Brave Writer

Rita Cevasco is a speech language pathologist, mother of three incredible children, the author of Trees in a Forest, and the Founder of Rooted in Language, a private speech and therapy practice that she conducts with her daughter.Julie and Rita share many of the same ideals, and their families have been on a Homeschooling journey together since Brave Writer was in its infancy.You can download show notes for the podcast here: http://blog.bravewriter.com/category/podcasts/Resources:You can download Free Writing Lessons here: http://go.bravewriter.com/free-writing-lessonsLearn more at RootedInLanguage.comConnect with Rita: Facebook | InstagramListen to our last conversation with RitaListen to us talk to Rita about the role of the brain in writing: http://blog.bravewriter.com/2012/09/05/08-conversation-with-rita-cevasco/ Trees in a Forest by Rita Cevasco

Ashley White enjoyed her career as a first grade teacher, but when her children were born, her entire world changed—including her perspective on public education. With the full support of her husband Jeremy, Ashley decided to focus her attention on homeschooling.The White family has since put a twist on traditional homeschooling by embarking on what they call Roadschooling. It’s just like it sounds—they hop in their minivan and take their education on the road, visiting the places that intrigue them and incorporating enchanted education along the way.You can download show notes for the podcast here: http://blog.bravewriter.com/category/podcasts/Resources:You can download Free Writing Lessons here: http://go.bravewriter.com/free-writing-lessonsRead Ashley’s blog: Mommy’s Little LearnersFollow Mommy’s Little Learners on Facebook

Christy Thomas is the definition of an Awesome Adult! Her husband Adam is on active duty and they have moved eight times in 13 years on the whim of the Navy. Christy balances the unpredictability by homeschooling their three kids, and she fuels her Awesome Adult life by running, drawing, knitting, reading, and blogging.Self-care isn’t just a luxury for Christy – it’s a priority.In this episode, Christy shares her tips for developing an Awesome Adult mindset and integrating these pockets of happy into your busy life.You can download show notes for the podcast here: http://blog.bravewriter.com/category/podcasts/Resources:You can download Free Writing Lessons here: go.bravewriter.com/free-writing-lessonsRead Christy’s blog: JoyBroughtMe.comConnect with Play4Life Moms: Play4LifeMoms.com | Facebook | Instagram

Kim and Gabrielle Linnell are an amazing mother-daughter duo we invited on the show to share how Brave Writer — and homeschooling in general — has shaped their understanding of education.Gabrielle is 25 and was homeschooled for about nine years, also spending time in private and public schools. She currently works at Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., as the digital projects associate, where she gets to work on awesome digital initiatives relating to Shakespeare and his world.Gabrielle’s mom, Kim, has taught English as a second language for more than 20 years to international students in schools and universities, both in America and abroad… but she describes the 10 years she homeschooled her four daughters as the high water mark of her career.You can download show notes for the podcast here: http://blog.bravewriter.com/category/podcasts/Resources:You can download Free Writing Lessons here: http://go.bravewriter.com/free-writing-lessonsRead some of Gabrielle’s writing at GabrielleLinnell.comSign up for Gabrielle’s TinyLetter about the ways maps change our minds: tinyletter.com/gclinnellFollow Kim’s writing at ESLOnlineMagazine.com

We were first introduced to Christina Celebi in the height of live streaming broadcasts like Periscope, and we were immediately attracted to her contagious passion and sparkle. We sat down to talk with her because her family have made a brave decision: they have taken their homeschool on the road abroad!Christina immediately fell in love with the freedom that homeschooling created for her family. That independence, mixed with her and her husband’s wanderlust, took root and blossomed into what she calls “World Schooling.”Christina shares how World Schooling changes her homeschooling experience, how she travels on a budget, and how you can start World Schooling if you’ve never travelled before.You can download show notes for the podcast here: http://blog.bravewriter.com/category/podcasts/Resources:You can download Free Writing Lessons here: http://go.bravewriter.com/free-writing-lessonsRead Christina’s blog post: “World Schooling on a Budget”

Dotty Christensen is a one of Julie’s long-time friends, mentors, and partners in shared homeschooling. They sit down to discuss how families can create a warm, rich environment in their homeschool life, and why parents shouldn’t be afraid that homeschooling is a dead end – it can even be the catalyst for something exciting and new in your adult life!You can download show notes for the podcast here: http://blog.bravewriter.com/category/podcasts/Resources:You can download Free Writing Lessons here: http://go.bravewriter.com/free-writing-lessons

