The Brave Learner

Parenting/home schooling, 295 pages. Inspiration and practical strategies for educating children at home. Published in 2019 by Penguin Random House.

"The goal can't be to create a perfect homeschool... Paying attention to the ordinary magic in our day-to-day lives can light up learning for everyone - parent and child...

And, honestly, that's good news. I wanted a rich life with my kids, not just their college-ready education, and I have it. The bonds I forged with my children are deep; I care, no matter how old they are. Even with our brand of family pain, we experienced real pleasure in homeschool and beyond. It bring me relief and joy to know it now."

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Book Recap

Bogart is the creator of theBrave Writer curriculum and the founder of the Homeschool Alliance. She homeschooled her own five children and now coaches homeschooling parents.  Her philosophical approach to learning at home is eminently practical, and yet, based on the idea that all learning begins with making room for surprise, mystery, risk and adventure.  Parents who create a home filled with happy experiences while paying attention each child's interest are also creating a lifestyle of learning.

The book is divided into four sections:

• The Enchanted Landscape of Learning
• Casting the Spell: The Superpower of Brave Learning
• Sustaining the Magic
• Breaking the Spell & Rekindling the Magic​

Bogart believes parenting, as well as homeschooling, takes courage but that every parent can rise to the challenge and be enough for their children - my sentiments exactly!

"Homeschooling - hell, parenting - is a journey of courage into the unknown with an audacious belief that you will be enough for your children: the ultimate brave learning adventure. It can't be any other way. Whatever you offer your kids - your best and your worst - they take it and turn it into fuel for their own blazing fires of blinding beauty."
Julie Bogart

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Uncertainty

In mid-July I wrote a post, The Brave Parent, predicting some significant future changes in how we educate our children. The underlying premise for doing so was that we - as a nation - were on the downhill side of the pandemic.

We are not -- the news if filled with statistics about the Delta variant and school closures.

We face a third year of uncertainty about school for our children. Additional uncertainty in traditional education will propel changes in the systems we use to teach our children more quickly than I had thought just weeks ago -- the alternatives relied upon in the past two years will more quickly become norms. 

Homeschooling, virtual learning, learning pods -- once we are comfortable with "new" methods that are beneficial for our children and families, we just may continue to use them.​

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Recommendation

I highly recommend this book for all parents -- not just homeschooling parents -- who want to build deep relationships with their children.  Bogart's passion and pragmatism about education and family life are refreshing. 

If this book had been available when we homeschooled our Daughters, I would have cut the binding off and put the whole thing in a binder with plenty of paper for my own notes! 

​Nonna