FREE Training Webinars

Brave Writer

Join us for four FREE June webinars that help you understand both the philosophy and practice of Brave Writer’s literature + writing mechanics programs for ages 5-18.

Each webinar is jam-packed with information to help you be successful this coming school year, in addition to helping you understand Brave Writer materials.

REPLAYS are linked below!

Reading Aloud: Why Teach Writing Mechanics with Living Literature?

The best books, the best words—allow your children to be bathed in high quality writing while they learn the mechanics and craft of writing.

REPLAY

Teaching Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling Through Literature

Our programs offer a gentle, seamless way to build strong writing skills! Julie will show you how.

REPLAY

Teaching Literary Analysis & Writer’s Craft Through Books

To grow a writing voice, it helps to listen to and learn from a wide variety of writing voices. Not only that, literary analysis can be the tool that unlocks buried treasure in a book and we intend to help you dig!

REPLAY

The Power of a Book Party

There’s nothing like a party to help kids make meaningful connections to literature. Brave Writer programs make it easy to create memorable bookish experiences for your children to deepen their learning. Join Julie to learn more about throwing a family book club party!

REPLAY

Brave Writer

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Friday Freewrite: Book Cover

Friday Freewrite

Have you heard the saying: “You can’t judge a book by its cover”? Maybe you can’t judge the book’s content but you CAN judge the book’s cover! Pick a few books off the shelf and scatter them on the floor or table. Which cover is your favorite? Which is most eye-catching? Which best illustrates the book’s subject matter? Explain why.

New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.

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[Podcast #238] Thinking Differently About Learning with Maren and Angela

Brave Writer Podcast

Today on the Brave Writer podcast, we reunite with fellow podcasters and homeschool moms, Maren Goerss and Angela Sizer. We dive into their new book, Think Differently About Learning: A Homeschool Where Children and Parents Thrive.

It can be all too easy for homeschooling families to unintentionally replicate the negative aspects of traditional schooling that they were trying to avoid: Cookie cutter approaches, stress, burnout, etc. Think Differently About Learning gives a roadmap for a more joyful approach.

Angela Sizer and Maren Goerss
Angela Sizer and Maren Goerss

Weaved throughout our discussion are themes of:

  • empowerment,
  • pleasure,
  • and wellness.

What Maren and Angela have to say as former traditional teachers and experienced homeschoolers is refreshing, tangible, and inspiring. Enjoy!

Show Notes

Building an Appetite for Learning

The most important thing a homeschooling parent can do for their kids is inculcate an appetite for lifelong learning. Maren and Angela give tips on how to honor your child’s learning differences, build in time for rest, and recognize the value of small wins. For example, Angela’s dysgraphic son who used to just handwrite only one word a day is now a published author.

Relationship Over Rules

A relationship-based approach to education gives you a better perspective of what your kid needs. It also allows you to better teach your kid how to evaluate situations, create self-awareness, and make good decisions.

Empowerment, Pleasure, and Wellness

Sometimes we get so worried about our kids’ future success that we try to over-control and contain them. Maren’s and Angela’s advice: Do less. Empower your children, let them discover pleasure in life, teach them to prioritize well-being. This will lead them to a much more fulfilled life, not to mention traditional success in their careers.

Resources

Connect with Julie

Connect with Melissa

Produced by NOVA Media

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Last Chance! 2023-2024 Mechanics & Literature Programs

Brave Writer

This is it! It’s your LAST CHANCE to purchase the complete *2023–2024* year-long literature programs.

Brave Writer families have LOVED the collections this year! And you can use them at any time, in any order.

After MAY 27, they will only be available as Literature Singles.

Ages 5-7

Brave Writer’s Quill is designed for children who are ready to “crack the code” of language and symbols. It provides an essential foundation for early literacy in three core competencies:

  • reading,
  • writing,
  • and mathematics.

The best part: these engaging activities can be done again and again! No one and done here!

And the Quill activities are so inspiring that older siblings love to join in!

Find the suggested book lists for each Quill in the Brave Writer book shop, and you are on your way to an engaging unit study for the whole family.

Ages 8-18

Our Dart (8-10), Arrow (11-12), Boomerang (13-14), and Slingshot (15-18) programs use living literature to teach:

  • grammar,
  • punctuation,
  • literary devices,
  • reading comprehension,
  • handwriting,
  • and more!

Included Parent Guidelines provide:

  • Hand-holding explanations for every practice we recommend
  • Printable planning tools and skills trackers in each issue and at the back of the Guidelines for ease of use

You’ll download the digital files and start planning right away!

Homeschool the Brave Writer Way

If you’ve been on the fence or wondered what your homeschool would feel like the Brave Writer Way, now’s your chance to try us out!

Plan your next year of reading and grammar now! One purchase and you’re set.

Before they’re gone, grab Brave Writer’s *2023–2024* collections before May 27:

Brave Writer

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AI Is Daunting

Brave Writer

In a world of AI, your original voice is even more powerful than ever. The handwritten card becomes a keepsake, the thoughtful letter or email that identifies details only you know, matters more than ever. Never underestimate the power of your own voice! Even if it is less perfectly spelled or even articulated—it comes from a living source: YOU.

Ever since someone mentioned the idea that artificial intelligence could write on our behalf, the world has gone bonkers trying to decide if that’s a good thing or a horrible no good very bad thing.

Understandably, writers are nervous. So are teachers.

OTOH…

Students who hate writing are THRILLED!
Marketers and entrepreneurs are LOVING IT!

Is writing over?

It’s not. But this new technology is here to stay and it has some powerful uses. Think of it a bit like a calculator or Adobe In Design. It’s a tool that has the capacity to launch more writing, more prolifically. But to use it well, one actually does need to know a thing of two about writing.

AND—writing from scratch still has supreme value. The trick is: the person who writes has to value writing. That’s where Brave Writer excels. From the beginning, I’ve been obsessed with kids learning to write because their words matter and they get to express them so that an interested audience (you) values them.

The reason students are turning to ChatGPT in droves is that they haven’t yet had the experience of their own writing voices mattering. They write for teachers and grades. They don’t write to self express or know their own thinking or to explore an idea.

In Brave Writer, that’s what we do every single day—demonstrate how valuable a child’s inner life and thought world actually is. ChatGPT can never replace the thoughts YOU have about a topic. But if you don’t think your thoughts are good, why work so hard to think and write them?

Do you have teens? Kirsten and Jen did a massively powerful webinar on this topic, particularly for high schoolers. Check it out!

Brave Writer

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