Susan Wise Bauer is best known for writing her homeschooling classic, The Well-Trained Mind, and she is a trusted authority in the homeschooling community. Her new book, Rethinking School: How to Take Charge of Your Child's Education, will be available later this year.Susan also has a uniquely comprehensive understanding of the history of the home education movement because she’s been a student, a teacher, and a homeschool business owner.We are starting this series about Brave Shifts with Susan because we want to learn, from her unique perspective, how the culture of homeschooling and education can shift to become even more powerful and effective in families around the world.You can download show notes for the podcast here: http://blog.bravewriter.com/category/podcasts/Resources:You can download Free Writing Lessons here: http://go.bravewriter.com/free-writing-lessonsPre-order Rethinking School: How to Take Charge of Your Child's Education by Susan Wise BauerLearn more about Susan: SusanWiseBauer.com | Twitter | Facebook

Today’s guest, Mason Lawler, is 14-years-old and recently self-published his first book, How the Chameleon Got Its Colors.2016 was a rough year – Mason went through surgeries and long recoveries – so his mother focused on a big project that would lead to a satisfying outcome. They decided to write a book.We discuss...self-teaching the self-publishing processcommissioning illustrationsand why there is a grain of truth behind all good fiction.You can download show notes for the podcast here: http://blog.bravewriter.com/category/podcasts/Resources:You can download Free Writing Lessons here: http://go.bravewriter.com/free-writing-lessonsHow The Chameleon Got Its Colors by M. G. Lawler: Amazon | Barnes & Noble The Writer’s Jungle home-study course

We’ve reached the finale of this Brave Writer Lifestyle Series. The past interviews have shared literally decades of homeschool experience, including all of the challenges, discoveries, family relationships, and friendships that have resulted from this Brave Writer lifestyle of love and learning. (Don’t worry! We’ll be back with a new episode next week!)We’re going to wrap up the series with the wisdom and wit of the wonderful friend, author and homeschooling pro Melissa Wiley.Melissa is mom to “a small army of children” and she has been writing children’s books since 1995, including her Brave Writer featured book The Prairie Thief (affiliate link). In 2005, Melissa started her blog Here in the Bonny Glen to document her family adventures – it’s my favorite homeschooling blog and it’s hilarious, so make sure you head over there and read it.Melissa will also be teaching two Brave Writer classes in the Spring! One class is about comic strips and the other is titled “Penning the Past.”Melissa was drawn to many of the great ideas in Unschooling, Charlotte-Mason and the classical method – but she didn’t like how strict the teaching methodologies were. She found that her family was constantly learning in different ways.Shifting between more and less structure was working, though. The tide would come in and the tide would go out, but they were learning at every level. She observed her home education style and coined the term Tidal Homeschooling. It’s not a method, it’s a description.High Tide – The family charters the ship and maps out the journey. The parents are the captain and the children are the crew. They’re open to side trips and adventure, but the captain is in charge and there’s a planned course of action.Low Tide – The family is at the beach. The children are all wandering along the shore, exploring their own interests. Although the children are all doing their own thing, the parents are still involved and can act as a facilitator.Everyone is present at every stage of the journey, but their roles may change along the way.One of the benefits of looking at home education through the lens of Tidal Homeschooling is recognizing that we go through these seasonal changes. Tying ourselves to only one point of view about learning sometimes limits our creativity and causes us to miss a natural ebb and flow in how learning gets expressed by our children.When I talk about the Enchanted Education I talk about surprise, mystery, risk and adventure. It can be an adventure to go solo, but it can also be an adventure to participate in a well-prepared lesson or plan.It’s a beautiful metaphor that expresses how the seasonal shift can make us feel and why we should move with the flow of things rather than fighting it.Melissa’s oldest child is in college right now, and overall she feels that Tidal Homeschooling was an effective primary education.During her first year, Melissa’s daughter realized, laughing through tears, that she didn’t have a bad teacher until she was 18.She said she could have used more practice doing timed tests.While many of her peers relayed a high school experience full of pressure and AP classes, Melissa’s daughter loved her high school years.Melissa’s husband, Scott Peterson, is a comic book author. Her kids grew up on comics and comics played a role in their home education.The images support the text and the text supports the images, and so kids have multiple shots at decoding comics. They can actually invite children into decoding risks and provide them with the courage to read.Melissa’s 3rd daughter learned to read using The Adventures of Tintin. Her youngest child did the same thing with Calvin & Hobbes. The vocabulary is often more advanced than what you might find in an early reader’s book, too.“She had so much motivation to decode those words in the bubbles, in the balloons, because she wanted to have the whole story, not just the half that the art was telling.”The images can also offer assistance to children who struggle with reading. The art will help them make sense of the story, and going through that process teaches them to decode context clues for meaning.We’re in a golden age when it comes to comic books for kids. They’re bound in sturdy collections that can stand up to young children, distributed digitally, and available at most libraries.To close out this Brave Writer Podcast Series, here are Melissa’s five things that should fill every child’s day (based on Charlotte-Mason):Good booksImaginative PlayMeaningful WorkEncounters with BeautyIdeas to Ponder and DiscussYou can download show notes for the podcast here: http://blog.bravewriter.com/category/podcasts/Resources:You can download Free Writing Lessons here: http://go.bravewriter.com/free-writing-lessonsConnect with Melissa: MelissaWiley.com | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | PinterestInch and Roly by Melissa Wiley Fox and Crow Are Not Friends by Melissa WileyThe Prairie Thief by Melissa Wiley: The Arrow | The Book (affiliate link)

