If you had to pick, which would you rather do:
- walk barefoot in the ice and snow
- wear a heavy wool coat in the sweltering sun
Now write what that experience might be like!
New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.
Friday Freewrite: Cold or Hot?
Science-Themed Language Arts
Brave Writer’s mechanics and literature guides are digital products that feature copywork and dictation passages from specific read aloud novels. The guides are indispensable tools for parents who want to teach language arts in a natural, literature-bathed context.
Science-Themed
Dart (ages 8-10)
A girl. An iguana. An island. And e-mail. Meet Nim–a modern-day Robinson Crusoe! She can chop down bananas with a machete, climb tall palm trees, and start a fire with a piece of glass. So she’s not afraid when her scientist dad sails off to study plankton for three days, leaving her alone on their island. Besides, it’s not as if no one’s looking after her–she’s got a sea lion to mother her and an iguana for comic relief. She also has an interesting new e-mail pal. But when her father’s cell-phone calls stop coming and disaster seems near, Nim has to be stronger and braver than she’s ever been before. —Amazon
Arrow (ages 11-12)
Readers today are still fascinated by “Nat,” an eighteenth-century nautical wonder and mathematical wizard. Nathaniel Bowditch grew up in a sailor’s world—Salem in the early days, when tall-masted ships from foreign ports crowded the wharves. But Nat didn’t promise to have the makings of a sailor; he was too physically small. Nat may have been slight of build, but no one guessed that he had the persistence and determination to master sea navigation in the days when men sailed only by “log, lead, and lookout.” —Amazon
Galen and the History of Medicine
When Endemus recovered, suddenly people all over Rome wanted Galen to be their doctor…Galen gave lectures to explain his ideas…In one demonstration, Galen wanted to prove that speech came from the brain, not the heart, even though sound seems to come from the chest. —From the book
What if a boring lesson about the food chain becomes a sing-aloud celebration about predators and prey? A twinkle-twinkle little star transforms into a twinkle-less, sunshine-eating-and rhyming Black Hole? What if amoebas, combustion, metamorphosis, viruses, the creation of the universe are all irresistible, laugh-out-loud poetry? Well, you’re thinking in science verse, that’s what. And if you can’t stop the rhymes . . . the atomic joke is on you. Only the amazing talents of Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, the team who created Math Curse, could make science so much fun. —Amazon
Nature Study
2017 Fall Writing Class Schedule
2017 Fall Writing Class Schedule
Brave Writer is all about personal investment and connection. Our instructors give you a deep commitment of time, and gentle instruction that leads to happy, improved writers.
Our writing classes are built from the workshop, writing support group model.
- Each participant is valued as a person, not just as a student.
- Writing feedback is detailed, friendly, and thorough.
- Our instructors recognize that they have a sacred trust with your children and they aim to ensure that each student feels heard, read, and supported in deepening both skill and insight in his or her writing.
See which of these luscious treats you or your kids find appealing:
Core Classes
Kidswrite Basic (The parent is the student.)
Early Elementary
Older Elementary / Middle School+
Middle School Writing Projects
Family Classes
High School
Brave Writer high school writing classes equal about a 1/4 of a year’s credit for composition/English.
Expository Essay Class: Exploratory & Persuasive
Expository Essay: Rhetorical Critique & Analysis
As always, feel free to email Brave Writer or contact us via the online chat option to help you determine which classes would be best for your kids and you!
Fall Class Registration opens Noon EDT on July 31
(Set your alarm clocks!)
Fall is a great time to JUMP into Brave Writer online writing classes. The new school year has such good energy, you know? If you want to reboot your homeschool experience of writing, let us help you!
Summer session is currently registering.
(many classes are full)
How We Select Boomerang Books
The Boomerang is Brave Writer’s monthly digital product that features a classic work of fiction each month. These novels are used to teach the mechanics of writing (grammar, spelling, punctuation, and literary elements) to students, usually 8th grade and above.
Sometimes Boomerang book selections contain mature language or themes, and parents have asked why we chose them. We share below how we select all the books on our list.
[This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. When you click on the link to make a purchase,
Brave Writer receives compensation at no extra cost to you. Thank you!]
We pick books because we love them.
For instance, I’ve read The Thing About Jellyfish (and sobbed my little heart out at the end – such a tearjerker of mother’s love!). The novel is the story of a middle school aged girl struggling to process her grief at the loss of her best friend from childhood (death by possible drowning). The writing is gorgeous and the attention to detail, astonishing.
The books also represent the following criteria:
Quality literature (good writing).
For example, the 2017-18 books include Newbery Medal winners and National Book Award finalists.
Diverse authorship.
- male/female
- various viewpoints
- diverse ethnicity
- diverse time period
- classics and modern
Both male and female protagonists.
Variety of genres.
- poetry
- prose
- first person narrative
- third person narrative
- fantasy
- historical fiction, etc.
That’s how books make it to our list.
What I often say to parents is this: select books that both feel right for your family (your values) and those that stretch you to include viewpoints you aren’t familiar with. Even when you disagree with something, it is worth it to read and discover how others see the world and to appreciate how their point of view feels to them. Reading a book is not the same as agreeing with a viewpoint.
That said, we encourage parents to make their own judgments. The Boomerang will address the writing. That’s our focus.
Teens are invited to join our virtual book club! Rather than reading in isolation, without the benefit of examining the writing and the layers of meaning novelists intend, The Boomerang Book Club provides a forum for that opportunity.
