darts
Arrows
Boomerangs & Slingshots
Ready for an online class?
Our asynchronous classes make online learning and travel a perfect pair!
There are so many classes to choose from! Check out the Online Class schedule to see which ones fit into your summer plans.
Need a recommendation?
Fan Fiction (June 19 – July 14) is a fantastic class for teens who love to write or for teens who are reluctant to write but are devoted to a fandom! By the end of this class, teens will have created a story worthy of publication on one of the many websites devoted to fan fiction, if desired.
What better way is there to spend the summer?
Brave Learner Home Members!
Check out the One Thing Challenge library for ready-made travel activities!
Friday Freewrite: Character Swap
Pick two fiction books that have different main characters. Now describe what it might be like for the characters to swap places and be dropped into each other’s story!
New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.
2023-2024 Arrow, Boomerang, and Slingshot Programs
Here are the titles for the coming academic year for our Arrow, Boomerang, and Slingshot programs!
ARROW (ages 11-12)
BOOMERANG (ages 13-14)
SLINGSHOT (ages 15-18)
Watch the REPLAY of the Live Broadcast
At Brave Writer, we take the selection of these book titles Very Seriously!
All year, we read, discuss, and delight in the year’s latest fiction as well as relishing the classics.
- We aim for diversity of authorship and protagonists.
- We incorporate a variety of genres: fantasy to the classics.
- We carefully orchestrate the sequence of the books.
- We balance book length against the holiday demands of a given month.
- We alternate moving, poignant books with silly, lighthearted books.
- We launch the year with a sure-fire winner and end with a warmhearted one.
Hope you’ll join us for an AWESOME year of learning and reading.
Excited for you as your family embarks on an inspired reading journey!
Looking for the book selections for younger kids? Go here!
