If your child took a Bravewriter class….

[happyhome]

….could you tell me about the experience?  Specifically interested in the academic writing classes.  Pen and mommymilkies, I have your thoughts on my other thread (thank you!)

[Vida Winter]

My older dd took research paper and the SAT prep classes, both enjoyable, worthwhile classes. The SAT class in particular was worth every cent and more in terms of higher test grades. The research paper class helped dd prepare for college level writing.

[mommymilkies]

My oldest (13) took KidsWrite Interm. and is now in Romeo & Juliet.  She loves it.  It's quite demanding, and she works hours a day on it.  But she has learned tons and enjoys it.  I heartily recommend them.

 

ETA: NM I didn't see the bottom of your post.  I just woke up. LOL

[Walking-Iris]

:bigear:

 

I've been thinking about it quite a lot lately. We'll see what I learn at the retreat at the end of the month.

 

I've sort of always thought that I could do this on my own--I have the materials, so I wasn't sure what else a class could offer. And the price always stopped me. 

 

I've definitely thought it's something that could be explored as my ds got older.

 

But it would have to be one class, so which one to choose? I couldn't put that much money into more than one a year with the other homeschool expenses. Although it would apply for a tax write off whereas my other homeschooling materials don't apply (or at least don't apply to make it worth the time to claim).

 

 

[Pen]

 listening in to get ideas since I might have my ds take another class next year

[Pen]

 

:bigear:

 

I've been thinking about it quite a lot lately. We'll see what I learn at the retreat at the end of the month.

 

I've sort of always thought that I could do this on my own--I have the materials, so I wasn't sure what else a class could offer. And the price always stopped me. 

 

I've definitely thought it's something that could be explored as my ds got older.

 

But it would have to be one class, so which one to choose? I couldn't put that much money into more than one a year with the other homeschool expenses. Although it would apply for a tax write off whereas my other homeschooling materials don't apply (or at least don't apply to make it worth the time to claim).

 

 

 

I did not know you could write off any school expenses. How?

[happyhome]

:bigear:

 

I've been thinking about it quite a lot lately. We'll see what I learn at the retreat at the end of the month.

 

I've sort of always thought that I could do this on my own--I have the materials, so I wasn't sure what else a class could offer. And the price always stopped me.

 

I've definitely thought it's something that could be explored as my ds got older.

 

But it would have to be one class, so which one to choose? I couldn't put that much money into more than one a year with the other homeschool expenses. Although it would apply for a tax write off whereas my other homeschooling materials don't apply (or at least don't apply to make it worth the time to claim).

Tax write off? Do tell......

[happyhome]

My oldest (13) took KidsWrite Interm. and is now in Romeo & Juliet. She loves it. It's quite demanding, and she works hours a day on it. But she has learned tons and enjoys it. I heartily recommend them.

 

ETA: NM I didn't see the bottom of your post. I just woke up. LOL

Ok, I think we're going to try this over the summer. Now, which class for a 13yr old who loves to write? I'm thinking kidswrite int? How old was your daughter when she did this class?

[Farrar]

If you don't get enough responses, there's also a Brave Writer Facebook group that's pretty active.

 

I'm sort of on the fence about it too for the future.  I have these moments where it seems like it would be very worth the investment and then other moments where I'm like, gee, I think we're already doing most of the things she and her cadre of folks suggest and want to mentor in kids.

[mommymilkies]

For a tax write off-in some states you can get a tax rebate for school expenses.  Tuition for the class *may* count in some states.  Check your state tax laws. 

 

 

My dd was just barely 13 when she took KidsWrite Int. 

[emzhengjiu]

My daughter is taking expository writing now.  She's in the 4th week.  I've been pleased with the guidance from the teacher, but my daughter has not done much actual writing so far.  I was expecting a much faster paced course with significantly more writing assignments.  That's one of the reasons I registered her for this time of year when her course load is lighter.  I'm going to reserve judgement until the end of the session, but I hope the pace picks up.

[Walking-Iris]

In IL (last I really checked into it) you can claim 50% of homeschooling expenses per dependent up to 5000. BUT when I looked into it further it only covers qualified expenses. Tuition..mainly. Any materials that became property of the students didn't qualify. Consumables applied, but I wasn't going to hoard every receipt for the occasional ETC or handwriting workbook. And since I buy used as often as possible...it sort of turned into a bigger headache than it was worth the one year I researched and attempted to pursue it. 

