As I was about halfway through watching this video, my 8-year-old grandson joined me. Your descriptions, plus your children's examples intrigued him enough to say, "We should try this!" Lol, we will definitely check it out. I had been curious about the Brave Writer projects, so I really appreciate this video.
Thank you for making this detailed video. I have been a little intimidated to start this writing project. It looks so fun and I can see my boys enjoying this program. Thanks a lot.
Thanks for these videos! I LOVE this program but it was so confusing with all that you have to read and how to structure it. For the writing, did you print the projects pages for the kids, or do you just have one for you and you go off that? :) THANKS!
I just printed one booklet and it was for me to read through, not the kids. I used it to figure out what to do for the project and would just let them know. Occasionally I'd show them a photo example, so they have some clue what it might look like. Hope that helps!
I've been thinking on language arts & grammar, writing specifically. If my kid has no reason to write why would I be teaching them parts of speech or anything really. That seems like it should come later. I feel like we've been doing it backwards. This looks great!
That’s a really good point. I remember loving to write as a kid but often feeling like it had to have all the right parts of a story to be written. Not great for the creative side! Hoping they will learn what they need to eventually buy just wanting them to write for fun at this point.
When my oldest was 8 (also a reluctant writer then) we did Jot It Down and it was great! He just did more of the writing than his younger sister did who was tagging along. For example, he wrote more in his bug mini book descriptions than she did. This year we did Partnership writing with my kids ages 8 and 9. It was also fine and was VERY adjustable. It had lengthier projects that required more of me though. If you have a younger kid that's joining in, I'd put both in Jot It Down. If not, either way is fine. I really like Jot It Down though because it teaches you the importance of oral narration and that it's 100% ok to write down your kids words for them till they can take over more. If Jot It Down doesn't challenge your kid, you can always come up with another writing project, have them start writing letters in the mail, or add in free writing.
Word of advice on content...spend less time describing and more time showing. It's like how sometimes the best way to learn to play a new board game and to understand it is to start by doing. It's hard to listen to so much description. I just kept thinking to myself...just show it.
As I was about halfway through watching this video, my 8-year-old grandson joined me. Your descriptions, plus your children's examples intrigued him enough to say, "We should try this!" Lol, we will definitely check it out. I had been curious about the Brave Writer projects, so I really appreciate this video.
Thank you for making this detailed video. I have been a little intimidated to start this writing project. It looks so fun and I can see my boys enjoying this program. Thanks a lot.
Glad it helped! I wish there were more examples out there on RUclips. So hoping this is an honest look at how we've tackled a few projects!
Thank you, this was so helpful!
I am so grateful to you for doing this! It's so much easier seeing all of their projects vs reading through it all. lol
I agree! I wish there were more examples out there because these are so open ended. I bet others have done it much differently too!
Thanks for these videos! I LOVE this program but it was so confusing with all that you have to read and how to structure it. For the writing, did you print the projects pages for the kids, or do you just have one for you and you go off that? :) THANKS!
I just printed one booklet and it was for me to read through, not the kids. I used it to figure out what to do for the project and would just let them know. Occasionally I'd show them a photo example, so they have some clue what it might look like. Hope that helps!
I've been thinking on language arts & grammar, writing specifically. If my kid has no reason to write why would I be teaching them parts of speech or anything really. That seems like it should come later. I feel like we've been doing it backwards. This looks great!
That’s a really good point. I remember loving to write as a kid but often feeling like it had to have all the right parts of a story to be written. Not great for the creative side! Hoping they will learn what they need to eventually buy just wanting them to write for fun at this point.
Would you recommend jot it down or partnership for an 8 year old (just turning 8 in August)?
When my oldest was 8 (also a reluctant writer then) we did Jot It Down and it was great! He just did more of the writing than his younger sister did who was tagging along. For example, he wrote more in his bug mini book descriptions than she did. This year we did Partnership writing with my kids ages 8 and 9. It was also fine and was VERY adjustable. It had lengthier projects that required more of me though. If you have a younger kid that's joining in, I'd put both in Jot It Down. If not, either way is fine. I really like Jot It Down though because it teaches you the importance of oral narration and that it's 100% ok to write down your kids words for them till they can take over more. If Jot It Down doesn't challenge your kid, you can always come up with another writing project, have them start writing letters in the mail, or add in free writing.
Word of advice on content...spend less time describing and more time showing. It's like how sometimes the best way to learn to play a new board game and to understand it is to start by doing. It's hard to listen to so much description. I just kept thinking to myself...just show it.