Hkpiano Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 DS7 is not a fan of WWE1, mostly because he hates reading excerpts. I have been reading a lot on the Brave Writer blog and website, as well as all the rave reviews on here! I want to get started with the Brave Writer lifestyle, but due to budget restrictions, can only purchase one product right now. I'm wondering, which would be the best product for me to start with at this point? The Writer's Jungle or Jot It Down? I know the Writer's Jungle explains the basis of the whole philosophy and is usually recommended as the starting point. However, it says on the website that it is written for ages 8-18. My children are 5 and 7, and I would really like to get into the nitty gritty of how to implement her ideas. Should I just get Jot It Down first? Would that be the most practical? Thanks for any suggestions and advice!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Get Jot It Down first. I haven't personally used it - it came out too late for us - but we loved Partnership Writing and it's the equivalent for younger kids. It's reasonably priced, IMO (HSBC will help you save a little more too), it has something laid out and practical (the projects), it's a consumable amount of information. I love TWJ. But not everyone finds it useful at first beyond the inspiration level. I see so many people who are like, it's so great... I have no idea what to do now! So I think JID helps answer that. Then, if you use JID and implement some of her other ideas, like the poetry teas, then you can say, okay now is the time to get TWJ and enrich what we're doing a little more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 The free stuff on her blog or the smaller products like JID or PW. Try it as inexpensively as you can first to see of you like it, particularly if you're going the ebook route (which you can not sell used like you can with a physical copy). Get a feel for whether it works for you as a teacher and your child as a writer before buying TWJ and consider the hard copy because, again, you can't resell ebooks if they don't work for your family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 I've read TWJ and have bought Jot It Down but don't plan to start on it until late spring (just because we have some other stuff I want to wrap up first). If I were going to do just one it would probably be Jot It Down. TWJ has a few good ideas to implement young, but does focus more on later elementary and up. It feels more like "teacher education" than like a curriculum, is very encouraging, but minimal on the nuts and bolts. Jot It Down is something you could use immediately. That said, and maybe I'm wrong, but isn't WWE more about copywork, grammar, and narration? Are you trying to replace those components? Or just move to something different? Jot It Down is a creative writing program. If what you want is more of a copywork/grammar program, you'd be looking for The Wand or The Arrow (or at his age, maybe the new Quiver of Arrows product). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hkpiano Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Right, WWE is copywork and narration, and FLL is grammar. I don't necessarily want to replace them yet, although honestly we're not really using WWE as written anyway. Since the excerpts are what bug DS, I've been finding copywork sentences from our own reading and having him do narrations within our other subjects. I do plan on using The Wand for my daughter and Quiver of Arrows for my son starting in the fall, but I think in the meantime he will really enjoy supplementing our copywork and narrations with the writing projects in Jot It Down (from what I saw in the sample). I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't putting the cart before the horse by not purchasing TWJ first. Sounds like it will be okay to get JID now, TWJ in a few months (maybe it would be a good summer read for me), then start The Wand/Quiver of Arrows in the fall instead of going on to WWE2. Thank you so much for all of your input, it's nice to hear the voices of experience! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 No, I don't think you're putting the cart before the horse at all. Especially not at this stage of writing. The BW website wants to imply that everyone should start with TWJ. I think it's really good, but I keep thinking that they're actually losing some people that way because a) it's expensive and b) it's really long and not as practical, especially for the early grades. Seconding to think about the Quiver of Arrows if Jot It Down works out. Or if WWE is working, stick with your modified version of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 I would get TWJ. Read it, think about it, and read it again. It's a 'teach the teacher' type book. In the meantime, continue to use your existing resources exactly as you are doing. You are teaching writing the original WTM way--finding passages yourself. That is good! Read aloud a lot, and encourage the kids to dictate their stories to you to write down. At this age, those are the basics. Sure, continue FLL with the 7YO. You are doing great, don't let curriculum frenzy make you think otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimk3 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I would get Jot it Down. If you haven't already done so, I recommend listening to the BW podcasts, reading the BW Lifestyle Topics, and subscribing to the blog. I think that is a good way to get familiar with BW and implement the lifestyle in an economical way. I have the TWJ and I do recommend buying it if BW clicks for your family, but you can hold off for now, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veritaserum Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Remember that you can get discounts on BW products through Homeschool Buyer's Co-Op. That's how I bought the Writer's Jungle.For now, though, Jot It Down is a great place to start. Or, if you want something similar to WWE, Quiver of Arrows uses copywork from one novel across four weeks. Each week also features a particular literary device or writing style based on a passage from the novel. Then there's a simple writing activity to complete at the end of the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 but I keep thinking that they're actually losing some people that way because a) it's expensive and b) it's really long and not as practical, especially for the early grades. I agree. I bought TWJ first after subscribing and reading her blog on a regular basis and ended up puzzled beyond belief when it came to the daily sorts of things. PW was much clearer. JID in the OP's case is plenty to be going on for quite awhile. BW/TWJ can be revolutionary and a good fit for many people, but it's not for everyone and you won't be harmed by waiting. You could, on the other hand, be really bummed to own multiple ebooks that you can't use and can't resell to buy the things that do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Or if you like WWE you could get the text and use a book you are reading aloud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Read her blog a lot. If you love it, buy something. If not, don't, because her books are like collections of blog-style entries. (Wow, it was not at all a good fit for me. Big regret.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.