Banner
Brave Writer Newsletter
NEWSLETTER SUBTITLE
In This Issue
The Welcome Mat
Home Study Manuals
Call Me!
Fall Classes
Quick Links
 

Language Arts
 
Manuals
 


Join Our Mailing List
Greetings! 
 
Psst: Special 1/2 off offer: 
on the blog today! 

 
I spent the night at a friend's home. I woke up before the married couple who lived there. Their dog was awake and eager to be uncrated. So I opened the latch and then opened the sliding glass door to let him go outside to do his business. 

This is how it worked with my dog and I assumed it would work with Kapu. He panted and yelped a bit, he made circles in his crate but wouldn't leave it. I coaxed him to come out and eventually he put a paw outside the crate, followed by another. Clearly agitated, though, he didn't romp outside the way I expected.

At about that time, the "man of the house" and long term dear friend descended the steps and noticed the dog's confusion (and mine!). He saw that Kapu was hovering near the sliding door. Bill turned to me and said, "You know dogs. They have their habits. Kapu is used to eating in his crate right when he wakes up before we put him outside." Then he turned to his dog and with the kindest, friendliest voice urged Kapu to go outside, "Go on Kapu. I know. You'll get your food after. That's a boy! Go on!" He chuckled lightly. Kapu obeyed and returned to the house ready to eat. Bill scratched him behind the ears.

Unremarkable moment in Bill's life, I'm sure. But for me, it was one of those "Oh wow!" moments. A routine event didn't go the way it was supposed to, and that break in routine was greeted with gentleness, humor, and a kind spirit.  
I stood there in Bill's kitchen watching his gentle guidance offered to Kapu and I thought to myself: No one has to get angry just because something isn't going the way it should or because the other party is confused or momentarily off balance. It's possible to bring clarity and support to another with kindness. No sternness required, no assumption of nefarious motives.

How much our children deserve that kind of sympathy! 
How much anyone in our lives does!

I made a list of what "healthy" looks like to me a few years back. I share it with you now:

Curiosity over accusation: When you find someone's behavior strange or upsetting or simply different than you expected, ask questions, show interest. Don't make assumptions, accuse, or assign intentions/motives.

Kindness over force: Kindness means a quiet voice, a gentle tone. Force is coercive-it uses an urgent (sometimes loud) tone to create anxiety in the other person to provoke an action. Kindness assumes that the person can be reached through support rather than control.

Trust over suspicion: As a friend says, "I look for reasons to trust people." A disposition that trusts creates open lines of communication and freedom to take risks. It creates a willingness to own up to mistakes or poor choices. Suspicion kills creativity and it drives shame underground. Secrets grow in an atmosphere of suspicion.   
Acceptance over control: To truly accept means that you are willing to receive what is offered without judgment or interference. Control means the other person needs to match my expectations before I can accept what is offered. (Your five minutes at dinner with me before you head out the door again is enough because you gave it freely; not: Because you didn't eat a full dinner with me, I won't be friendly to you during the meal.)

Owning personal limits over imposing personal limits: If I need something to be a certain way, I make it happen or take responsibility to make it happen. I don't require others to create the space I need to live in. I create it for myself. I don't blame others for my lack.

Expressing my disappointment over calling you a disappointment: When expectations surface and aren't met, sharing my disappointment as an unmet need rather than assigning you the label "disappointing" is healthy. 

Asking for help over requiring it: It's risky to say "Would you help me....?" because the person might say, "No." But to require "help" is to remove the possibility of "gift." A requirement of help can become a source of festering resentment. To share what you need and ask for help means a person has the chance to be good to you. People love to know that what they do is genuinely appreciated as a free gift, not as an obligation.

Surprise me over "that's who you are and always will be":
I like to find out you are more than I know or thought I knew. Labels limit people and we stop being surprised and amazed by them. If when you risk sharing a new way of seeing or being with someone you love and you are met with skepticism "You don't like X" or "You're not that kind of person," it shuts down the adventure of living... for both of you. Give your children the gift of being delightful surprises to you.

Passion over discipline: Discipline fuels passion, true enough. But you can't get to passion by starting with discipline. Knowing a person's passion and supporting it does more to create a climate of enthusiasm and joy than all the rules, systems, structures, and good ideas in the world. Discipline alone is soul-stealing.
 
Yelling never works. Unless your house is on fire or a semi is about to crush your car.

