Passion Projects | Brave Writer

Your middle-grade kid wants to do their own thing.

The hallmark of this age! They want to focus on their passions. You want them to practice academic conventions like planning, revising, editing, and formats.

We do BOTH. Using their topics for writing exercises, they’ll gain writing skills and develop a richer vocabulary for the ideas and hobbies they love.

We created this class so you wouldn’t have to choose between what they love and what you want to get done. Let us help!

Class Overview

Made With You in Mind

Does your child talk for hours about their current hobby but fall silent when faced with the blank page?

We connect their interests to academic skills in a class that is geared toward their writing level and needs.

Brave Writer® prioritizes:

Appropriate and helpful pace. Manageable weekly deadlines and short bursts of writing to keep motivation high.
Honoring the writer’s voice. We don’t squash enthusiasm. Writers this age need confidence!
Digging deeper. We encourage exploration, detailed explanations, and keen observation.
Honing key skills. Academic tools for planning, research, note-taking, revising, and editing,
Invested readers: We’re ready to champion your child’s interests and be educated about Minecraft or woodworking or ballet. We’re all ears!

What about formats?

Do we want middlers to start navigating formats? Yes! Are they ready for essays? No.

That’s why we start with smaller, more accessible formats first. We want them to understand that a format in writing acts as a simple container for the original thoughts that the writer brings to the topic.

In Middle School Writing: Passion Projects, they’ll get to try formats on for size!

We offer students five format options for their project:

Online Tutorial
Advertisement
Social Media Feed
Pop Quiz
Monologue

The ones they don’t choose? Print out the guidelines from the classroom and do the rest at your leisure! Next month’s writing curriculum—check!

Audio Tracks Available!

You've been asking for a way to support your struggling readers, and we heard you loud and clear! You have the option to add on audio tracks of all class readings for $49. Your child can now listen as they read, strengthening those developing reading skills and deepening understanding!

Week by Week

Week One

Project Selection and Research. Class begins with a discussion of project choices, where to look for ideas, and how to narrow down a topic choice.

Week Two

Freewriting and Drafting. Students research to investigate a myriad of sources. Freewriting activities help to get the raw writing on the page. Once initial writing is in place, students expand their research to fill in gaps in their knowledge.

Week Three

Narrowing and Expanding. Students devote this week to revision as they reorganize, streamline, and add more vivid detail. The goal: Create a piece of writing that's clear and interesting to readers.

Week Four

Publishing and Finding Readers. The week when all the hard work pays off. Students put a final polish on the writing and talk about different ways to publish and find an appropriate audience for their work!

Registration Details

Join Us!

Tuition:: $199.00 per student
Recommended Ages:: 9 - 14
Class Size:: 25 students
Class Length:: 4 weeks
Class Type:: Middle School

Upper Elementary
Class Schedule:: Asynchronous—log in when convenient to you!

Select from the available class dates below to register for that session:

Jun 24–Jul 19, 2024

Aimee Gonzalez Niebuhr

Word on the Street

[This class] helped me to understand that you can put your writing into all sorts of different formats and presentations and while that can be challenging to learn a new way, it also helped me grow and learn something new.
Tomas, 11

When I got to choose my own subject, a subject that I knew well, it was easier to write than about a subject that someone else chose, usually one that I didn't know very much about.
Alan, 12

I found all the feedback extremely helpful because every time I received comments or revisions it made me even more eager to add on/improve my piece of writing.
Bailey, 12

I got to look at writing in my own interests, so it was really fun. This is the most excited I have ever been about writing.
Sakeena, 11

More Information

Sample class login

Want to see how our classroom works? Test drive a sample class complete with real class readings, assignments, and instructor comments!

Follow these instructions:

Navigate to class.bravewriter.com. If you are a current student, you’ll need to log out in the upper right corner before proceeding.
Log in using these credentials:
Username: [email protected]
Password: Brave1
Next, you will land on our Family Dashboard. You'll find a Parent icon and a Student icon to represent classes where the parent or the student is the primary participant. Click on Parent to view parent participation classes. To find classes with direct student-instructor interaction, click on Student.
Click on the class name of interest and start reading posts!

How Our Classes Work Download a class summary

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