[Podcast #230] An Invitation to Poetry Teatime

Brave Writer Podcast

Today’s podcast episode is a Poetry Teatime: You drink tea, people pick poems to read aloud, you listen and enjoy them while you’re eating a delicious snack. 

Of course, since this is Brave Writer, we take time between the poems to talk about our love for poetry and how we use it to teach children about language:

  • similes,
  • imagery,
  • space,
  • expression,
  • connection,
  • and more.

So join us in Julie’s family tradition, which started way back when her kids brought their stuffed animals to the table and believed store-bought cookies were a special treat. Enjoy!

Show Notes

Poetry as Experiential Learning

Poetry Teatime started as a family tradition when Julie’s kids were young. She got the idea from another homeschool mom who tried to make learning geography more exciting for her kids by teaching it in a teatime setting.

Julie immediately applied it to poetry and the tradition still stands strong today. By simply allowing kids to enjoy and savor poetry, they’re able to deeply grasp the power of language–both when rules are followed and when they are broken.

Poetry as Inspiration

As a writer, Melissa reads poetry every morning. It often provides her with a jumping-off point: A word, phrase, or image will catch her attention and then she’ll play with it in her own work. Even for the most experienced writers, poetry gives fresh perspectives to language and meaning.

Joy and play are cornerstones to learning–for all ages. We really hope you enjoy this special episode.

Resources

Connect with Julie

Connect with Melissa

Produced by NOVA Media

Brave Writer Podcast

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Try It: Terrific Titles

Brave Writer Try It

Assign Family Members Terrific Titles!

Today’s Try It prompt is from Week Two of our Amari and the Great Game Arrow.

Think about your parents’ or siblings’ special talents. Is your brother a fabulous dog walker? Does your dad make magic in the kitchen?

Work with your kids to assign job titles to each person in your family. It’s okay if they’re zany!

Here are a few examples to get you thinking: 

  • Mom, Chief Director of Fun Times
  • Lydia, Director of Theatre Productions
  • Baby Toby, President of Naps and Noises

Let us know how it goes (#bravewriterlifestyle)! 

The Complete List of Try It Activities

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You Are Learning Too

Brave Writer

You don’t owe anyone a perfect performance as a parent, educator, or person.

Exhale. Long, slow, complete.

The stress you feel is not always yours. It’s pressure from outside introjected inside.

You have the same right as anyone else to:

  • Take a risk
  • Try a thing
  • Make a mistake
  • Change your mind
  • Do something else
  • Disappoint someone
  • Forget to follow through
  • Lose your way
  • Overthink
  • Worry
  • Have dreams and wishes
  • Revise a belief
  • Speak up
  • Say no
  • Say I don’t know

You’re learning how to be an educator, parent, and adult all at once. Of course you don’t know what you’re doing yet.

You’ll make mistakes, you’ll stumble on genius, you’ll be bored, you’ll be amazed.

All of it counts.

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Friday Freewrite: Three-Letter Palindromes

Friday Freewrite

Palindromes are words that read the same backwards and forwards. See how many of these three-letter palindromes you can use in your freewrite:

  • aha
  • bub
  • dad
  • dud
  • eve
  • eye
  • gig
  • mom
  • pop
  • pup
  • tot
  • tut
  • wow

New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.

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[Podcast #229] Brave Writer Student to Professional Author: Millie Florence

Brave Writer Podcast

At age 20, Brave Writer alum Millie Florence has already published three books! She joins the podcast today to talk about:

  • her writing process,
  • her publishing experience,
  • and what she learned in her Brave Writer classes.
Millie Florence
Millie Florence

Plus, we geek out about Minecraft Story Mode and our favorite middle grade novels!

Show Notes

Millie’s Writing Process

Millie considers herself to be more of a “plotter” than a “pantser” these days. That means she likes to sit down and plot out her story before diving into writing (versus writing by the seat of her pants). She actually enjoys the revision process–which makes sense when you realize that just means she gets to spend more time with the incredible characters she has created.

Millie’s Publishing Experience

When Millie wrote her first book at age 13, she had two goals regarding the publishing process:

  1. She wanted it to go quickly because she wanted to still be a child when the book got published,
  2. And she wanted to learn everything she could about the publishing process.

So Millie decided to self-publish with her parents and family friends acting as the beta readers. But Millie has gone the publisher route as well, and is now starting her publisher’s marketing tour for her book “Beyond Mulberry Glen.”

Millie is an absolute delight. It’s fun to hear about her Brave Writer memories, adventures in Minecraft Story Mode, and her take on the world of books.

We’re very proud to count her among our alumni.

Resources

Connect with Julie

Connect with Melissa

Produced by NOVA Media

Brave Writer Podcast

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