Brave Writer

If you feel like an outsider when it comes to art, you aren’t alone. In fact, as Bianca Bosker explains, there’s a whole gatekeeping system built up around art: who you know, how you dress, what words you use, etc.  Lucky for us, Bianca Bosker spent five years finding a way past the gatekeeping. In her book and in today’s episode, Bianca brings back her findings to the rest of us, teaching us...

Play isn’t a reward for learning, it is the learning. In this episode, we dig into the puritanical reflex to be suspicious of anything fun, and rebuke it with developmental science and lived experience. We give ideas on how to create playful conditions for deep, sustainable learning for your kids and even yourself. We also break down how to evaluate homeschool learning you’re already doing: How do...

Chances are someone you know will have a sick child hospitalized at some point. In this episode, Melissa explains how you can best support that parent and caregiver. Melissa herself has had two of her kiddos hospitalized so her suggestions come from lived experiences. First, Melissa discusses the practical physical items you can bring to a caregiver in the hospital: toiletries, quality food, and a...

Leaves changing color, evenings getting chillier–autumn is a wonderful time of the year to turn our attention toward the natural world around us. Today’s episode is all about how to facilitate nature study for your kids. We cover resources that can help you on your journey. We also give you specific practices you can try out with your family.  Most importantly, we dig into why nature study is...

We tend to have a pretty clear idea of what practice looks like for musicians and athletes. But what does practice look like for writers? In today’s episode, Julie and Melissa discuss what writing practice can look like for writers of all ages and developmental stages. Julie and Melissa describe their own daily writing practices and those of well-known authors. Then they dive into how you can faci...

Ever have one of those days where the kids won’t stop bickering, everything seems difficult, and overall there’s just bad energy? In today’s episode, we give you tips and tricks on how to turn the mood around…or at least keep your own internal peace. We give ideas that are focused on the body: movement and the five senses. We also give tips that are focused on the surroundings: making a small, new...

What does it mean to be adultist? Do children have a right to not brush their teeth… or the right not to have cavities? Eloise Rickman joins the show today to discuss her new book, “It's Not Fair, Why It's Time for a Grown-Up Conversation About How Adults Treat Children.” We have a big juicy conversation about human development, education, societal structures, lived experiences, and the UN Convent...

The sound of Moroccan Arabic, the smell of dried buffalo chips, the taste of sugary mint tea, the view of an open prairie–in today’s episode Julie and Melissa reflect on immersive learning experiences and how education becomes a part of a person for the rest of their life. Julie is back from her trip to Europe, having spent a significant amount of her time in Spain. Always the homeschooler, she de...

As homeschooling parents, one of our biggest concerns is ensuring our children are ready for college when the time comes (if they choose that path). Today, we’re joined by Elizabeth Christie, homeschooling mom of six, who tells us about how her Brave Writers are now excelling in college. Tune in to hear how Elizabeth’s kids sailed through college application essays, how her daughter was recruited...

“Structure” might be one of the most anxiety-provoking words for a homeschooling parent. If you feel like you’re always struggling to achieve structure in your household or if you don’t even know what level of structure is best for your kids, this episode is for you. This episode is a previously recorded webinar about parties. Yes, structure and parties are one and the same in the Brave Writer wor...

Literary analysis shouldn’t be a cold dissection that increases the distance between the reader and the text, but rather a way for the reader to more deeply engage with the text. In today’s episode, Julie lays out Brave Writer’s approach to teaching literary analysis and writer’s craft to your kids. This is a rebroadcast of a training webinar. Literary analysis and noticing a writer’s craft can st...

Welcome to Julie’s webinar, “The GPS of Writing: Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling.” Since Julie is taking a short break from the podcast to focus on her newest book, we’re replacing our typical podcast with a broadcast of this webinar. Throughout the webinar, Julie weaves a metaphor for grammar, punctuation, and spelling: Grammar is the rules of the word-party, punctuation is the decorator and b...

