What’s behind the door? Tell a story based on it.
New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.
Online Writing Classes for Teens
Writing takes on a whole new flavor when our kids reach the teen years. While we’re looking for them to adopt formats and academic language, they still crave risk and adventure in their homeschool! You can’t get an interesting 5-paragraph essay out your kid, but she’ll knock out a fanfiction story in a heartbeat. Or your once reluctant 8 year old writer is only MORE reluctant at 15. This is the common push-pull of writing at this age.
We know this stage can be full of growing pains—but we’ve cracked the code on working with teens!
Instead of sending your young adults off with simply a stack of formats, Brave Writer takes the opposite approach: full engagement with their sometime-brazen opinions, their fun personalities, and the topics that make them passionate and enthralled.
Teens are full of life and are experimenting with developing their own thoughts and opinions about the world. Our writing coaches pull up a kitchen chair and dig in! You’d be surprised how much that reluctant teen will write when an interested adult says “tell me more!”
Brave Writer’s online classes offer the whole spectrum of interest-led to formal writing. All these classes prepare your teen with the writing skills they’ll need in college.
We partner with them in learning how to:
- Harness their curiosity to ask relevant questions and dive into research
- Analyze texts to appreciate multiple points of view
- Take effective notes, gather information
- Navigate citation rules
- Gain confidence in writing
- Honor formats without sacrificing writing voice
- Develop appreciation for different genres like poetry or essays
This is one of our favorite ages to work with, because everyday is different! Your teen is sure to find something that will resonate with this array of classes:
Classes for high schoolers (13-18):
Advanced Composition
Book Club Boomerang
Brave Writer 201: Kind, Dynamic Revision
College Admissions Essay
Essay Prep: Dynamic Thinking
Essay Prep: Reading the Essay
Essay Prep: Research & Citation
Expository Essay: Exploratory & Persuasive
Expository Essay: Rhetorical Critique & Analysis
Fan Fiction
Journaling Jumpstart
Literary Analysis (Features a different work of literature each time.)
MLA Research Essay
Movie Discussion Club
Passion for Fiction
Penning the Past
Photography and Writing
Powerful Fiction Techniques
Scriptwriting
Songwriting
The Scoop: The Art of Journalism
Writing the Short Story
Learn More
Also check out our:
Online Classes for Youngsters
Online Classes for Middlers
Pouch Book Club: April 2019
We’re sneaky.
All the discussion in our online book clubs for kids is put “into” writing but it will be invisible to them. Students will feel like they are just “talking” when in fact they are writing! This rich experience of putting thoughts and insight into writing will create the foundation for applying the insights to academic formats later.
Plus a FREE digital copy of our language arts guide based on the book selection for the month is provided.
[This post contains Amazon affiliate links. When you click on those links to make purchases,
Brave Writer receives compensation at no extra cost to you. Thank you!]
April’s selection for the Pouch Book Club (ages 11-14) is Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech.
Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, proud of her country roots and the “Indian-ness in her blood,” travels from Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric grandparents. Along the way, she tells them of the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a “potential lunatic,” and whose mother disappeared. As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe’s outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold—the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.—Amazon
Due to popular demand, Brave Writer now offers a transition book club between the Arrow and Boomerang. The Pouch club is for middle schoolers who want to discuss novels with their peers, who are ready to learn the art of thinking and writing simultaneously all while excited about a great story!
REGISTER HERE
Caveat: Please remember that you’re the parent. If you have doubts about the content of a particular book, please check the reviews of the novel or read it for yourself first. Pouch and Boomerang books in particular may include sexuality, graphic language, and mature themes.
Also starting in April are our Arrow and Boomerang Book Clubs.
My Lifelong Love Affair with Libraries
I loved writing this piece for Read It Forward. Enjoy!
My Lifelong Love Affair with Libraries
My first car accident occurred in the parking lot of a library. I had barely earned my driver’s license a few hours earlier. I hopped in my Mazda GLC that evening for a joyride—straight to the public library. So excited to visit the stacks inside, I hurriedly parked, misjudging the space and clipped the fender of the neighboring car. I got a tongue lashing from the owner, naturally—though the damage was insignificant.
But what stays with me more than that humiliation on what should have been a day of driving triumph is that my first choice destination when exercising my new-born 16 year old freedom, was to drive to a library. Libraries were a haven and a place of intellectual adventure in my childhood.
I remember the delicious sense of “shopping” that libraries provided. My mother took us weekly to pick books—and we were allowed to check out as many as we liked! I would examine the spines for provocative words like: “Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack” and colorful book covers like Garth Williams’ illustrations for the Little House books.
What Others Say about The Brave Learner
Wow. I am (happily) overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support each of you has shown me throughout The Brave Learner’s publication!
Thank you for spending your precious time reading the book, posting those gorgeous Instagram photos, sharing salient feedback and, in many cases, using up all your book darts/sticky notes/highlighter ink!
Publishing a book is a vulnerable act, so it’s especially validating to know when my ideas are resonating with you and your families.
Take a peek at what some lovely reviewers had to say about The Brave Learner:
The Brave Learner Changed Our Homeschool – Doodlemom
As I read, I discovered opportunities to use the techniques Julie Bogart discusses with my own teens. I put them into practice over the last weeks and the results are amazing! Read More
Brave Learners – Unto Adoption
“Doesn’t [Julie] just give you the warm fuzzies? She’s like Mary Poppins, Leslie Knope, and Maria von Trapp rolled into one!” Read More
The Brave Learner: A Review – Townsend House
This is an amazing book to have in your homeschooling library – in fact, I would say that it is an amazing parenting book in general. Read More
Not *Just for Kids* Book Review: The Brave Learner – Picture of a Homeschool
Reading The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart is like sitting with a friend. You unload all of your worries, hopes and fears. Julie answers with: I hear you, I’ve been there, and Let’s see what we can brainstorm together. Read More
The Brave Learner Companion Guide (FREE!)
How to Really Help a Child with Learning Differences: The Brave Learner – Not the Former Things
This book is a comprehensive discussion of how we help our kiddos learn, gain confidence and build relationships along the way. Julie has a way of being incredibly inspirational and super practical, all at the same time. Her book is essentially 14 chapters of encouragement and real-life ideas for learning. Read More
The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart – Homeschooling Large Family Style
I took what feels right for my individual family and left behind the parts that do not fit us in this season. Different is a beautiful thing! There are many good ways to learn, teach, and grow. Read More
How to Be a Brave Learner – Today’s Catholic Homeschooling
Whether you are a new or veteran homeschooler, you will find something to inspire and challenge you in these pages. Read More
If you’ve written a review of The Brave Learner that you’d like to share, please send a link to [email protected].
Thank you for being the best community a Brave gal could ask for!
