Brave Writer Weekly Digest Vol.3

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Hello Lovies!

Welcome to another Brave Writer Weekly Digest! Each week I read a chapter from The Writers Jungle and share my thoughts here along with how we are incorporating the Brave Writer Lifestyle at home as we use The Arrow for the foundation of our Language Arts, as well as the glorious Lifestyle Plan. If you'd like to catch up, here are Vol.1 and Vol. 2.

Before I begin, I want to mention that last week was an off week for us. We tried and failed at starting "school." As I feather in Brave Writer, we attempted pushing through Math, our Read Alouds, nature study, history and geography. We were successful in implementing Brave Writer and our Read Alouds. However the other subjects, not so much.

Thankfully, it's not just us. There are many mama's out there who are struggling to get back into the groove. I happened to catch Alicia from Learning Well Community on Facebook Live last Thursday as she shared her heart and encouragement during this season, which gave me comfort knowing it's not just me challenged with mommy-ing.

Sigh.

Now, on to our week:

Monday was our favorite day, Library Day! I think our librarians shudder when they see my gaggle of girls walk through the door. On average we leave the library with at least fifty books in hand, and so I truly appreciate our Dear Librarians even more. It's a process. (Literally.) We continued with our Read Aloud of Bud, Not Buddy and enjoyed our Family Movie of  Brighty of the Grand Canyon, then used this site to dig a little further into Brighty. (Because every self respecting donkey deserves his own website...giggle.)

Dictation has become somewhat easier for the girls and I, though Anabelle still "feels it's like a giant spelling test." Here's the how; I read the passage to the girls and we discussed punctuation. Then they studied the passage for themselves. Once they felt confident, I dictated the passage to them, and they wrote it down.

Afterwards, they became their own teachers, checked their work for errors, and corrected them. Letter by letter, line by line, they saw the mistakes for themselves. I gently reinforced the importance of spelling, using capital letters and spelling. Even though they made several errors, they said it was a good visual for them to see it for themselves, by themselves for areas to work on.

Um...do you see the spelling? Yeah. I cringe. I used every fiber in my body to 1) not order another spelling program, and 2) let it go and remain quiet. Julie assures me that there is still plenty of time for the girls to spell correctly. Big breath in...Trust the process...big breath out.

Tuesday, we were given a Free Write on "What if feet learned something new?" This topic perplexed my girls. It was quite comical actually but it was a challenge none the less for them to process how feet would learn something new. They took the free write as literal and came back at me with questions like, "How would feet learn something new? Hands can learn something new... My hands can learn to knit, but how do feet learn new things?"
Oi.
I gave suggestions such as how feet can learn to ice-skate or jump rope and to write something from the feet's perspective, from the feet's point of view. I snicker as I write this because, feet? While they didn't really stay on topic, they wrote and that has value in itself.

Wednesday we were asked to begin a writing project. I skipped this portion for the girls and I started a writing project for myself. It's super scary putting myself out there but I'm writing on homeschooling through trials. Not just the curriculum isn't working trials, but traumatic trials that come our way and how to press through while homeschooling. Eeeek!

Thursday We shared a lovely Poetry Tea Time and the girls wrote a poem about themselves.

Chapter two of The Writer's Jungle introduces us to The Communication Game. So, so fun! The focus is of course how communication plays into writing and understanding the power of good communication. We discussed introductions, why details matter, why feedback is critical to effective communication, how clear communication is the writer's responsibility and that figurative language is at the heart is good writing.

I drew a picture of a sailboat and then tried to describe my picture to the girls without them seeing my picture. They were to draw what I described. My picture is on the left, their's is on the right. I could see immediately where I failed in describing the boat portion, but we all had a good laugh. Then the girls played the game with each other. They understood just how important it was to communicate well. As you can see the girls loved it! They wanted to keep playing, so who was I to say no?

Friday was my husbands day off so we skipped school in exchange for one on one time with Anabelle. I cherish this time we spend together. It's full of girl talk and giggles and almost always, coffee!

Reflections from the week: I'm an all or nothing person. I'll give my all, and if I don't see fruit, I quit. Thankfully the Lords not done with me. I recognize this of myself and I'm working daily to slow down, to be more intentional because nothing on earth grows overnight. Including me. So why should I expect anything and everything to produce as if it does?

In Alicia's Facebook Post, she shares how when we get into a funk we should go to safe people. One's who will understand our struggles and instead of discouraging us, offer advice and love to work through the struggles. There's some hard things to homeschooling that no one wants to talk about. But we should. And I did.

I messaged Leah Boden and mentioned that I'm in a winter rut. I explained that somehow, after all these years I feel as though I'm a brand new homeschooler who's overwhelmed with what to do. Honestly, there are days where I'm discombobulated. Like I'm an Etcha Sketch board and everyday I make the plans, but when I attempt to carry them out, I'm shaken up and everything is erased. With a gracious heart, Leah inspired me and reassured me that it's ok to hit the reset button.

Social media and homeschooling were two separate entities when I began homeschooling. We had a co-op and Yahoo Groups. Today, we have the luxury of finding mentors who have gone before us, and friends to come along side us to cheer us on. Brave Writer has been a huge blessing for me, and Julie's method's are so gentle  for this weary mama. Even though this week felt like a whopper, and I'm not sure it's "enough" I'm learning I'm right where I need to be. It's winter. A season of quiet and rest.

This week I would encourage you, if you're at your end or you're struggling how to get back to your routine, to just reach out to someone you respect and look up to. Someone who will pour into you during this foggy season, words of hope. Alicia, Leah and Julie are my kindred spirits. But I'm here for you too, sweet mama.

You're not alone!

oxox

ps
Leah developed a course available titled, Transformation Through Narration, and I *LOVED* it! She will be hosting another course beginning January 30th titled Back to Basics and you can find more information on her Facebook Page. I hope to see you there!

pss Alicia recommended this book. Go right now and buy this gem! Seriously. I've had this on my wish list for ages and I should had gotten it sooner.