Once you view time as a gift to be savored, you can start to naturally exchange agendas for rhythms and arbitrary expectations for deep learning. This is one of the takeaway messages from The Joy of Slow: Restoring Balance and Wonder to Homeschool Learning , a book by experienced homeschooling mom Leslie Martino. Leslie is our guest on the program today. She earned bachelor and master’s degrees in...

What’s living literature? What does it have to do with teaching your kids grammar and spelling? Today’s episode is a recording of Julie’s webinar where she explains the heart of Brave Writer’s approach to teaching writing. Julie explains how immersion in rich, powerful literature is the best way to teach your child writing mechanics. She outlines the Brave Writer process in six steps: Parent reads...

Tia Levings was trapped in a high-control religion, experiencing church-sanctioned domestic abuse at the hands of her husband. Her only relief was the Trapdoor Society online message boards where she could discuss big ideas about education and human development. Years later, she barely escaped with her and her kids’ lives. Tia joins us today for an emotional, deeply meaningful episode where we dis...

Homeschooling can be isolating, but it shouldn’t be and it doesn’t have to be. In fact, as a homeschooling family, you have unique opportunities to meaningfully connect with all kinds of folks. In this episode, we discuss how to find community as homeschoolers and why it is so important. We discuss connecting to your local homeschooler advocacy organization, using the internet to find like-minded...

If you aren’t already excited about the Summer Olympics, the episode is going to get you there. Julie’s passion for The Games is contagious. She shares some of her favorite Olympic memories as well as how she integrated the events into her kids’ learning. Geography, physics, pageantry, dedication, loss–the Olympics and Paralympics have it all. Throw in some globes, homemade medals, and poetry, and...

Lindsay Smith caught our eye on Instagram with all the cool book projects she does with her homeschool kids. We are thrilled she accepted our invitation to be our guest on today’s show to tell us more about them. We discuss the importance of fun, visual timelines of accomplishments: books read, skills gained, and milestones achieved. Timelines also act as lessons themselves, building summary skill...

Welcome to our fourth episode in our Natural Stages of Growth in Writing series! Today we cover the High School Writers stage, broken up into two parts: The Great Conversation (freshmen and sophomores) and The Rhetorical Imagination (college prep). It can feel overwhelming for homeschooling parents to teach writing at the high school level, but it doesn’t have to. We talk about keeping it simple:...

Welcome to our third episode in our Natural Stages of Growth in Writing series! Today we cover the Middle School Writers stage, which typically occurs around ages 9-12. This stage is all about building confidence, instilling in your student that they can consistently express themselves well in writing.  We dive into freewriting practices—generating ideas and writing in short spurts. We also w...

Welcome to our second episode in our Natural Stages of Growth in Writing series! Today we cover the Emerging Writers stage, which typically occurs around ages 8-10.  We explain that the key to the Emerging Writers stage is partnership. Parents need to partner with their kids while writing, just like parents naturally partner with their kids while teaching them how to drive a car, or any other...

We’re re-recording our Natural Stages of Growth in Writing series! If you’re a longtime listener, you may remember our first series on the topic. It was made up of conversations between Julie and her son. Now we’re recording in an updated format with more lessons learned and observations gleaned over the years. In this episode, we cover the Beginning Writers stage, also known as the “Jot It Down”...

Parenting is not just about managing behaviors but about building meaningful relationships that help both parents and children grow. Dr. Shefali, New York Times bestselling author of The Conscious Parent and The Parenting Map , proposes an approach that prioritizes connection, embraces playfulness, and redefines success. In this episode, Dr. Shefali discusses the essence of conscious parenting, fo...

There are two major pain points in homeschooling: writing and math. Our guest today helps us with the math part. Pat Murray is the founder of CTC Math, which should sound very familiar to listeners as CTC has been an incredible sponsor for many of our episodes. Pat tells us about the all-too-common trajectory of students: They’re fine with math when they’re very young, then they don’t quite master...

When parents map out the annual homeschooling budget, there’s a tendency to only focus on curriculum. In this episode, we encourage you to prioritize tools that really bring learning to life. Plus, we give you tips on how to get them on the cheap. We dive into specific suggestion after specific suggestion, mainly grouped into six buckets: Writing utensils, art and handicraft supplies, baking ingre...