Brave Writer® 101: Guided Writing Process

[This is a parent interaction class. Please click the "Parent is the Student" tab above to learn more.] #

Welcome to the class that will help you coach all types of writers!

Bring us the kids who

• haven’t done many—okay, any—formal writing activities
• write with flair but need help revising
• would rather do anything, anything, but put pencil to paper
• write capably but without flair
• cope with learning challenges
• are in school or need to be ready to enter school

Brave Writer® 101: Guided Writing Process is unique in the world of writing instruction.

Our goal? To show you how to be your children’s trusted partner and ally in the writing process. No more fights over three more sentences. We provide tools to help your stuck writers get unstuck. Let’s get you and your child on the same side of the fence.

We start with the power of self-expression in writing. We focus on the unique, quirky, and wonderful writer that is your child!

Paragraph instruction? Spelling and grammar?

Sure, but not until our young writers know we value what they have to say.

This is where we begin—stirring up our children’s ideas, thoughts, and insights that hook, fascinate, surprise, enliven, and tell the truth.

How do you help your kids reach inside and find those kinds of words?

That's what Brave Writer® 101 is designed to do!

You're the partner your child needs!

Traditional approaches to writing would have you hand your children a book and assignments and—poof!—they’re independently writing. The truth is, no one writes in an isolation booth.

Every writer needs a partner at every level—even professional writers!

Brave Writer® cares about making YOU an effective writing coach for your kids. You will enroll with one or more kids to gain these coaching skills under the supervision of our trained instructors.

If you're new to Brave Writer®

Brave Writer® 101: Guided Writing Process is where to begin.

Tens of thousands of families have been liberated by this class experience.

What to expect

• Covers the process described in The Writer’s Jungle and Growing Brave Writers
• Trained coaches guide you and your kids through the writing process
• Parents are enrolled with their kids (9-14; teens needing remediation)
• Our coaches give kind helpful comments on student writing
• Our coaches interact with the parent directly—modeling the feedback style and answering your specific questions

This course covers the following skills

• Communication We play a game to get you started!
• Keen observation The skill needed to dig out the rich vocabulary lurking inside your child
• Freewriting The breakthrough tool that has unleashed thousands of blocked writers
• Revising Practices and permission to get in there with your kids and help
• Editing The mechanics mop-up
• Publishing Share that great writing with interested readers

Class Structure

• Class is held in a private discussion board with 20-25 other families.
• Class is asynchronous—you log in when it is convenient for you each day of the week at no specific time of day.
• It is text-based—no video.
• Student writing assignments are posted in a text box, published to the classroom, and all students are able to read student writing.
• Class is a writing workshop format, with all coaching feedback available to be read by all families.
• Class work, student writing, and coaching feedback can be downloaded and saved in a PDF format.

Visit our sample classroom.

Additional information

If you have already worked through The Writer's Jungle or Growing Brave Writers independently, you will not find new material in this class. You will find help, answers to questions, specific insight into your child's process, personal input from a talented instructor, and the gentle accountability of due dates.

If you own The Writer's Jungle or Growing Brave Writers and have not successfully managed to execute it, then Brave Writer® 101: Guided Writing Process will provide you with the structure, support, and modeling you seek.

Take your coaching to the next level in Brave Writer® 102: Learning to Revise!

In Brave Writer® 101: Guided Writing Process, instructors shepherd you through a complete writing experience as they model the affirmative feedback that helps writers grow.

But our support doesn’t end there!

In Brave Writer® 102: Learning to Revise, we’ll slow things down and focus on the most difficult part of the writing process for young writers—revision.

Here, you’ll partner anew with your child and gain an abundance of tools to help you approach revision in a stress-free way.

See the reason why revision is actually the process writers love most!

This is revision as you’ve never experienced it.

For more information about how the classes are run, please read about online classes.

To explore our Brave Writer® classroom, click here to access a sample class.

Brave Writer® online classes are specially designed with the busy homeschooling parent in mind.

