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Brave writer clarification


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So I was thinking of brave writer. Am I correct that jot it down is more of a creative writing component and the wand program is more like grammar?

 

I thought I was looking for grammar instruction but the first sample lesson in the wand looked like it was discussing rhyming? And I'm not entirely sold on starting grammar yet as we're remediating dyslexia and dysgraphia currently. If I do start grammar this year it would be pretty slow going (nouns, verbs, etc).

 

I may x-post in learning challenges but I did want to know the basics of brave writer anyway if you can help explain.

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I am not familiar with the Wand.  I bought the Arrow which covers copywork, grammar, spelling, and other stuff all in one as you read through a book.  But yes, Jot It Down is definitely a creative writing program.  But honestly, I think I am using more creative writing suggestions from The Writers Jungle than I am with Jot It Down...at the moment anyways.

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Well, I'll disagree slightly. We have the next two supplements after Jot It Down (Partnership and Faltering Ownership) and while I think it's easy to label them as "creative writing" actually they're just "writing." Some of it is creative, but there's a lot in them - and in Jot It Down, from what I could see since it came too late for us - that is focused on building up to all different kinds of writing, including more traditional "compositions." Part of the BW philosophy is that writing is writing - and that building one's voice in different forms (like, say, poems and short stories which are labeled "creative writing") is useful because it can transfer to other forms (like thesis papers, which are usually not labeled "creative writing").

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I didn't use the Wand and don't know about it. We used The Writer's Jungle and an online class (Kidswrite Basic), plus I get the emails and have used other things off the website.  At the time I started BW I don't think there were books for Jot It Down, Partnership, Faltering Ownership, so much as that those were considered stages with regard to how much the child was expected to do independently.

 

There was also at one point a class specific to LD issues, but I did not take that.

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I'm looking at my Jot It Down book right now and there are only two projects that I would categorize as traditional creative writing: retelling a fairy tale and make a book, and making a book about an animal.  The other ones are a lot more abstract, like photojournaling, making lists of things, planning a party or numbers.  It says it's for 5-8 which I would agree with, although DS is 8 and wasn't that thrilled with the options.  We are sticking with more "traditional" writing ideas, most of which I've found in the Writer's Jungle (but other places too).

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It's a bit confusing to people new to it. I agree that The Writer's Jungle is the book that really explains it all. All the other things grow out of that - in fact TWJ explains how to do everything yourself, but the other products make it easier by choosing your copywork, planning your projects, etc. However, since TWJ is pretty pricey, I think the Jot It Down/Partnership Writing/Faltering Ownership supplements are a much better deal for many people when starting out. And they do all contain a shortened explanation of the BW philosophy specifically for that stage.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I may get the writers jungle and jot it down and skip the wand. The person from the company I emailed wrote it was a program teaching reading by writing. All I thought was: definately not for us! Plus: really?

 

Well, writing to read is a common means of instruction - ETC uses it and some of the O-G programs are really like that as well - they're spell to read. It's a pretty proven method. BUT... I find The Wand to be the most confusing BW product. I've seen it, sat down with it and flipped all through it. It looks to *me* like it's a gentle language mechanics and writing program - basically copywork for K-2nd with all the various things that can go with copywork taught along with it - the literary things, the variety of sentence structures, the mechanics and spelling, the grammar - but all really gentle. But what BW *says* it is is a phonics program. And they say you have to start at the beginning. It's... a mystery to me.

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I may get the writers jungle and jot it down and skip the wand. The person from the company I emailed wrote it was a program teaching reading by writing. All I thought was: definately not for us! Plus: really?

TWJ and JiD is what I went with, and we're really enjoying it. There was no was to correctly place my strong reader who can't physically write much in any of the Wand/Arrow stuff, so I ended up jumping into Michael Clay Thompson to satisfy her desire for more direct grammar/language instruction.

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I have used The Wand.  We used it as a beginning introduction to spelling.  Each lesson is (loosley) based on a book you read together.  We studied some of the words in the lesson, writing them on a white board or forming them from  magnet tiles.  You make a file folder that contains colored post it notes with the various phonograms on them and use them to practice spelling/reading the words.  My son thought it was a very snuggly, special time with mom.  He really loved it.

 

I thought it was kind of confusing--having to read through a bunch of material to get started teaching the lesson or to even determine what the lesson was!  Nonetheless, once I got the hang of it, it started to go more smoothly.  We didn't continue with it after about 3 months.

 

We love the writer's jungle!  We use the Arrows and I love their jot-it-down, partnership and faltering ownership writing programs.  We do teatime, freewrites, movie review days, etc. I get a lot out of this lifestyle, but was not able to work The Wand into our homeschool.

 

Becky

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