 

Research your state tax laws. I haven't researched what they are like in any other state.

 

It seems as though most of the BW classes are geared toward the older ages/grades.

 

KidsWrite Basic is for the  parent mostly, correct? KidsWrite Intermediate---seems like it might be much? Was a lot of the work assuming a child had lots of practice with the earlier foundation ideas of BW? I've thought about that, but I feel my ds is still too young.

 

I hesitate at spending money on nature journaling, movie discussions etc. I can just do that on my own. So the only other ones I was really looking at for my ds might be the creative writing ones or the mini-reports.

 

I'm like Farrar....really on the fence. 

 

 

 

 

 

[mommymilkies]

I think you can get a max $50 return on filing, though.  We did it a few years ago.

 

Intermediate is written to the student and actually pretty hard.  It is a LOT of work.  She learned a lot, but I'd say your son is too young, Walking-Iris.I have not done the younger classes, so I'm not sure how strenuous they are.  You can ask my odest when we see you tomorrow.l

[IfIOnly]

subbing

[Walking-Iris]

I think you can get a max $50 return on filing, though.  We did it a few years ago.

 

Intermediate is written to the student and actually pretty hard.  It is a LOT of work.  She learned a lot, but I'd say your son is too young, Walking-Iris.I have not done the younger classes, so I'm not sure how strenuous they are.  You can ask my odest when we see you tomorrow.l

 

 

I don't remember that part. I just remember that the only qualifying materials were tuition, book rental fees, and lab fees. Also any book that was consumable. Which sort of made it worthless to me as we owned our books, I *was* the lab (LOL), and we didn't pay tuition.

 

Now I  recall it clearer....the BW classes may actually be too cheap! There was a lower limit of 200 something that had to be spent to even qualify right?

[Farrar]

I guess that's the real issue. I have no interest in doing kidswrite basic, but they won't be old enough for intermediate for at least a couple of years if not more. Maybe we'll do mini-reports at some point.

[Matryoshka]

So, what exactly are they teaching in KidsWrite Intermediate?  How many assignments are there?  Of what kind?  How much feedback?  I keep hearing wonderful things about Bravewriter, but I find it all so... nebulous.  I rather like to know what I'm signing up for...

 

I'm also confused about the very different review of KidsWrite Intermediate and Expository Writing by the PPs.  I'm hearing KWI is a ton of work and the student is working hours per day, but the Expository Writing class (which has KWI as a recommended prerequisite) has had barely any writing assignments?  That seems all backwards and upside-down.  Is the first student in KWI writing so much because the class requires a high level of output, or is that kid just a natural writer who's loving the opportunity to write.  In other words, if I sign my reluctant (capable but disinterested) writer up for the same class, will they let her get by submitting a bare minimum and give her a rah-rah for "effort", or will they tell her to up her game?  I'm really only interested in a class that does the latter...  which is Bravewriter?

[mommymilkies]

I don't remember that part. I just remember that the only qualifying materials were tuition, book rental fees, and lab fees. Also any book that was consumable. Which sort of made it worthless to me as we owned our books, I *was* the lab (LOL), and we didn't pay tuition.

 

Now I  recall it clearer....the BW classes may actually be too cheap! There was a lower limit of 200 something that had to be spent to even qualify right?

I don't think so.  But it's only 10% up to $500, I believe.  So if you only pay $200, that'd be a $20 credit towards you for tax.

 

So, what exactly are they teaching in KidsWrite Intermediate?  How many assignments are there?  Of what kind?  How much feedback?  I keep hearing wonderful things about Bravewriter, but I find it all so... nebulous.  I rather like to know what I'm signing up for...

 

I'm also confused about the very different review of KidsWrite Intermediate and Expository Writing by the PPs.  I'm hearing KWI is a ton of work and the student is working hours per day, but the Expository Writing class (which has KWI as a recommended prerequisite) has had barely any writing assignments?  That seems all backwards and upside-down.  Is the first student in KWI writing so much because the class requires a high level of output, or is that kid just a natural writer who's loving the opportunity to write.  In other words, if I sign my reluctant (capable but disinterested) writer up for the same class, will they let her get by submitting a bare minimum and give her a rah-rah for "effort", or will they tell her to up her game?  I'm really only interested in a class that does the latter...  which is Bravewriter?

