Brave Writer

• What is Brave Writer?
• Getting Started
• The Brave Writer Program

Mini Reports

Click here to read Andromeda’s Chain.

• Ever wondered if there’s a way to tap into stress-free writing formats and still help your kids prepare for academic writing?
• Have you ever wished for completed writing projects to tuck into the homeschool notebook at the end of the year?
• Have you hoped for a less-stressful way to tackle writing, the subject that always seems to slip to the bottom of the to-do list?

Hello, Brave Writer Mini Reports. If you’re feeling a bit stymied for ideas or could use a helping hand in providing feedback and support in keeping writing projects on task, our Mini Reports four-week class can support you through the process.

This class is designed to help turn your children’s non-fiction knowledge and personal experiences into meaningful writing projects.

Whether

• a lapbook,
• a brochure,
• a trivial pursuit game,
• a cookbook
• or a photo album

these are the types of writing projects that kids are willing to work on. And best of all, they are polished projects that look beautiful in homeschool portfolios.

From the initial stage of picking a topic and mini report format to stepping through revision and editing, Christine Gable, your Mini Reports instructor, offers warm, supportive, creative feedback that will walk you and your kids through the process with the project of your choice. You and your children will pick the non-fiction writing project that suits (750 word limit, please) and Christine will support you in helping your child succeed at completing it.

The end results will amaze and delight you both!

Choose from a wide variety of Mini Reports formats:

• Book report in the form of a novel’s dust jacket
• Lap book
• Newspaper article
• Brochure
• Who-What-Where-When-Why & How piece
• A “How-to” report
• One-Page Narration (with stylistic suggestions)
• Trivial Pursuit game
• Mail order catalog with descriptions
• Fact book
• Cookbook
• Photo album
• PowerPoint Presentation

What exactly are the benefits of participating in a Mini Reports class?

• Professional Feedback: Flexible experienced teacher feedback options help you become a better coach. Take the opportunity to learn how to provide student feedback or take a break from homeschool and let your student work through the process independently with the instructor.

• Personal Achievement: Learn how to help kids tap into their academic knowledge and real-life experiences to generate interesting non-fiction writing projects. Tap into books read, movies watched, catalogs perused, recipes cooked, crafts constructed, photographs taken, pictures drawn, etc.

• Appropriate Pace: Learn how to pace a writing project over a four week period, meeting deadlines just like professional writers do. Each mini report project comes complete with weekly guidelines for successful completion. Manageable writing goals allow successful completion of projects with student willingness to revisit other mini report projects in the future.

• Community Support: Connect with other students and parents in Brave Writer’s custom-designed online classroom that facilitates interaction, camaraderie, and support.

• Research Skills: Fine tune research skills and learn how to properly document sources and create a bibliography.

• Across the Curriculum: Develops students’ abilities to hone skills in writing across the curriculum, narrowing their chosen subjects and determining subtopics.

• Critical Thinking: Expands students’ critical thinking and discriminatory skills: sorting through information (what is relevant, what is too much, what is not enough, what is specific enough…), and finding appropriate details to support questions (questions are just like assertions in expository writing, but in question form).

The structure of the class is as follows

• Week One: Choosing the project/Research
• Week Two: Freewriting/Drafting
• Week Three: Narrowing and Expanding
• Week Four: Publishing and Finding Readers

Documenting Sources (new!)

If you or your students have felt a bit foggy about what is required when documenting sources accurately for non-fiction based reports, we’ll be covering all that you need to know during week 3.

Create accountability for yourself by enrolling in this class. You’ll feel good knowing you’ve completed one writing project from start to finish, with feedback that gives you a solid sense of your child’s current developmental stage of writing. You’ll also sharpen your tool set for future writing projects so that you become a more and more skilled writing coach in your child’s life.

Discover how to take the drudgery of “reporting” and turn it into meaningful writing projects that will cause your young writers to grow as writers and researchers.

The Brave Writer Program