A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

Mechanics & Literature: August 2023

August’s Dart, Arrow, Boomerang, and Slingshot selections feature adventure-driven plots and strong protagonists. Buckle up for these adventures as you explore the writing, mechanics, and literary devices featured in these stories.

And this month’s Quill is a deep dive into the world of spectacular sea mammals! Make a splash as your family reads picture books, connects with nature, and explores food webs and biodiversity!

Under the Sea: Sea Mammals

In this Quill, we’ll:

explore book anatomy with a scavenger hunt;
spot similarities and discover differences;
spout off about our favorite marine mammals with descriptive narration;
polish fine motor skills with a few grains of sand;
see how humans stack up to whales in an investigation of relative size; and
have a ton of fun comparing weights.

In the Brave Writer Book Shop, you’ll find books about sea mammals that we adore! These are not required (you can use any books about sea mammals you have in your stacks or find at your library), but we find it’s helpful to have a list to get you started! Check out the Under the Sea list to start curating your read-aloud stack!

Get the Quill.

Odder by Katherine Applegate

A playful, curious, daredevil otter makes for a lovable protagonist in this heartwarming and humorous story told in free verse.

This month’s literary device is verse novels. What are the characteristics of a verse novel? Lyrical beauty and lush language of poetry with the plot-based narrative are the backbone of this form. Join us in August for a closer look!

Inside this Dart, we’ll also:

frolic with a perfect choice of adjectives;
get playful with parentheses;
cavort with conjunctions;
skylark with a series;
gambol with verbs;
smile over similes; and so much more!

Purchase the book.

Get the Dart.

Brave Writer Arrow — *Arrow (ages 11-12)*

Amari and the Great Game by B.B. Alston

Join Amari on an epic adventure to save her brother that could also determine the future of magiciankind. If you’ve just wrapped up vacation, this action-packed novel is the perfect way to jump back into your homeschooling routine!

August’s literary device is puns—an amusing form of wordplay that appeals to all ages!

In this Arrow we’ll also:

set the scene with inventive information;
analyze useful, colorful, helpful adjectives;
find out who’s who using job titles;
discuss dynamic dialogue and fill in the details with awesome action beats and attribution tags;
predict patterns while we examine possessive apostrophe-S;
get up and go with strong action verbs; and so much more!

A note about content: Amari and the Great Game is the second novel in a series. It can be fully appreciated as a stand-alone story, but your child might also enjoy reading the book that preceded it, Amari and the Night Brothers, also an Arrow.

Purchase the book.

Get the Arrow.

Brave Writer Boomerang — *Boomerang (ages 13-14)*

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This suspenseful novel is sure to keep your family turning the pages!

In this Boomerang, we’ll

expose exposition;
wonder at withholding to create suspense;
dig into dialogue;
embrace the ellipsis
brush up on media literacy;
give a nod to adjectives and alliteration;and so much more!

A note about content: The Hunger Games is the first book in a dystopian fiction series that centers around family, friendship, loyalty, compassion, and courage. It deals with potentially charged topics around power and wealth. You, as the parent, can decide if this book is right for your family and how you want to engage in the discourse this book might spark. We encourage parents to read ahead in order to be prepared for deep conversations with teens.

Purchase the book.

Get the Boomerang.

Brave Writer Slingshot — *Slingshot (ages 15-18)*

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

This beloved classic is full of atmospheric writing, unforgettable characters, and so many literary points to unpack!

In this Slingshot, we’ll:

connect with careful character analysis,
dig through dialogues,
ruminate over rhetorical questions,
promenade through punctuation fashions,
envision visual images of hope and despair,
use synecdoche to see how parts stand in for the whole, and much more.