Class Structure Overview #

• Class is held in a private discussion board with 20-25 other participants.
• Class is asynchronous—you log in when it is convenient for you each day of the week at no specific time of day.
• It is text-based—no video.
• Student writing assignments are posted in a text box, published to the classroom, and all students are able to read student writing.
• Class is a writing workshop format, with all coaching feedback available to be read by all families.
• Class work, student writing, and coaching feedback can be downloaded and saved in a PDF format.

Class Length and Time #

Classes last anywhere from three to six weeks. We offer courses that address a specific writing need so that you can take the ones that suit your family throughout the school year. Short class sessions enable you to work around family vacations, out-of-town swim meets, recovering from wisdom teeth removal, and visits from grandparents. We operate on the quarter system, including a summer session. Our most popular classes repeat each quarter, while others are seasonal.

We operate "asynchronously" (which means that the discussion is not live, but that posted information remains available to you in your time zone at your convenience). Instructors check the classroom throughout the day to answer questions and give feedback on writing. Writing is done at home and then typed into the classroom, and shared with both the instructor and other classmates. You're not required to be online at any specific time of the day. We have students from all over the world participating in our classes so "live" discussion is impossible. Instead, the online classroom enables the instructor to post information and assignments when it is convenient to the instructor. Then, when it is convenient for you, you come to the classroom and read the latest postings.

Private Classroom Space #

Our classes meet in a customized online classroom, designed specifically to meet the needs of Brave Writer® Only registered students and the instructor have access to the classroom to ensure your privacy. Assignments and reading materials are posted by Brave Writer® instructors each week (no additional supply fees necessary, unless otherwise indicated). Either you (homeschooling parent) or your child (homeschooling student) will visit the classroom daily at your convenience to read helpful information about the current topic or to find the writing assignment.

Instructor feedback to student writing is offered for all participants to read. Writing questions are welcomed and encouraged! That's the point of class. We aim to give you immediate support as you face writing obstacles.

Safe Community #

Brave Writer® takes seriously the need for encouragement and emotional safety in writing. No student is ever at risk of being humiliated or mistreated. All online dialogue is respectful and supportive of your child's process. This is the core of Brave Writer® philosophy. You can read about Brave Writer® values here.

What makes our program especially unique in the world of online education is that we value a corporate experience. Rather than teaching your child in a tutorial format, we prefer students to have the opportunity to both publish their work for an audience (other students) and also to have the chance to read other student writing. In no other setting is this possible. Schools-in-buildings rarely have students read each other's work. Homeschooled children are rarely in a classroom environment to begin with, so the opportunity to read peer-writing is nil.

Our classes provide an utterly unique experience in the world of writing instruction. Since most writers grow through emulation of good writing, it is a real advantage to Brave Writer® kids to get the chance to read the writing of their fellow home-educated peers. They love it! They get to examine and internalize other ways of writing, analyzing and expressing ideas similar to their own. They have the chance to validate and cheer on their peers. And of course, the best part of all is that they receive the praise and affirmation of kids just like them.

Not only that, all instructor feedback is posted to the classroom for all students to read. That means your kids get the benefit of instructor comments on many papers, not just their own. We've noted that this style of instruction is especially effective and hope you'll agree!

To explore our Brave Writer® classroom, click here to access a sample class.

The Brave Writer® 101: Guided Writing Process class is unusual in the Brave Writer® list of classes. The parent is enrolled as the "student" in the online classroom. The instructor will teach not just your children, but also you, the parent! You are being taught how to be an effective writing coach to your children, while your children are learning how to write! You will complete the exercises or assignments with your children at home. Then, you will report back to the instructor by posting your children's work. The instructor will give direct feedback on the student work, guiding you in how to become that kind of writing partner to your child for all future writing excursions.

The structure of this class is that the parent is the enrolled student, and the kids are the active participants. Our hope is that you and your children will discover the joy of working together as a writing-editing team over the six weeks you spend in class.