Homeschool Writing With Brave Writer
Throughout my homeschooling years there have been fun subjects and not so fun subjects to teach. Sometimes because I didn’t like them or the kids didn’t. Sometimes because they feel particularly hard at that given time and sometimes because it just wasn’t clicking. Teaching homeschool writing is one of those things that is often scary and may feel difficult to do. There is no set answer key, and often the right and wrong lines are blurred as writing is very individual and subjective.
I have had the opportunity to use a program that can help with that! It’s called Brave Writer. {Disclosure: I received this product for free and was compensated for my time in writing this review. All my opinions are my own, honest thoughts and I was not required to post a positive review. Your experience may vary. Please see my full Disclosure Policy for more details.}
Homeschool Writing With Brave Writer
Brave Writer focuses on establishing a writing voice and the writing process in children and teens first, by helping parents know how to foster the right environment. The strongest component of this program is the philosophy – which is the basis on which the whole program stands. Braver Writer is a lifestyle, a working relationship that you build with your children through the years. One where you foster their writing voice as well as the foundations of academic writing.
The Writer’s Jungle
In The Writer’s Jungle (this is the book that is the basis for the whole program), Julie talks about the Brave Writer lifestyle which is about making writing, words and books a part of every day life – from watching and discussing movies together, reading aloud, copywork, making time one on one to talk to your kids and establishing a regular tea time where you read poetry or a good book together.
The Writer’s Jungle is broken down into 17 Chapters that include topics like Rescuing Reluctant Writers, Editing Made Easy, Understanding and Encouraging Writer’s Voice, as well as many different styles of writing such as journal writing, report writing, book reports, essays, and more. So not only do you get the whole writing process broken down into steps, but you get support and encouragement, as well as real life tips and activities to do with your children.
Good writing is not all grammar and organization, mechanics and structure. The best writing makes use of literary techniques that enhance the quality of word choice, images, comparisons and source material. These cannot only be appreciated in the writing of great authors, but can be examined for the role they play in our own writing. – A quote from The Writer’s Jungle
Partnership Writing
Partnership Writing (ages 9-10) is the second stage of writing with the Brave Writer Program, it comes after Jot It Down! (ages 5-8). Partnership writing is all about you, the parent becoming your child’s writing partner. You become their model, their encourager, their guidance through the writing process. You give support that matches the need of your child, without taking over completely.
I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, “I do that with my children all the time, not just for writing!” In that case I would say awesome, this program is definitely for you!
Language Arts
In the Brave Writer program you get more than just writing. You get language arts, oral skills, and writing (both creative as well as academic forms). Brave Writer states their language arts to encompass the following things:
literature
- spelling
- handwriting
- punctuation
- grammar
- literary elements
- copywork
- dictation
- word origins
- vocabulary development
To help you along with this you can purchase The Arrow which is a once a month digital product that contains copywork and dictation from a specific read aloud novel. You can view the monthly selections on the Brave Writer website.
One of our favorite activities to do as part of our language arts with Brave Writer is the Poetry Teatimes. With my older children I did not incorporate poetry as much as I would have liked to. This once a week time with my daughter not only allows us to have some special one on one time, but it affords us time to read poetry and talk about the components of what we have read.
We found doing it picnic style on the floor with our special blanket was the most fun and relaxed for us. We take turns picking out poetry to read aloud, or alternate pages in the book we are reading. (We even found my 12 year old son wanted to sneak in and join us sometimes!)
The Writing Program
In Partership Writing a 10 month plan is mapped out for you that includes 10 writing projects. Can I just start by telling you how much fun these are for my daughter? She looks forward to doing these activities one because they are fun and engaging, and two because this is a journey and a process we are working on together – as partners.
The Secret Codes project is so addicting that my daughter spends more time with it outside of the time we do it together creating fun codes for members of our family!
Here is an example of a Picto-code that she created:
Who Would Benefit From Brave Writer?
- I think any parent can get behind the philosophy of building a working relationship with their children. It is a process and a skill that will stem out into other aspects of your life and relationship.
- Parents who are unsure of their ability to teach or evaluate their children’s writing. Why? Because Brave Writer gives you the tools to work and grow with your child and their writing. There is support in both public and private forums on the Brave Writer website where you can go for support and help.
- Parents of multiple children can easily use this program to either teach kids at the same level or different levels.
- The program is affordable so even those on a tight budget can purchase and enjoy it.
- Parents who want to have a natural, free flowing form to their learning with their children.
- Having said number 6, even parents like myself who crave more structure can benefit from this partnership process and use the suggested schedule for activities to help them keep on track!
Want to give Brave Writer a try?
You can get a 10% discount on all orders (through Sept. 21) with code: iHomeshoolDiscount.
» Homeschool Writing With Brave Writer
September 10, 2015 @ 1:54 pm
[…] Homeschool Writing With Brave Writer […]
November 14, 2016 @ 1:23 am
It is true that writing is challenging or difficult subject to teach a child, however it is actually easy to learn if we make it a point that it will be provided with parental support and involvement. There are many write at home for kids curriculum that you can check out online which fit any budget range.