Brave Writer Questions

[remodelingourlives]

I have a junior in high school who is a strong writer but a lazy writer.  IN other words, when he wants to do well, he does and when he isn't interested....sloppy.  I think some of this comes from his preference to writing about what he wants.  I have been looking at shifting to Brave Writer.  We have used BJU Press in the past.  ANd have just completed LIterature Through The Movies and he had very well written papers.  But, again, he enjoyed the topic.

Having not done anything with BraveWriter before, will starting with Help for High School be a good place to start?  or did he miss a foundational piece?

 

I have looked at IEW, but I am afraid for this child the formulaic approach may send him over the edge.  

 

Thanks.

[Julie of KY]

Help for High School is a great place to start. It is basically both the Kidswrite Intermediate class and the Expository Essay class in a pdf format. What you miss compared to the online class is the teacher feedback and then incentive to do the homework for an outside teacher rather than mom. At my home, this is a huge thing to miss. I actually bought Help for High School thinking I could teach it myself - it is written in a great format to easily self-teach, but I can't do justice to giving my student feedback. I find the feedback from the online BW teachers to be invaluable. After putting my first son in the online class, I thought I might be able to teach my second son - NO! I put him in the online class as well.

 

For someone who can already write essays, you might be able to skip this and move on to something else, but I do think the skills gained here are fantastic.

[Matryoshka]

I have a kid a lot like this - can write well, but doesn't have much interest in doing so... and especially if it's not about something she's interested in.

 

I finally caved and tried Bravewriter.  I went straight to the classes, because if I were involved in any way in teaching or grading, it would just be head-butting.  She already knew the essay 'formula', and as you say, anything formulaic would have been the kiss of death, so I went right for Expository Essay 2 and Advanced Composition, both of which assume the kid knows essay structure and focus on analysis.  Jean Hall was the teacher for both classes - she is fantastic.  She manages to challenge the kids to think and go deeper while still making them feel like they're great writers.  (any critiques I give to my kids' writing, no matter how gentle, seem to get taken personally...)  Dd actually really liked the classes and did all the work with no complaining or pushing from me.  A miracle!  She also liked that neither class required a ton of reading (mostly short articles and a speech, and also a picture analysis in one class).  She hates literary analysis, but this she liked.  Jean Hall is also teaching an SAT/timed essay class coming up; I wish I could get dd to take that one, but she's taking English 101 at the CC this spring, and she doesn't want to take any more writing classes.

 

They also have other classes if your ds likes, say, creative writing or does like lit analysis.  But these two classes were great for my strong but lazy writer.  (And I bet the SAT class would be too.  Even if she doesn't end up doing the Essay portion of the SAT - now that it's not 'required' she wants to skip it - whipping out timed essays is a useful skill all in itself...)

[Julie of KY]

I agree that the online classes are fantastic. It sounds as if your son already has a foundation of essay writing and therefore could move to some of the more advanced classes.

[Hilltopmom]

I'll also recommend the online classes!

 

Really fantastic experiences for my 16 yr old. He's done Expository Essay & just finished MLA essay.

 

He hates writing & does not take criticism rom me well. He still hates writing but his has improved so much from those classes.

Worth the $, for sure!