My oldest is *not* a natural writer.  She reads at a college level and is a linguistics nerd.  But she HATES writing and grammar.  Hates.  However, she's really into these classes.  She also liked Lukeion's workshops, fwiw.  I think partly it's ability: an upper level high schooler doing EW might be underworked in some way if you count only writing.  Is the class largely focusing on research, the thought process, narrowing information and developing?  If so, then I'd expect less formal output at this stage of the course.  However for KidsWrite, she had one largeish assignment per week, plus I believe she had to read and maybe comment on other students' work?  I will ask her tomorrow when she wakes up, since I can't remember.  I think I have her work saved, too.  

 

She is an overachiever and got an A in the course and put a ton of work in, though.  If your kid doesn't care or isn't being graded, they can't probably work a lot less than hours a day.  I'm more like my dd. If I'm doing an assignment I put a ton of work in, check, double check, evaluate, rewrite, and generally go overboard.  :lol:   However there was at least one assignment that dd did not like because she found it difficult and confusing (she was overthinking it-it was a review of her favorite book and she's a bibliophile).  That wasn't so much the assignment as her own personal perfectionism, IMHO, though.  For this R&J class, she has 5? assignments due this week.  Not super large assignments, but enough that she's working on it at least an hour a day.

 

You can choose whether or not to receive a grade in KWI.  DD did choose to because she wanted more feedback from "Not Mom".  Kids certainly went through without even turning in all of the assignments or turning in what I may consider inadequate assignments.  They did get feedback to try harder, give more, and specific feedback that the rest of the students could see (on at least some assignments). I didn't see any rah-rah for sub-par work after the first week, at least. I'll have her type up her experience tomorrow.  I'm sure I can trade her the work for a brownie. :D

 

And now I've confused everyone.  Sorry!  

[Julie of KY]

I've done two Bravewriter courses now. Both were courses that I as the mom was the student and then passed on the comments to my kids as well as posted my kids writing.

 

Kidswriter Basic - This is basically The Writer's Jungle. I could not do it justice implementing it myself. My kids learned a lot and more importantly I learned to be a much better mentor and how to break the process into smaller steps. At the end of the course my oldest (severely dysgraphic, reluctant writer) said that he liked this kind of writing better than anything we had done previously.

 

We just finished Just So Stories. The class stepped us through how to pick apart several Just So Stories. We then played with words and learned a lot through playing with language. All my kids wrote a just so story. The teacher comments about how to revise were excellent - lots of praise and pointing out things that were asked for of the assignment as well as constructive criticism. I passed all the teacher comments directly to my older kids and picked and choose what to pass on to the younger ones.

 

My experience of the teacher comments was that they picked several things to praise about the writing as well as gave lots of constructive feedback about how to revise it to make it better. You can go through several revisions and ask for lots of advise. In the classes we took, the comments on the final papers tended to positive (rah, rah), but the feedback through the revisions was excellent.

 

I am a better teacher, and my kids are better writers because of the classes.

 

I am looking forward to more Bravewriter classes in the future.

[happyhome]

If you don't get enough responses, there's also a Brave Writer Facebook group that's pretty active.

 

I'm sort of on the fence about it too for the future. I have these moments where it seems like it would be very worth the investment and then other moments where I'm like, gee, I think we're already doing most of the things she and her cadre of folks suggest and want to mentor in kids.

Yes, me too! What I'm specifically looking for is the introduction and practice of essay writing skills with a collaborative environment for feedback and sharing her work. I think this might fit the bill. As I mentioned on my other thread, she's already a good creative writer so I need a class that's past the basics stage. I'm just having trouble deciding between KWI and the Essay class. I'm going to call them today.

[happyhome]

My daughter is taking expository writing now. She's in the 4th week. I've been pleased with the guidance from the teacher, but my daughter has not done much actual writing so far. I was expecting a much faster paced course with significantly more writing assignments. That's one of the reasons I registered her for this time of year when her course load is lighter. I'm going to reserve judgement until the end of the session, but I hope the pace picks up.