Affirm over suggest: Find traits to affirm, look for ways to validate the other person's judgment, thought processes, ideas before offering your own. Only make suggestions when asked. 
 
If we treated the people we love (and even those we don't yet know) as intelligent, reasonable, logical human beings, whose insights, practices, yearnings, and hopes made good sense (given who they are, where they live, how they got to this phase of life) rather than as dangerous, misguided, self-centered, or illogical, we'd discover so much more to love between us. 

If we listened well and showed interest, if we held back judgment and attempted to see through the eyes of the other, if we kept a cheerful tone (or at minimum, a gentle one), and waited patiently for more understanding before slapping on labels or expecting someone to be who we say they are...we could avert so much emotional punishment...the feeling that you are scorned for being yourself.

The image that comes to my mind is a huge WELCOME mat. 
I welcome you to my space, as you are, 
ready to serve you and enjoy you. 
 
How about tea?

Home Study Manuals!

Maybe you would prefer to work independently! Brave Writer has you covered. Our home study manuals are designed for both parent and teen.
 
The Writer's Jungle is our primary tool for writing instruction. It is written for the parent, to help the home educator know how to facilitate writing growth. Think of The Writer's Jungle as the Cookbook (as one mom described it) or Sewing Machine. There are skills needed that help your child write. You don't hand your child a recipe or evening gown pattern and expect success in the kitchen or sewing room. Rather, you give your children a chance to learn the skills guided by you. This book is more than a writing program. It's a guide for the home educator, written by me (while I home educated my own brood of five).
 
 
DSCN6582.JPG
 
 
 
Help for High School is written for your teen, to your teen. The exercises and writing principles in this manual are drawn from college writing texts, re-conceived for a high school audience. Your teen will work through the materials week by week with both clear assignments and models of completed assignments. The manual also includes a rubric for evaluating essays (both open and closed form essays-exploratory and argumentative).
 
 
 
The Jot it Down and Partnership Writing products are analogous to recipes or dress patterns. These products contain the writing projects your children will use to test their emerging writing skills.
 
JotidowncoverPartnershipWriting
 













For Email Marketing you can trust
Call me! Text me! Message Me!

I'm standing by to help you!
Julie Bogart
If you want help figuring out which classes will suit your family, contact me. I love to make sure you make the right choice.

(513) 307-1405

Alternatively, you can always email me:

Or simply click on the chat icon on the home page of the website and I'll be happy to assist you.
 Fall Classes

Most Fall Classes still open for registration!
(Closed: First Session Expository Essay; Foundations in Writing; 
Advanced Composition)
 
 
Signup for Online Classes
 
 
Please take a moment to read about how our online classes work. 

  

Some of them register you, the parent, as the student, and some of them register your child as the student. 
 
All of our classes are asynchronous--no set time to log in. Classes require no downloading of software, do not require video, and there is no additional material to purchase.
 
A quick plug for a less rigorous high school class:
 
If your teen is not quite ready for Kidswrite Intermediate or has already taken it, High School Writing Projects is a terrific writing opportunity. 
 
Our instructor, Christine Gable, guides your teens in writing in combination with technological tools often used in student presentations in college! The student selects both topic and writing project (she gives a list of options, like Youtube script, Powerpoint, Squidoo lens). Then she guides your teen through the writing process so that by the end of the four week period, your teen could (conceivably) present the final project in front of a room!
 
 
Fall Class Registration


Fall Class Schedule!


Instructor: Nancy Graham

October 28 - November 22, 2013

(4 weeks) 
$199.00/student
11-18 year olds

Offered ONCE per year. This is a brand new class for budding fiction writers! If your kids want to hone the craft of their novel-writing, this is the class to take. 
 
 
-------------------------------------------- 

 

Instructor: Karen O'Connor
October 28 - November 22, 2013  
(4 weeks)
$199.00/student
11-18 year olds
 
Karen O'Connor is Julie's mother (author of over 80 books!). She'll guide your kids into the world of published writing as no one else can.
 
 
--------------------------------------------

 

Instructor: Jean Hall, TBD

October 14 - November 22, 2013 - Closed

October 21 - December 4 (Wed), 2013 (Thanksgiving break: 11/27-11/29) 
(6 weeks)
$249.00/student
High School (especially 9th-11th)

Essay writing class required for college prep.