Angela Awald wears a lot of hats. She is a mother of six kids, a certified teacher, a writer, and a doula. She also runs the blog NurturedRoots.net.“I came across the Brave Writer lifestyle and it clicked. Everything that I had read and felt in my heart just clicked when I read about it.”Angela is a classroom teacher turned homeschooler, and transitioning to homeschooling was more difficult than she expected. She spent a long time trying to force school at home.Moving away from school at home took a lot of trial and error. Instead of looking at a list of what they need to cover, she learned to look at what was best for her children. When she stopped trying to meet other people’s standards, the home education process started coming together.In 2014, she came across the Brave Writer lifestyle and it clicked. The days started to flow more smoothly because everyone was more engaged and connected.“That’s what I love about the Brave Writer lifestyle … I think of it as a framework that allows a lot of grace and flexibility.”Angela created a delightful twist on Poetry Teatime – Poetry & Pajamas day! Every Thursday, the family comes to the table for breakfast treats, poetry and a project relating to the theme of the day.The treats bring everyone to the table and the flexibility of the activity allows everyone to participate when they want to. By being flexible, she doesn’t pressure anyone to engage more than they want to while leaving an open opportunity for them to participate when they feel inspired.Angela lives an inspired homeschooling lifestyle, meaning she develops an education guide that allows for inspiration. Angela steers clear of the word “plan” and, instead, focuses on intention.Based on the Brave Writer lifestyle, she created a visual planning guide that covers everything she intends to get to in the next month. At the beginning of the month, she assesses what requires more focus so that she can better respond to the needs of her family.“I try to think of it as intentions. As soon as I say the word “plan,” I automatically become rigid in my own thinking.”Angela’s experience with homeschooling six children has taught her a lot. She says the keys to homeschooling are an open mind, a spirit of adventure, flexibility and love.“An open mind is just being open to the other ideas that might pop up. The input of our children. Some of the best learning that has happened in our home was not my idea. It was the idea of a child.”“A spirit of adventure means just being willing to step outside of our own comfort zone … being open to the things our kids can teach us, the the things the world has to offer, and not being afraid to go out there and experience them.”“Before we had children, I was a very by the book. You start at point A and you go to point B. There’s no detour. Well, I have learned that that just doesn’t work anymore so flexibility is the name of the game around here.”“If all else fails, or even if it’s all going well, just love ‘em … If we just keep focusing on the love we have for the child who’s right in front of us, it puts everything in perspective.”At NurturedRoots.net and on her Pinterest page, Angela offers a lot of awesome resources for homeschoolers, parents and doula care. You’ll find...A Brave Writer-inspired planning guide, which is like a one-page menu listing all of the elements of Brave Writer.If you are running out of reading material, the Big Book Pile-Up has 30 days of reading ideas for your family.The 20 literary devices that she wants her kids to know before they leave the house, tips for using board games for education and other fun things you can tailor to your own home education experience.“If we nurture ourselves and our families, those are our roots, and that’s what’s going to change the world.”You can download show notes for the podcast here: http://blog.bravewriter.com/category/podcasts/Resources:You can download Free Writing Lessons here: http://go.bravewriter.com/free-writing-lessonsConnect with Angela: NurturedRoots.net | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Brave Writer-inspired planning guide Big Book Pile-Up