Please explain Bravewriter to me...

[Tohru]

Very slowly and simply because I am just not getting it. Is it a writing philosophy manual or an actual curriculum? What are all the boomerangs and arrows for? What do you need to buy to use it - the jungle manual and/or grade level add ons too? What else?

 

 

[Farrar]

At it's heart, it's a philosophy.

 

The Writer's Jungle is the book that explains the whole philosophy. However, Julie Bogart talks about it in her blog, in podcasts, in videos - all of which are free. The Writer's Jungle is sold as a "curriculum" but IMHO, it's not. There are suggestions in it for how to turn it into a curriculum, including assignments, exercises, etc. But it's a book for you about how the BW philosophy (aka the "lifestyle") works.

 

In simple terms, the BW philosophy combines old fashioned ideas about how copywork/dictation/narration are the foundation of learning to write with modern ideas about how freewriting and playing around with language and doing fun writing projects can inspire good writers. I would say the primary focus in BW is on taking a child's "voice" and turning that into a strong, individual writing voice. There is a focus on flexibility and creating a "language rich environment."

 

BW encourages people to create a weekly routine for language arts and writing where each day has a different activity. It might look something like...

Monday = copywork or dictation

Tuesday = poetry tea time

Wednesday = narration about something you read or watched

Thursday = family movie and discussion day

Friday = freewriting time

 

All of the above can be done totally DIY - either based on reading The Writer's Jungle or just on listening to Julie speak and reading her blog and so forth. We are definitely a BW family and at the moment we're not using any other BW products (though we have in the past). One of the nice things about the curriculum products is that they teach you to teach that way so then you can often DIY your own copywork or projects in the same style.

 

So... the other products, which ARE curriculum...

 

There are two main things. The Arrow/Boomerang is about a single book that is either read aloud or by the student independently over the course of the month. There are four passages (once a week for the month) to use for copywork/dictation. Each one is used as a springboard for discussing grammar and mechanics concepts. And then there are some discussion questions with a little guidance and a writing assignment that springboards off some literary element from the book.

 

The other curriculum thing BW sells is yearlong project books. These are Jot It Down for younger kids, Partnership Writing for older, and Faltering Ownership for early middle schoolish age. These each summarize the BW lifestyle for the specific age group/stage and give one writing project per month to work on, which guidance on how to do that.

 

They have other things too - The Wand is for little kids just learning to read and write, Help for High School is about writing a thesis essay and written to the student, they have classes and books and so forth as well.

 

Does that clarify things for you?

Edited May 26, 2017 by Farrar

[Tohru]

Thanks, yes a bit. I figured it was the philosophy that she talks about and I vaguely remember owning the Writer's Jungle 10+ years ago, but with all the current talk, I thought maybe it was something different now.

 

So the actual curriculum portion - boomerangs/arrows - are those things she writes or are they assignments for books from other authors?

[Farrar]

They're about books by other authors. The Arrows are mostly Newberry type books. The Boomerangs are more a mix of YA and classics. She chooses good titles.

[SporkUK]

I found listening to her podcasts on the stages of growth in writing quite helpful in understanding it and what everyone was talking about, though they're a few years old now so the talk about products near the end of most of them is a bit out of date but in general they explain it all and how it can be used. 

[....]

And if you're going to buy it, wait until there is a sale - Homeschool Buyer's Co-op has had it for half off.  It's really not worth the full price on the BW website (sounds harsh, but sorry).  I bought it this year just for fun and wish I could return it.  Last time I take the chance on something new!

 

You said you had the Writer's Jungle 10 years ago...do you still have it?  I'm guessing it hasn't changed much.?

[Tohru]

I don't really remember much, except it was in a white binder and each chapter was part of some sort of adventure - sloughing through the jungle or whatever. Just wasn't my cuppa and I sold it long ago.

 

I keep hearing "Bravewriter Lifestyle" and was wondering if it was an actual curriculum now, or a different product than it was back then, but it sounds like it's pretty much the same, but with extra things to help use her philosophy.

Edited May 27, 2017 by Tohru

[newhsmom]

I bought The Writer's Jungle years ago as well, but it wasn't until I heard Julie on Periscope that everything from Brave Writer came together for me.  She has such a great way of talking about the importance of a literature rich lifestyle.  I love that you can take the strategies she shares and really use them with any writing curriculum or you can create your own.  What makes Brave Writer unique is that Julie comes from the perspective of how a professional writer approaches the task of writing instead of the way a teacher works backwards to teach children how to write.  In our home, my children have grown exponentially in their writing abilities since we adopted the Brave Writer approach.

 

Julie's Periscope and Facebook Live videos can be found on the Brave Writer Youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNemB4-I94oNOAmAgQ68Usg