If you don't mind me asking, how old is your daughter? Would the essay class be appropriate for a 13yr old strong creative writer?

[emzhengjiu]

If you don't mind me asking, how old is your daughter? Would the essay class be appropriate for a 13yr old strong creative writer?

My daughter is older, 16.  From what I've seen, I think a 13 yo would be just fine in the class.  In almost 4 weeks, she has written one short essay with a second due this Friday.  There are preparatory assignments as well, but they are not very hard.

 

I wish now I had registered my daughter in the research writing class rather than this one or none at all.  To me, the classes are expensive, but then I'm a single mom on a tight budget so that my color my judgment.  Money has to be spent very carefully.  I really was excited about her taking the expository class, but am changing my mind.   Now, I don't know what to think.

[JoJosMom]

I have an 11 year old enthusiastic creative writer.  I am having some difficulty in transferring that enthusiasm to more academic writing.  Upon the recommendation of Julie Bogart, DD took Mini-Reports in the Spring as a transition-type class.  She LOVED the class and I thought it was valuable.  On the down-side, DD turned it into creative writing.  Naturally. :glare:   But, she's 11.  So I have resigned myself to the reality that she's not ready for more formal stuff (And she's not a rigid, linear thinker-she's more organic and creative and big thinker. Guess what I am?) and that's okay.

 

She is currently taking the Romeo and Juliet course, mostly for fun because she's a rabid Shakespeare fan.  She's probably not getting out of the class what the older students are, but she's 11.  She's loving it, learning, and progressing happily. 

 

In short, I am a Bravewriter fan and will likely continue to enroll her in 1-2 courses per semester.

[kathy_overman]

We recently took the Report Writing class, and found it to be a complete waste of money.  This was largely because the format did not match our needs.  

 

We found the interface to be very hard to use, and conversations with the teacher was difficult.  Basically, I did all the work, and I was looking for someone else to work for me.  I was looking for a level of accountability that the class did not provide.

 

That said. I do believe the teacher would have been great if access had been easier, and if I had wanted to work more at taking advantage of her wisdom.  I wanted her to do a brain dump into my son.  

 

I would not do it again.  For us, a live class will work better.  Navigating their 'system' was too much work for $200.

[mommymilkies]

I have an 11 year old enthusiastic creative writer.  I am having some difficulty in transferring that enthusiasm to more academic writing.  Upon the recommendation of Julie Bogart, DD took Mini-Reports in the Spring as a transition-type class.  She LOVED the class and I thought it was valuable.  On the down-side, DD turned it into creative writing.  Naturally. :glare:   But, she's 11.  So I have resigned myself to the reality that she's not ready for more formal stuff (And she's not a rigid, linear thinker-she's more organic and creative and big thinker. Guess what I am?) and that's okay.

 

She is currently taking the Romeo and Juliet course, mostly for fun because she's a rabid Shakespeare fan.  She's probably not getting out of the class what the older students are, but she's 11.  She's loving it, learning, and progressing happily. 

 

In short, I am a Bravewriter fan and will likely continue to enroll her in 1-2 courses per semester.

Our kids are in the class together.  Have you found where to watch the new Romeo & Juliet with Orlando Bloom? I think it's optional, but she wants to see it to review and it's frankly impossible to find. 

[JoJosMom]

Our kids are in the class together.  Have you found where to watch the new Romeo & Juliet with Orlando Bloom? I think it's optional, but she wants to see it to review and it's frankly impossible to find. 

 

Sorry, I can't help with that. I borrowed the 1968 version from the library. I'm working under a deadline right now and have yet to review it for 11-year-old-appropriateness.

[Farrar]

Sorry, I can't help with that. I borrowed the 1968 version from the library. I'm working under a deadline right now and have yet to review it for 11-year-old-appropriateness.

 

The Zeffirelli?  There's one scene where you can see him naked from behind.  They clearly spend the night together.  It's a short scene.  Otherwise, you're good.

[JoJosMom]

The Zeffirelli?  There's one scene where you can see him naked from behind.  They clearly spend the night together.  It's a short scene.  Otherwise, you're good.