--------------------------------------------

Instructor: Rita Cesvasco, MA 

October 28 - December 6, 2013 (includes Thanksgiving break: one week off 11/25-11/29)

(5 weeks)

$229.00/family

8-13 year olds

 

Offered ONCE a year. Instruction in the mechanics of writing, particularly for those kids who struggle. Specific help given to families dealing with language processing disorders and other special needs.

 

 

--------------------------------------------

 

Instructor: Christine Gable 

September 3 (Sept 2 is Labor Day) - October 4, 2013
October 28 - November 22, 2013

(4 weeks)

$199.00/student

High School (9th-12th)

 

Students learn to create projects using modern technological tools like Power Point and a Squidoo lens. These are popular forms used in college classes today.

  

 

--------------------------------------------

 

Instructor: Jeannette Frantz
October 21 - November 15, 2013

(4 weeks)

$199.00/family

8-13 years of age

 

A fabulous follow up to Kidswrite Basic, or as a first experience with Brave Writer. This class plays with language and facilitate writing a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
 
 
--------------------------------------------
  

Instructors: Deb Bell, Jeannette Frantz, Lucy Olson, 

Kirsten Merryman, Lora Fanning 

September 9 - October 18, 2013 (Merryman)
October 7 - November 15, 2013 (Bell)
October 28 - December 13, 2013 (Thanksgiving break: 11/27-11/29) (Fanning)
(6 weeks)
Identical sessions; pick only one

$199.00/first student in family

$99.00/each additional student in same family

8-18 (14-18 would be remediating work)

 

The gateway to all things Brave Writer. Start here.

  

 

--------------------------------------------

Instructors: Jean Hall, Nancy Graham, Samantha Burtner
September 9 - October 18, 2013

(6 weeks)

$229.00/student

High School (9th-12th)

 

Develops reasoning, rhetorical imagination, argument, and language skills necessary for academic essay writing.

 

 

--------------------------------------------
 

Literary Analysis: American Poetry Studies
Instructor: Susanne Barrett, MA
September 3 (2 is Labor Day) - October 4, 2013
(4 weeks)

$219.00/student

High School (9th-12th grades)

 

Offered ONLY this year (not next year).This class fulfills both writing and literature credits for high school. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------
 

 

Instructor: Susanne Barrett, MA
November 4 - December 4 (Wed.), 2013 (Thanksgiving break: 11/27-11/29)

(4 weeks)

$219.00/student

High School (9th-12th grades)

 

**Your student will need to procure his or her own copy of the novel.

 

Offered ONLY this year (another title in winter quarter). 

  

 

--------------------------------------------
 

Instructor: Susanne Barrett, MA 

September 16 - October 25, 2013 - nearly full

(6 weeks)

$249.00/student

Senior High (11th-12th grades)

 

Student must know how to write an essay before taking this class. Papers are 5-7 pages in length, with sources and Works Cited.

 

 

--------------------------------------------
 

Instructor: Christine Gable
October 7 - November 1, 2013
November 11 - December 13, 2013 (Thanksgiving break: 11/27-11/29)
(4 weeks; identical sessions)

$199.00/student

8-15 year olds
 
Terrific follow up to Kidswrite Basic. This class supports you and your child in a month long writing project related to the student's studies, hobbies, or interests. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------
  
Instructor: Christine Gable
September 30 - October 25, 2013
(4 weeks)
$199.00/family
9-17 year olds
 
Offered Fall and Spring Quarters: Nature Journaling gets your outside hiking, drawing, and writing with your kids.
 
 
--------------------------------------------
 
Instructor: Jean Hall
September 3 (2 is Labor Day) - October 4, 2013
(4 weeks)
$229.00/student
 
Prepares students to write ACT/SAT essays for the ACT/SAT tests.

--------------------------------------------

 

Registration for fall classes is open!

Brave Writer is everywhere!

Be sure to like, friend, and follow us on all our social media networks!

Find us on Pinterest  Like us on Facebook  Follow us on Twitter

Be sure you check the notifications and "shows in news feed" options so you don't miss the Facebook posts.

BWFBPageNotifications
Today's blog features a special offer!

Visit our blog


I look forward to meeting you, tweeting with you, chatting with you, and meeting your families in our online classes!

  Julie Signature
Julie Bogart
Brave Writer 

P.S. Fall Class Registration is open!