Homeschool sanity depends on working as a family as much as possible. Fortunately, Brave Writer accommodates that need beautifully with its products and classes that work with multiple levels of students at the same time.
When shopping for products or classes, look at the icons that indicate whether the class or product is designed to be used based on:
- shared experience (family)
- skill level (individual)
Designed for Families
Good news! You can work on writing as a family—creating a shared experience. Select a bundle of products for everyone, adjusting the level of support you offer based on the child's skill level.
Use these principles to build your program:
Aim for the middle skill level
If you have a large family, aim for the middle skill level twice (one bundle for olders and one for youngers).
- Purchase product bundles that meet the developmental level of your middle child. Use for multiple children, by modifying the challenge "up" for olders and "down" for youngers.
- Select a Family Class (the whole family, all the kids for one tuition) and work on the same projects, according to the abilities of each child.
Skill work as a family
Children who are close in age can share materials if the parent makes accommodations.
- Mechanics and Literature
Parent reads aloud one book to everyone; modifies the length of the copywork passage (longer or shorter based on skills), shares about literary devices with everyone. - Original Thought and Writing Process
Offer corresponding support to the child's skill level (transcribe for youngest, vary time lengths for freewriting based on age, encourage independence for tweens and teens) - Writing Projects
Create writing projects together. Each child contributes to the project based on current skill level. For instance, an end-of-the-year family newsletter allows the youngest to contribute a drawing, a middler to write a paragraph about the family vacation, and a high schooler to write an interview with a parent.
Designed For Students
If you have children who are far apart in age (more than three years), purchase programs by individual skill level. For the mechanics and literature, attention to the skill level of the child matters.
To manage the various levels, apply these ideas:
- Alternate
Purchase the right level for each child, but alternate teaching the materials by day, week, or month. Focus on one child at a time. - Independence
Test a child’s ability to work independently (particularly junior and senior high school). Online classes offer gentle accountability and kind, effective commentary from an instructor to individual students. Writing Projects programs for kids 12 and older are designed for greater initiative by the student.
Find the right products for your children in the Brave Writer Store