A Brave Writer's Life In Brief

We are so excited because it is the Book Birthday of Julie's brand new book, The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life!

We've heard from a lot of brave homeschooling parents throughout this season of the show, and looking forward, we want to h...

Today we're joined by five wonderful moms from the CO Springs Homeschool Mamas Group.

So instead of focusing on just one question, we'll tackle one from each of them, representing the wide variety of problems that every homeschooling parent has to tackle throughout their home education journey.

You can download show notes for the podcast her...

Courtney Moyer, a homeschooling mother of four (plus a young niece), wrote to Julie saying, "The consistent homeschool challenge that has confronted me is homeschooling multiple children at multiple levels, lacking expertise to multitask... It seems that chaos overrides my agenda on most days... I know if I could understand a way to multitask, anxiety would be minimal, creating a hospitable atmospher...

Our guest Myah St. John homeschools three children (plus a newborn), and her oldest child, 14, is on the verge of high school. Myah's always embraced a one-room schoolhouse model for her family, but she finds herself floundering trying to balance high school with elementary school... and as her teenage daughter starts to become a young woman.

Why do our c...

Jessica Hammond is a homeschooling mother of two who feels conflicted as she tries to spin half a dozen plates. She has a laundry list of passion projects and hobbies, and she wants to be able to devote time and energy on those passions without feeling guilty.

"I want to be present and engaged with my kids during our days. But I also want to accomplish in...

Jardel Manalo is a homeschooling mother of five, ranging from the ages of two to 12, who also opened her school doors to a wonderful 12-year-old young woman named Samantha.

That's a lot of children at a lot of different stages in life – a situation we know many of you can relate to – and that can create a lot of pressure for us to perform, both as parents...

Karen Goldstein and her son Elijah are struggling with the difficult transition into high school. It can be a challenge to fit in the oftentimes-rigorous high school work while still allowing breathing room for a laid-back, enjoyable lifestyle – and holding on to the love of learning throughout it all!

"More subjects leaves less time for in-depth explorat...

Today's guest, Jennifer Hunter, is a mother struggling with a problem that afflicts many homeschooling parents.

Jennifer says, "My homeschool challenge is that I am lonely! My kids are all young, and while I am honoured to be spending my days helping them learn, it isn't always stimulating for me."

We expect t...

There's a dilemma that plagues every homeschooling parent's mind at some point in their journey, filling threads online and conversations in person: How can we make learning fun?

And then the natural follow up question comes up: Do we have to make learning fun? Because the truth is that education won't be fun 100 percent of the time.

Jenniver Vetter is a brave mother of six who has been homeschooling for nine years. She has embraced the emphasis on relationship and freedom in learning that homeschooling offers, but she worries that her children also need to learn skills that don't lend themselves as easily to fort building and play.

Jennifer asked, "How do I balance the love and creat...

In this day and age, we are so connected to technology. We carry these magic little screens with us everywhere – and if you're anything like us, it can start to feel like a third arm! We use them for work and for entertainment, and when our kids see us using these tools, they want to use them too.

But what is too much screen time for our children, and wha...

Today we're going to talk to a brave mother who wants to support her children's dreams, is inspired by everything she's learned about on Brave Writer... but feels stumped. She wants her family to be immersed in a culture of learning, without always being in "school mode," but she's struggling to figure out how.

That brave mother is Christa Gregg, a homesc...

Over the past four seasons, our help inbox has been flooded with What Abouts: What about the kid who won't work hard? What about college? What about chores?

There are vexing dilemmas that come up in a lot of our home education journeys, and they can lead to a lot of questions and self-doubt. Homeschooling is hard! We get it, and we're here to help.

Our guest MacKenzie Koppa (aka Bold Turquoise) is the creator of a slew of resources for families: the Cultivating the Lovely podcast, the Lovely Homeschool online course, and the brand new The Same Page podcast.

The Same Page is practi...

Homeschooling changes when you transition into the scary world of teenagers, so today I want to discuss teens in general and what you can expect from a homeschool with teenagers.

After home births, breastfeeding, babywearing, cosleeping, and having a wonderfully close relationship with her young children, Julie thought that she would seamlessly move into ...

Before Julie started Brave Writer, she worked as a freelance writer, freelance magazine editor, and a ghostwriter – which is to say, yes, you can simultaneously pursue a dream or passion and homeschool!

Whether you want to earn money, go to grad school, start a business, or write a blog, you can do that and still be a phenomenal homeschooling parent.

After working with parents for years, we have learned that there is often a reluctance to giving your own efforts to your child's writing. But kids with parents who are involved in their education get better grades, and as a result, they feel more successful – and children who receive no support end up performing worse.

Because parental involvement i...

There's a difference between correct writing and good writing. You can check off all the boxes and put together a series of grammatically correct sentences, but does that engage the reader and make them want to keep reading? Probably not!

Even academic writing, at its best, should compel the reader – that's it's #1 job!

Read more