This class is a family class. Click on the "Family Class" tab above to learn more.

[Note: We recommend this class for ages 9-18, but younger interested learners are welcome!]

Enroll the entire family for one price! #

Playing with Poetry: Exploration provides a highly-enjoyable writing experience for your whole family.

If your homeschool needs a burst of creative energy, poetry is a great way to supercharge the writing atmosphere of your home! Playing with Poetry: Exploration enrolls you with your child(ren) in this class. The poems you'll explore are short, often rhyme, and provide plenty of giggles as your kids explore and play with language. Carefully handwritten (and perhaps even illustrated!) and bound into a book, the products from this class can create a keepsake worthy of re-reading and savoring for years to come. (Poems are also great to share with relatives in birthday cards or on holidays.)

ALL AGES enjoy this class, from the youngest child, to the senior in high school, to both parents! We love it when both parents post their own poetic efforts in the workshop along with their kids'!

This workshop will allow you the opportunity to explore and write poetry in the following forms:

  • Week One: Introduction to Poetry and the Couplet and Tercet stanza forms
  • Week Two: Traditional Poetry: The Quatrain stanza, the Limerick, and the Palindrome
  • Week Three: Alternative Poetry: The Fragment, the "After..." and the Kenning poems
  • Week Four: "Found" Poems: Centos, Black-Out, and Book Spine Poems

In Playing with Poetry: Exploration, taught by Susanne Barrett (MA in poetry), your family will not only learn to explore appreciate poetic forms, but you will also have the satisfying pleasure of writing them! You and your kids get to explore a wide variety of poetic forms and learn the art of poetic language. Brave Writer® places a strong emphasis on poetry because it is a natural source of language development, literary elements, and rich vocabulary, especially for younger writers. Plus, poetry is simply a joy! I call it: “The Sudoku of Language.”

Take advantage of this opportunity to enjoy guidance and support in the teaching of poetry with Playing with Poetry: Exploration. Pair it with tea and cookies, and your kids will have a great month!

Playing with Poetry follows a similar format to Brave Writer® 101: Guided Writing Process: parents interact with the instructor, work with their children and then post their work to the Brave Writer® online classroom for them (though children are welcome to post directly, as well). Enroll the entire family in this class for one affordable price and get ready to dive deep into this fascinating topic!

High school students are welcome to take this class on their own, or they may post separately from the rest of the family if younger siblings are also taking the class.

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.

Playing with Poetry Exploration is what we call a "Family Class" in Brave Writer®. Your children are enrolled in the class and will be the ones doing the activities, but the parent is the "student" in the classroom. Your family can all enroll for one low price!

The instructor will teach not just your children, but also you, the parent! In fact, in this class, parents are encouraged to produce poetry as well as the kids! It's a family party of poetry writing. Together, you and your children will learn about a variety of poetic forms. You will read the assignments and support your kids in doing the activities; then you will report back to the instructor by posting your children's work. We find that many kids have a much more successful experience with poetry when parents are involved!

That said, your kids are free to convey their thoughts and reactions to the instructor, too. They will want to get to know your students! The structure of this class is that the parent is the enrolled student, and the kids are the active participants. Our hope is that both you and your children will discover the joy of writing poetry by the end of the four weeks together!