So there's a group buy for Bravewriter on Homeschool Buyers Coop right now . . .

[jeri]

and I need to know whether I would use it.

 

First, I've got six kids from 13 to 8. Except for the oldest (who needs help occasionally in stuff *I* have trouble understanding!), I feel like much of the time I'm "down in the weeds" with the rest (due to apathy about school, ESL issues, and basic younger kid stuff). So, I don't have much in the way of empty time right now.

 

Second, a couple of months ago I looked at one of her writing products (can't remember which one) and thought it was a bit more lofty than my personal style. I mean, I understand about how she wants to truly encourage kids to write and to love writing. But in my mind, I'm more of a nuts-and-bolts kind of person (a la WTM: read this, outline this, write summaries, etc.).

 

I'm also wondering how teacher/parent-intensive this is. Is this a group effort or is this more of an individual effort? Would I have to be sitting with each child to do this, or can I break my kids up into a "bigs" and "littles" group?

 

Finally, even after reading whatever it was I borrowed earlier, I'm still not sure *what* kind of handholding I'm getting with the program. Is it scripted? Philosophical? Fill in the blanks? Free form?

 

BTW, there are a number of different offers listed, including the high school program, the middle school program, and the newsletters.

 

(To really skew the conversation, I'm considering buying Killgallon after Christmas. And I'm a CW dropout following my eldest dd's waning interest in CW Diogenes. Furthermore, I try really hard to follow SWB's really simple yet elegant directions for writing in her lectures, but just can't seem to make it an integral part of our homeschooling!)

 

Thanks for the input!

 

Jeri

[walkermamaof4]

bumping - would love someone's input on Bravewriter as well! Thanks.

[1Togo]

For me, Bravewriter worked best with classes. I needed handholding to apply "The Writer's Jungle" - Julie's book. With that said, I had no idea how to help with dc's writing until working with Julie. We loved her courses.

[HappyGrace]

With that said, I had no idea how to help with dc's writing until working with Julie. We loved her courses.

 

Togo-we'd love more specifics!

 

I am :bigear: on this thread because I'm having difficulty implementing writing here too, and just starting to look into Bravewriter as a possibility but want to make sure it's *enough* help to make it worth the $$. Thanks!

 

ETA: Never mind-I see on the website it is for the Bravewriter written materials, which I am not interested in; I was considering the classes!

Edited December 16, 2010 by HappyGrace

[1Togo]

For me, the struggle with dc's writing was how to help them. Since we had struggling writers, there were so many problems; i.e. grammar, sentence structure, organization, ideas, etc. , and I did not know how to provide input or even what input was beneficial. After taking Julie's classes, mentoring has not been an issue for me. We've used other materials, but I can now work with any curriculum. For instance, IEW was a better fit for one of our students than Julie's approach, but I implemented everything I learned from Julie. We are using MCT and materials from SWB this year, and I am again using what Julie taught me. As regards, the classes being enough. They are. Our children were busy with the work. I love the structure of the classes. The instructor posts assignments, and your family/students submit the work by a due date. Julie (or whoever is teaching the class) will provide feedback, you make changes and move on. If you have the money, I encourage you to sign up. Btw, prior to Julie's classes, I tended to start a writing curriculum and drop it because I didn't know how to work through difficult spots or writing got pushed aside. That is no longer the case. Writing/English is the biggest part of dd's schoolwork other than math, and I feel more confident about evaluating curriculum. For example, I see great benefit in IEW's Unit 1 - 6, and I was able to teach those units using the TWSS syllabus. However, I felt there were better options for Units 7, 8 and 9. I could not have made that decision prior to Julie's courses. I was just following curriculum and hoping for the best.

Edited December 16, 2010 by 1Togo

[jeri]

thanks, 1Togo, for the info!

 

jeri

[HappyGrace]

Togo-thank you! Hopefully that helped the OP too. The classes sound like what I may need, since your post pretty much described my problems with teaching writing. May I ask you another, Togo-what classes did you do that you found most helpful?

 

(And again, I'm hoping this isn't a hijack, since the OP basically asked a similar thing so I hope this will help her!)

[jeri]

:)

 

jeri