Great stories need a home.
#

The worlds of cat clans in the Warriors series.

Dragon dens from Wings of Fire.

The wizarding world of Harry Potter.

Those places are alive to those who love these stories. Not by chance! The master worldbuilder strategizes, plans and maps out their fictional world. It’s the creative prep work that gives the story a chance to grow inside of it.

Have a child ready to geek out about their latest role-playing board game, video game quest, or the complex hierarchy of the bird kingdom that lives in your backyard? A child who loves building in Minecraft? Then you have a budding worldbuilder on your hands!

This class will give your child (ages 9-14) the chance to unleash their imagination and create a living, breathing world of their own—from scratch!

We’ll begin by investigating favorite worlds to uncover how worldbuilders hook our interest and transport us to parts unknown. Each week, your kids will explore a new facet of worldbuilding and then practice applying this knowledge to their own world.

Week 1—Getting ready to build! Time for a worldbuilding treasure hunt! We’ll explore different types of worlds to see what makes them tick. Kids will start a “worldbuilding information hub” to gather sources, ideas, and bits of writing to use in their own worlds.

Week 2—Helping others “see” your world How do authors share important details about their worlds without resorting to endless descriptive passages? We’ll unlock the code and then turn our attention to a favorite worldbuilding feature—map making!

Week 3—The past informs the present Kids unleash their inner historians as they make a timeline of important history/mythology for their world.

Week 4—Who lives here, anyway? This week, we get to the secret sauce of every living, breathing world—the “people” who inhabit it! Kids will create individual character drawings and profiles that represent the different groups and factions that populate their world.

When class is done, your child will have a portfolio-worthy collection of material —freewrites, lists, timelines, and drawings—to use to write a story, develop a role-playing campaign, or board game creation.

And then, when your writers are ready to develop characters and plots in a fictional tale based on their world, we’ll have Passion for Fiction (no prerequisites for either class) ready for them!

This class is ideal for young writers who are new to our online classes or who have already completed Brave Writer® 101: Guided Writing Process. Parents can take a back seat as children post directly to the classroom and receive feedback from the instructor.

Worldbuilding will appeal to artists, writers (reluctant and prolific), and list-makers who love to organize information. All will find something appealing in this process.

We hope your child will join us on this worldbuilding adventure!

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.