A note about content: People all over the world or in distant eras are products of the society in which they live. They are susceptible to the norms of their cultures, as are every one of us, for better or for worse. In choosing to include this classic (and time-bound) selection in the Slingshot collection, we open the door to big juicy conversations that contribute to the greater dialogue about racism, sexism, socioeconomic differences, or other prejudices held in the past and, in some quarters, to this day. By using classic literature as a teaching tool to foster understanding and growth, the intimate nature of language and history blend to provide a context in which to discuss these evolving ideologies. You, as the parent, can decide how far you want to step into the room of discourse with your teens as you explore this work.

Purchase the book.

Get the Slingshot.

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Be an Engaged Learner

Being an engaged learner for your own sake is the most important lesson your kids can learn from you.

If you have that hunger to know, feed it. Live it in front of your children. Take time for it. Read books, study, watch that PBS special on art history, or go to a bird watching training session.

Let your children see how it’s done.

Instead of trying to recreate school at home, where the parent is the curriculum director, educator, and principal (and the child is the student), dive into HOME education, where parent and child are both on a learning journey—

sometimes shared,
sometimes parallel,
sometimes the child teaches and the parent learns,
sometimes the parent teaches and the child learns.

Learning is a lifetime habit and source of joy, and it’s important enough to demand your time and energy.

The kids will be fine, sitting on the floor playing with Legos while you get a full drink of French Impressionist painters.

Promise.

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Friday Freewrite: Perspective

Pick an item in your home like the kitchen table, the living room sofa, or a floor lamp. Now lie on the floor (under or beside the item) and describe what it looks like from that perspective.

New to freewriting? Check out our online guide.

Tags: Writing prompts
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[Podcast] Burnout: What It Is and How to Handle It! with Tanya Tarr – Part 1

Do you ever feel like your energy reserves are just being depleted, and you can’t seem to replenish them? It might be more than just fatigue or exhaustion; it could be burnout.

We had a riveting conversation with Tanya Tarr, a behavioral scientist, columnist, corporate educator, and the founder of Cultivated Insights, who had plenty to say on the subject of burnout.

In fact, we had so much to discuss, we had to divide the chat into two parts!

Show Notes

Understanding Burnout

Tanya was generous enough to share her expertise on distinguishing between fatigue, exhaustion, and burnout. According to her, burnout is not a mental health issue but an occupational one recognized by the World Health Organization.

Characterized by extremely negative feelings like rage, resentment, apathy, or numbness, burnout may emerge when chronic exhaustion is left unaddressed for too long. There are other signs too, like anhedonia (avoidance of pleasure), self-isolation, and a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed.

Burnout isn’t a quick fix. Unlike fatigue and exhaustion, which can be managed with sufficient rest, burnout requires small, consistent interventions and gradual changes to the conditions causing it. This is an important point to keep in mind, especially for those of us homeschooling children for an extended period of time, say four to eight or 10 years.

The Stress Cycle and its Implications

The stress cycle is a concept dating back to the ’50s which describes how our bodies react to stressors. In this age of constant digital connection, we’re often stuck in a hyper-focus attention state that prevents us from completing the stress cycle. This incomplete cycle can lead to chronic stress and even burnout.

Physical activities like running are essential to human health and act as a natural antidepressant. Tanya, who practices martial arts, shared that certain movements could trigger emotional release, hinting at the deeper connection between our physical activities, emotions, and stress.

Navigating the Stress Cycle with the House of Wellbeing

The House of Wellbeing is a framework, devised by Tanya, to help close the stress cycle and prevent burnout. It involves four rooms: physical, mental, emotional, and cultural. The idea is to conduct a ‘self-inventory’ of our self-care activities related to each aspect and evaluate their impact on our well-being.

She advocated for a focused approach to self-care, where we prioritize reliable practices that truly benefit us instead of sporadically trying everything under the sun. This approach helps us concentrate on the activities that have a positive impact on our well-being, while discarding those that don’t.

All in all, it was an insightful conversation filled with knowledge and understanding. I encourage you to reflect on Tanya’s insights to better comprehend your own state of burnout or stress. And don’t forget to join us for the second part of this conversation in our next episode, where we’ll be delving deeper into the topic.