Brave Writer

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...

Today, 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, burn...

It’s almost time for our annual book list release! Every year we curate a new list of books to be part of our Dart (ages 8-10 ), Arrow (10-12), and Boomerang (12-14) programs. Dawn Smith spearheads this undertaking and she joins us today to describe how she picks which books to be on the list. The reason the book release is so highly anticipated is because Dawn chooses books that she knows are goi...

Hooray! Today’s the publication day of my (Julie’s) new workbook, “Becoming a Critical Thinker.”  If you’re a longtime listener of this podcast, you know that I’m pretty strict about workbooks. They should lead a child to mastery, to embodiment, to knowing the content for themselves.  That’s the approach I took to creating this workbook. I’ve reduced each of the activities to one key poi...

Shannon Watts is the founder of Moms Demand Action, a six-million member organization she describes as “maybe the world's largest real life field experiment for what happens when you show women how their abilities and their burning desires and their values align, and how they come alive and can achieve things they never imagined possible.” We are thrilled to have her on the show today to talk abou...

Today we answer a listener’s letter. An excerpt:: My kids craft. All. The. Time. They wake and craft. Hot glue and paper scraps everywhere. Markers and lost lids everywhere. Cardboard everywhere. Currently they’re making some kind of escape room with string strung everywhere like a spider's web.  I let them be and I read aloud for an hour or so, so that our morning starts fun. But then I can’...

Springtime often pulls homeschoolers in what can feel like two different directions. The first is the concern of what needs to be done before the end of the school year. The second is wanting to play outside. Today we cover how to unite the two. We give ideas of how to incorporate formal education with being outside: Measuring the circumference of a tree, practicing spelling while tossing a lacros...

When a lot of people hear “Artificial Intelligence,” they think RoboCop or the Terminator, but Dr. Kelly Cohen thinks about life-saving medical processes. Dr. Kelly Cohen’s startup, Genexia, uses AI to identify coronary artery disease using mammograms. Today he joins us to talk about his AI optimism and vision for the future. Join us as we talk about AI risks, ethics, and regulations.  Resour...

Hana’s Instagram account, Pepper and Pine, is one of the most beautiful accounts on the internet: colorful, full of books and art. Her homeschooling approach is much the same. Using the Waldorf philosophy, she blends creativity and curiosity into her lessons, keeping them targeted to specific developmental stages. Today, we have a rich conversation with Hana about the dynamic of learning and growi...

Today’s episode is a Poetry Teatime: You drink tea, people pick poems to read aloud, you listen and enjoy them while you're eating a delicious snack.  Of course, since this is Brave Writer, we take time between the poems to talk about our love for poetry and how we use it to teach children about language: similes, imagery, space, expression, connection, and more. So join us in Julie’s family...

At age 20, Brave Writer alum Millie Florence has already published three books. She joins the show today to talk about her writing process, her publishing experience, and what she learned in her Brave Writer classes. Plus, we geek out about Minecraft Story Mode and our favorite middle grade novels.  Resources: Buy Millie’s books or schedule a presentation: MillieFlorence.com Listen to our fir...

We often practice compassion for others but hesitate when it comes to compassion for ourselves. Friend of the podcast Dr. Diana Hill joins us today to talk about her newest book, “The Self-Compassion Daily Journal,” and give us some practical tips for practicing self-compassion. We talk about the science of stress in the body, being a connected part of nature, wearing jeans that fit, and much more...

There’s a big difference between “the game of school” and “the learning game.” Ana Lorena Fábrega picked this up as a kid when she went to 10 different schools by the time she was 15. She learned it again as an educator herself. Today Ana joins us to discuss her book, “The Learning Game.” We talk about memorization vs. applied learning, “pointsification” vs gamification, testing culture vs. curios...

The internet has been a great tool for creating community. It has given us ways to connect, commiserate, and even start entrepreneurial adventures. In the 90s, we were just figuring out blogs and message boards. Now, there is TikTok, Instagram, and going viral. Founder of Scary Mommy and She’s Got Issues, Jill Smokler joins us to talk about how being a parent on the internet has changed, and staye...

Today’s episode is about how to homeschool while you have a baby or toddler in tow. As Julie puts it, “The crux of the issue is, how do I teach math to a second grader when I have a terrorist baby?” First, Julie and Melissa talk about daily routines, like finding pockets of time to teach your older kids while your toddler is napping or when you are all taking a family walk. Then they give specific...

In the realm of homeschooling, the journey from traditional educational frameworks to embracing a homeschooling lifestyle is both inspiring and transformative. This transition, often sparked by a desire for a more personalized and engaging learning experience, is richly illustrated by the story of Mandy Davis, a former traditional education professional who embarked on a homeschooling journey with...

In our latest podcast episode, we took a closer look at the tough topic of leaving cults and the importance of thinking for ourselves. We had a deep chat with Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames, who shared their brave story of getting out of the NXIVM cult. This episode isn't just about their story; it's about how we all can learn to think more critically and stand up for our own beliefs. Resources: S...