 

Thank you!!!!

[happyhome]

Update.....we went to a friend's house this afternoon to observe dd's friend in a Bravewriter class. The interface will not work for dd. She wants people, not a text board. So, we are back to the drawing board looking at creating a mom-made collaborative writing workshop. Or, there's always an online LTOW class she can do with a few friends that are taking it. I think she'd like LTOW. From what I've heard from these moms, it's a challenging course with a lot of collaboration. But it's expensive.

[elinnea]

Ds1 took the Expository Essay earlier in the year.  We were both disappointed.  As others have mentioned the interface is difficult to work with but what was really frustrating to ds was the amount of time the instructor took to respond and give feedback.  Many times he was supposed to be writing a second draft when she hadn't critiqued his first draft yet.  I really wanted to like this class and so did ds because I'd heard so many good things about Bravewriter here but it was definitely pretty much an expensive fail.  Maybe a different class or a different instructor would be better but I am little hesitant to try.

[mommymilkies]

YES!

 

I can not believe how people talk about these classes.  They are incredibly $$$$ and mom still has to do everything.

Maybe it depends on your instructor for the class?  Because I love them so far and I don't have to do anything.  I helped her find some books at home and at the library, and helped her wade through some Shakespeare articles, but that's it. 

[Heather in VA]

 

Maybe it depends on your instructor for the class?  Because I love them so far and I don't have to do anything.  I helped her find some books at home and at the library, and helped her wade through some Shakespeare articles, but that's it. 

 

 

I agree. My daughter has taken three and I haven't done one thing for any of them. Her essay writing is excellent and she is very comfortable with the writing process. Her instructors have really helped her develop the tools she needs for writing.

[happyhome]

For those of you who had successful experiences, would you mind sharing your instructors name(s)? Oldest dd doesn't like the interface but 2nd dd does, so now we're considering a possible class for her.

[JoJosMom]

YES!

 

I can not believe how people talk about these classes.  They are incredibly $$$$ and mom still has to do everything.

 

Repying to the bolded:  I think it depends upon the class and instructor.  We have taken two and I have had to do nothing.  I choose to monitor my DD's progress and that of others in the class, but that has been the extent of my involvement. 

 

[JoJosMom]

For those of you who had successful experiences, would you mind sharing your instructors name(s)? Oldest dd doesn't like the interface but 2nd dd does, so now we're considering a possible class for her.

 

My DD has taken Mini-Reports with Christine Gable and is finishing up Literary Analysis:  Romeo and Juliet with Susanne Barrett.  I have been pleased with both.

 

As for the interface, my DD has no difficulty with using the system.  I, on the other hand, need to be reminded by the short person how to track her replies to others' posts. :glare:

[Heather in VA]

My daughter took courses with Julie Bogart (the owner) and Christine Gable.  Both were excellent.

[Pen]

 

For those of you who had successful experiences, would you mind sharing your instructors name(s)? Oldest dd doesn't like the interface but 2nd dd does, so now we're considering a possible class for her.

 

 

Ours was Christine Gable.

[mommymilkies]

Repying to the bolded:  I think it depends upon the class and instructor.  We have taken two and I have had to do nothing.  I choose to monitor my DD's progress and that of others in the class, but that has been the extent of my involvement. 

 

:iagree:   The price really isn't bad.  It's a shortish schedule, but it's like a workshop intensive, not daily copywork.  And I don't have to do anything!  I do check to make sure she does her assignments and help her if she needs clarification or research help, but that's it.  

 

Her teachers were Susanne Barrett and Nancy Grahame (sp?).

[Cosmos]

Update.....we went to a friend's house this afternoon to observe dd's friend in a Bravewriter class. The interface will not work for dd. She wants people, not a text board.

 

It didn't work for my ds, either. Obviously, since I am here on WTM, I find forums a valuable way to interact with people, but for my ds it just wasn't. He never felt connected to the group. It was just like reading a wikipedia page. I'm not sure it was the text issue for him, because he really enjoyed the AOPS online class he did, and that's text-based. But it's live interaction. That's what really engages him for online learning, I think. This year he'll be doing two online classes, both with live class meetings.