Brave Writer

What if one of the best tools in your homeschool is already free? We’re celebrating the library as a place where curiosity gets to roam and the default answer can be “yes.” We explore how browsing the stacks creates...

What if the missing ingredient in your homeschool isn’t a better curriculum, but a bigger toolkit for teaching? When kids resist a lesson, it’s easy to reach for familiar parenting strategies: consequences, bargaining...

What if feeding our kids didn’t have to feel like a test we could pass or fail? Registered dietitian and Kids Eat in Color founder Jennifer Anderson joins us to talk about raising capable, curious eaters without getting...

Can you really homeschool well while also holding down a job? Yes, but the answer may require us to rethink when, where, and how learning happens. With Brave Writer president Dawn Smith joining us, we explore flexible...

What changes when we stop treating homeschooling as something we do to our children and begin learning alongside them? Connection is at the heart of meaningful education: connection to ourselves, to the subjects we...

What if one of the simplest tools for improving reading, memory, attention, and creative thinking is already sitting in your pencil cup? We’re revisiting handwriting and the surprising neuroscience behind why it still...

What changes when we stop rushing children toward the lesson we planned and start noticing the learning already unfolding? A visit with Julie’s six-year-old granddaughter becomes a fresh look at poetry, reading, art...

What if some of the richest learning in your homeschool happened after you walked out the front door? We’re exploring how to plan family outings that turn science, history, art, literature, music, sports, and local...

What if the best first day of homeschool begins long before the first lesson? As summer stretches toward a new school year, we’re talking about the kind of preparation that actually supports family life: flexible...

What if rigor isn’t about children sitting still, pushing through tedium, and finishing every worksheet without complaint? In this episode, we reimagine rigor as a meaningful challenge: the kind children willingly...

Have you ever wondered whether your scattered systems, duplicate scissors, or frozen to-do list are actually character flaws, or clues to how your brain works? In this second conversation about ADHD in the homeschooling...

What if the neurodivergence in your homeschool is not only in your child, but in you? In this honest and eye-opening conversation, we explore what happens when the home educator begins to recognize ADHD traits in...

What if a writing retreat didn’t require a plane ticket to Ireland? This week, we explore what makes writing feel spacious, playful, and alive. From Julie’s memoir retreat on the Irish Sea to Melissa’s fiction...

What happens when faith, prayer, endurance, and every “right” effort still do not make a marriage safe? In this brave and deeply honest conversation, we talk with Alisha Roth, author of Courageous Divorce , about young...

Why teach writing when AI can generate paragraphs in seconds? In this episode, Melissa Wiley talks with Brave Writer president Dawn Smith about why writing still matters, maybe more than ever. Together, they explore...